what’s new in sibelius software versions...

What’s New in Sibelius® Software versions 2018.1–2018.4

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What’s New in Sibelius iii

Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

New Features and Improvements in Sibelius 2018.4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

New Features and Improvements in Sibelius 2018.1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

System Requirements and Compatibility Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Conventions Used in Sibelius Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2. New Features and Enhancements in Sibelius 2018.4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

New Naming Conventions for Sibelius Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Text Entry and Editing Across Multiple Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Improvements to Transposing Individual Tied Notes in Chords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Note Spacing Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Additional Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 3. New Features and Enhancements in Sibelius 2018.1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Adding Lines to Passage Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Changing Barlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Changing the Rhythmic Value of Selected Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Find in Ribbon Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Introduction

New Features and Improvements in Sibelius 2018.4Sibelius 2018.4 provides the following new features, changes, and improvements:

• “Sibelius” software has been renamed “Sibelius | Ultimate” software and “Sibelius | First” software has been renamed “Sibelius” software

• Enter and edit text across multiple staves at once

• Improved editing of tied notes in chords

• Note spacing improvements

• Additional small improvements

New Features and Improvements in Sibelius 2018.1Sibelius® 2018.1 provides the following improvements:

• Adding lines to passage selections—such as slurs, dynamics, and ties—across multiple staves.

• Changing multiple selected barlines simultaneously.

• Improvements to changing the rhythmic values of selected notes.

• Find in Ribbon enhancements.

System Requirements and Compatibility InformationAvid® 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

As of January 2018, Avid® has adopted a new versioning scheme across all its product lines based on the date of release. For example, 2018.1 is released in January 2018. With a regular, subscription-based re-lease schedule, the new scheme lets you readily know if you are running the latest version of Sibelius.

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Conventions Used in Sibelius DocumentationSibelius documentation uses the following conventions to indicate menu choices, keyboard commands, and mouse commands::

The names of Commands, Options, and Settings that appear on-screen are in a different font.

The following symbols are used to highlight important information:

How to Use this PDF GuideThis PDF provides the following useful features:

• The Bookmarks on the left serve as a continuously visible table of contents. Click on a subject heading to jump to that page.

• Click a + symbol to expand that heading to show subheadings. Click the – symbol to collapse a sub-heading.

• The Table of Contents provides active links to their pages. Select the hand cursor, allow it to hover over the heading until it turns into a finger. Then click to locate to that subject and page.

• All cross references in blue are active links. Click to follow the reference.

• Select Find from the Edit menu to search for a subject.

• When viewing this PDF on an iPad, it is recommended that you open the file using iBooks to take ad-vantage of active links within the document. When viewing the PDF in Safari, touch the screen, then touch Open in “iBooks”.

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the File tab

Control+N Hold down the Control key and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control key and click the mouse but-ton

Right-click Click with the right mouse button

User Tips are helpful hints for getting the most from Sibelius.

Important Notices include information that could affect data or the performance of Sibelius.

Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse shortcuts.

Cross References point to related sections in this guide and other Avid documentation.


ResourcesThe 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 RegistrationActivate 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.

www.avid.com/account

Support and Downloads\Contact Avid Customer Success (technical support), download software updates and the latest online man-uals, browse the Compatibility documents for system requirements, search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Avid user community on the User Conference.

www.avid.com/support

Training and EducationStudy 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 DevelopersLearn about Avid products, download demo software, or learn about our Development Partners and their plug-ins, applications, and hardware.

www.avid.com/products

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Chapter 2: New Features and Enhancements in Sibelius 2018.4 5

Chapter 2: New Features and Enhancements in Sibelius 2018.4

New Naming Conventions for Sibelius Software“Sibelius” software (version 2018.1 and lower) has been renamed “Sibelius | Ultimate” software (version 2018.4 and higher). Sibelius | Ultimate is the top-tier version of the Sibelius software product line. Likewise, “Sibelius | First” (version 2018.1 and lower) has been renamed “Sibelius” software (version 2018.4 and higher).

Text Entry and Editing Across Multiple StavesSibelius lets you enter text across multiple selected staves at once. Entered text is added to the first note on each staff in the selection. You can also edit multiple selected text objects at the same time. This lets you quickly mark up the score with dynamics and other Technique and Expression text.

