Caesura Playback: Sibelius 7

Hi!  I've been searching the interwebs for about 3 years to figure out this issue in Sibelius (I was really hoping it wouldn't be an issue in 7 as well, but it remains an issue still).  It leads me to believe that no one else has this problem!

Before I get to the question, let me assure you, I know Sibelius is a notation program, and not a great program to use for quality orchestral mock-ups.  But it drives me crazy non the less:

A caesura... it simply, no matter what I do, will be completely overlooked during play back.  I've tried everything I can think of: Different staff placements, accessing it via different menus, plug ins, ect.  Occasionally I can fake it by adding a fermata over a rest in another part, and then hiding it with shift+cmmd+h, but that's rarely a possible solution.

Does anyone know what I can do to fix this?  Or at the very least, does anyone else even have this problem?

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Dave J

Have you tried a hidden tempo change?

Have you tried a hidden tempo change?

A hidden tempo change would only work if there were any rests between the two notes, the same situation in which I could use a hidden fermata.

I see. I was under the impression that you could sneak a new tempo in without it being anchored to either note. Fermata on a rest affects the duration of sustaining notes apparently which defeats the point of making a hidden staff. Showing a rest makes the caesura redundant.

Easiest solutions I can think of:

1. Expand the bar containing the caesura and hide the time signature and rest and adjust spacings. Or just do away with the caesura and indicate length of pause precisely.
2. Double the duration of the note before caesura with a properties edit/hidden fermata and silence it midnote with a cc message essentially creating a hidden staccato and a cheated beat. Not sure if the two can be combined though.

A hidden tempo change would only work if there were any rests between the two notes, the same situation in which I could use a hidden fermata.

you can change the live duration of the first note with the properties window to create space between the two

(live playback has to be on)

you can change the live duration of the first note with the properties window to create space between the two

 

(live playback has to be on)

Ah!  The least round-about way so far!  Thank you!

You should be able to create a single bar of however long rest you want and then hide the barlines, rests, time signature changes, etc. and manually drag everything around to make it blend. Not sure if you can hide barlines, I don't have sibelius with me so I can't test anything out.

Or, you can have two versions of your piece, one a playback version and one a printing version. Ignore playback in your print version, and in your playback version you can just insert a measure of 1/32 or whatever for a quick rest.

Or, you can have two versions of your piece, one a playback version and one a printing version. Ignore playback in your print version, and in your playback version you can just insert a measure of 1/32 or whatever for a quick rest.

I have done this in the past, but it's a bit of a hassle working with two files simotaniously <--- I apologize for the spelling error, I tried my best, but I'm so wrong the computer doesn't even know what I'm trying to say, so I give up!

You could use a hidden staff of all rests so that you can put a fermata anywhere. Then you can even just delete the staff when you are ready to print.