Sibelius 2020.3 Reference guide

Sibelius® Reference Guide

version 2020.3

Legal Notices

consent of Avid.

For a current and complete list of Avid trademarks visit: www.avid.com/legal/trademarks-and-other-notices

Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.

Guide Part Number 9329-66138-00 REV A 03/20

Contents

iii

Introduction 1

Welcome to Sibelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Sibelius | First, Sibelius,

and Sibelius |Ultimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Working with the ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Undo and Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Connecting external MIDI devices . . . 27

1 File tab 29

1.1 Working with files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

1.2 Sharing and emailing files . . . . . . . 35

1.3 Sharing on the web . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

1.4 Starting a new score . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

1.5 Opening files from previous

versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

1.6 Opening MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

1.7 Importing MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . 53

1.8 Opening MusicXML files . . . . . . . 59

1.9 PhotoScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

1.10 AudioScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

1.11 Splitting and joining scores

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 83

1.12 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

1.13 Exporting audio files . . . . . . . . . . 93

1.14 Exporting video files . . . . . . . . . . 95

1.15 Exporting graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

1.16 Exporting MIDI files . . . . . . . . . 105

1.17 Exporting MusicXML files . . . . 107

1.18 Exporting to previous versions . 109

1.19 Exporting to Avid Scorch . . . . . .113

1.20 Exporting PDF files . . . . . . . . . . .119

1.21 Exporting manuscript paper

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 121

1.22 Classroom Control

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 123

1.23 Worksheet Creator

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 127

1.24 Adding your own worksheets

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 135

1.25 Working with plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 141

1.26 Avid Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

1.27 Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

1.28 Display settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

1.29 Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . 159

2 Home tab 165

2.1 Selections and passages . . . . . . . . 167

2.2 Cues

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 173

2.3 Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

2.4 Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

2.5 Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

2.6 Edit Instruments

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 203

2.7 Bars and bar rests . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

2.8 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

2.9 Filters and Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

2.10 Hiding objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

2.11 Inspector

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 227

2.12 Sibelius | Cloud Sharing . . . . . . 233

2.13 Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

2.14 Batch Processing plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 239

3 Note Input tab 241

3.1 Introduction to note input . . . . . . 243

3.2 Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

3.3 Mouse input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

3.4 Alphabetic and step-time input . . 251

3.5 Keyboard window . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

3.6 Guitar tab input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

3.7 Fretboard window . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

3.8 Guitar notation and tab . . . . . . . . 267

3.9 Lute tablature

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 273

3.10 Triplets and other tuplets . . . . . . 275

3.11 Transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

3.12 Note input options . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

3.13 Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

3.14 Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

3.15 Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

3.16 Arrange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

3.17 Edit Arrange Styles

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 317

3.18 Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

3.19 Accidentals plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 329

3.20 Composing Tools plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 331

3.21 Notes and Rests plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 337

Contents

iv

3.22 Simplify Notation plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 343

3.23 Tuplets plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 347

3.24 HyperControl™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

4 Notations tab 353

4.1 Clefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

4.2 Key signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

4.3 Time signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

4.4 Free rhythm

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 367

4.5 Barlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

4.6 Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

4.7 Hairpins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

4.8 Slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

4.9 Edit Lines

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 393

4.10 Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

4.11 Edit Symbols

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 401

4.12 Noteheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

4.13 Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

4.14 Edit Noteheads

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 415

4.15 Beam groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

4.16 Beam positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

4.17 Beamed rests and stemlets

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 427

4.18 Importing graphics . . . . . . . . . . . 431

4.19 Brackets and braces . . . . . . . . . . 435

4.20 Accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

4.21 Arpeggios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

4.22 Articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

4.23 Grace notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

4.24 Jazz articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

4.25 Repeat bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

4.26 Stems and leger lines . . . . . . . . . 457

4.27 Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

