London,
September 23 2003 - Sibelius Software Ltd, developers of
the world’s leading music notation software, today announces
the release of its groundbreaking new version, Sibelius 3.
The major new version contains over 170 new features, plug-ins and
enhancements. The most innovative is the Kontakt Player Silver, which
allows users to play back music using high-quality instrumental samples,
burn compositions to CD, and create audio files to post on the Internet.
Sibelius 3 was developed by Sibelius Software in London, working
closely with leading software synthesis company Native Instruments
to produce Kontakt Player Silver and Gold exclusively for Sibelius.
The Silver edition, which is included in Sibelius 3, contains 20
instrumental sounds – a useful selection of brass, woodwind,
strings, percussion, voices and a Bösendorfer piano. Kontakt
Player Gold, which may be purchased separately, has 64 instrumental
and 100 percussion sounds, including a wide range of useful orchestral
and band instruments.
Ben Finn, Founder and Director of Sibelius Software, said: "Sibelius
3 represents a dramatic advance for the writing of music. New features
across the whole spectrum of the program will appeal to all kinds
of musician, from professional composers to students. This exciting
collaboration with Native Instruments on the Kontakt Players enables
musicians to extend the way they can hear and share their music. We
expect this to be extremely popular with our current users and to
appeal to new customers who want to combine easy-to-use software with
great audio capabilities."
Sibelius 3 is even easier and faster to use than before. In addition
to many new features for arrangers, composers and engravers, it has
an array of functions for those involved with teaching music.
Jeremy Silver, CEO of Sibelius Software, said: "We listen to
the needs of professional musicians and music educators – and
create products that we hope will set their imaginations free. Great
British success stories are thin on the ground – but Sibelius
is one of them. Although we're still new in the marketplace, 50% of
UK and 25% of US schools already use Sibelius. What we're doing today
is of major importance in building the talent base for the music industry
of the future."
On the collaboration with Sibelius Software, Daniel Haver, CEO of
Berlin-based Native Instruments, said: "We found the experience
of working with the team at Sibelius enjoyable and stimulating. The
unique skills of each organisation have proved to be an ideal match.
The quality of the Kontakt Player and its capabilities is testimony
to that. We believe it will enhance Sibelius and be of enormous benefit
to all musicians."
Sibelius 3 contains over 170 new features including:
- Look and feel has been further improved, with a fresh interface,
a new smoothness setting for extra display clarity, and enhanced
zooming and navigation.
- Focus on Staves aids navigation and editing of scores when writing
for large ensembles, by allowing specified staves to be viewed or
hidden.
- Shadow Notes makes inputting notes with the mouse easy and hassle-free,
as it shows you exactly where a note will appear before it is input.
- Create audio CDs and MP3s from a score using the fantastic Save
as Audio Track feature.
- Kontakt Player Silver, from Native Instruments, uses top-quality
instrument samples for playback quality far exceeding typical MIDI
playback.
- Live Playback, for scores created with Flexi-time, recreates all
the nuances of the original performance, and allows them to be fine-tuned
to perfection.
- Repeats – playback now incorporates every kind of repeat
structure imaginable, as well as allowing individual notes, dynamics
etc. to apply only to certain repeats.
- Engraving – the entirely new Optical™ spacing algorithm
allows Sibelius 3 to space notes perfectly in the most complex situations.
Beaming has also been extensively improved.
- Auto Page Breaks puts page turns in extracted parts in convenient
places, and updates them whenever a score is modified.
- Sibelius 3 includes no fewer than 30 new plug-ins, including
Scales and Arpeggios, which creates any conceivable set of scales
and arpeggios, allowing music teachers to create exercises for their
students in an instant.
- School teachers can now switch off advanced features individually
or en masse, and can create different sets of features suitable
for different classes.
Notes to editors
Sibelius is the world's best-selling music notation software, and
Sibelius Software's technology is used by well over 100,000 people
in over 100 countries worldwide. This summer, the company launched
its Japanese version in Tokyo with its distribution partner Yamaha
Music and Media Corporation.
Users of Sibelius such as conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, ex-Police
guitarist Andy Summers, choral composer John Rutter and film composer
Michael Kamen have helped make Sibelius the standard way to write
music all over the world. The program is also used by Music Sales
and Hal Leonard Corporation, the world’s leading sheet music
publishers, both for engraving and for digital publishing.
Sibelius has dramatically expanded its product range in the last
twelve months and now markets and distributes 14 different products
worldwide, appealing to anyone who wants to write, perform, teach
or learn music. Earlier this year, Sibelius unveiled its Educational
Suite of six software titles, designed to support music education
at all levels. The programs cater for every aspect of music education
from elementary school teaching through to testing university students.
The programs include materials for teachers as well as hands-on student
resources.
Sibelius recently released G7 – a highly acclaimed program
dedicated to the home guitarist and songwriter.
Sibelius Software Ltd employs 60 people and is headquartered in
London with its US operation in San Francisco. The chairman is Sir
Colin Southgate.
Native Instruments is the world's leading manufacturer of software
synthesizers for personal computers and a well-known brand in the
field of music and audio software. Founded in 1996, Native Instruments
was one of the first companies to exploit the possibilities of real-time
sound synthesis on Macintosh and Windows platforms. Currently, the
company employs about 60 people and cooperates with more than 30 international
distribution partners. Its headquarters are located in Berlin, Germany,
with a subsidiary in Los Angeles, USA
All information correct at time of press release.
