New and updated plug-ins, part 1

by Philip Rothman on May 20, 2013 · 5 comments

in Tips

Savvy Sibelius users have been treated to a bounty of new and updated plug-ins in recent weeks. In this first post I’ll highlight plug-ins created by Kenneth Gaw. Later in the week I’ll focus on Bob Zawalich’s plug-ins.

It’s worth saying here that Kenneth, Bob, and all the other independent developers who spends countless hours developing these add-ons make Sibelius even easier to use for me and thousands of users, and I am so appreciate of their efforts — thank you!

All of these plug-ins may be downloaded directly through Sibelius 7 at File > Plug-ins > Install Plug-ins > [Category]. Or, click on the link on each plug-in name to be taken to the plug-in’s page on Sibelius.com, where you can download the plug-in and install it manually.

In short order, here are Kenneth’s new and updated plug-ins (all were released or updated on May 14, 2013):

1. Unfilter Selection and Unfilter Selection Whole Bars is found in the Filter and Find category. It basically functions as a reverse filter. If you have selected an object, or objects, and decide that you need to operate on the entire passage containing those objects, just run this plug-in. This plug-in operates without a dialog, and Kenneth helpfully suggests assigning a shortcut to it if you find yourself doing this sort of thing a lot.

2. Delete Voices 1-4 is also found in the Filter and Find category. It was first released in February 2013 and has quickly become one of my new favorites. Filtering out a voice and deleting it in Sibelius can take up to six steps if tuplets are involved, like in this example:

voice 2

With this new plug-in, Voice 2 is gone in one command! Note that since the plug-in is designed to be run from keyboard shortcuts, there are actually four plug-ins corresponding to one per voice.

Kenneth recommends defining Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F1-4 for these plug-ins respectively. Personally, on the Mac, I use Control+Option+Command+Shift+1-4. Either way, this corresponds to the default Alt(Option)+1-4 (Create or Move to Voice) and Ctrl(Command)+Shift+Alt(Option)+1-4 (Filter Voice) shortcuts.

3. Move or Copy to Another Voice is is also found in the Filter and Find category, and was covered here back in February. It moves or copies notes, lyrics, dynamics (including hairpins) and other text from one voice to another. Unlike Sibelius’s filters, it works with tuplets, and offers many other useful features. The recent update adds improvements in the way it handles destination voices which are not empty, copies note and rest properties to the destination voice and deals with the beam property in rests.

4. Multiply Dynamics is found in the Text category. It copies dynamics from one to all staves within a selection and avoids placing them on rests or empty bars. Like some of Kenneth’s other plug-ins, it does not feature a dialog, and he suggests assigning to a keyboard shortcut such as Alt(Option)+* on the numeric keyboard.

It wasn’t immediately evident to me how this worked initially, but it was easy once I figured it out. Simply select a passage with multiple staves, all of which are devoid of dynamics except for one staff (it does not have to be the top staff), like so:

Muliply Dynamics selection

You don’t need to copy anything to the clipboard; just simply run Multiply Dynamics and it will copy the dynamics from one staff to all other staves with notes, skipping any empty staves in the process. (Note that if two or more of your staves have conflicting dynamics, you’ll get strange results.)

5. Decrease and Increase Dynamics is also found in the Text category and has become another personal favorite. These are actually two separate plug-ins, again designed to be used with shortcuts (Kenneth suggests Alt(Option)+-/Alt(Option)++ for decrease and increase, respectively). These simply decrease or increase by one level all dynamics within a selection. It’s similar to running Change Dynamics and choosing “One level softer” or “One level louder”, except the benefit is that there is no intervening dialog. My one suggestion for this plug-in is that it be improved to work on a multi-selection; currently a passage selection must be made in order for the plug-in to work. Still, it’s quick and easy.

Kenneth is a long-time Sibelius user, and his contributions are most welcome. I asked him last week how he got started writing plug-ins. He is a music teacher in Glasgow, Scotland and, as a devoted churchgoer, he said that “most of his compositions tend to be for church choir or educational purposes.”

Kenneth continued:

I started writing plugins when I moved from the Acorn version of Sibelius to Sibelius 2 and found three basic uses for them.

