From the Site: (which is temporarily down, so you're FORCED to read this post! Ha!)
What's New in Sibelius 6?
-- Magnetic Layout - dramatically cuts the writing time in half between the moment of inspiration and the final printed score -- delivering the added assurance that all individual objects are positioned conventionally on the score where musicians expect to find them. The software automatically spaces and lays out scores to look professional and clear from the very first note. Previously, aligning individual score objects required time-consuming manual adjustments which now occur transparently to the user.
-- Versions - enables educators to efficiently track student progress, spot plagiarism and promote collaboration. Students can record progress and submit creative commentary with their final coursework. Professionals now have a robust, effective way to track changes or collaborations with copyists, orchestrators and publishers by saving, manipulating and comparing revisions of a work piece within a single file.
-- Keyboard and Fretboard Windows - provide a visual approach to the music education process, allowing aspiring musicians and composers to follow lighted key and finger positions as a score plays back -- reinforcing the relationship between staff and tab notation with real instruments. These windows also create a new way for customers to input music directly from an on-screen piano keyboard or guitar fretboard, as opposed to using conventional methods such as clicking on the staff of the note or typing the note names on the computer keyboards via a separate MIDI keyboard.
-- Classroom Control - offers a simple and single window for common classroom management tasks. This enables educators to keep students on subject by creating a streamlined approach for sharing files across the network during review cycles and facilitating daily classroom instruction. Messages sent by the educator appear on the student's workstation screen. Now, educators can easily attract attention despite any challenges in the teaching environment, such as students wearing headphones.
-- ReWire Support - simplifies the once challenging process of incorporating audio tracks into notation-focused projects, making it an ideal tool to facilitate a film's orchestral session. By synchronizing Sibelius software with Pro Tools software (or other DAWs running on the same computer,) customers can start real-time playback in Sibelius and the DAW will follow, or vice versa. Further, composers or orchestrators can easily add a vocal to a song created with Sibelius or augment an existing recording for enhanced creative options.
What Customers are Saying
"I remember the day I made the change from Finale to Sibelius notation software. With a 10 minute demo of Sibelius, I was able to learn things that took me six years to figure out in Finale. I'll never go back," said Bryan Harmsen, Kentucky-based marching band composer and arranger. "The Versions feature in Sibelius 6 is going to revolutionize the way we work. In a field band, we are constantly tweaking scores throughout a season -- so to be able to easily reference any changes made along the way will save an incredible amount of time and enhance the collaboration process."
Ron Vermillion of Universal Studios Music Library, adds, "When I first saw Sibelius 6, I knew it was the program of the future. In the rapid-fire world of film scoring, the Magnetic Layout tool alone will save hours moving dynamics and text out of the way of collisions. We have used Sibelius exclusively for years now and have never looked back."
Availability and Pricing
Sibelius 6 is now available for $599 USD. Avid also offers educational pricing of $329 USD per copy with additional discounts when purchasing bundled multi-seat licenses. Current Sibelius customers may take advantage of upgrade options of $169 USD per copy or $129 USD per copy for current customers who are educators and students. To learn more or to watch a video overview of Sibelius 6, visit Sibelius online. For purchasing inquiries, please visit www.sibelius.com/buy or call 1-888-4-SIBELIUS.
*Rob