Avid: Avid's Sibelius 6 Software Advances Music Notation by Cutting Score Preparation Time in Half

TEWKSBURY, MA--(Marketwire - May 19, 2009) - Avid® (NASDAQ: [ AVID ]) today unveiled [ version 6 of Sibelius® ], the world's best-selling music notation software, which includes an innovative toolset designed to provide aspiring and professional musicians with a more efficient approach to music composition. Designed by musicians, Sibelius 6 offers a number of new features including a unique Magnetic Layout tool that cuts score preparation time in half. Students, educators, academic institutions and composers can also take advantage of Sibelius 6 workflow improvements that facilitate greater collaboration, classroom management, and creative control, through the ability to track progress during review cycles and deliver smooth integration with [ Digidesign® Pro Tools® ] systems and other Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs).

"As a company comprised of many musicians and composers, Avid understands the value of identifying and addressing the specific needs of those working in the classroom, home office and professional studio environments. Today's release of Sibelius 6 reflects specific feedback from thousands of customers," said Tex Schenkkan, Avid's vice president and general manager, audio. "This version delivers unique features which will help composers and arrangers realize their creative dreams and save time as they make music for listeners and performers everywhere -- from television and movie screens to live concert performances."

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.

To try Sibelius 6, [ download a demo version of the software ].

About Avid

Avid creates the digital audio and video technology used to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world -- from the most prestigious and award-winning feature films, music recordings, television shows, live concert tours and news broadcasts, to music and movies made at home. Some of Avid's most influential and pioneering solutions include Media Composer®, Pro Tools, Avid Unity™, Interplay®, Oxygen 8, Sibelius® and Pinnacle Studio™. For more information about Avid solutions and services, visit [ www.avid.com ], [ del.icio.us ], [ Flickr ], [ Twitter ] and [ YouTube ]; connect with Avid on [ Facebook ]; or subscribe to [ Avid Industry Buzz. ]

© 2009 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, systems requirements and availability are subject to change without notice. All prices are USMSRP for the U.S. and Canada only and are subject to change without notice. Contact your local Avid office or reseller for prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid, Digidesign, Pinnacle Studio, Avid Unity, Interplay, Media Composer, Pro Tools and Sibelius are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. The Interplay name is used with the permission of Interplay Entertainment Corp., which bears no responsibility for Avid products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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