Sibelius and Sibelius Ultimate comparison
In addition to many of the features of Sibelius, Sibelius also offers:
- Exclusive, professional-quality 35GB sound library
- Advanced text and typography features
- Extended graphics export, including EPS and SVG files
- Fully flexible Magnetic Layout collision avoidance
- Live Tempo for "conducting" tempo playback
- Version tracking and comparison
- Unlimited staves
- Timeline window for quickly navigating your score (new in Sibelius)
- Extract instrumental parts as separate files, plus many other features for orchestral/band music
- Features for creating worksheets and exercises
- “Arrange” feature to help with arranging and orchestration
- Includes over 140 plug-ins—extra features which do useful things—plus you can download and install many more from the web
- Many more notations, e.g. special symbols, unusual instruments
- Fully editable instruments, lines, symbols, and other notations
- Publishing features to make your scores look completely professional
Here is a comprehensive table of the differences between the two programs.
General features Notation Playback Utilities PublishingExporting and sharing
General features |
Sibelius |
Sibelius Ultimate |
| Types of music | Simple/moderate music of up to 16 staves | Scores and parts of any size or complexity; worksheets and exercises |
| Available as | Single copy only | Single copy (educational discount available), 5-pack, site license, network license |
| No. of computers you can install a single copy on | 2 (for use by same person, e.g. desktop + laptop) | 2 (for use by same person, e.g. desktop + laptop) |
| Manual | On-screen only, about 450 pages | On-screen or printed book (separate purchase), about 730 pages |
| Technical help | 30 days complimentary phone, email, fax, and unlimited web site support | 90 days complimentary phone, email, fax, and unlimited web site support |
Notation |
Sibelius |
Sibelius Ultimate |
| Accidentals | Normal and double only, bracketed | Normal, double, quarter-tones, bracketed |
| Articulations | Common ones only | Full set |
| Bar numbers | Limited | Full range of formats |
| Barline types | Single, double, repeat only | Single, double, repeat, dotted, early music |
| Bars, irregular | No, except pick-up bars |  |
| Beams, cross-staff (in keyboard music) | - | |
| Beam/rest groupings | Fixed | Customizable |
| Brackets & braces | Fixed | Customizable |
| Change transposition of tranposing instruments | - | |
| Chord symbols (appearance and MIDI/text input) | Limited preset options | Fully customizable |
| Cue (small) notes | - | |
| Dotted notes | Single / double / triple dotted | Single / double / triple dotted |
| Guitar chord diagrams | Limited | |
| Guitar scale diagrams | - | |
| Guitar tab | Basic only | Full |
| Instruments | Common, jazz and world instruments only, with fixed number of staves | Full customizable range |
| Jazz articulations | Scoops, falls, doits and plops | Scoops, falls, doits and plops |
| Lines, custom | - | |
| Note values | 512th note (7 beams) to "long" (double breve) | 512th note (7 beams) to "long" (double breve) |
| Noteheads, custom | - | |
| Ossia staves | - | |
| Page numbers | Automatic | Customizable |
| Special symbols | - | |
| Split multirests (in parts) | - | |
| Staves | Up to 16 per system | Unlimited number |
| Stemlets (half-stems) and ‘feathered’ beams | - | |
| Tuplets | Duplets (2:3) to nontuplets (9:8) | Any (e.g. 2, 7, 44:31, nested tuplets) |
Playback |
Sibelius |
Sibelius Ultimate |
| Espressivo 2.0 | - | |
| Edit MIDI data | - | |
| Built-in sounds | High-quality Sibelius 7 First Sounds | Full range of professional-quality orechestral, jazz, pop, marching band and percussion sounds in Sibelius 7 Sounds |
| Live Tempo (conduct playback by tapping) | Limited - playback only | Record, edit, clear and playback Live Tempo |
| Playback markings on specified repeats | - | |
| Playback of hairpins, rits & accel | Fixed | Adjustable |
| Playback of fermatas | Fixed | Adjustable |
| Words which affect playback (e.g. legato) | Fixed | Editable |
Utilities |
Sibelius |
Sibelius Ultimate |
| Arrange - automatic arranging and orchestration | - | |
| Comments (‘sticky’ notes) | |
|
| Compare different scores or versions | - | |
| Copy and paste to Word and other programs | Low resolution (96dpi) only | |
| Display timecode | Single format | Customizable format |
| Edit Dynamic Parts | Limited | Full |
| Edit word menus | - | |
| Export a log of changes to a score | - | |
| Export lyrics as text file | |
|
| Filters (for editing similar objects) | Quick filters only | |
| Find | - | |
| Focus on staves | - | |
| Graphics export (for e.g. creating worksheets) | - | |
| Highlight music | |
|
| Ideas Hub | 300 library ideas, capture your own, can’t edit ideas | Over 2000 library ideas, capture and edit your own, add to score/library |
| Import MusicXML files | |
|
| Instrument changes | - | |
| Join scores together | - | |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Fixed | Customizable |
| Lyric verses allowed | 5 | Unlimited |
| Lyrics from text file | - | |
| Note input options | Limited | Full |
| Panorama (scroll view) | |
|
| Paper & desk textures | 40 | Over 60 |
| Part extraction | - | |
| Paste As Cue | - | |
| Plug-ins | 38 | Over 140 |
| Properties window (to edit individual objects) | - | Full |
| Rehearsal marks | Default only | Fully customizable |
| Repeat structures | Customizable | Fully customizable |
| Rulers | - | |
| Score Starter (40 genre-specific templates) | |
- |
| Special page breaks | - | |
| Swap voices | - | |
| Versions | Save, view and print only | |
| Video (inc. timecode and hit points) | Add video, add/edit hit points | |
| Viewing options for Magnetic Layout, page margins, note colors, full screen, etc. | - | |
| Worksheet Creator | - | |
Publishing |
Sibelius |
Sibelius Ultimate |
| Advanced layout features | - | |
| Auto Layout options | - | |
| Edit fonts | Limited | Full |
| Edit staff types | - | |
| Edit text styles | - | |
| Engraving rules, edit hundreds of | - | |
| Headers/footers | |
|
| House Style import/export | Import only | |
| Magnetic Layout | Fixed | Fully customizable |
| Manage Dynamic Parts | - | |
| Manuscript papers (preset score layouts) | Few; can't create your own | Many; can create your own |
| Note spacing rules | Fixed | Customizable |
| Reset position/design of objects | Limited | |
| Set default object positions | - | |
| Staff spacing | Manual adjustment only | |
Exporting and sharing |
Sibelius |
Sibelius Ultimate |
| Audio recording, export your score as an | |
|
| Avid Scorch app (available on the App Store), optimized export to | |
|
| Email score as .sib or .pdf | |
|
| Graphics file, export your score as a | PDF export only | Standard bitmap and vector formats (SVG, EPS, PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF and PDF) |
| MIDI file export | Type 0 and Type 1 for any device | Type 0 and Type 1 for any device |
| MusicXML file export | Yes: compressed or uncompressed | Yes: compressed or uncompressed |
| Previous version, export to | |
|
| Publish directly to ScoreExchange.com | |
|
| Scorch (browser plug-in) web page, export a | |
|
| Share to YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud | |
|
| Video file, export your score as a | |
|
