sib compatability

• Jan 12, 2015 - 18:52

I have just installled linux on my home computer, and as my usual composition software from Windows didn't work (crescendo), I tried MuseScore. Which is abolutely brilliant in comparison.
At school, I use Sibelius 6. I don't have the budget to buy sibelius and can't stand the clunky UI anyway. I plan to use musescore instead, taking my computer into school. However, I will need to use sib at times, but there seems to be a compatability issue. Sibelius wont save in any other format than .sib, and export doesn't give an XML option, the nearest option being MIDI. MuseScore won't open .sib files.
Is there any way that I can convert between .sib and .xml or .mscx/z? Even an external program would be brilliant. I just need a way to swap between the two, no matter how cumbersome.
A sibelius plugin is out of the option though, as the school is very tight about what you can and can't do to their precious computers.

Thanks in advance if anyone has a solution...


Comments

What is your specific use when you say you 'will need to use sib at times'. Is it for composing, playback?

If it's for playback of your (MuseScore) composition, any score you create in MuseScore can be exported to midi. Presumably, if sib can export midi, perhaps it can playback your MuseScore created midi files.

If it's for notation, see:
http://musescore.org/en/handbook/file-format#Share-with-other-music-sof…

Since Sibelius 6 requires a plugin (not an option, you say) and Sibelius 7 has onboard MusicXML export, have your school upgrade to Sibelius 7. :-(

If that's too pricey, perhaps they will consider MuseScore. :-)
See:
http://musescore.org/en/about/schools-universities-using-musescore

Regards, and welcome aboard.

In reply to by Jm6stringer

the teachers use sibelius for marking, and as far as I am aware the exam board recieve the compositions electronically, presumably in a .sib format. I would be using it for composition occasionally (only when absolutely unavoidable). I would need to load music from Musescore, edit in and save it so that it can be opened in MuseScore.

In reply to by jamestheaccordionist

It is poor educational practice to force students to use proprietary software, so it may be worth talking tactfully to your teachers - they may be enlightened enough to help find a solution, or at least to clarify how they use Sibelius. Maybe the Dolet plugin could be installed by the school (or Sibelius upgraded) so that you could import and export MusicXML files.

The advantages of students being able to work at home with MuseScore are considerable. As legitimate copies of Sibelius are expensive, and other software such as Finale would suffer from the same compatibility issue, I suggest the school really should see this as something they should work with you to resolve. Once MuseScore 2.0 is released, the case for using Sibelius at all will be much weaker.

In reply to by Jon Foote

I will suggest using MuseScore, but can't see anything happening any time soon. They will wait until it is obselete before they upgrade - they have only just let go of Windows 98. They wouldn't want to spend all that on Sib then find something better for free afterwards. Dolet would definitely be an improvement, but for now I will have to export in MIDI.

Try the free 30 day trial of Sibelius at home from the Sibelius website and then try to get the plugin to work for xml. I doubt this should cause problems for you if you download it (the Sibelius Trial) onto your home computer. You can then get all of your sib files onto a memory stick at school, bring them home and convert them all to xml so you can use them on your computer on musescore!

I use MS 2.0.2 and create XML files which a friend then loads into his version of Sibelius. He has also created XML from Sibelius and I've loaded those into MS 2.0.2 without any real issues.

The only issue I can remember were bad placing of lyrics which were straight forward to resolve, vertical offsets were incorrect, that's all.
Can't remember which version Alfred uses but I can find out if that would help..

PS The only reason for doing this is that Sibelius will produce Tonic Solfa for singers and MS won't.

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