To enter text across multiple staves:

1 Make a selection across multiple staves that begins with the notes to which you want to add text.

2 Choose Text > Styles and select the desired Text Style.

Old versus new naming conventions for Sibelius software

Sibelius 2018.1 and Lower Sibelius 2018.4 and Higher

Sibelius Sibelius | Ultimate

Sibelius | First Sibelus

System Text and Lyrics can still only be entered on one staff at a time.

Or use the Sibelius keyboard shortcuts for Expression or Technique text entry: Command+E (Mac) or Control+E (Windows) for Expression text, and Command+T (Mac) or Control+T for Technique text.


3 A cursor appears under (for Expression text) or over (for Technique text) the first note on each staff in the se-lection. Enter the desired text.

Sibelius adds the entered text on the first note in the selection on each staff in the selection.

To edit multiple text objects of the same style simultaneously:

1 Select the text objects of the same Text Style that you want to edit.

2 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows), or F2 to start editing the selected text objects.

3 Edit the text as desired.

Edits are uniformly applied to all selected text items.

Improvements to Transposing Individual Tied Notes in ChordsSibelius lets you transpose the first tied note in a chord and all subsequent tied notes are transposed as well. How-ever, transposing any other tied note only moves that note and all of other tied notes remain untransposed. Also, note that moving any tied note does not break the tie (if you want to break the tie, you will have to do so manu-ally).

To transpose all tied notes in a chord of the same pitch:

Click and drag the first tied note up or down.

Figure 1. Technique text (“dolce”) added to the first note on each staff in the selection

Figure 2. Editing multiple selected text objects simultaneously

Figure 3. Editing a tied note in a chord


Note Spacing Improvements

Voice Position Rule Version 3Using Voice Position Rule Version 3 (Appearance > Engraving Rules > Notes and Tremolos > Notes), Si-belius automatically places notes in relation to one another for optimal notational clarity in multiple voices.

Voice Position Rule Version 3 includes the following behaviors for note spacing with multiple voices on a single staff:

• Unisons in two voices with different noteheads never collide.

• Unison whole notes in two voices are placed side by side and are not super-imposed.

• Unison dotted notes of the same value now always share their rhythmic dots.

• Spacing and placement for the rhythmic dots of dotted notes never collide with other notes, stems, beams, or rests.

• Dotted half notes and whole notes in Voice 1 never collide with simultaneous notes in Voice 2.

• Leger lines of voices at the same rhythmic position never touch.

• Crossing voices are laid out head-to-head (rather than stem-to-stem as they were in previous versions).

• Placement of coinciding start and end repeat barlines is improved, especially after creating and deleting them.

• Deleting lyrics or guitar frames automatically respaces the selected music.

• Articulations are taken into account when spacing notes, especially in cases of very short note lengths.

• Rhythmic dots are taken into account when spacing rests (for example when a dotted rest is followed by a note with an accidental).

Figure 4. Voice position rule, Version 3 selected


• The spacing of sixteenth-note rests and eighth-notes is spaced in a rhythmically appropriate manner when us-ing stemlets.

• When creating, editing or deleting notes in multiple voices, notes are automatically respaced (especially when those notes overlap).

Notice the difference in note spacing and layout between Voice Position Rule Version 2 (Sibelius 2018.1 and lower) and Voice Position Rule Version 3 (Sibelius 2018.4) in the following examples:

Figure 5. Voice Position Rule Version 2 (top) and Voice Position Rule Version 3 (bottom).Notice the difference in the position of the eight-note rest in the lower voice

Figure 6. Voice Position Rule Version 2 (top) and Voice Position Rule Version 3 (bottom).Notice that rhythmic dots are not obscured by accidentals with Voice Position Rule Version 3


Figure 7. Voice Position Rule Version 2 (top) and Voice Position Rule Version 3 (bottom).Notice the difference in spacing between the sixteenth-note triplet and the eighth-note triplet

Figure 8. Notes not respaced with Voice Position Rule Version 2 (middle) and notes respaced with Voice Position Rule Version 3 (bottom) after deleting lyrics


Respace Multi-voice Passages During Note Input and EditingWhen entering notes in multiple voices, Sibelius adds or removes space around notes as you enter or edit them. With the Respace multi-voice passages during note input and editing preference enabled, Sibelius resets the spacing for any bar as you enter and edit notes. Disabling or enabling this preference does not change the existing spacing in the score. It only affects the spacing of notes as you continue editing.

