[Musikmesse] Avid announces Sibelius 8

The first novelty in Sibelius 8 is the change of purchase policy. Indeed, just like Pro Tools 12, you can either purchase a full license and then pay every year for the upgrade, or subscribe to a monthly or yearly plan with included updates.

As for new features, Avid focused on touch functions, specially for the Surface Pro 3. With multitouch and stylus support, Sibelius 8 users will have the ability to write/edit scores, add comments and annotations directly on their touch screens.

Sibelius 8 also offers new tools, including a magnetic layer for note moving, new icons, quicker navigation in the projects, Espressivo v2.0 or the integration with Pro Tools, Scorch, Avid Everywhere and the MediaCentral platform, as well as Sibelius Cloud publishing.

Avid also introduces a training (Sibelius 101 and 110) and certification program for Sibelius. Last, the authorization system has been simplified and now allows for activating Sibelius 8 on any computer via the Avid Master Account, which also gives you access to support, download and the Avid Maketplace.

Sibelius 8 will be available for Mac OS X and Windows. Along with the software, you’ll get 36 GB of sounds, PhotoScore Lite music sheet scanning software and AudioScore Lite transcription software.

US pricing announced are as follows:

• Full license: $689 then $89/year for the updates
• Yearly subscription: $239/year ($19.99/month)
• Monthly subscription: $24.99/month

Crossgrade offers and student/teacher licenses are also available, visit www.avid.com for further details.