4.28 Tremolos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

5 Text tab 465

5.1 Working with text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

5.2 Common text styles . . . . . . . . . . . 475

5.3 Figured bass and Roman numerals 483

5.4 Instrument names . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

5.5 Typography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

5.6 Edit Text Styles

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 497

5.7 Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

5.8 Chord symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

5.9 Edit Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . .525

5.10 Chord Symbols plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .533

5.11 Guitar scale diagrams

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .537

5.12 Rehearsal marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

5.13 Bar numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .541

5.14 Page numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .549

5.15 Text plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .553

5.16 Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .561

5.17 Font equivalents

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .565

6 Play tab 567

6.1 Working with playback . . . . . . . . .569

6.2 Playback Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

6.3 Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

6.4 Live Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .595

6.5 Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .603

6.6 Interpretation of your score . . . . . . 609

6.7 Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .615

6.8 Playback dictionary

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .621

6.9 Repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

6.10 Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .639

6.11 Timecode and hit points . . . . . . .643

6.12 Playback plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .647

6.13 Sibelius Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

6.14 MIDI for beginners . . . . . . . . . . . 655

6.15 Virtual instruments for beginners 659

6.16 Working with virtual instruments 665

6.17 ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

6.18 MIDI messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .675

6.19 SoundWorld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683

7 Layout tab 687

7.1 Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

7.2 Title and blank pages . . . . . . . . . . 693

7.3 Staff spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .695

7.4 Focus on Staves

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .701

7.5 Magnetic Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703

7.6 Auto Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .709

7.7 Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .713

7.8 Multirests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .719

7.9 Layout and formatting

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . .723

7.10 Attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Contents

v

8 Appearance tab 729

8.1 Music engraving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

8.2 House Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

8.3 Note spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741

8.4 Default Positions

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 745

8.5 Order

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 749

8.6 Music fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

9 Parts tab

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) 755

9.1 Working with parts . . . . . . . . . . . 757

9.2 Editing parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761

9.3 Multiple Part Appearance . . . . . . 765

9.4 Extracting parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769

10 Review tab 773

10.1 Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775

10.2 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777

10.3 Highlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779

10.4 Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

10.5 Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789

10.6 Analysis plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 791

10.7 Proof-reading plug-ins

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 793

11 View tab 799

11.1 Document view . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801

11.2 Timeline

(Sibelius | Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . 805

11.3 Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809

11.4 Invisibles etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .811

11.5 Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813

11.6 Window options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815

Glossary 817

Keyboard shortcuts 829

Visual index 837

Index 847

vi

Introduction

2

Welcome to Sibelius

3

Welcome to Sibelius

This Reference Guide is a comprehensive guide to all of the features of Sibelius® music nota-

tion software by Avid®. The Sibelius software product line consists of three tiers of feature

functionality ranging from beginner to professional: Sibelius | First (perfect for beginners),

Sibelius (great for students and skilled amateurs), and Sibelius | Ultimate (a must for profes-

sionals). Throughout this Reference Guide, “Sibelius” generally refers to all three—

Sibelius | First, Sibelius, and Sibelius | Ultimate—for the sake of readability. Features that are

only supported in Sibelius | Ultimate are identified where they are covered in this guide. Fea-

tures that are limited or are unavailable in Sibelius | First are likewise noted throughout this

guide and are also specifically listed in Sibelius | First.

To learn how to use Sibelius quickly, take the necessary time to work through the Sibelius

Tutorial.pdf (which is available under File > Help within the program). After just the first few

projects in the tutorial and you will be ready to create your own scores in Sibelius with confi-

dence and ease.

Sibelius | First, Sibelius, and Sibelius Ultimate

The Sibelius software product line consists of three tiers of feature functionality ranging from

beginner to professional: Sibelius | First (perfect for beginners), Sibelius (great for students

and skilled amateurs), and Sibelius | Ultimate (a must for professionals). Sibelius software is

installed using a single installer and runs the same application regardless of which tier is

authorized. Your software license determines which tier of Sibelius software functionality is

authorized to run on your computer.

*Sibelius | First: Runs when no license for either Sibelius or Sibelius | Ultimate is activated on

your computer.

*Sibelius: Only runs when a Sibelius license is activated on your computer.

*Sibelius | Ultimate: Only runs when a Sibelius | Ultimate license is activated on your com-

puter.

