[sib-access] Re: Comparison Between versions - Sibelius 5 and Sibelius 6
- From: "Dave Carlson" <dgcarlson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sib-access@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 15:39:22 -0700
Annabel,
Here's text from a message that Dan sent out over a year ago. It should
help answer your question.
Dave
There are some very exciting new developments in Sibelius 6, one of which is
of particular importance to us visually impaired users, but I'll address the
issue of future updates first.
I'm now renaming the existing scripts Sibelius Access 5 so as to clear up
any confusion over version numbers. You will not be able to use Sibelius
Access 5 with Sibelius 6 since there are several significant changes which
the scripts will not accommodate.
Sibelius Access 5 must be completed before I can even start looking at
scripting Sibelius 6. You may question the wisdom of continuing work on what
is now an out of date product but there are reasons why this has to be done.
The obvious reason is that some people will not make the upgrade for a while
(especially schools and universities who usually take a long time before
upgrading) and so Sibelius Access 5 needs to be completed for them alone.
The other is to ensure that blind musicians have a good and workable
solution. This can be done far more quickly by completing the support for
Sibelius 5 rather than starting work on Sibelius 6. (Sibelius Software have
ensured us that you will still be able to purchase Sibelius 5 through your
local distributors or by contacting Sibelius directly.)
Given all of this, I can make no comments about Sibelius Access 6 other than
to say that I hope to be able to provide a solution in the future.
So what about Sibelius 6 itself? As I said there are some very exciting new
features, one of which is a major break through for visually impaired
musicians - but more on that later.
There's a very nice "live tempo" feature, which lets you record the tempo
for the entire score by tapping a key as though you were conducting the
piece. You can use it to shape the tempo in the same way that a click track
is used, except that this rather nifty gadget will follow you even if you
start tapping half notes instead of quarter notes.
The keypad now has 6 layouts. The new layout includes arpeggio lines which
automatically snap to the chords and properly line up with the top and
bottom notes. There are also some jazz articulations for falls, plops and
doits.
The symbols dialog has been completely rewritten so that you can use the
arrow keys to select the symbol in the grid. The name of the symbol is also
displayed as you arrow around and if you set JAWS to say all you'll be able
to hear which symbol is selected. This in itself is a big win for VI users
because JAWS is no longer guessing which symbol is selected.
Chord symbols are also much easier. You can now create the chord symbol by
playing in the chord directly. You just create the chord symbol using the
old keystroke and then play the chord on a MIDI keyboard and Sibelius will
work out the symbol for you.
And now for the big reveal!
The really exciting new feature is called magnetic layout. To put it simply,
the score now lays itself out automatically. If you add a dynamic it will be
positioned so that it does not collide with any other items. In fact, the
whole score works like this, even the staves themselves. So if a very high
note on one staff collides with a very low note on the staff above, the
staves themselves will move apart to make room for them.
It's very hard to find the right words to describe the way in which Sibelius
6 will affect the way in which we work. I've received so many enquiries over
the years about how blind users can ensure that a score looks right for
sighted musicians. The answer now is that you don't have to do anything -
Sibelius does it for you. Sibelius say that "it may be the greatest
revolution in music engraving in 20 years" but I think that most
visually-impaired musicians who have to prepare print scores will say that
this is a modest statement.
Of course there are limits. If you put too many things in one place then
Sibelius will not be able to resolve the collisions, and you can never
account for every possible scoring situation. The important point is that
you now only need a sighted user to quickly check the score for things that
Sibelius couldn't position properly, instead of needing them to carefully
format the entire score for you.
In case some of you are doubtful of this features reliability, you can read
more at
http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius/6/magnetic_layout.html
I know that some of you will be thinking about buying Sibelius 6 just to get
at this new feature alone, especially those of you who have to regularly
produce scores for players and there is nothing to stop you doing so.
Sibelius Access has already been setup so that the scripts will only load
when version 5.2.5 is running. In all other cases the default JAWS scripts
will be available so you don't have to worry about Sibelius Access itself
causing problems in Sibelius 6.
Speaking for myself, I am now preparing scores in Sibelius 5, which has good
feedback and accessibility, and then opening them in Sibelius 6 so that I
can run them through the magnetic layout and print it.
You can read more about Sibelius 6 at
http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius/6/index.html
I hope this answers some of your questions. I have no objections to people
discussing using Sibelius 6 without scripts but please remember that the
list is really for discussing Sibelius Access which only supports Sibelius
5. I'd also ask that you refrain from asking me when Sibelius 6 will be
supported since I've already said all that I can.
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