  1. Plug-ins intended for educational use (e.g. Paste to Chord Symbols) which are integrated into my school curriculum. Pupils often write a tune, add chords write one bar of the accompaniment pattern and then use Paste to Chord Symbols to create the remainder of the accompaniment.
  2. Workflow plug-ins (like Multiply Dynamics or Delete Voice) which don’t add anything much to the functionality of Sibelius but do make certain tasks faster and assignable to keyboard shortcuts. I’ve found these particularly useful when working with large scores. All the dynamics in a selection or score can be increased or decreased by one keyboard command and dynamics can be entered on one staff and intelligently copied to all the others in the same way.
  3. Plug-ins which attempt to add a bit more functionality to Sibelius. The only one I have attempted is Move or Copy to Another Voice which enables the filtering of tuplets. (Working on a large score with lots of them prompted me to try to do something about it rather than just complain to the management.) I’ve found this useful with choral music. I added the ability to deal with lyrics, dynamics and other text because I found I often wanted to move or copy these as well as notes and having everything in one place is convenient.

Having found these plug-ins useful it occurred to me that others might also, so I contacted Daniel Spreadbury who put the first versions on the Sibelius website shortly before he left.

And we’re glad it occurred to him!

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Setting up Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 with Sibelius 7

by Philip Rothman on May 13, 2013 · 1 comment

in Tutorials

VE Pro 5

Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 is a versatile cross-platform mixing host that works with a wide variety of music software, including Sibelius 7. For the benefit of Sibelius users and VE Pro users everywhere, Mark Sealey has painstakingly assembled a checklist of steps, that, when followed correctly, can have you humming along with VE Pro running directly in Sibelius. Mark’s tutorial follows, with some additional tips for using MIR Pro.

