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Product Description by our Music Experts
If you have a Sibelius 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.5, 8, Ultimate perpetual license or if your Sibelius Annual Upgrade Plan has expired the Sibelius Ultimate New Annual Upgrade Plan (also known as a reinstatement upgrade/support plan) will upgrade you to the current version of Sibelius, Sibelius Ultimate! Also included is 12 months of upgrades & support! Note: Sibelius Ultimate is the new version of Sibelius 8.
Key features
- The industry standard & professionals choice
- 12 months of Upgrades & Support included
- Digital Download Version
- Compatible with previous versions of Sibelius
- For PC and MAC
Is my version of Sibelius eligible?
You are eligible to purchase an 'New Annual Upgrade Plan' if you meet one of the following criteria (students/teachers please see the 'student/teacher discount version'):
- Sibelius 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 , 7, 7.5, 8 or Ultimate perpetual license ('academic student/teacher' or 'professional' versions)
- Sibelius 8 or Ultimate (perpetual license) with an 'expired' upgrade plan - if your 'annual upgrade plan' has expired (log into your Avid Master Account to check) you are eligible for this product - if you are looking to 'renew' your Sibelius Ultimate Annual Upgrade Plan that has 'not expired yet' then you need the 'Renewal' option instead.
Note: if you purchased the cut-down version of Sibelius called 'Sibelius Student' for around £99, Sibelius First or Sibelius 2018 onwards this product will not upgrade you - please see the 'trade-up' options if you wish to upgrade these products. This product will also not upgrade 'Annual Subscriptions'.
Please check you are ordering the correct version as we do not accept returns for digital download product(s).
What’s new in Sibelius Ultimate?
With Sibelius Ultimate you now get 1 year of upgrades and support included. Whereas in the past Avid Sibelius Ultimate released a major update every few years, they are now launching new features as they are developed and released so you get access to them straight away rather than waiting for them to be rolled into one major update. Here are some of the new features available now/coming soon:
- 12 Months of Upgrades Included
- 12 Months of Support Included
- Multi-touch Gestures - Use multi-touch gestures on your laptop trackpad or Surface Pro 3 to navigate/edit scores.
- Write music with a pen - on your Surface Pro you can add/edit notes using a pen
- Notes & Comments - add notes and comments for you or others
- Easy Activation - simpler activation process to get up and running faster
Other great features
Sibelius Ultimate also comes with the Sibelius Sound Library which is a high quality set of sampled sounds so that your scores sound as realistic as possible, PhotoScore Lite to scan music scores into Sibelius Ultimate, AudioScore Lite which notates what you play into a microphone and Rewire that lets you send scores to DAWs. You can even download the Sibelius Scorch iPad app (separate purchase) to view your scores on the move.
Sibelius Ultimate FAQs
Can I download Sibelius Ultimate straight away?
After you place your order we automatically email download link(s) usually within 10-20 minutes (247) after purchase so you can start using Sibelius Ultimate straight away on a 30 day fully functional trial - we will then send your actual license/instructions usually within 48 hours via email. Note: if you have already accessed the Sibelius Ultimate 30 day trial please wait for your 'license/instructions' to arrive via email as trials can not be used more than once on the same computer. (between 24th December and 2nd January there may be delays in receiving your 'license/instructions' as AVID are closed during this period - although you can install the 30 day fully functional trial which is emailed to you within 10-20 minutes 247).
When does my 12 months of Upgrades & Support start?
Sibelius Ultimate comes with 12 months of support and upgrades (Annual Upgrade Plan). Your Annual Upgrade Plan starts when you install/activate Sibelius Ultimate.
Can I install Sibelius Ultimate on more than 1 computer?
You receive a 1 user license with Sibelius Ultimate, however you can install Sibelius Ultimate onto 2 computers/macs within the same household as long as they are not used simultaneously
Is Sibelius Ultimate compatible with earlier versions of Sibelius?
Sibelius can open and save as Sibelius 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.5, 8 and Ultimate files.
