Sibelius : Logic : Rewire : IAC : Linking All Music Software into a Musical Software Monster!

I know I am not exactly a really famous musician who is know for my flawless methodology, but I have recently come across away (which I have been looking for, for what seems like a million years)  in which to amalgamate, Sibelius and Logic together.

Why? How?... Follow the jump


Why do I do this?

Well I use Sibelius for its notation, its simplicity, and really thats just the way I like to work. But the main drawback of it, is that the sampled sounds that it uses, although not the worst in the world are by no means the best!!

The way I used to work was by writing in Sibelius and then transferring the midi file in to Logic, where I can use any sample library I wish (EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold is my weapon of choise at the moment).

But I found my self feeling more musically inspired in the Logic stage, as the samples are far more realistic, and tried to figure out a way to incorporate this in the writing, Sibelius, stage.


So how can I use the samples of Logic when writing in Sibelius?!

Now I only know how to do this for a Mac, I am sure there is a way for PC's, but I am not too sure on that.

In a Mac you can utilise something called an IAC bus, whereby Midi inforoation is passed internally from one progrmam to another. Its dead easy to set up in Sibelius but not so much in Logic as you need to fiddle with the Environment window.

But since I am a lovely lovely human being, i have done it for you and you can down load the IAC bus ready (and rewire ready - but more on that in a wee bit) Logic file. BUT you do need to read the following link to set up your mac so Sibelius can use the IAC bus

http://www.aranprior.co.uk/BlankIACMidi.zip

This is the link I used and it works brilliantly:

http://www.sibeliusblog.com/tutorials/using-logic-pros-virtual-instruments-with-sibelius-6/

BUT this only sends out Midi on/off data and other such things, so that Sibelius plays Logics Virtual instruments. This will not sync play heads or any other such things, For that you need to use the rewire function.

What is Rewire?

Basically it sends audio information, so if you wanted to, you could play Sibelius' Virtual Instruments through Logic, but why would you want to do that?!?!?!

It sends play back information too, like playback position so that you can sync Logic and Sibelius' Playback (very useful if mixing instruments and electronic - non-notate-able sounds)

Click the following link to find out about this:

http://www.sibeliusblog.com/tutorials/how-to-connect-sibelius-to-logic-via-rewire/

I hope this makes sense to everybody. If there is any mistakes or if your having trouble with any aspect of it - or if it was really helpful - just leave a comment and I'll see if i can help!