Musescore messes up my speakers
I'm on the current version of Musescore (3.6.2.548021803) and if I ever open it, it messes up my speakers. Everything from my speakers will be distorted and static-y. It doesn't do this with headphones, but even if I play sound through my headphones only, then close Musescore, then try to use my laptop speakers, it will still mess up as described. The only "fixes" I've found so far are to restart my computer or restart Windows Audio. I've already tried reinstalling Musescore and resetting my preferences to factory default, but neither worked.
Comments
Most likely, something about your specific audio driver, or your OS's settings for how application interact with audio (eg, whether multiple applications can access the same device simultaneously). I order for people here to help debug any such issues on your system it would be helpful to give more info, like what driver is selected in Edit / Preferences / I/o within MuseScore, Iwhat specific OS (some version of Windows I assume), what other audio drivers you might be using ("Windows Audio"?), what other applications are involved, etc.
In reply to Most likely, something about… by Marc Sabatella
I'm using a Windows 10 laptop, and the issue happens no matter which API I select in the I/O tab. "Windows Audio" refers to the service under the services manager. I thought it would be easier to just show what's happening instead of trying to explain it through text so I recorded a video: https://streamable.com/ip2djg The audio works fine, but then after opening musescore it gets funky, when I restart the audio services it goes back to fine, and restarting Musescore's audio makes it go weird again
In reply to I'm using a Windows 10… by GreenGuy5294
And as Marc said, make sure your audio drivers are up to date. I'm sure you've done that as you are messing with services. Also, does the Event Viewer tell you anything?
In reply to And as Marc said, make sure… by bobjp
Whenever the audio messes up it sends 2 warning messages that say "The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID"
In reply to Whenever the audio messes up… by GreenGuy5294
So for that permission error, does it give a faulting application?
Have you googled that error and seen some of the things to try?
What happens if you run MuseScore as administrator?
In reply to I'm using a Windows 10… by GreenGuy5294
I have the SAME EXACT problem as you. I also have a windows 10 laptop and I reinstalled the (the most up to date)audio drivers multiple times and muse score still messes up my audio.
If you look at the image here:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/preferences#general
At the bottom it shows: "Reset All Preferences to Default".
Well, earlier, you wrote:
I've already tried reinstalling Musescore and resetting my preferences to factory default, but neither worked.
So...
Be aware that there is a difference between "default preferences" and "factory settings".
With MuseScore opened, have you tried using menu item: Help -> Revert to Factory Settings?
In reply to If you look at the image… by Jm6stringer
You're right, there is a difference, but I did both and neither worked
Any chance your sound driver allows you to preset a sample frequency? I thought MuseScore defaults to 44,1kHz and if your audio driver uses a different sample frequency it could create static as well (although what your video is showing doesn't immediately sounds like that type of static to me).
By chance, did you checked if, when playing thru the speakers, you are at the same time online (connected to Internet)? I know it sounds weird, but in my case, a problem similar to you happens to me (on the headphones and speakers) only when connected. Since noticing this I always played/recorded wihout any connection active to the network, and never experienced glitches likes these ones.
An update on the issue: I have tried the things that the other comments have said and nothing is fixing it. School has also started back up and apparently I am not the only one with this issue, all of my friends that I talked to that use Musescore are having this same exact issue.
In reply to An update on the issue: I… by GreenGuy5294
Another development: I downloaded an earlier version of Musescore 3.6 and got the same problem (which is weird since this problem didn't happen when I first updated, only recently) and by default it selected the Windows DirectSound API and the Primary Sound Capture Driver as the device. This might be the root of the issue. As said before, I've already done a preference reset and a factory reset and neither fixed this static issue.
In reply to Another development: I… by GreenGuy5294
Would also like to note that even if I select another device the static still occurs from my computer
In reply to Another development: I… by GreenGuy5294
Primary Sound Driver (not "Primary Sound Capture Driver")
In reply to Primary Sound Driver (not … by Ziya Mete Demircan
No, that's not what it's picking. Why are you trying to correct me?
In reply to No, that's not what it's… by GreenGuy5294
you say: "by default it selected the Windows DirectSound API and the Primary Sound Capture Driver as the device."
That's why I suggested you replace it with the correct device if you haven't (see screenshot).
