Comments on: The story behind Sibelius 6: part 2

By: Bengt Strom

Bengt Strom — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:40:42 +0000

Thank you for my chord symbols in Sib.5
Cmaj7 and Cm7b5 it was great by using: shift+ctr+alt
Can you put it in Sib6 too?
We met in Stockholm last year.
Bengt Strom
Umea in Sweden

By: Jan Gunnar Hoff

Jan Gunnar Hoff — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:34:39 +0000

It has taken some time for Sibelius to implement some very needed functions like the Repeat bars in the last version 6.0: You can now add 1-, 2- and 4-bar repeats from the Keypad, which now play back just like anything else (from website ad).

I adressed this issue to support services already at Sib 3.0. I recently bought the Sib 5 discovering that no such function yet exists in this version. Please arrest me if I am wrong, I really need this feature but cannot find it in 5.

For everyone working in jazz/pop and related genres, being able to repeat a guitar or drum pattern (with full playback) without copying that same pattern in all bars affecting the Full Score sizewise in every page, is cruical. There is a workaround this that I have used sometimes but it´s very complicated.

It´s nice to see that Sibelius finally implemented this in 6.0 as a standard Keypad- feature, although somewhat late.

Best wishes: JGH, Norway

By: Andrei

Andrei — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:56:57 +0000

Just got the upgrade DVD. The list and scope of upgrades is astonishing!
Thanks, Daniel, for the clear and concise upgrade booklet, the tutorial videos and this blog.
Best regards!

By: Randall Stross

Randall Stross — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:18:44 +0000

Sounds like the upgrade to version 6 is definitely worth it. Thank you for all your hard work on this project.

By: John Glossenger

John Glossenger — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:29:06 +0000

The “Realize Chord Symbols” plug-in does a fairly good job of translating chord symbols into chord notes. Unfortunately, this plug-in will only create the chord notes for a NEW instrument (either piano or guitar); I really wish it could (optionally) create them on an EXISTING instrument.

For example, say I’ve already got an instrument “B4Organ ” in my score. I’ve got chord symbols in another staff, and I want to run the plug-in to realize those chords into the B4Organ instrument. When I run the plug-in, it creates the chords in a NEW piano or guitar instrument … and then I have to (1) c0py the chords to the B4Organ instrument, and then (2) delete the NEW instrument. If I could realize the chords into an EXISTING instrument, I’d avoid those two steps.

By: Yrjö Fager

Yrjö Fager — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:23:03 +0000

I made this little video clip to demonstrate the way I imagine live chord symbol playback could work in Sibelius. I hid the realized chord notes with the “focus on staves” feature.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01wsBMK6bQc
The RealGuitar plugin only needs enough MIDI notes to make some kind of a chord for its “left hand”, and then there’s an automatic strumming pattern sequencer which tells what the “right hand” should do. Using the sequencer is optional; you can also control the strumming with MIDI notes, with a separate MIDI track, or e.g. with the metronome/click.

By: thartist

thartist — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:11:09 +0000

@Yrjö Fager:
in-deed.
i find myself very frequently frustrated by not being able to play quicky a little segment to hear a couple of chords or bars.

please take notice, devs.

By: Yrjö Fager

Yrjö Fager — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:55:02 +0000

I already posted about this on the support chat forum, but I find it funny that Sibelius 6 knows so much about chords, it can manipulate and analyze them in various ways, and it can even show you how to play them, but… you don’t get to hear what the chords sound like unless you actually play them yourself. It’s sooooo close, but no cigar. Live chord playback/audition is one of the few remaining things that Finale has, but Sibelius doesn’t have.

By: thartist

thartist — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:39:30 +0000

the especially important reason for this implementation (that i forgot to mention in the former post) is that some professors refuse to accept software for some works because the student can’t get to see if he is writing something that can’t be done in the instrument like a third that falls in the G string in a violin or a fifth in the violin in consecutive strings in the same position. That’s something that happened to me, as an example.

By: thartist

thartist — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:20:46 +0000

@Aaron Smith
fan-tas-tic idea.
Further: in the case of string instruments the most obvious position for a given note could be a strong white dot, and the alternative possibilities to play that same note in other strings could be semi transparent dots drawn all at the same time, to show the alternative positions. That’s a characteristic that doesn’t mean a problem in the piano, because each height is only in one key.

That would be super easy to implement but very helpful. Of course Sibelius will probably not be able to determine the best digitation depending on each particular phrase, but that’s when you could only just follow visually the semitransparent alternative dots.

Now quick! hide this idea from curious Finale eyes!

(my english is so thin especially in musical terminology)