  1. Launch Vienna Ensemble Pro Server (64-bit)
  2. In the Vienna Ensemble Pro Server floating window:
  3. Add a Vienna Ensemble Pro Instance. Note that this can also be added later from the VEP Server Interface window from Sibelius by using an analogous sequence: start Vienna Ensemble Pro Server > start Sibelius; create new Playback Configuration; activate Vienna Ensemble Pro; connect to the new Vienna Ensemble Pro Instance
  4. Name this Instance – e.g. ‘String4tet’; a Vienna Ensemble Pro Instance is represented by one ‘plug’ icon (connected or disconnected)
  5. Click Preserve
  6. The main Vienna Ensemble Pro window opens
  7. If you are using MIR Pro, ensure that Auto Add MIR Pro is activated (top red icon)
  8. Add as many new instrument channels using the VI Pro icon (bottom left hexagon) in the main Vienna Ensemble Pro window as are needed for the composition. Then load the VI presets that came with the sound sets. Special Edition (Plus) users load the matrices that are included with the preinstalled content
  9. If you are using MIR Pro, right-click in the Channels section (left hand side) of Vienna Ensemble Pro to add MIR Pro Room Tone if desired
  10. If you are using MIR Pro, in MIR Pro load a venue, instrument definitions and place the instruments in the venue
  11. Toggle between Mixer and VI Pro tabs (bottom); the Instrument window has the option to unsnap individual instruments. The big ‘unsnap’ button in that window lifts that particular instrument’s user interface out of the shared area and makes it a free floating window. Color key:
    • Bus channels are green
    • Vienna Instruments channels are blue
    • VSTi/AU plug-in channels are brown
    • Audio Input Channels are purple
  12. Assign each instrument to a different MIDI channel. All instruments are routed to the same Vienna Ensemble Pro instance now. MIDI ports have to be set up in Vienna Ensemble Pro for every instrument (not necessary for Sibelius previously because there simply was only one available port). Sound sets and the settings in Sibelius 7 > Play > Setup > Manual Sound Sets have to be configured in the same way as previously. With only one Vienna Ensemble Pro device activated in Sibelius, use Omni for the MIDI Port; otherwise specify the MIDI ports: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 because defining the MIDI port is only necessary when additionally routing Vienna Ensemble Pro Event Inputs to the same Vienna Ensemble Pro instance.
  13. Launch Sibelius
  14. Create a New Playback configuration in Sibelius > Play > Setup > Active Devices; name it, e.g. ‘VEProString4tet’; load the corresponding sound set
  15. For Special Edition users: the VE Special Edition sound set is the one downloaded from VSL, and recommended; the VSL Ensemble Special Edition sound set is the one that comes with Sibelius
  16. Deactivate (usually) Sibelius Player <<
  17. Activate Vienna Ensemble Pro AU or VST >>
  18. Click once on Show
  19. The Vienna Ensemble Pro Server Interface floating window appears
  20. Initially the Status line may read “Not Connected”
  21. Click once on Connect (bottom) of the Vienna Ensemble Pro Server Interface itself
  22. Lower down but still within the Vienna Ensemble Pro Server Interface window all available Vienna Ensemble Pro Instances will be displayed
  23. Single click on the (name of the) Instance which you added in steps 3 and 4
  24. Click the Connect button at the bottom of the Vienna Ensemble Pro Server Interface
  25. The Vienna Ensemble Pro Server Interface Status line will change to Connected
  26. The Vienna Ensemble Pro Server floating window will show just the name of the Instance created in steps 3 and 4 + ‘(64-bit) (connected localhost)’
  27. Now build the Channels in Sibelius > Play > Setup > Manual Sound Sets
  28. The sound set will be one of those located in ~/Library/Application Support/Avid/Sibelius 7/Sounds
  29. Check Use manual sound set
  30. Number of channels should equal the number of instruments required for your composition, which in turn should equal the number of channels defined in the Vienna Ensemble Pro Instance (Step 10)
  31. Set Channel n to the instrument defined for Channel n in the Vienna Ensemble Pro Instance (Step 10); Program name is the instrument from the dropdown menu. Single click Apply; the instrument appears on the right panel, e.g. ‘strings.violin’
  32. Activate >> one Vienna Ensemble Pro device for the first sound set
  33. Double-click on its name in right hand side of Active Devices to give it a meaningful name… e.g. ‘VE Strings’
  34. Activate >> a Vienna Ensemble Pro Event Input for the second sound set. This allows aggregation of all channels inside one Vienna Ensemble Pro instance
  35. Click on Show (in Sibelius) for that Vienna Ensemble Pro Event Input if you are using more than 16 instruments or two (or more) different sound sets
  36. In the floating Event Input window, assign the (newly-created) Sibelius Device to the existing Vienna Ensemble Pro Instance. Make sure to set the Port dropdown in that floating Event Input window to the same (new) MIDI Port to which you will assign Channels in Vienna Ensemble Pro
  37. Assign channels to all instruments sequentially; use channels sequentially (starting from ’1′) for each MIDI port and VE Pro Event Input
  38. Leave everything below Program name at/as default, blank, unaltered, e.g. ‘Send program change’ unchecked; ‘Program number’: always ’0′
  39. Save the Sibelius Playback Configuration
  40. It’s necessary to always save the Playback Configuration after making changes in Vienna Ensemble Pro. Settings in Vienna Ensemble Pro are not saved in the Sibelius file
  41. If you want to additionally backup the VE Pro setup or exchange it with another host or Sibelius Playback Configuration, also save the VIFrame with Vienna Ensemble Pro: File > Save Project (as) saves a ‘.viframe’ file

More details about configuring Vienna Instruments with Sibelius can be found in the “Optimizing Sibelius Playback” manual.

Note from Mark: Derek Bourgeois and Andreas Olszewski (Andi) at VSL encouraged and corrected, suggested and reviewed this tutorial.

Mark’s bio, as provided to the blog:

Mark Sealey has been a lover of all periods and styles of ‘classical’ (‘art’) music since the late 1950s… plainchant to electronic. His special interests are ‘Early’ music and Contemporary European and North American. He’s a British expatriate with a background in education and technology.

A published poet, he never thought that he could actually write music. Starting first with Logic, he moved to Sibelius less than five years ago, and won’t look back—or anywhere else for that matter. It’s a great community he’s proud to be part of.

