Sagibelius 2.0 released

Sagibelius is a set of extensions to the Sibelius notation software which enables the use of the Sagittal notation system.

http://www.jacobbarton.net/2011/10/sagibelius-2-0-released/

Note: no playback, due to limitations of Sibelius. But, pretty notation!

Jacob

Jacob,
could you elaborate on the limitations of Sibelius you mention? I take it these limitations prevail in Sibelius 7?
Could the set of Sagittal symbols be made to work with playback in Finale? I use Johnston's notation in Finale, with movable custom expression marks that have pitchbend values assigned to them (plus pre-tuned synths), and regret that this cannot be done in Sibelius.

But the Sagittal symbol set can be used in Mus2 with playback, can't it?

Juhani

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "piccolosandcheese" <udderbot@...> wrote:
>
> Sagibelius is a set of extensions to the Sibelius notation software which enables the use of the Sagittal notation system.
>
> http://www.jacobbarton.net/2011/10/sagibelius-2-0-released/
>
> Note: no playback, due to limitations of Sibelius. But, pretty notation!
>
> Jacob
>

In the plugin language Sibelius provides (called ManuScript), one can read and write to the "accidental" property of each notehead as an integer.

The integer corresponds both to a number of semitones offset (+1 = sharp, -2 = doubleflat) AND to the symbol used to indicate the shift in pitch (+1 = 2 symbols to the right of natural in the Symbols palette, -2 = 4 symbols to the left).

All the symbols an odd number of places away in the palette, including the normal quartertone spots, are inacessible by the plugin language.

Since the quartertone spots are obviously usable in Sibelius, perhaps the limitation is only in the plugin language. I have no reason to believe that Sibelius 7 has fixed this, but am very curious to know if the plugins work in your version.

My approach has been to rely on a midi relay microtuner such as Scala or LMSO, and have a pair of staves - one "scordatura staff" for triggering the proper pitches, and one for displaying the proper notation. The plugins let you get easily from the first to the second. Pitchbend messages can't be assigned automatically to symbols in Sibelius, but a plugin similar to the built-in "Quartertone Playback" could scan a score for symbols and attach the proper messages. I may do this in the future.

I have no recent experience with Finale. Mus2 is really great for microtonal composition; I've gotten it to work smoothly with Sagittal. Adding all the accidentals to the score is a bit tedious; I hope to make some templates. I recommended the Mus2 approach to the Sibelius senior product manager.

If you haven't already, take a look at Marc Sabat's Helmholtz-Ellis font, http://adagio.calarts.edu/~msabat/ms/pdfs/HE-font-2011.zip ~ his approach uses a text style instead of modifying the accidental value, which I think is better for doing pitchbends.

Best,
Jacob

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Juhani" <jnylenius@...> wrote:
>
> Jacob,
> could you elaborate on the limitations of Sibelius you mention? I take it these limitations prevail in Sibelius 7?
> Could the set of Sagittal symbols be made to work with playback in Finale? I use Johnston's notation in Finale, with movable custom expression marks that have pitchbend values assigned to them (plus pre-tuned synths), and regret that this cannot be done in Sibelius.
>
> But the Sagittal symbol set can be used in Mus2 with playback, can't it?
>
> Juhani
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "piccolosandcheese" <udderbot@> wrote:
> >
> > Sagibelius is a set of extensions to the Sibelius notation software which enables the use of the Sagittal notation system.
> >
> > http://www.jacobbarton.net/2011/10/sagibelius-2-0-released/
> >
> > Note: no playback, due to limitations of Sibelius. But, pretty notation!
> >
> > Jacob
> >
>