To enable (or disable) the Respace multi-voice passages during note input and editing preference:

1 Choose File > Preferences > Note Input.

2 Under Editing, enable (or disable) Respace multi-voice passages during note input and editing.

3 Click OK.

Opening a Score Created in Sibelius 2018.1 or Lower in Sibelius 2018.4Scores created in Sibelius 2018.1 or lower open in Sibelius 2018.4 looking exactly as they did before. However, any edits you make to an old score in Sibelius 2018.4 use Voice position rule Version 3 by default. Note that if you have manually set the positions of notes using the X property in the Inspector in a score created in Sibelius 2018.1 or lower, you will need to reset the spacing to use Voice position rule Version 3 for those notes.

To reset the spacing and use the new voice position rules:

1 Go to Engraving Rules > Notes and Tremolos and select Voice position rule Version 3.

2 Select the music you want to respace.

3 Choose Appearance > Design and Position and click Reset Position.

4 Choose Appearance > Reset Notes and click Reset Note Spacing.

Notes and dotted rhythms line up clearly and respace to avoid each other in multiple voices.

Figure 9. Respace multi-voice passages during note input and editing preference


Opening a 2018.4 Score in Sibelius 2018.1 or LowerNew scores use Voice position rule Version 3 by default. Opening a 2018.4 score that was saved with Voice po-sition rule Version 3 enabled in Sibelius 2018.1 or lower, spacing automatically switches back to Voice position rule Version 2 and notes will move back to their old positions.

Additional Improvements

Remove Overlapping Notes Plug-in UndoableThe Remove Overlapping Notes plug-in (Plug-ins > Simplify Notation > Remove Overlapping Notes) can be undone.

Deleting the First Bar of a Score Without Losing any System TextSibelius lets you delete the first bar of a score without losing any System text that may be attached to it (such as Part Name, Title, Composer, Copyright, Tempo, and so on). If you need to delete these objects too, you'll have to actually select them and delete them. You can add bars to the beginning of your score, delete them as your will commands, and you'll find the System text remains attached to bar 1.

Keyboard Shortcut for Find in RibbonSibelius lets you access the Find in Ribbon search field using the Comma “ , ” key. This means you can press “,” and type the command you are looking for to focus it in the Ribbon right away.

Change All Barlines in a SelectionSibelius lets you change the types of barlines in a score by making a passage or System selection. Then, when you change the type of barline, it changes all barlines in the selection. Of course, Start and End Repeat barlines are exempt from this and can only be added at the start and end of the selection.


Chapter 3: New Features and Enhancements in Sibelius 2018.1

Sibelius 2018.1 provides significant improvements to reduce redundancy with common editing tasks such as adding lines, editing barlines, adding and editing text expressions, and changing rhythms.

Adding Lines to Passage SelectionsSibelius lets you enter any type of staff line across multiple staves in a passage selection (such as slurs, trills, cre-scendi and decrescendi, and so on). When adding lines to passage selections, lines start with the first note and end on the last note of the selection on each staff.

Adding SlursSibelius lets you add slurs to passage selections on multiple staves simultaneously. Sibelius intelligently starts and ends added slurs on the first and last notes of phrases in the selection so they do not run over, or start or end on rests.

To add slurs a selection across multiple staves:

1 Make a passage selection.

Figure 10. Making a passage selection across multiple staves


2 Do one of the following:

• Choose Notations > Lines > Slur.

• Press S.

Sibelius adds a slur starting on the first note of each passage and ending with the last note of each passage in the selection. If there are rests in the selection, slurs end on the last note before a rest. If there are multiple phrases in the selection, Sibelius add a slur to each phrase.

Adding Hairpin DynamicsSibelius lets you add hairpin dynamics to a passage selection across multiple staves.

To add slurs a selection across multiple staves:

1 Make a passage selection for the start of hairpins.

Figure 11. Slurs added to each phrase on each staff

Press Space or Shift+Space to lengthen or shorten selected slurs.



2 Press H. Hairpins are started for the selection.

3 Make a passage selection for the completion of hairpins.

4 Press Shift+H. Hairpins are completed for the selection.

Figure 13. Hairpins started on each staff in the selection


Figure 15. Hairpins completed on each staff in the selection

Press Space or Shift+Space to lengthen or shorten selected crescendi or decrescendi.