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2 new plug-ins: Retract Line Ends and Replace Symbol

by Philip Rothman on May 2, 2013 · 6 comments

in Tips

Bob Zawalich just keeps coming up with ways to make our lives a little less tedious, at least when working in Sibelius. He’s recently created two new plug-ins that may save you time on common tasks while working in some scores.

The first of these plug-ins, Retract Line Ends, pulls back the right end of lines that end at the start of the next bar. The line will then terminate at the end of the previous bar. The plugin can process hairpins, octave lines, trills, and ending lines, and it can work on any or all of these types at once, in one step turning this:

before lines

into this:

after lines

This is especially helpful when working on scores created in Sibelius 4 and earlier, where the problem of the hairpin extending over the bar was a Sibelius default, resulting in hairpin “stubs” at the beginning of systems (like at the start of the first example).

Retract Line Ends is available for download here, or directly through Sibelius 7 at File > Plug-ins > Install Plug-ins > Lines.

The second new plug-in, Replace Symbol, simply replaces one symbol with another in the score. Amazingly, this was not possible to do in Sibelius until now. According to Bob:

You can choose the name of a symbol that is in your score to be replaced, then type the name of the replacement symbol. If the replacement symbol is also defined in the score, you can use the Copy text button to avoid retyping.

The symbol name is cases sensitive and must be typed exactly as defined in the Insert Symbol dialog. Note that some symbols have the same name, and this plugin cannot differentiate between such symbols.

Handy in a case, say, where a composer meant to write a snap pizzicato, but instead used the symbol for thumb position:

snap 3

Run Replace Symbol:

replace symbols

And the result is:

snap 2

Replace Symbol is available for download here, or directly through Sibelius 7 at File > Plug-ins > Install Plug-ins > Other.

Thanks, Bob, for make all of our lives a little easier and allowing us to get out and enjoy the sunshine once in a while!

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Joseph Trapanese scores “Oblivion” in Sibelius

by Philip Rothman on April 19, 2013 · 5 comments

in People

oblivion-soundtrack-coverToday, film audiences will be treated to the latest blockbuster Tom Cruise film. Oblivion, released by Universal Pictures and written, produced and directed by Joseph Kosinski, is a post-apocalyptic story in which Cruise battles to save a ravaged planet Earth and all of mankind.

Hardly small stuff—an epic tale requiring an epic score. The powerful music heard in the film is a collaboration between American composer Joseph Trapanese and French musician Anthony Gonzalez, along with Gonzalez’s band M83. The result is a fusion of electronic sounds and full orchestra. I recently caught up with Joe and veteran music preparer Booker White to learn more about what went into making the score.

Joe had previously worked with Kosinski as the music arranger and orchestrator on Tron: Legacy, and I asked him how that experience informed his work on Oblivion. Joe said, “Ultimately as a film composer I am here to tell the director’s story, and anything that can help me understand that better will make the whole process easier. I try to get in sync with Joe [Kosinski]‘s concepts as soon as possible, as he is such a visionary director. I spent several days at the pre-production offices reading scripts, as well as looking at concept artwork and storyboards. Universal was very helpful and in fact flew Anthony and me to the set in Baton Rouge. The scene we watched being shot was one of my favorite to score.”

In addition to traveling to the Oblivion set and reviewing storyboards, Joe found inspiration in other film music. “To me,” Joe said, “Oblivion is almost a modern sci-fi take on Vertigo with hints of Blade Runner, or Total Recall—some of my favorite movies. I listened to these scores for inspiration, and I would be remiss not to thank the staff of JoAnn Kane Music Service for being generous with their time and archives so I could look at some of these original paper scores.”

The biggest difference between Tron and Oblivion was the amount of live music to be recorded. “We also had complicated overdub plans and additional sessions with live rhythm section,” Joe said. Booker had worked previously with Joe on Tron: Legacy, and Joe said that “Booker and his team prepared MIDI cleanups as well as accurate aural takedowns and transcriptions for cues that were made primarily of audio.”

