Notation Express for Sibelius 2024 information
Updated March 7, 2024
Thank you for using Notation Express or Notation Express XL for Sibelius!
We are very excited to announce the immediate release of Notation Express and Notation Express XL for Sibelius 2024!
Completely rebuilt for Sibelius 2024
Notation Express for Sibelius 2024 has been completely rebuilt. Every button has been re-programmed to take advantage of Sibelius’s ability to receive commands directly from Stream Deck, instead of relying upon a custom keyboard shortcut profile as the intermediary.
More buttons, more features, more fresh
Notation Express for Sibelius 2024 adds support for many new features: more than 75 new buttons to Notation Express XL for Sibelius and more than 40 new buttons to Notation Express (15-key) for Sibelius.
Many icons have also been refreshed, and the profile has been re-organized in certain areas.
Rebuilding every button of Notation Express
You may have noticed that earlier versions of Notation Express installed a custom keyboard shortcut profile called Notation Express (user copy). In Sibelius 2024 it is no longer necessary to rely on these shortcuts.
This is a major change for the following reasons:
- Reclaim your shortcuts – You can now reclaim all of the keyboard shortcuts for your own use, as you like, without them being reserved by Notation Express
- Cross-platform support – One Notation Express profile works for both Mac and Windows, so you can use the same profile on both operating systems (no need to purchase separate versions)
- Multi-language support – Notation Express is now supported in all languages, so you don’t need to switch to English to use it in Sibelius (the icon labels will still only be in English, for now)
- Faster – The direct connection to Sibelius makes Notation Express significantly more responsive, because it passes commands directly to Sibelius instead of invoking a series of macros that may involve opening and typing into a text area, for example
- Control Sibelius in the background – The direct connection to Sibelius means that you can use your Stream Deck to control Sibelius even when another application is running in the foreground
- Expandability — Rebuilding Notation Express in this way has allowed us to add many more buttons; see the very next section for more information
What's new in Notation Express for Sibelius 2024
- The main screen folders now have red borders (previously, only subfolders had red borders)
- Many other icons have been refreshed, and command names updated, especially in the Hiding and Formatting folder
Third-party Tools folder:
These buttons are included in Notation Express and will work with third-party tools such as NotePerformer, Graphical MIDI Tools, and UltraMix, but the tools themselves must be purchased separately.
- Graphical MIDI Tools (launches the GMT window; does not control GMT functions)
- UltraMix
- NotePerformer
- Add NotePerformer a2, a3, … MIDI Message
- Add NotePerformer Guitar Effects Message
- Add NotePerformer Orchestral Tuning MIDI Message
- Add NotePerformer Pipe Organ & Accordion Stops MIDI Message
- Add NotePerformer Tenuto Always MIDI Message
- Add NotePerformer Vibrato Amount MIDI Message
- Add NotePerformer Vibrato Speed MIDI Message
- Reset Mixer for NotePerformer
(New items in Bold)
Voices (new folder)
- Swap 1 & 3
- Swap 1 & 4
- Swap 2 & 3
- Swap 2 & 4
- Swap 3 & 4
- Other voice-related buttons copied from Modify and Arrange folder:
- Swap 1 & 2
- Voice 1
- Voice 2
- Voice 3
- Voice 4
- All voices
- Delete Voice 1
- Delete Voice 2
- Delete Voice 3
- Delete Voice 4
- Filter Voice 1
- Filter Voice 2
- Filter Voice 3
- Filter Voice 4
- Merge to Voice 1
- Paste into Voice
Notes > More Notes
- Add LV to Notes replaced with Toggle LV
- Next tie style
Articulations
- Caesura
- Copy Articulations (and Slurs)
- Filter Non-tied notes (for applying articulations only to non-tied notes and notes that start a tie chain)
Dynamics
- sub. is temporarily removed, but it will re-appear in a future update
Bars, Barlines, Brackets, Repeats
- Fill Selection With Slashes
Noteheads renamed Noteheads & Microtones
- New noteheads:
- Slashed
- Back slashed
- Ping
- Inverted triangle
- Microtones:
- Quarter sharp
- Quarter flat
- Three-quarter sharp
- Three-quarter flat
- Remove accidentals duplicated here for ease of use
Text
- Position Rehearsal Marks
- Smarten Quotes
- Gradual tempos:
- accel.
- rit.
- rall.
