Sibelius 2 Music Notation Software Now Available
 January 8, 2002
The Sibelius Group announced that Sibelius 2 for Windows is now available in the United States. Sibelius 2 retails
for $599.
"Sibelius 2 integrates more than 200 new features and robust feature
enhancements, making it one of the significant upgrades of any software
ever," said Ben Finn, CEO of The Sibelius Group. "Because Sibelius is used by
everyone from professional composers and publishers to students, improvements
have been made to every aspect of the program, from notation and playback to
Internet publishing. During the past year, we have work closely with Sibelius
users to ensure that the new program meets the demands of musicians of all
kinds."
Faster and easier to create music using Arrange
Among its new product features are the use of artificial
intelligence to arrange and orchestrate music automatically, the first-ever
commercial program capable of this function. Arrange was partly designed by
Sibelius user Michael Price, whose orchestration credits include the recent
Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks HBO special, "Band of Brothers."
Sibelius 2's Arrange feature dramatically reduces the time it takes to
produce arrangements and orchestrations for any ensemble. For example, using
Arrange, users can rapidly orchestrate a complete piano piece for concert
band. This feature saves hours of time for composers, arrangers and
educators, and is ideal for students learning instrumental writing.
Much improved look and feel
Sibelius is more elegant and beautiful than ever, with a new look which
complements the interfaces of Mac OS X and Windows XP.
Faster Music Input
Note input has been reengineered and is now significantly faster. Users can
now use almost every feature of Sibelius - including copying and pasting, and
moving lines and staves - without ever touching the mouse.
Improved Playback
Playback is even more natural and realistic with enhanced Rubato and
Rhythmic Feel, which adds human-sounding playback to your music.
Powerful advanced tools and plug-ins
Sibelius 2 offers a myriad of advanced features for publishers and power
users and 11 new plug-ins are provided including one that instantly adds
string & brass fingerings.
Timecode & score duration
Sibelius 2 calculates and displays precise timecode (time position from the
start of the score) above barlines - invaluable for film/TV scoring and drum
corps, or for any work requiring timings.
Graphics and Color
With Sibelius 2, it is easier than ever to import color graphics into your
music. Create professional looking covers or add color graphics to your
worksheets. It is easy to color notes according to their pitch, which is
great for teaching note names to beginners or color according to voice to
make your music easier to read. You can also highlight areas of your score,
e.g. for marking up sketches, marking coursework, highlighting tricky
passages to practice.
Print & save from Scorch
Sibelius 2 users can now let visitors to their own Web site print and save
scores using Sibelius' Scorch Internet technology. This is particularly
useful for giving students coursework via the Internet or e-mail.
Groovemusic.com
Sibelius has signed an agreement with Macmillan's Reference and Grove's
Dictionaries Inc. to give Sibelius 2 users a free period of access to the new
2001 online edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the
world's leading music encyclopedia.
Macintosh OS X
The Macintosh OS X version is scheduled for release in the first quarter of
2002, making Sibelius 2 one of the first music programs to be take full
advantage of the robust OS X platform.
PhotoScore Professional 2 Now Available
The Sibelius Group also announced the availability of PhotoScore
Professional 2, an improved version of the optical music recognition software
developed by Neuratron that allows users to scan printed music into Sibelius
2 music notation software.
Neuratron PhotoScore Professional 2 is the advanced version of the PhotoScore
Lite scanning program that is the free version included with Sibelius 2.
PhotoScore Professional 2 scans and reads music faster and with more accuracy
than PhotoScore Lite. Once music is scanned, read and sent to Sibelius, it
becomes a fully editable Sibelius file that can be transposed, re-arranged,
played back and printed.
For more information, visit their web site at www.sibelius.com. | 