One of the many cues prepared for in Sibelius for ‘Oblivion’ by Booker White and the Disney music prep team (Photo: Cornelius J. Martin)

One of the many cues prepared for in Sibelius for ‘Oblivion’ by Booker White and the music prep team at Disney Music (Photo: Cornelius J. Martin)

The process of bringing a modern score to life is complicated, and the unique collaboration between Joe and Anthony was a logistical challenge. Joe said, “Anthony began writing demos from his tour bus and would send them to me as Ableton Live sessions. From there it would live in my Logic template created specifically for the film based on early talks between me, Joe Kosinski, and Anthony. The entire first month of writing was spent just wrapping our heads around Joe’s notes and inspirations—figuring out the exact combination of electronics and orchestra as well as what kind of pacing and what kind of colors would properly tell Joe’s story.”

Every composer has their distinct compositional process. Joe initially focuses on sketching a whole cue front to end, using only a simple piano patch in Logic. “This allows me to hone in on the notes rather than getting lost in tweaking sounds and arranging,” Joe said. After that, he takes the cue and arranges and mocks it up to present to the director, which is often only a starting point. “Sometimes it takes just a few round of revisions; other times we don’t nail it until version 18! When working on a big film like Oblivion there are a lot of details and notes to address, not only from the director, but from the producers, studio, and sometimes Tom Cruise himself.”

Composer Joseph Trapanese conducting the recording sessions for Oblivion on the Fox Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles (Photo: Thomas Miskuiz)

Composer Joseph Trapanese conducting the recording sessions for ‘Oblivion’ on the Fox Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles (Photo: Thomas Miskuiz)

After the cue is approved, it’s orchestrated (Joe orchestrated the entire score to Oblivion himself), and then it’s time to record. “I make sure to be present at all times,” Joe said, “and I relied on Booker’s presence in the booth to alert me for anything I may have missed while conducting. His presence as well as having his staff on hand for any last second part changes was invaluable. I’m also present throughout the music mix.”

Booker offered some his favorite Sibelius techniques he uses in the orchestrating and music preparation process. “I use the Explode Music plug-in a lot [Sibelius 7: Note Input > Explode; Sibelius 6: Plug-ins > Composing Tools > Explode] when I’m composing and arranging, as I can voice out a soli section and then have it explode to four staves. I’d love it if it would explode to more than four voices; 7-8 voices would be fantastic. Also, my favorite program feature is still the option (alt) key as it clones whatever is selected. This is a fantastic feature.”

Technically speaking, Joe’s advice is to not rush the MIDI cleanup step of the process. “It will save you plenty of time and frustration later on.” He prefers to do MIDI cleanup directly in the sequencer rather than in Sibelius: “Do a ‘Save As’ and create a file specifically for this. Quantize, Force Legato, and Normalize Parameters are your friends!” Once you export the MIDI file, Booker added, “Sibelius’s MIDI file interpretation is pretty good, and I think much better than Finale’s, but it still needs help with tuplets.”

Once he gets to working in Sibelius, Joe is a purist. “I don’t need Sibelius to be anything more than an engraving program. I hope programmers realize that most of us use sequencers for plug-in hosting and mockups; it seems that all the focus [in notation software development] is on bells and whistles while the engraving capabilities are either staying the same or in some cases getting worse. I want the engraving capabilities to continuously get better all the time, but sometimes the bells and whistles get in the way of making a great engraved score.”

To that end, Booker had some suggestions for future versions of Sibelius. “Some articulations need to be a bit fatter, or at least have more options for articulations without having to go through [the current process], which is a bit clunky.” (More detail here.) Also, Booker explained, he’d like to see “more editing ability with changing an instrument within a part (or instrument). When using key signatures and switching a part from say, alto flute to clarinet and then tenor sax, the way key signatures work can be clunky as far as spacing and setting them up with rest bars. A more elegant way of doing this would be great.” Finally, Booker said, he would love to have the ability to have “bar lines at the end of grouped systems but not through the bars in the middle of said system (e.g., for choir parts with lyrics).”

One user tip Booker shared is common among new and not-so-new Sibelius users. “Composers and orchestrators should learn that in creating expressions they should use the Cmd (Ctrl on PC) key for dynamics such as p, mp, mf, f. Many orchestrators just type Cmd-E and then type the “p” but if they use Cmd-P after typing Cmd-E, Sibelius will use the correct Opus dynamic font.” (For a further demonstration of how to do this, see this “Dynamics 101″ video.)

