Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help with Sibelius First Software

Hi. I'm trying to get the demo copy of Sibelius First notation software working. I need some help getting it installed, but it looks like you need to BUY the software before getting any help. Does anyone know where I can get some support? A non-Sibelius forum perhaps?

Thanks,

Dan.

p.s. The problem is that it installed and runs OK, and I can record MIDI music from my DP. However, it won't play back MIDI music through my DP - no sound.

I'm evaluating two other software packages and they play back to my DP just fine.

Dan, I'm not familiar with Sibelius, however I expect there is a settings window somewhere that allows the MIDI IN and OUT devices to be specified. You may need to check that they're both set to use your DP.

Cheers,
James
x

James,

That was my first thought, but I can't find any settings I've missed. The other two software packages I'm testing (Finale PrintMusic and MagicScore Maestro 7) were easy to set up and work fine.

Thanks anyway.

Dan.

Maybe it uses the Windows MIDI settings?

I recall newer versions of Windows have removed the MIDI IN/OUT selection applet, however this can be restored with a freeware tool, such as:

http://software.bootblock.co.uk/?id=vistamidipicker

Cheers,
James
x

James,

I'll give that a try.

Thanks,

Dan.

After messing with the software for a while, I finally found a device configuration page for playback, which is SEPARATE from the input page. That's a bit strange, but whatever...

That page lists available and activated devices. My Casio device was listed as available, but it was grayed out and could not be activated.

The documentation was NO help. It blathered on and on about the wonders of the product but provided NO assistance with resolving problems. So...

Sibelius First will not play back through a DP (at least mine),
Provides no information about resolving the problem, and
There is no way to contact them for help unless you buy the product.

At this point, I suspect that Sibelius First has no support for playing back through a DP - a major limitation. While it looks like it has some nice features, in it's current version it's not usable with a DP.

Dan.

@Dan

I have Sibelius 6 and it plays through my DP.
You most likely found this already, but it looks for USB device under : File - Preferences - Input Device.

Here's some others you may want to look at :

Midi Illustrator
Notation Composer
MuseScore (free)

Dan,

I'm by no means a Sibelius expert, but I do own a copy of First 6.2. I ran a quick search through the Sibelius user forums and found a suggestion that Avid for some reason ships Sibelius First with the default playback configuration locked down.

Try creating a new Playback configuration by clicking the New button on the Playback Devices pop-up menu (assuming 7 works the same way as 6).

I believe you may be able to add your DP as a MIDI device for playback in that new configuration.

Kind regards,

Ben

Dana,

Thanks. The input works fine. Unfortunately the playback is the issue.

Regards,

Dan.

Ben,

Thanks. I'll give this a try and let you know.

Regards,

Dan.

Ben,

It worked! I'm floored, but happy! That said...

Making the disabling the default playback configuration is one of dumbest marketing decisions I've seen in many years. Given that the company provides NO documentation on this and has a firewall to keep prospective customers from any kind of support, I'm 100% sure that many customers tried it and tossed it as "broken". I.e. they've lost a lot of customers because of this.

And why do I know this? Because I gave it up as a lost cause and deinstalled the software last night. If it had not been for your INCREDIBLY ACCURATE post, I would not have reinstalled and tried your solution!

Ben, thank you very much for your help! Now I have a good candidate to compare the software against its competitors.

Best regards,

Dan.

Glad it worked!

Apparently, it's a case of vendor brain damage: trying to keep the user from inadvertently hosing the config files, but instead creating completely unnecessary aggravation and confusion.

To be fair, the documentation does make a passing mention of this issue (it's buried on page 505 of the colossal 780-page Sibelius reference manual), but the information is not exactly easy to find.

And it's totally bogus that Avid keeps you from accessing the user forums unless you are already a registered Sibelius owner.

I have dealt with Avid many times in the past. Regrettably, they do this kind of thing pretty often. OTOH, the software is actually pretty great.

Regards,

Ben

Ben,

My bad! I only got up to page 504 of the docs! Not.

To be fair... I'm a software developer. Sometimes software developers go to amazing lengths to make the software "safe". Sometimes too safe. And writing and maintaining technical documentation is very difficult. Not something we like to do. As a software developer, I understand the issue intellectually.

As a potential customer... Grrrr!

Again, many thanks!

Dan.