His books include: 'The Musical iPad', 'The iPad in The Music Studio', 'Finale An Easy Guide to Music Notation (Third Edition)', 'Sibelius: A Comprehensive Guide to Sibelius Music Notation Software (Second Edition)', 'Teaching Music With Technology (Second Edition)', 'Recording in the Digital World', 'YouTube in Music Education' and 'Finding Funds for Music Technology'. He has authored multiple online courses in music technology and music history. Tom Rudolph is an adjunct instructor for Berklee College of Music Online School, The University of the Arts, Central Connecticut State University, VanderCook MECA, and the Rutgers Mason Gross School of Music. So, in order for Sibelus to export music XML, you will need to purchase the “Dolet” plug-in from plug-in for Sibelius is not cheap, but it does provide the capability of saving files to share with Finale users.Ĭheck out the Recordare website for a listing of applications that support MusicXML including Cubase and others:ĭr. However, Sibelius 4 and 5 do not include an option to export MusicXML. So, a Finale user can send a file to be opened in Sibelius. Sibelius 4 and 5 can open MusicXML files. The current version, Finale 2008, comes with the capability of saving and exporting MusicXML files. With versions that do not include the MusicXML export/import option you will need to download and purchase a plug-in from. Using MusicXML you can backwards save to Finale 2000 on Windows or Finale 2004 on Mac OS X. So, if you want to share your Finale 2008 with an earlier version, saving the file in MusicXML is the way to go. MusicXML is also the best way to share Finale files with older versions of the software, as Finale versions are not backward compatible. This allows Finale users to send their files to Sibelius users. Simply choose File > Save Special and select the desired option. The lyrics and text all came over with only minor editing required.įinale 2006 and later versions include the option to save and open MusicXML file formats. See the screen shot of the first few bars of a piece that was entered in Finale, saved in MusicXML format and opened in Sibelius 5. The translation is not 100% as there will be some minor editing but it is much better than sharing MIDI files. With MusicXML, in addition to the notation, the text elements are also translated (XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language and is used for a wide variety of software applications). The Recodare company MusicXML as a way to translate music notation from one application to the other. Text elements such as chord symbols and lyrics and page layout formats are not captured in MIDI files. The problem with MIDI files ( Standard MIDI File Format) is they only transmit performance information such as pitches, rhythms, time signatures, and the like. One option is to save the file in MIDI format and open it in the other application. There are several ways to share files between Finale and Sibelius music notation software.

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