Adding TiesSibelius lets you add ties for all common notes in a selected passage across multiple staves.

To add ties to common notes in passage selection across multiple staves:

1 Make a passage selection.

2 Add a tie. Sibelius adds ties for all consecutive notes of the same pitch in the selection.

Figure 16.

Figure 17.

Press Enter to remove all ties in a passage selection. Press Enter again to restore ties.


Changing BarlinesSibelius lets you select more than one barline and change its appearance to Double, Dashed, Final, Invisible, Normal, Tick, Short, or Between Staves. You can also add in System or Page Breaks to these barlines. This lets you make batch layout changes and create common educational worksheets quickly and easily.

To change multiple selected barlines simultaneously:

1 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) to select the barlines you want to change.

Figure 18. Selecting multiple barlines



• Choose Notations > Barline and select the desired barline style.

• Right-click below one of the selected barlines and select the desired barline style.

All selected barlines are changed to the selected barline style.

Figure 19. Right-clicking below a selected barline to set the barline style

Figure 20. Selected barlines changed to selected barline style


Adding System or Page BreaksSibelius lets you add system breaks or page breaks at multiple selected barlines simultaneously.

To add system breaks at multiple selected barlines:

1 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the barlines where you want to add system breaks.

2 Press Return.

Sibelius adds system breaks at each selected barline.

To add page breaks at multiple selected barlines:

1 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the barlines where you want to add system breaks.

2 Press Command+Return (Mac) or Control+Enter (Windows).

Sibelius adds page breaks at each selected barline.

Adding RepeatsRepeats are different from barlines in that they can only add them one at a time. However, Sibelius does let you add both Start Repeat and End Repeat barlines to a a passage or system selection with a single command.

To add both Start and End Repeat barlines to the beginning and end of a passage selection:

1 Select the bars you want to repeat.

Select any one barline and then use Select More to select all barlines. Then press Enter to apply system breaks for all barlines. This is especially useful for quickly creating worksheets for music education.

Figure 21. Selecting bars to repeat



• Choose Notations > Barline > Start Repeat or Notations > Barline > End Repeat.

• Right-click below the selection and choose either Barline > Start Repeat or Barline > End Repeat.

Start Repeat and End Repeat are added to the beginning and end of the selection.

Figure 22. Adding Repeats to the selection

Figure 23. Repeats added to selection


Changing the Rhythmic Value of Selected NotesSibelius provides improved behavior when modifying the rhythmic value of selected notes.

When increasing the rhythmic value of one or more selected notes, the rhythmic value of any subsequent notes are modified (decreased) accordingly—in lower versions of Sibelius, any subsequent notes are deleted.

When increasing the rhythmic value of notes in a passage selection, the rhythmic value of selected notes are mod-ified in pairs.

Figure 24. Increasing the rhythmic value of a single note modifies the rhythmic value of the subsequent note

Figure 25. Increasing the rhythmic value of passage selections modifies rhythms in pairs


When decreasing the rhythmic value of one or more selected notes, the appropriate rests are added accordingly.

When decreasing the rhythmic value of notes in a passage selection, the appropriate rests are added accordingly.

Figure 26. Decreasing the rhythmic value of selected notes adds rests where appropriate

Figure 27. Decreasing the rhythmic value of passage selections adds rests where appropriate

Sibelius lets you switch between 2018.1 behavior and legacy behavior according to your preferred workflow: File > Preferences > Note Input > Editing > Replace Subsequent Notes with Rests when Extending Duration.


Find in Ribbon EnhancementsSibelius provides a customizable keyboard shortcut to search for any command in the Ribbon and then press Re-turn (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to execute the command immediately. This lets you quickly execute common commands while the Ribbon is hidden.

Sibelius provide the following improvements to the Find in Ribbon command:

• The name of any commands found are displayed in addition to its location in ribbon

• Click the command in the Find in Ribbon results list to execute the command.

• Search results display any available keyboard shortcut for matching commands.

Figure 28. Crescendo commands in the Find in Ribbon Search Results list

Press Control+0 (Mac) or Alt+0 (Windows) to enter the Find in Ribbon Search field.

You can define your own keyboard shortcuts for entering the Find in Ribbon Search field in File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Other > Activate Find in Ribbon.

Find in Ribbon search field

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