On Mac OS X, Sibelius is installed in /Applications/Sibelius.app

On Windows, Sibelius is installed in C:\Program Files\Avid\Sibelius\Sibelius.exe

System Requirements and Compatibility Information

Avid can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested

and approved. For complete system requirements and a list of qualified computers, operating

systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, visit: www.avid.com/compatibility

Avid Master Account

Your Avid Master Account simplifies access to all of your user accounts and entitlements at

my.avid.com. To sign up, go to www.avid.com and click on “Sign In.”

Fill in the required fields located under the “Create Avid Master Account.”

The Master Account is divided into sections. Notice that the Avid Support Center, Download

Center, and Avid Community need to be linked. Choose “Link this account” if you already

have an account or choose “Create Account,” fill in the required fields and click Submit.

4

Avid Link

Avid Link is a free application for anyone wanting to connect with other artists, producers,

mixers, composers, editors, videographers, movie-makers, and graphic designers—and to the

Avid Marketplace—to expand your creative capabilities and possibilities. A desktop version is

available for macOS and Windows; a mobile version is available for iOS; it’s available online

using any browser; and it’s integrated within Sibelius. Avid Link replaces the Avid Application

Manager.

Use Avid Link to manage your Avid account, licensing and subscriptions, as well as integrate a

number of other services. Your account login from Application Manager (which preceded

Avid Link) or the Avid Link application will be picked up by Sibelius when you start up, much

like the Cloud Sharing Dashboard. However, if you aren't logged in, you will be asked to log

into those pages you visit.

Join the Avid Artist Community

Once you are online and up and running with Sibelius, join the Avid Artist Community. The

Avid Artist Community lets you connect with an extensive network of artists, musicians, pro-

ducers, and media professionals to share your work and your services, find collaborators, and

expand your music and audio opportunities. Visit www.avid.com/artistcommunity.

On-screen reference

To start the on-screen Reference Guide, click the button at the right-hand end of the

ribbon tab bar, shown on the right, find it within Help in the File tab, or type the short-

cut F1 or X?.

Whichever application your computer uses to view PDF files will open—on Windows this is

normally Adobe Reader, and on Mac it is normally Preview—and the on-screen Reference

Guide will appear. To navigate the on-screen Reference Guide, you can use the bookmarks and

Edit > Find features built in to Adobe Reader and Preview.

Bookmarks are like a table of contents that you can have open beside the document you’re

reading, allowing you to jump to any chapter, topic, or even sub-heading in the Reference

Guide. To show bookmarks:

*In Adobe Reader, choose View > Navigation Panels > Bookmarks; a panel like that shown

below left will appear at the left of your screen.

*In Preview on Mac, choose View > Sidebar > Show Sidebar; a panel like that shown below

right will slide out of the right-hand side of the window.

Welcome to Sibelius

5

To search within the on-screen Reference Guide, use the Edit > Find feature, or alternatively:

*In Adobe Reader, you can simply type into the Find box on the toolbar shown below left,

then use the next and previous result buttons to skip forwards and backwards

*In Preview on Mac, you can type into the Search box in the drawer, shown below right, then

click in the list of results to skip forwards and backwards.

Typography and cross-references

Names of computer keys, menus and dialogs are written like this.

The main way in which you find commands in Sibelius is via the ribbon, a wide band of

command buttons that appear at the top of the screen when you click a tab like File or Home.

Each tab describes a related set of commands (Note Input, Notations, Text, Layout, etc.); when

you click a tab, the ribbon changes to show the buttons that let you use those commands. Each

ribbon tab contains a number of groups of related commands.

As a quick way of describing how to access a particular command, this Reference Guide uses

the following format: “choose Home > Instruments > Add or Remove” means “click the Home

tab, look for the Instruments group, and click the Add or Remove button.”

The ribbon is explained in greater detail on the following pages, so if this all sounds mysteri-

ous to you, don’t worry.

b9.1 Working with parts means “see the Working with parts topic at the start of chapter 9 of

the Reference Guide.”

