# Was Sibelius 7 worth the upgrade?



## Mike Marino (May 19, 2012)

Hey guys,

I'm currently a Sibelius 6.2 user and was starting (now) to think about purchasing the Sibelius 7 upgrade. Those of you that upgraded a while back: have you found it to be worth it? What I mean is have you found anything significant that's improved your workflow? I'm aware of the offerings moving from 6 to 7.....but wasn't sure if there was much of a difference to warrant spending $150 on it. What have your findings been?

I currently use Sibelius for a couple of different reasons:
1) I write/arrange for marching percussion groups (battery and front ensemble) for marching bands and other independent ensembles.
2) Orchestral scoring practice.

Thanks for your opinions.

- Mike


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## mikebarry (May 19, 2012)

Mike the interface is a lot to get used to - but if you exist mostly on short cut keys you will be just fine. Personally for me I called them and asked to downgrade, I just didn't like the windows 98 look and feel of it. I hope they resume the original feel in 8.


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## bdr (May 19, 2012)

Workflow wise..I can't really say there's been any big improvement, in fact many have complained that the new interface has slowed them down while adjusting to it. The new sound library is the major improvement for me, it's a great pleasure to write in notation and get realistic sounding playback and to not have to worry about keyswitches and the like. There was also a large text overhaul which honestly i have barely used.

Perhaps download the demo to see how the interface strikes you.


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## Mike Marino (May 20, 2012)

@Mike: I feel like if they brought back the Sibelius 6 interface, kept the newer sounds, 64-bit, and XML exportation and shifted their focus to improve the video playback and syncing that it'd be a huge win for them.

@bdr: Interestingly enough I use the text functions a lot when writing for marching percussion....so that would certainly slow me down a little bit. Perhaps yo're right; maybe download the demo and check it out.

It seems like it might be a little while before they introduce Sibelius 8 at this point though. I suppose I'm not really in a huge hurry anyway.

Thanks for the comments guys!

- Mike


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## nikolas (May 20, 2012)

I'm new to Sib7 so I can't really comment too much. But I also got sib 6 to work better. I find that Sib7 has many small details that do make my life easier (as a newbie I guess) and it helps me save time. The fact that you can use plenty of image formats is also in favor of Sib7.


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## Pietro (May 20, 2012)

I checked the Sib7 demo when it came out, and didn't see much of an improvement. I use key commands (default and custom) for most functions I use, so I didn't find the new menu layout helpful. Rather a bit confusing (might need some getting used to, though, if you are a frequent Sib6 user).

The Sib7 demo doesn't come with new sounds, so I can't comment on that.

I stay with Sibelius 6.

What I would really like to see in the new version, is the discussed performance improvement. Waiting 40 seconds to copy something and then another minute to paste it (on a large score) - is a major pita to me. Same with plugin performance. Come on, the larger the score, the slower the plugin performance. Part extraction on a small score goes like 10 bars a second, while on a larger score it can go under 1 bar per second. They should really start using multiple cores (I don't mean for playback or video, because that's already there) or finally get to the courageous but inevitable act of rewriting the core code to make Sibelius overall work more efficient. I just don't get why would Sibelius 7 on a monster machine perform just as bad as on a crappy pre-2000 PC with Celeron CPU. 

To me it would be first thing to improve, but reading comments on the Sibelius forum from Avid workers, sadly I'm not convinced anyone there actually thinks this is worth the effort :/. Which only promises, that in the future newer Sibelius versions will only get slower.

- Piotr


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## bdr (May 20, 2012)

Actually I think the text is one of the commonly agreed improvements...lots more options. When it came out it was very slow but recent updates have focused on speed improvements, I did find it sluggish initially but it seems fine now.
There is not a chance in hell of them going back to the old interface, the best that could be hoped for I think is opening up the interface a little to allow the user to configure things a little...but all with the 'ribbon' as the basis.

I also teach Sibelius at my local college and have found this version quite easy to teach...I guess thats what they were going for, ease of use for new customers and bugger the existing users.


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## windshore (May 20, 2012)

7 really had virtually no improvements that users asked for. The increased options for text probably won't help most users... in fact the implementation makes it easy to grab a text handle when you're trying to grab the whole text object. 

I agree though, they aren't going back. Daniel S. is in charge and he and his team are pretty isolated. Avid spent a lot of money to implement the changes and even despite all the negative feedback, they continue dig in further and have hired outside help to create more logical and friendly "study guides" etc. 

It's hilarious because I teach notation at a college here as well, and I can see how it might be easier to teach a beginner. There is a "search" box for commands that would be helpful for someone who doesn't know the program, but beyond and absolute beginner, the layout of controls and silly icons in the ribbon make navigating commands cumbersome.

Daniel S wrote me after I filled out a "survey" and argued his case and then asked what "problems" I was having with video? - That literally made me laugh-out-loud.

I would suggest that if 6 is working well for you, stay with it. Someday the mess that is 7 will at least get better than it is now.... we hope.


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## nikolas (May 20, 2012)

just a quick note that after a couple of versions in Sib 7, the new(est) update has eliminated most speed issues that were present in sib 7! And I'm talking about HUGE delays and much more than Sib 6 (tried both and Daniel tried both as well).

Pietro: If you want, send over your file so I can have a go at copy pasting, etc... And time me...


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## JJP (May 20, 2012)

Under the hood, Sibelius 7 seems like the same program in general. Hotkeys will still get you to the same place, but you'll have to wrap your head around the new interface. 

I've worked on about 3 or 4 Hollywood projects in Sibelius since Sib 7 was released. Every one used Sib 6. I've had more than one project say, "We're using Sibelius, but DO NOT do your work in Sibelius 7." That's not because Sib 7 doesn't work. People just don't want to deal with the new interface.

On the Mac side, the interface changes were pretty ridiculous. It doesn't even seem to conform to Mac GUI standards. That's a sure fire way to drive people away. For Mac users the interface is a big part of why people buy a Mac. How Sibelius could miss that point is beyond me.


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## ed buller (May 20, 2012)

much prefer 6.....although the sounds are lot's better

e


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## Jimbo 88 (May 20, 2012)

My findings echo much of what has already been said. I demo-ed 7 and stuck with 6.

Has anyone tried re-wire on Sib 7? My DAW (Sonar) is now set up for 64 bit rewire, but I did the Sib 7 demo before that happened.


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## Mike Marino (May 20, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Much appreciated! Perhaps when I get some time I'll try the demo...but as I originally thought I'll probably be staying with version 6.

- Mike


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## mk282 (May 22, 2012)

I love the new interface a lot more than the old one.


I disagree about the "Win 98" look and feel, though. Win 98 did not look like that, not by a long shot, the ribbon-laden interface is more akin to some recent Windows 7 applications (Office 2007 onward). I find it faster to work with than before.


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## mathis (May 22, 2012)

I'm still not a real fan of the ribbon, but I got accustomed to it and some things do go faster. Sib7 comes with a lot of other advantages so I recommend going through the learning process for the new UI.


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