The pulsing string opening to ‘Aerial Battle’ from ‘Oblivion’. Click for a PDF of the full score. (Courtesy Universal Music Publishing)

The pulsing string opening to ‘Aerial Battle’ from ‘Oblivion’. Click for a PDF of the full score. (Courtesy Universal Pictures, © 2013)

“I only use Sibelius for orchestration and music engraving,” Joe explained, although “when in the middle of a long project, I use Sibelius to put together a ‘cheat sheet’ of themes, motives, and ideas. I use a manuscript very early in the writing process when sketching initial themes and sometimes during arranging when working out complex counterpoint.”

That led me to wonder what Joe and Booker thought about Sibelius 7. Joe said that he was still using Sibelius 6. “I have 7 and was really disappointed with the interface,” he said.

Booker agreed: “Sibelius 7 looks like some weird Microsoft toolbar,” he said. “When I receive a Sibelius 7 score I first save it down to Sibelius 6, as that interface is easier for me to work with since it’s set up the same way as all earlier Sibelius versions, and is more Mac-like. As a long-time Sibelius user, Sibelius 7′s interface slows me down because I have to go hunting for certain menu items that were easily found in prior versions. I’d appreciate the option of a preference where I could see the Sibelius interface look like either Sibelius 6 or 7 as the user’s choice.” (To help ease the adjustment to Sibelius 7, see this video on using the Ribbon.)

In terms of his orchestrating setup, Joe said that he usually orchestrates on a 27″ iMac with an attached Thunderbolt display, but is often on the road with an 11″ Macbook Air. Sibelius on the Air “really looks terrible on the small screen for some reason,” he said. “A friend, however, was showing me how to trick it out and all of the new useful features—I’ll have to give it another shot!” To round out his toolbox, Joe currently uses Logic, Plogue Bidule, ProTools, and “lots and lots and lots of plug-ins.”

What can we expect to hear next from Joe? “I have a few cool things cooking but I can’t talk about them yet. I’m very excited!”

Oblivion opens in theatres today, April 19. The score is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and elsewhere.

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Scorch updated for compatibility with Chrome for Windows

April 18, 2013

Scorch, the free web browser plug-in that allows anyone to play Sibelius scores online, has been updated for compatibility with Google’s Chrome browser on Windows. The Scorch download page contains the latest installer. However, in order to download to correct installer, you will actually have to use Chrome to access the page—otherwise, you won’t get [...]

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Read the friendly manual

April 5, 2013

Often I receive questions from friends, colleagues and strangers alike, asking for help with one Sibelius question or another. While I’m not an official source of information, I try to help when I can, although it’s not always possible for me to reply to every question. Sometimes the question is along the lines of “Sibelius [...]

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Making 2-up PDFs in Sibelius 7

March 26, 2013

One of the nice features in Sibelius releases prior to Sibelius 7 was the ability to not only print “2-ups” (2 images per sheet, side by side), but to make PDFs of them directly from the Sibelius Print dialog. By selecting this in Sibelius 6: the result was a PDF that looked like this: In [...]

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5 plug-ins to help with proof-reading

March 8, 2013

While no substitute for a thorough review of your score and parts, here are a few plug-ins that can find and resolve some common errors particular to scores prepared in Sibelius. 1. The recently updated Find Irregular and Misfilled Bars plug-in by Bob Zawalich will locate instances where, for example, the time signature is 3/4 [...]

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New plug-in: Rhythm Paste

February 28, 2013

In Sibelius it is often very useful, as the Reference says, “to be able to change the pitches of a sequence of notes/chords without re-creating their rhythm.” To do this, there is a feature called Re-input Pitches where you copy existing music from a source to a target staff, and re-input the pitches without concerning [...]

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New plug-in: Add Interval

February 22, 2013

Plug-in guru Bob Zawalich has added a new plug-in, Add Interval, that fills a void in Sibelius’s abilities to manipulate notes by interval. Currently, one can add notes above existing notes, but only by diatonic intervals. It’s also possible to transpose by chromatic interval, but then one loses the original notes (in other words, there [...]

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