Dolet for Sibelius Release Notes

Version 1.2

August 24, 2004

Using Dolet for Sibelius - Installation - What's New - Translation Limits - Reporting Problems - Thank You!

Using Dolet for Sibelius

Dolet software serves as a translator between music programs. These translations are done using the MusicXML file format. Dolet for Sibelius can write MusicXML files, allowing you to exchange music between Sibelius and other programs that can read MusicXML. Currently this includes Finale for Windows and Igor Engraver. You can see a full list at http://www.musicxml.org/software.html.

To save a Sibelius document as a MusicXML file, go to the Plug-ins menu and select the "MusicXML Export" item. You will then see a dialog box asking where to save the XML file. By default, this will be the same as your existing Sibelius file name, with a ".xml" used instead of ".sib" for a file extension.

Be careful when selecting a file name! Our plug-in is restricted to what ManuScript can do, and one thing it cannot do is check for an existing file. Whatever file name you choose will be overwritten.

If you do not see a folder name in the file name, this usually means you have not yet saved a Sibelius file. We strongly recommend that you save your Sibelius file first, then export to MusicXML. This makes it much easier to find your MusicXML file after you have saved it.

Installation

Just copy the Dolet.plg file from this kit into your Sibelius Plug-Ins folder. That's it! The plug-in works on both Windows and Macintosh machines.

Dolet for Sibelius does not work with any version of Sibelius older than 2.1. It works with versions 2.1, 2.11, and 3.1 on both Windows and Macintosh.

On Windows, the initial release of Sibelius 3 (3.0.0 build 4) contained a bug that caused many plug-ins, including Dolet, to crash Sibelius. Upgrade to Sibelius 3.1 in order to use Dolet for Sibelius with Sibelius 3 on Windows.

What's New

Version 1.2 makes the export dialog box wider, so that file names can be read more easily on Windows XP systems. It also fixes some problems with open key signatures, C0 control characters, lyrics, and percussion clefs.

Version 1.1 supports MusicXML 1.0. It adds support for positioning of lines, text, and notes. It also fixes some problems with tuplets, lyrics, and parts that combine regular notation and tablature into a single instrument.

Version 1.02 fixes some problems with guitar tablature, octave lines, grace note slurs, complex tuplets, part names, and Sibelius 3 compatibility.

Version 1.0 was the first production release of Dolet for Sibelius.

Translation Limits

Any type of translation has limits. Things expressed in one language sometimes cannot be expressed the same way in another language. Sometimes the translator does not yet understand all the idioms and vocabulary in both languages. Dolet and MusicXML provide much greater music notation accuracy than MIDI translations, but both types of limits apply to this software.

In particular, Dolet for Sibelius is limited to the musical information provided in ManuScript. It does not have access to accurate information about stems, beams, or transpositions, so it makes its best guess about beams, but leaves the stems and transpositions out altogether: everything is exported at concert pitch. Dolet also does not have access to articulations, symbols, brackets and braces, system breaks, page breaks, staff types, and whether or not elements like accidentals are displayed or hidden in the score.

Reporting Problems

Given all the possibilities available in music notation, you may find problems in how we handle your Sibelius score. Please contact as at if you encounter problems with our software.

If you do find a problem, please give us a description of what Dolet is doing, compared to what you expect it to do. Attaching the Sibelius file that shows the problem will help us to find and fix the problem more quickly.

Thank You!

Thank you very much for your interest in Recordare and MusicXML. We greatly appreciate your support of an open, Internet-friendly format for representing musical scores.

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Last updated August 26, 2004.