[tsa]

Yep, that's why they are so big. They look good in my car

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Intense Degree

@RLacey

How is Sibelius 7? It's not that long since I upgraded to 6 (half price sale and all that back at the beginning of the year). Is 7 much better/worth it?

I can't easily say, having upgraded from 5 rather than 6. I noticed that a half-price sale always preceded a new version a few months later, so I thought I'd skip the upgrade to 6 and just buy two half-price upgrades at once (if that makes any sense).

I quite like the new ribbon interface, which is well laid out, but forum responses seem to be divided (though I rather suspect that this is because it's new).

64-bit support is nice, though you have to run the 32-bit version (installed at the same time on Windows; some similarly straightforward system that I didn't quite understand on Mac) for some old VSTs (eg. the old Sibelius Sounds).

The new Sibelius Sounds are a big improvement on anything bundled previously, but are *very* large (>30Gb). On my Core i7, 9GB RAM PC, it can take multiple minutes to load in the sounds for an orchestra score (an SSD, which I don't have, is strongly advised if you want to do this a lot, though I tend to default to MIDI playback).

Otherwise, the main improvements seem to be to text manipulation, but if you're not writing vocal music that may be largely irrelevant to you.

Put it this way - most of the useful "new" features to me are actually from Sib6 (Magnetic Layout; Versions), and I'm not sure that I'd necessarily have bothered upgrading if I'd been on 6. But it is a solid version of the software (they've released one patch, though there are a few minor bugs left that I haven't personally seen), and it does have some nice touches.


(Sorry if all that was totally unhelpful.)


EDIT: By way of an experiment, I just loaded the old "Witch Hunt" sample score (which was in an early version of Sibelius, but isn't bundled anymore), and loaded in the sounds. With a defragmented HDD, from clicking play to playback took just over 8 minutes (though this is a fairly large score [full symphonic orchestra], it can start loading sounds in the background rather than having to wait for you to click play [I believe], and playback was obviously very quick thereafter.)

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by rayvio

it's kind of petty I know, but I just didn't like the default images. some of the authors I'm embarrassed to admit I've never even heard of before, and I'd much prefer something personalised. so I threw in a few pictures from Longest Journey, Dragon Age, Discworld, a "Don't Panic" and a few others. I was actually impressed at the quality of the graphics too


just ignore the flash glare from the camera

Ah, the Kindle wouldn't be something for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you.

Still, if you intend to read the Discworld Novels (I know you are probably referring to the the Discworld games in your post, but that doesn't mean you might not also read the novels, right? ), be warned: It can be a bit of a pain due to the Kindle's way of handling footnotes. Anyone who knows the Discworld knows that they tend to have quite some (usually funny) footnotes. No problem if they are actually on the bottom of the page. But I have learned that the Kindle collects the footnotes on a page at the end of each chapter or the end of the book. So expect a lot of flipping back and forth to look them up. If they at least had added a kind of link function to them, that would have improved things a lot. O.o


-

[tsa]

I love the Kindle although indeed, some things it handles a bit dodgy. But I got everything Charles Dickens ever published, including letters and the pictures that came with his books, and comments by the people who made the compilation on it. Bought for US$ 5.74 at Amazon!

[Intense Degree]

Originally Posted by RLacey

...
EDIT: By way of an experiment, I just loaded the old "Witch Hunt" sample score (which was in an early version of Sibelius, but isn't bundled anymore), and loaded in the sounds. With a defragmented HDD, from clicking play to playback took just over 8 minutes (though this is a fairly large score [full symphonic orchestra], it can start loading sounds in the background rather than having to wait for you to click play [I believe], and playback was obviously very quick thereafter.)

Ha! I know Witch Hunt from Sib 4, which is what I upgraded to 6 from, but 8 minutes to load sounds is frankly incredible. I had the Garriton Personal Orchestra set for Sib 4 and that would sometimes take a while, but no more than 1:30 I would guess tops.

The sibelius sounds on 6 are leagues better than the previous ones but it sounds like they've been improved for 7 if they're weighing in at 30+GB.

Other than that 6 seems to cover the bases for me, the lyrics and text stuff generally is much better than 4 anyway. I might look into the ribbon interface thing, but I will probably wait to see what 8 brings as 6 works fine for me at the moment.

Sibelius is the reason that I refused to but a laptop without a numberpad built in! After getting used to entering notes via keyboard/numberpad i've got to admit it's a great way to do it.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Intense Degree

Ha! I know Witch Hunt from Sib 4, which is what I upgraded to 6 from, but 8 minutes to load sounds is frankly incredible. I had the Garriton Personal Orchestra set for Sib 4 and that would sometimes take a while, but no more than 1:30 I would guess tops.

