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Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:12 am
by PucciniWagner
Hi all,

Completely new to Sibelius, and of course running into some difficulties. My main difficulty now is that I am unable to get the plug-in that I want (Narrow Two Voices). I have seen various tutorials where they say that one simply has to use the file menu where there will be a plug-ins button on the lower left side, but my file menu does not have this. I am not sure why. Could it be that I did not choose to download Sibelius Ultimate? And if so, does this mean that getting "Narrow Two Voices" and other plug-ins is now completely impossible? Many thanks.

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:45 pm
by andyg
Sibelius First has no plug-in features at all, and Sibelius has 38 builtin. If you want full functionality, you'll have to upgrade to Ultimate, which has 140 plug-ins built in.

Sounds like you have Sibelius First activated, even if you actually bought Sibelius.

The name changes Avid made a while back confused and angered many. Avid are now planning to rename again, to make things simpler. I'd suggest Sibelius Free, Sibelius Lite and Sibelius but who knows what they will come up with.

BTW, as a newcomer to Sibelius, you probably won't know that this is an unofficial forum. Better to ask questions on the real Sibelius chat pages. https://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpce ... ?groupid=3

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:41 pm
by PucciniWagner
Thank you for your reply. I must say I find it a bit annoying that not only are these features restricted on "normal" Sibelius, but I cannot even upgrade to Ultimate--it seems I have to simply buy a whole new package. Pretty sleazy...

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:11 pm
by MikeLyons
You have my total sympathy and understanding. Complain to Avid. They are the company who own sibelius. You can do that here: https://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpce ... &groupid=3

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:12 pm
by PucciniWagner
Haha thanks. By the way, I see one can indeed "cross grade" to Ultimate by paying the difference. But then I see this thing about a "perpetual" subscription? What? Any advice here?

This all seems like an awful lot of headache for a guy who just wants to make a single note head share two flags going opposite directions...

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:12 pm
by MikeLyons
So, voices. Can you use voices in yourversionofsib? Put upstem note in voice 1 and downstem note in voice 2. As long as they are the same length of note there should be no issue! If you don't want both notes to play then give the voice 2 note either notehead 9 or set play on pass to off.

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:31 pm
by PucciniWagner
It is not that I want two separate voices--that I can already do. Its that if the two separate voices happen to share the same note, I want one note head, not two, as seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7naAL3vstJY

But apparently my version of Sibelius doesn't allow for this plugin...

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:20 pm
by MikeLyons
If you have only Sibelius or Sibelius|First, then you cannot use external plugins. That's the bottom line and I'm afraid there's no getting round it other than to buy the full version or take out a subscription (not recommended).

Have you tried Musescore? That may well let you do this without having to fork out for full Sib. You can port the file using musicxml into MuseScore and then port it back after editing the same way (musicxml).

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:35 pm
by PucciniWagner
Gone from mildly annoyed to livid.

Just installed "Ultimate" for one month. However, I see zero difference, except on the Avid Link such things as PhotoScore and NotateMe Lite, which for some reason no matter how many times I press "Update" always ask to be updated again. Please please please what the hell is going on here?!

I know this isn't strictly a trouble shooting site, but I can't believe I just spent 26 dollars on...what? It seems like I just re-installed another couple of Sibelius. Still no difference or plug-in option at the File menu....

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:45 pm
by PucciniWagner
In fact the link that I downloaded was simply called "Sibelius 2021.12". Not Sibelius Ultimate.

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 7:54 pm
by PucciniWagner
Problem solved. Had to deactivate one license and reactivate another. Whew. Sorry for the spammy message.

Re: Unable to get plugins

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 12:01 am
by andyg
Yes, there is only one download. What tier of Sibelius you see depends on what you've paid for - and activated, as you have discovered!

Do you intend to download Sibelius Sounds for playback - if so, it's a separate download of over 25GB! Other playback libraries are available, with Noteperformer being a popular choice.