6

Basic terminology

Most of the computer terminology used in this Reference Guide will be understood by almost

all readers, but has been included in case one or two of the terms are unfamiliar:

*Some keys are labeled differently on different keyboards, particularly on Mac. For the pur-

poses of this Reference Guide, these are the conventions:

Mac symbol Mac name Windows equivalent

XCommand Ctrl (“Control”)

^CtrlNone

xShift Shift

zOption Alt

RReturn Return (on main keyboard)

EEnter Enter (on numeric keypad)

Notice how, somewhat confusingly, the key labeled Ctrl (or sometimes Control, depending

on the model of your keyboard) on Mac is not the same as the key labeled Ctrl on Windows.

Mac shortcuts using Ctrl are very rare in Sibelius, but where they appear, they are written

using the symbol ^ (as it appears in menus etc. on Mac) to avoid confusion for Windows

users.

*Sibelius is almost identical on Windows and Mac, but where there are differences, mainly in

keyboard shortcuts, the Windows convention is listed first.

*“Type Ctrl+A or XA” means hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or X (Mac) key and type A.

Even though A is written as a capital letter, don’t type Shift unless explicitly told to do so.

Similarly, for standard shortcuts like Ctrl+? or X? where both / and ? exist on the same key,

you actually type Ctrl+/ or X/ without using Shift.

*Similarly, “Alt+click or z-click” means hold down the Alt (Windows) or z (Mac) key and

click.

*To click something means to move the mouse arrow over it and click the left mouse button.

To right-click something means to point at it with the mouse and click the right mouse but-

ton. If you are using a MacBook or other portable Mac, to achieve the equivalent of a right-

click, hold the Ctrl key and click the trackpad.

*To drag something means to point at it with the mouse, and then click and hold the left

mouse button while moving the mouse. To finish dragging, just let go of the mouse button.

*A dialog is a window with buttons on. Some dialogs are divided into several pages and have

labeled tabs at the top, or a list box at the left-hand side, which you can click to switch

between pages of the dialog.

*The numeric keypad is the rectangle of numbers and other characters at the very right-hand

side of your computer keyboard. (Notebook (laptop) computers usually don’t have a sepa-

rate numeric keypad.)

*“Return” is the large key to the right of the letter keys. On some keyboards it is labeled with

“Enter” or a special arrow symbol, but we always call it Return.

*“Enter” is the large key at the bottom right of the numeric keypad. On some keyboards it is

unlabeled, but it still means Enter.

Less well-known terminology is in the Glossary at the end of this book.

Welcome to Sibelius

7

Resources

The Avid website (www.avid.com) is your best online source for information to help you get

the most out of Sibelius.

*Account Activation and Product Registration: Activate your product to access downloads

in your Avid account (or quickly create an account if you do not have one). Register your

purchase online, download software, updates, documentation, and other resources at

www.avid.com/account.

*Support and Downloads: Contact Avid Customer Success (technical support), download

software updates and the latest online manuals, browse the Compatibility documents for sys-

tem requirements, search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Avid user com-

munity on the User Conference at www.avid.com/support.

*Training and Education: Study on your own using courses available online, find out how you

can learn in a classroom setting at an Avid-certified training center, or view video tutorials

and webinars www.avid.com/education.

*Products and Developers: Learn about Avid products, download demo software, or learn

about our Development Partners and their plug-ins, applications, and hardware at

www.avid.com/products.

8

Sibelius | First, Sibelius, and Sibelius |Ultimate

9

Sibelius | First, Sibelius, and

Sibelius |Ultimate

This topic identifies differences in features and functionality between Sibelius | First,

Sibelius, and Sibelius | Ultimate.

Sibelius | First is a great introduction to working with the Sibelius software line. It supports up

to four staves in a score and provides sufficient capabilities for most of your basic music nota-

tion needs. If you need more fully featured functionality, you can upgrade to Sibelius or

Sibelius | Ultimate anytime through your Avid Master Account.

Sibelius is great for students and skilled amateurs. It supports up to 16 staves and provides all

the tools you need to create professional looking scores for music a moderate complexity.

