SIBELIUS > Sibelius 5 First

Sibelius First isn’t really a new program, but rather, it’s a new version of Sibelius’ flagship application-targeted at a different market.

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LIST PRICE: 129.00
WEBSITE: Sibelius

Sibelius First isn’t really a new program, but rather, it’s a new version of Sibelius’ flagship application-targeted at a different market. Whereas the full version, Sibelius 5, is designed for the professional musician/composer, First is designed for the amateur musician/songwriter or even music tutor. It is based on the same code as Sibelius 5, so if you want to move up from Sibelius First to the full version, it’s a simple upgrade. This also marks the first time Sibelius will offer a program for purchase and download from their website.

With its lower price comes a reduced feature-set, but make no mistake, this is a very powerful music application. While you don’t have items like Panorama or the Idea Hub, you still have a wealth of tools that are great for the beginning/amateur musician-and enough features to keep the semi-pro moving and shaking. One of the really great features of Sibelius First is the ability to set up a MIDI guitar and go directly to tablature. On top of that, the auto-transpose feature will keep all your music in-line as you copy and paste parts around your arrangement for different instruments. It’ll even let you know when you’re out of range for a particular instrument. How’s that for easy?

Sibelius First also comes with a new mixer and new MIDI instrument sound bank for all of your composing needs, and when you’re finished with your project, you’ll have the option of bouncing an audio file of your music. Now it’s even easier to get your newest song out the door; with the ability to compose for up to 12 instruments, full backward/forward compatibility (with the full version), imports (MusicXML) and the sheet music scan feature, Sibelius First just might be the program you’ve been looking for. It’s the all-purpose, multi-functional composition tool that’ll prove to be a staple for any songwriter’s tackle box.