From the course: Sibelius Ultimate 2019 Essential Training: The Basics

Choosing the right Sibelius for you - Sibelius Tutorial

From the course: Sibelius Ultimate 2019 Essential Training: The Basics

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Choosing the right Sibelius for you

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- [Instructor] You might be aware that Avid offers three variants of their Sibelius software, Sibelius First, Sibelius and Sibelius Ultimate. This chart shows the main differences between the three. Sibelius First is a free version of the software that allows up to four staves. It plays back using only general MIDI sounds and has very limited layout, design, preferences and other features. Sibelius First is designed for beginners, young students and the person who needs to produce an occasional, quick, basic notation. Sibelius Ultimate is the flagship application historically known as Sibelius. This used the be the only version of Sibelius available for purchase. It has virtually no limitations and all of the bells and whistles that you'll need to produce professional, quality scores and parts. It comes with a large sample library, unlimited numbers of staves and cloud sharing and complete layout and formatting control for publish-ready music. You can purchase Sibelius Ultimate monthly, annually or with a perpetual license. Educational discounts and trade-up competitive pricing are also available for the Ultimate version. The middle tier Sibelius, now known simply as Sibelius, also requires a monthly, annual or perpetual purchase, although it costs a bit less than the Ultimate version. Sibelius is paired down quite a bit from Sibelius Ultimate. It only allows 16 staves in a score, it has a smaller sample library, less cloud storage and only some layout and formatting control. It's a good choice for students, hobbyists, singer-songwriters and anyone looking to complete a nice notation and basic layout for a small ensemble. If you have Sibelius Ultimate, you actually can test drive Sibelius First or Sibelius by holding alt on PC or option on Mac when launching the application. This is because the three variants actually use the same installer. It's your licensing that enables them to open in whichever variant you've purchased. While this course focuses on the wide variety of features found in the most advanced Ultimate version of Sibelius, you'll find that all three variants are built upon the same solid interface and function similarly. While you could complete most of this course with Sibelius or Sibelius First, you'll find that some of the features and details found within the interface and dialog windows will not exist outside of the Ultimate version. You can work your way through this course using an alternate version of the software and adjusting for the lack of features on your own. Or you could consider licensing the Ultimate version for a month or so, which would allow you to complete this course its entirety. The choice is up to you, but understand that from this point forward we'll only be discussing Sibelius Ultimate. I won't be referencing the other two variants anywhere else within this course.

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