GPO Sibelius Edition: What benefits?

[drmathprog]

At the moment I have only GPO and SONAR. Aside from the vastly better notation and printing capabilities of Sibelius 4, what if anything would I gain by purchasing Sibelius 4 and the crossgrade for GPO Sibelius Edition?

[rpearl]

The main benefit of the crossgrade is the ability to playback the score from the notation, as opposed to manipulating/editing the file in Sonar ( I don't use Sonar, so I hope I'm using the correct term). Articulations, dynamics, crescendi, etc, playback automatically, so if you work from a notation starting point, this is a great help. There is also the issue of notation/printing/score preparation, but it sounds as though those are lower on your list of priorities, perhaps? If the ability of hearing your scores from your notation is important, this is a great way to go.

R. Pearl

[loogoo]

Some people compose more efficiently using notation software. This is especially true for me when trying to figure out more complex string arrangements etc. The notation editor in Sonar is notoriously lacking. Sibelius, along with the GPO Sibelius edition will allow you to get much better playback while working on your score. Please note - the articulations, dynamics, etc. are all calculated on-the-fly during playback in Sibelius so you won't be able to export a Midi file with those subtleties intact. At least, not at the moment.

The bottom line is, if you are comfortable composing in Sonar and don't need printed output for live players, then you're fine as you are.

[rwayland]

At the moment I have only GPO and SONAR. Aside from the vastly better notation and printing capabilities of Sibelius 4, what if anything would I gain by purchasing Sibelius 4 and the crossgrade for GPO Sibelius Edition?
The primary goal of Sonar is audio quality. It is very good for that. The primary goal of Sibelius is score quality. It is very good at that.

There are some features that are lacking in Sibelius that limit it's use as a composing program. I find problems with augmentation, dimunition, etc. that cause tuplets to disappear. So I use Sibelius strictly for preparing a good score. Also, I find it much easier to create a good wav file from Sonar. But a Sonar score is not something you would show off to your music teacher as an example of good notational practice.

My thought is, if you want good notation, get Sibelius, but I don't see much value for you in getting the GPO add on. But the price is pretty good, so it would not hurt anything. I have Sib 4.1, and don't plan on getting the GPO add on.

Richard

[rwayland]

It also occurs to me that if you get Sibelius, and should want to use GPO with it, the GPO version of Sibelius will work smoother and be less demanding on your cpu that using GPO Studio with Sibelius.

Richard

[dbudde]

It also occurs to me that if you get Sibelius, and should want to use GPO with it, the GPO version of Sibelius will work smoother and be less demanding on your cpu that using GPO Studio with Sibelius.

Richard

If you are willing to live with the limitations of GPO Sibelius.

[LFO]

Please note - the articulations, dynamics, etc. are all calculated on-the-fly during playback in Sibelius so you won't be able to export a Midi file with those subtleties intact. At least, not at the moment.

This is the unfortunate reason why I will not purchase the GPO / Sibelius upgrade. For me, being able to take what I have in Sibelius and then transfer the work via MIDI to Cubase SX for polishing is the brass ring.

I think that Overture does a pretty good job of this and I need to look at the product now that version 4 is out and see if it is a better choice. The whole graphical MIDI environment behind the score in version 3 was a great feature.

-LFO

[rwayland]

If you are willing to live with the limitations of GPO Sibelius.

Quite so. Thus, I don't expect to use it. For me, GPO with Sonar is the way to go.

Richard