Sibelius 3 now available in French and Spanish language versions

Contains the latest capabilities of Sibelius for growing Latin and Canadian Markets

Sibelius Software Ltd., one of the world's leading music software companies, announced today that its flagship product Sibelius 3.0 will now be available in functionally identical French- and Spanish-language editions. The new versions of award-winning composition and arranging software, which contains more than 170 new features and more than 60 plug-ins, are currently available.

"Sibelius 3.0 has experienced phenomenal acceptance as the software of choice throughout the music world," states Jeremy Silver, CEO of Sibelius Software. “Because so many talented people operate in languages other than English, it only makes sense to offer this software in a version that speaks their language. Now there are even fewer barriers to pure creativity."

Developed in partnership with musicians from France and Spain, the new versions incorporate a number of significant enhancements designed specifically to meet the needs of users from those countries, such as a tool to allow for the use of French beaming customs.

Among the other innovative enhancements that set Sibelius 3.0 apart is the inclusion of the Kontakt Player Silver, a joint effort between Sibelius Software London and leading software synthesis company Native Instruments. The Kontakt Player Silver enables users to play back music using high-quality instrumental samples, burn compositions to CD, and create audio files for posting on the Internet. It contains 20 instrumental sounds – a useful selection of brass, woodwind, strings, percussion, voices and a Bösendorfer piano. Kontakt Player Gold, which may be purchased separately, has 64 instrumental and 100 percussion sounds, including a wide range of useful orchestral and band instruments.

The look and feel of Sibelius 3.0 also benefits from a carefully designed interface and a special smoothness setting that provides extra display clarity, enhanced zooming and navigation. The Focus on Staves feature aids navigation and editing of scores when writing for large ensembles, enabling specified staves to be viewed or hidden. Shadow Notes makes input of notes with a mouse easy and hassle-free, as it displays exactly where a note will appear before it is input. With Sibelius 3.0, the user can also create audio CDs and MP3s from a score using the powerful Save-as-Audio Track feature.

Live Playback, for scores created with Flexi-Time, recreates all the nuances of an original performance, and allows for fine-tuning to perfection. Playback now incorporates every kind of repeat structure imaginable, as well as allowing individual notes and dynamics, for instance, to apply only to certain repeats.

The software program also features the Optical™ spacing algorithm, which allows Sibelius 3.0 to space notes perfectly in the most complex situations. Beaming has also been extensively improved from past editions. The Auto Page Break feature places page turns in extracted parts in convenient locations, and updates them whenever a score is modified. Sibelius 3 includes no fewer than 60 plug-ins, including Scales and Arpeggios. With this plug-in, any conceivable set of scales and arpeggios can be created, allowing educators to craft exercises for their students in an instant. Also, music teachers can now switch off advanced features individually or en masse and create various sets suitable for different classes.

"Since its introduction, Sibelius 3.0 has been extremely popular with our current users, and we're sure it will appeal to new customers who use the software in French and Spanish," adds Silver.

To date, there are more than 100,000 Sibelius users worldwide, including conductor Michael Tilson-Thomas, guitarist Andy Summers, choral composer John Rutter and composer Alf Clausen. For more information, contact Sibelius USA, Inc., 1407 Oakland Blvd., Suite 103, Walnut Creek, California 94596; telephone (925) 280-0600; fax (925) 280-0008; email infoUSA@sibelius.com; or visit www.sibelius.com.

Notes to editors

About Sibelius

Sibelius Software Ltd. is based in London, England. Its U.S. subsidiary, Sibelius USA, Inc., is located at 1407 Oakland Blvd., Suite 103, Walnut Creek, California, 94596 and has offices in Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas and Nashville. Sibelius products are available worldwide in more than 100 countries. For more information, contact Sibelius USA at phone (925) 280-0600; fax (925) 280-0008; on the Web at www.sibelius.com; or via e-mail at infoUSA@sibelius.com.

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.