Sibelius | Ultimate is a must for professionals and educators. It lets you create as many staves

as the music demands; and it is extensively customizable, so you can make even the most com-

plex music look perfect. There are also easy to use classroom tools for creating, sharing, and

reviewing music worksheets and hand-outs.

General Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Lets you... Create simple scores with up

to 4 staves—can open scores

with more than 4 staves for

review, but are be read only

Create professional-quality

scores and compose simple to

moderate music—up to 16

staves; and can open scores

with more than 16 staves for

review, but they are read only

Compose, arrange, and

publish professional-quality

scores and parts of any size

and complexity with as many

staves as you need; create

notation worksheets and exer-

cises for education; and more

Availability Register at for free download Subscribe monthly or annu-

ally, or purchase and own a

perpetual license

Subscribe monthly or annu-

ally, purchase and own a per-

petual license (educational

discount available), trade-up

from other notation software,

or get network licensing

Number of computers

a single copy can be

installed on

N/A 2, but for use by one person only (so you can run a copy on your

desktop and onther on your laptop or surface.

Software updates and

support

Download the latest update as

it becomes available

Access all new releases and Standard support through a

subscription or renewable 1-Year Software Updates + Support

Plan (included with a new perpetual license)

AudioScore and Pho-

toScore

Includes Audio Score First

and PhotoScore First

Includes AudioScore Lite and PhotoScore Lite

Notation Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Accidentals Normal and double only Normal and double only

bracketed

Normal, double, quarter-tones,

bracketed

Metadata Common ones only Full set

Bar numbers Limited Full range of formats

10

Barline types Single, double, repeat only Single, double, repeat, dotted,

early music

Bars, irregular No No, except pick-up bars Yes

Cross-staff beams

(keyboard music)

No Yes

Beam/rest groupings Fixed Customizable

Brackets and braces Fixed Customizable

Change transposition of

transposing instruments

No Yes

Chord symbols appear-

ance and MIDI/text input

Limited preset options Fully customizable

Cues No Yes

Dotted notes:

single, double, triple

Single dotted Yes

Guitar chord diagrams Limited Yes

Guitar scale diagrams No Yes

Guitar tab Basic only Full

Instruments Common only Common, jazz, and world

instruments only, with fixed

number of staves

Full customizable range

Jazz articulations: falls,

scoops, doits, and plops

No Yes

Custom lines No Yes

Rhythmic note values:

512th note (7 beams) to

double breve (4 times

duration of whole note)

32nd note to breve (twice

duration of whole note)

All

Custom Noteheads No Yes

Ossia staves No Yes

Page numbers Automatic Customizable

Special symbols No Yes

Split multirests in parts No Yes

Staves Up to 4 Up to 16 per system Unlimited

Stemlets (half-stems) and

feathered beams

No Yes

Tuplets Duplets (2:3) to

sextuplets (6:4)

Duplets (2:3) to

nonuplets (9:8)

Any (such as 2, 7, 44:31, and

even nested tuplets)

Notation Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Sibelius | First, Sibelius, and Sibelius |Ultimate

11

Playback Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Advanced notation inter-

pretation

No Yes

Edit MIDI data No Yes

Includes Sibelius

Sound Libraries

No Sibelius Sounds

(10 GB library) provides

high-quality samples for most

common instruments

Sibelius | Ultimate Sounds

(36 GB library) provides a full

range of professional-quality

orchestral, jazz, pop, marching

band, and percussion

Loop playback No Yes

Half-speed playback No Yes

Espressivo 2.0 No Presets only Customizable rhythmic feel

Live Tempo (tap tempo) Limited—playback only Record, edit, clear, and play

back Live Tempo

Playback markings on

specified repeats

No Yes

Playback of hairpins Fixed Adjustable

Playback of ritardandi

and accelerandi

Fixed Adjustable

Playback fermatas Fixed Adjustable

Words that affect play-

back (such as legato)

Fixed Editable

Notation Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Accidentals Normal and double only Normal and double only

bracketed

Normal, double, quarter-tones,

bracketed

Metadata Common ones only Full set

Bar numbers Limited Full range of formats

Barline types Single, double, repeat only Single, double, repeat, dotted,

early music

Bars, irregular No No, except pick-up bars Yes

Cross-staff beams

(keyboard music)