- Separate Music characters folders for Mac and Windows platforms
- The pre-set tempo indications such as e = are removed; these and more can all be applied by using the buttons in the Music characters folder instead
Beaming and Tremolos
- Z on Stem (Buzz)
Lines renamed Lines & Ornaments
- Lines:
- Arrow
- Dashed slur
- Vibrato
- Wide vibrato
- Pedal lift
- Pedal lift again
- Pedal lift finally
- Pedal (no line)
- The Trill natural, Trill flat, and Trill sharp buttons will only work if those custom line styles exist in the document (i.e., a Scoring Express template)
- Ornaments
- Inverted mordent
- Mordent
- Inverted triple mordent
- Triple mordent
- Turn
- Reversed turn
- Inverted turn
- Other symbol
Filters: Reorganized to accommodate many more filters, and even more in the future
- System Text
- Select More
- Filter Others
- Filter With Deselect
- Filter Notes By Duration
- Expression Text
- Filter More:
- Bar repeats
- Clefs
- Comments (moved here)
- Cue-size objects
- Grace notes (moved here)
- Hairpins
- Hidden Objects
- Instrument Changes
- Non-tied notes
- Notes with tremolos
- Pedal lines (moved here)
- Bar numbers (moved here)
- Page Number Changes
- All Barlines
- Special Barlines
- Non-Special Barlines
- Key Signatures
- Time Signatures
- Top, 2nd, 3rd, Bottom Note for Copying (moved here)
- Top, 2nd, 3rd, Bottom Note for Deletion (moved here)
Modify and Arrange renamed Modify and Select
- Select More
- Extend selection up
- Extend selection down
- Extend selection left
- Extend selection right
- Select System Passage
- Copy Double Note Values (use with Paste)
- Copy Halve Note Values (use with Paste)
- Split Bar
- Join Bars
- Some items moved to Voices folder
Hiding and Formatting
- Make Into Score Subset
- Make Into Part
- Insert Graphic
Playback and Navigation
- Loop
- Next page
- Previous page
- Scrub backward
- Scrub forward
- Renotate
- Playback line
(New items in Bold)
Voices (new folder)
- Swap 3 & 4
- Copy
- Paste into Voice
- Other voice-related buttons copied from Modify and Arrange folder:
- Swap 1 & 2
- Voice 1
- Voice 2
- Voice 3
- Voice 4
- All voices
- Delete Voice 1
- Delete Voice 2
- Delete Voice 3
- Delete Voice 4
- Merge to Voice 1
Notes > More Notes
- Toggle cue-size notes
Notes > More Notes > Note input
- Add LV to Notes replaced with Toggle LV and moved here
- 64th button removed to make room
- Notes > More Notes > Note input > Tuplet utilities renamed Tuplets & Accidentals
- Suppress cautionary
- Remove accidentals
- Parenthesize accidental
Articulations
- Copy Articulations (and Slurs)
- Filter Non-tied notes (for applying articulations only to non-tied notes and notes that start a tie chain)
- New More subfolder
- Plop
- Doit
- Scoop
- Fall
- Custom 1
- Custom 2
- Custom 3
- Caesura
- Wedge, Short fermata, Long fermata are moved here
- Copy Articulations (and Slurs) and Filter Non-tied notes duplicated here for ease of use
View & Options > More View Options, Zoom
- Timeline
Bars, Barlines, Brackets, Repeats
- Fill Selection With Slashes
- D.S. al Fine removed to make room
Text
- The folders Tempo and System Text, Techniques, and Staff text are now all subfolders within this folder
- Characters & Diacritics:
- é, è, ñ, ô, ü, ç, Curly left apostrophe, Curly right apostrophe, Curly open quote, Curly closed quote, En dash
- Separate Music characters folders for Mac and Windows platforms
- The pre-set tempo indications such as e = are removed; these and more can all be applied by using the buttons in the Music characters folder instead
- Position Rehearsal Marks
- Gradual tempos:
- accel.
- rit.
Lines renamed Lines & Ornaments
- Lines:
- Slide removed to make room
- The Trill natural, Trill flat, and Trill sharp buttons will only work if those custom line styles exist in the document (i.e., a Scoring Express template)
- New Ornaments subfolder:
- Inverted mordent
- Mordent
- Inverted triple mordent
- Triple mordent
- Turn
- Reversed turn
- Inverted turn
- Other symbol
Modify and Arrange renamed Modify and Select
- Select More
- Split Bar
- Join Bars
- Transposing Score
- Slide left
- Slide right
- Some items moved to Voices folder
A second page has been added to the home page, to accommodate the Third-party Tools folder, and various other helpful buttons such as Sibelius Reference and shortcuts to the Sibelius forum, Notation Express, and Scoring Notes web sites.
Sibelius Ultimate 2024.3 required
Notation Express for Sibelius 2024 requires Sibelius Ultimate 2024.3 or later. Be sure to update Sibelius Ultimate to 2024.3 to use the most current version of Notation Express.
Update path
Notation Express / Notation Express XL for Sibelius 2024 is a paid update for existing users of Notation Express / Notation Express XL for Sibelius, as follows:
Purchased on or after December 12, 2023: Free update
Purchased between December 12, 2022 and December 11, 2023:
- Notation Express: $14.99
- Notation Express XL: $19.99
If you purchased the NE/NEXL bundle for Sibelius, you are eligible for the same update pricing as above; there is no further discount, but you are not obligated to purchase both updated products (you may update separately if you like).
If you have Notation Express or Notation Express XL for Sibelius, and purchased it before December 12, 2022, there is no discount available for Notation Express / Notation Express XL for Sibelius 2024; regular pricing applies.
Get the update
- Simply go to the Notation Express for Sibelius or Notation Express XL for Sibelius product page, and add the product to your cart.
- If you previously bought the NE/NEXL bundle for Sibelius, you will need to purchase each update separately to receive the discount (i.e., do not purchase the bundle for Sibelius).
- Ensure that you are logged into your Notation Central account, so that the correct discounted pricing is applied. (Please be aware that when you add the product to your cart, the discount will not be immediately reflected, but will appear once you begin the checkout process.)
- Purchase Notation Express, read the documentation or watch the installation video for the quick and easy setup instructions.
- Enjoy Notation Express!
Please consult the documentation carefully for installation instructions, or watch this video.
Still on Sibelius Ultimate 2023.x or earlier?
Notation Express is built for the latest version of Sibelius Ultimate. If you still need to work with Sibelius 2023.x or earlier, you can still use the earlier version(s) of Notation Express for as long as you like.
Notation Express for those versions of Sibelius is no longer officially supported, so we can devote our efforts to making the best of Sibelius 2024 and later.
Notation Express for Sibelius 2024 will not work on versions of Sibelius prior to Sibelius Ultimate 2024.3.
Thank you again for using Notation Express!