What are the PC and MAC system requirements?
Below you will find the recommended minimum requirements:
Windows
- Windows 10, Windows 11
- 1+ GB of RAM
- 1 GB hard disk space for Sibelius software only
- Internet connection is required for software download and activation
Mac
- Mac OS 10.14, 10.15, 11.0, 12, 13
- 1+ GB of RAM 1 GB hard disk space for Sibelius software only; 36 GB additional hard disk space for the Sibelius Sounds library (optional installation)
- NOTE: the following storage device format is not supported
- APFS (Case-sensitive)
- APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
- Internet connection is required for software download and activation
If using the Sibelius Sounds library it is also recommended to have:
Windows
- 4+ GB of RAM
- 36 GB hard disk space (SSD preferred)
- ASIO compatible audio interface or sound card
Mac
- 4+ GB of RAM
- 36 GB hard disk space (SSD preferred)
- NOTE: the following storage device format is not supported
- APFS (Case-sensitive)
- APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
(You can use Sibelius Sounds if your computer doesn't meet the recommended requirements, but you may find that you cannot use as many sounds simultaneously, and that sounds take a long time to load).
Using 3rd Party Virtual Instruments or hardware MIDI playback devices with Sibelius:
If you have a Virtual Instrument or hardware MIDI playback device that you wish to use, please check that a compatible sound set is available.
To ensure all the above is up to date please check this here.
Product Reviews by our customers
Very good and easy to use
Had Sib6.2, and just upgraded to Sib Ultimate. Easy to do, and great support from DS Music. Only (minor) downside is the reversion to screen layout similar to much earlier versions...which I had forgotten. Might take some time to find way around it, but keyboard shortcuts are still the same. All round - fantastic package.
The only issue I have with the product is that Sibelius is no longer available on disk. I live in the highlands and our download speed is very slow. It took 22 hours to download the sound files!! Despite this I recommend Sibelius 8 as a music programme.
After a complicated series of computer challenges to activate (not DS Music's fault) we are now relieved to have a first class product.
Great item and customer service. Thank you. Five stars!
I'm disappointed to find that the automatic download of plugins doesn't work. I've always been very pleased with Sibelius, but don't think version 8 is enough of a significant improvement (for me) to be worth the money. I bought the upgrade because I thought the fault in version 7.5 when downloading plugins would be 'cured' in version 8, but it wasn't.
Sibelius is a wonderful piece of software. I love it. But should I have received 8.5? I seem only to have 7.5
I have been using Sibelius for about 15 years. I originally bought Sib 4 then upgraded to Sib 5 which more than meets my needs. I have, however, upgraded my computer from Windows XP to Windows 10 and found that Sib 5 was incompatible, hence the need to upgrade Sibelius. This is not a satisfactory state of affairs as I have had expense in updating both computer and Sibelius, when I was quite happy with the existing situation! previous versions of Sibelius came on a CD and loading into my PC was quite painless, but version 8 comes as a download which takes forever, even with a fast broadband speed. I would have been a lot happier if I could have purchased a CD to install!! I have not had much opportunity yet to become familiar with Sib 8, but initial thoughts are "change for change's sake". No doubt I will get to grips with it eventually.
To start with I was hesitant with the purchase and slightly insecure whether it would work out, but thankfully it did. I very quickly had my Sibelius upgrade from and ancient version I bought back in the Uni days and can now continue work to reach some urgent deadlines. Buy with confidence and get back to work.
I have barely scratched the surface of this large program. However there is one comment I must make. The options at the start of the program are poor compared to Finale. The huge choice of templates has, I suspect , been written by the American corp. Avid. I do not think the Finn brothers would have ever written this. Americans seem to always want to automate everything. I would suggest that this part or list be dumped and a page of instruments with a "check box" be introduced. The program would then create a score from the checked boxes. The point is that the number of permutations of scores from Mozart to say Stravinsky is huge. Starting from scratch is of course a large undertaking just as amending one of the templates is messy.