No Yes

Beam/rest groupings Fixed Customizable

Brackets and braces Fixed Customizable

Change transposition of

transposing instruments

No Yes

12

Chord symbols appear-

ance and MIDI/text input

Limited preset options Fully customizable

Cues No Yes

Dotted notes:

single, double, triple

Single dotted Yes

Guitar chord diagrams Limited Yes

Guitar scale diagrams No Yes

Guitar tab Basic only Full

Instruments Common only Common, jazz, and world

instruments only, with fixed

number of staves

Full customizable range

Jazz articulations: falls,

scoops, doits, and plops

No Yes

Custom lines No Yes

Rhythmic note values:

512th note (7 beams) to

double breve (4 times

duration of whole note)

32nd note to breve (twice

duration of whole note)

All

Custom Noteheads No Yes

Ossia staves No Yes

Page numbers Automatic Customizable

Special symbols No Yes

Split multirests in parts No Yes

Staves Up to 4 Up to 16 per system Unlimited

Stemlets (half-stems) and

feathered beams

No Yes

Tuplets Duplets (2:3) to

sextuplets (6:4)

Duplets (2:3) to

nonuplets (9:8)

Any (such as 2, 7, 44:31, and

even nested tuplets)

Utilities Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Annotate Yes

Arrange: automatic arranging

and orchestration

No Yes

Comments (sticky notes) Yes

Compare different scores or

versions

No Yes

Notation Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Sibelius | First, Sibelius, and Sibelius |Ultimate

13

Copy and paste to Word and

other programs

No Low resolution (96 dpi) only Yes

Display timecode No Single format Customizable format

Edit Dynamic Parts No Limited Full

Edit word menus No Yes

Export a log of changes to a

score

No Yes

Export lyrics as text file No Yes

Filters for editing similar

objects

No Quick filters only Yes

Find No Yes

Focus on staves No Yes

Graphics export (for creating

worksheets and other content)

No Yes

Highlight music Yes

Ideas Hub No 300 library ideas included

and lets you capture your own

ideas (editing not supported)

2,000+ library ideas included,

and lets you capture and edit

your own ideas and add to a

score and/or the library

Import MusicXML files Yes

Instrument changes No Yes

Join scores together No Yes

Keyboard shortcuts Fixed Customizable

Lyric verses allowed 2 5 Unlimited

Lyrics from text file No Yes

Note input options Fixed Limited Full

Panorama scroll view Yes

Paper and desk textures 40 Over 60

Part extraction No Yes

Paste as Cue No Yes

Plug-ins None 38 included Over 140 included

Inspector window to edit indi-

vidual objects

No Full

Rehearsal marks No Default only Fully customizable

Repeat structures Fixed Customizable Fully customizable

Rulers No Yes

Utilities Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

14

Score Starter: (40 genre-spe-

cific templates)

No Yes

Slide notes and rests No Yes

Special page breaks No Yes

Timeline window No Yes

Swap voices No Yes

Versions Latest (head) version only Save, view, and print only Yes

Video, including timecode and

hit points

No Add video, add/edit hit points Yes

Viewing options for Magnetic

Layout, page margins, note

colors, full screen, and more

No Yes

Worksheet Creator No Yes

Publishing Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Advanced layout

features

No Yes

Auto Layout options No Yes

Edit fonts No Limited Full

Edit staff types No Yes

Edit text styles No Yes

Engraving rules

(hundreds to edit)

No Yes

Headers/footers No Yes

House Style

import/export

No Import only Yes

Intelligent Rests No Yes

Magnetic Layout No Fixed Fully customizable

Manage Dynamic Parts No Yes

Manuscript papers

(preset score layouts)

Includes a few, but you cannot create your own Includes many, and you can

create your own

Multiple staff size Fixed Fully customizable

Note spacing rules Fixed Fully customizable

Reset position/design

of objects

Limited Yes

Utilities Sibelius | First Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

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Sibelius 2020.3 Reference guide

Sibelius 2020.3 Reference guide

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