The sibelius sounds on 6 are leagues better than the previous ones but it sounds like they've been improved for 7 if they're weighing in at 30+GB.

Other than that 6 seems to cover the bases for me, the lyrics and text stuff generally is much better than 4 anyway. I might look into the ribbon interface thing, but I will probably wait to see what 8 brings as 6 works fine for me at the moment.

Sibelius is the reason that I refused to but a laptop without a numberpad built in! After getting used to entering notes via keyboard/numberpad i've got to admit it's a great way to do it.

Mmm. I get the impression that 7 is largely a 64-bit rewrite of 6 with some tweaks, rather than aimed at adding lots of features.

I can't compare to the Sib6 sounds, and some people seem to dislike the new ones, but the Sib7 sounds are definitely a lot better than the ones I had from Sib5 (which I also installed, just to test).

I agree on using the NumPad, though I tend to be odd, and input notes using the keyboard but select lengths using the on-screen keypad. Which is really stupid, and I should almost certainly start using the NumPad...

[Intense Degree]

Numpad is definitely the way forward, now i'm used to it it's the quickest way to input notes (except playing it in I suppose, although I have never really tried), especially compared to prating around with the mousepad on a laptop! It's well worth a look, although if you are too used to working another way... who knows.

The 64 bit thing is interesting. 6 is supported on Win 7 64, although still run as a 32 bit application as I understand it, but it sounds like the full 64 bit version 7 takes longer to load things, although I suppose this may just be sample size?

[RLacey]

Yeah. The main advantage of 64-bit support is that it can target more than 4Gb of RAM for samples (allowing them to package the software with the samples they do). In terms of the speed of the software in general, I haven't noticed any difference from old versions.

[SweetDalilah]

I bought this little beauty today
My friend is installing all the components, so it should be ready in the morning

[Fantasysci5]

I bought like $50 worth of food at the grocery sotre. I'm not used to spending so much... Hopefully it'll last me awhile.

[Jatsie]

I bought this t-shirt because I thought the model was cute, plus it was only £8 from this funny little shop called "H&M."

[tsa]

I recently bought five books about the Victorian age in Britain. I got two of them yesterday and will get the rest soon. The two I have already look very interesting. One of them even has beautiful color pictures on every second page or so. A few years ago I never thought I'd be so interested in history but times change . I'll post a picture when I have all the books.

[Jelena]

Went on a shopping spree and came home with these (among other stuff)

Very soft t-shirt.

Suede loafers

Wool Poncho


I'm very content.

[Fantasysci5]

Love the stripped t-shirt, Jelena!

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Love the stripped t-shirt, Jelena!

stripped?!

[rayvio]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Still, if you intend to read the Discworld Novels (I know you are probably referring to the the Discworld games in your post, but that doesn't mean you might not also read the novels, right? ), be warned: It can be a bit of a pain due to the Kindle's way of handling footnotes. Anyone who knows the Discworld knows that they tend to have quite some (usually funny) footnotes. No problem if they are actually on the bottom of the page. But I have learned that the Kindle collects the footnotes on a page at the end of each chapter or the end of the book. So expect a lot of flipping back and forth to look them up. If they at least had added a kind of link function to them, that would have improved things a lot. O.o

I am indeed a fan of the books, I have every one so far in actual book (and a couple on kindle), Pratchett is my favourite author

the footnotes bit is a minor annoyance with the Kindle. I'd have hoped the publishers would have had the foresight to edit the Kindle version to have them in brackets or something instead, but it seems some publishers can't even be bothered to do more than scan book, run through text recognition and run an automated spellcheck. at least that's my theory behind some of the odd typos anyway

[tsa]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Love the striped t-shirt, Jelena!

Originally Posted by Jelena

stripped?!

No, she typed striped, see?

I like the new outfit Jelena. It suits you.

[Fantasysci5]

haha I messed up, then tried to change it back. So I've changed it back to the original for prosperity's sake.

[tsa]

That's so mean!

[Trunkyo]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

haha I messed up, then tried to change it back. So I've changed it back to the original for prosperity's sake.

What's really mean is pointing out that Fantsie dear meant to say "posterity" instead of "prosperity"!

Just bought some more ferocious underwear while in Toronto this weekend. First pair:


Second pair, front and back:




Anti-splurge: A few of the games on my wishlist were on sale at the CNE for $4 each, brand new and unopened. I also bought a box of salmiakki salty licorice candy (definitely an acquired taste... and neither my cousin nor my sister acquired a taste for it! )