Kontakt Gold now available for Sibelius 3

SIbelius Software Ltd. has announced that the eagerly awaited Kontakt Player Gold, from Native Instruments, is now available for their award winning Sibelius 3 software.

The addition of Kontakt Gold will significantly increase the appeal of Sibelius 3 to a new audience who wish to use the power of Sibelius whilst at the same time requiring a complete music composition and production facility featuring studio quality audio samples, extensive playback functions, significant audio enhancements and the option to burn to CD.

Sibelius 3 now offers composers and writers the best of audio and notation power.  

Kontakt Player Gold features a huge range of high quality instrumental and percussion samples, many of which have been specially produced for Sibelius 3. Voices range from an extensive variety of orchestral sounds through to pianos, organs, brass, voices and guitars through to over 110 unpitched percussion sounds (a complete voice listing appears at the foot of this release).

The sound quality is unsurpassed at this price point and up to 32 different sounds can be used simultaneously in the same score. Sibelius 3 was released late last year and offered over 170 improvements on the previous version.   The collaboration with Native takes the product to a new level that will appeal to many musicians, from professional composers to students, and extends the way users can create and share their music. It combines an easy to use but ultra-powerful composing and notation tool with great audio capabilities.

"This result", according to Sibelius CEO Jeremy Silver "was the key objective of the alliance between Sibelius and Native Instruments. We've responded to overwhelming demand from our users to provide CD burning capabilities in our product and have enjoyed working with the world's leading sound synthesis company to give Sibelius users the edge over the competition yet again."

Many of the samples have been sourced from leading edge software houses such as Sonic Implants, North Star and Zero-G.  

Completed compositions can now be burnt to CD and converted to Audio Files for Internet use.

The package is compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows platforms.

Notes to editors

Sibelius is one of the UK's fastest growing and most successful technology companies and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2003, a year in which the company's product portfolio increased from 5 programs to 12 in twelve months.  The company's reputation for well designed, easy to use, technically innovative products continued to grow.  Numerous awards have been heaped on Sibelius again during the year, including the coveted gold badge from the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters for services to the music industry, the UK Music Industries Association 'Best Software' award, and a special award for contribution to music from Classic FM.  Currently Sibelius employs over 60 people in its London headquarters and in its US subsidiary in Walnut Creek, northern California.  The company sells its products in over 100 countries worldwide, including in Japan where it launched last summer and is distributed by Yamaha Music and Media.

About Native Instruments

Native Instruments is the world's leading manufacturer of software synthesizers for personal computers and a well-known brand in the field of music and audio software. Founded in 1996, Native Instruments was one of the first companies to exploit the possibilities of real-time sound synthesis on Macintosh and Windows platforms. Currently, the company employs about 60 people and cooperates with more than 30 international distribution partners. Its headquarters are located in Berlin, Germany, with a subsidiary in Los Angeles, USA.