Free Choirspace tool
Sibelius® Plug-ins
Two small ManuScript plug-ins for choir scores in Sibelius. Together they produce exactly what the Choirspace app needs for measure-based practice looping: one MP3 playback per voice, and an exact measure-to-time map straight from Sibelius's own playback engine — no estimating required.
Plug-in 1
Batch Export Voice With Piano Audio
Run this on a choir score laid out as voice staves followed by a two-stave piano reduction (the standard SATB + piano layout). It automatically loops through every voice staff, solos that voice together with the piano, and renders a compressed MP3 (128 kbps, 44.1 kHz) — one file per voice, e.g. Soprano + piano, Alto + piano, Tenor + piano, Bass + piano. All staves are restored afterward.
Why it helps Choirspace users
This is exactly the audio choir members practice with in Choirspace: a clean playback of their own part with the piano audible underneath. Instead of manually muting/soloing staves and exporting each voice by hand, one plug-in run produces the full set — ready to upload as playbacks in Choirspace. Run it on the same score you'll build a measure map for (see the second plug-in below) and the two line up automatically.
Note: exports go to E:\sibeliusexport\ by default. Create that folder on the machine running Sibelius first, or open the plug-in in Sibelius's plug-in editor and change the path in ExportForStaff.
Plug-in 2
Export Measure Playback Map
Run this on any score to export a measure-to-time map — one row per playback event, with the start, end, and duration (in seconds) of every bar, plus the internal and external (displayed) bar numbers and a repeat-occurrence count. It reads Sibelius's own bar playback order and asks Sibelius directly for each bar's exact timing, so repeats, D.S./D.C., and codas resolve exactly as Sibelius plays them — nothing is guessed. The CSV is printed to Sibelius's Plug-in Trace window (View → Plug-in Trace Window), ready to copy from between the START/END marker lines.
Why it helps Choirspace users
This is the exact counterpart to the website's Measure Map Generator, which estimates timing from an exported MIDI or MusicXML file and has to guess at repeat structure. If you still have the original Sibelius file, this plug-in is the most accurate source for a measure map: it comes straight from Sibelius's playback engine, matches the audio exported with the plug-in above bar-for-bar, and needs no review for repeats or codas.
Installing a plug-in in Sibelius®
- Download the
.plg file above. - In Sibelius, open the plug-in editor (Home tab → Plug-ins → Edit Plug-ins, or File → Plug-ins → Edit Plug-ins depending on your version) and use its install/import option to point at the downloaded file — or copy the file directly into your Sibelius
Plugins folder and restart Sibelius. - The plug-in then appears in Sibelius's Plug-ins menu under the name shown in the code above ("Batch Export Voice With Piano Audio" / "Export Measure Playback Map") — run it from there.
Both plug-ins are plain-text ManuScript source (.plg), so you're welcome to open and adapt them — for example to change the export folder, MP3 bitrate, or assumed number of piano staves.