In reply to you say: "by default it… by Ziya Mete Demircan
I had already made a follow up to that comment saying that switching to the correct device doesn't fix the issue
In reply to I had already made a follow… by GreenGuy5294
It's a small possibility, but worth checking: Press F10 to turn on the mixer and make sure the leftmost main volume isn't on the highest setting. If so, double click that area to fix it (it will be set to -40dB).
In reply to It's a small possibility,… by Ziya Mete Demircan
It's not just a clipping issue, my speakers (and just my speakers) will become messed up when using Musescore, and it will presist even after closing Musescore (see original post)
In reply to An update on the issue: I… by GreenGuy5294
Hmm, given this is an extreordinarily rare issue but you have multiple friends with the same problem, that's actually a great clue that can hopefully lead to the solution. What you need to do is compare notes with your friends to find out what particular hardware or software you have installed that most of the rest of the world does not. Then we'll know where the incompatibility is. Could be a particular audio interface you all share, or maybe a particular video game that isn't widely owned by other MuseScore users, etc.
Once you figure that out, then one of you should try uninstalling it to see if the issue goes away.
In reply to Hmm, given this is an… by Marc Sabatella
Its not extraordinarily rare if I have it too. My audio sounds exactly like his does.
In reply to Its not extraordinarily rare… by nightshadepia
If only two or three or even ten people have the issue, out of literally tens of millions of users, that's still quite rare. But anyhow, the point is, in order to investigate and solve a problem, we need to know how to reproduce it. if it were a common problem, it would be easy to reproduce, but unfortunately, so far, no one has succeeded in finding a way to reproduce the problem. We'd need one of the those few people in the world who do experience the problem to do some detective work to try to discover what unique thing on their system is triggering the problem. If you'll like to help, I recommend starting by uninstalling all other audio software and hardware to see if the problem goes away, and if so, then reinstall them one by one to see which is causing the incompatibility.
Well, somehow it's back to working again. I recently updated my computer (which didn't initially fix it) but then I chose an API that had the speaker on the top of the device list, rather than the built-in microphone. I think it was always selecting the first device no matter what I chose.
In reply to Well, somehow it's back to… by GreenGuy5294
All it takes was 2 minutes and it's static again. Back to the drawing board I guess...
In reply to All it takes was 2 minutes… by GreenGuy5294
I know it's not much help, but I had a similar problem when I updated to 3.3.2 in 2019. I tried all the suggested remedies with varying success, but the fix was always temporary; the problem continued sporadically for the remainder of that computer's life.
I do not doubt that this was a result of a driver compatibility issue, but it was an issue between my drivers and MuseScore alone. All other applications which interacted with my sound card appeared to function properly.
Here is the thread i created in regard to that issue:
https://musescore.org/en/node/297089
Some longshots:
1 - Are you using the internal speakers of your computer? Have you tried bluetooth speakers/headphones? Does the problem still occur there? Have you tried attaching an external speaker through the audio output jack/usb speaker connexion?
2 - Have you toggled the midi symbol at the top? Somehow there is an interaction with speakers when this symbol has or hasn't been activated. Try it out a few times.
3 - A while back I had this problem which seemed to come from old mscz files from previous versions of museScore which somehow seemed to have embedded a soundfont that was not compatible with 3.6. I exported the files to musicXML format and then re-imported them and the sound was then OK.
Have this same issue. I just ignored it for a long time, and uninstalled MuseScore. I really hope I can figure out a way to fix this soon! I thought it was just my headphones, but I bought a new set of headphones and it was the same issue. So it's definitely just an issue with the software. This is almost certainly not extraordinarily, as I know many people who have had this issue.
In reply to Have this same issue. I just… by isaacheinze50
Actually, I've seen only a small handful of such reports out of literally millions of users. So it seems much more likely the issue is unique to a particular sound card or driver that is only found on a small percentage of systems. Even if that problem is only triggered by MuseScore and not other programs, that doesn't in itself tell us whether the problem is with MuseScore or with the driver in question 0 just that they don't work together. In any case, even if the issue is with the driver itself, it might well be possible for MuseScore to workaround the problem, if only we knew exactly where the problem was - which driver(s) produce the issue. So the next step in getting to the bottom of this and finding a solution would be figure out exactly what unusual combination of hardware and software is triggering the problem - what the handful of systems that have the problem have in common. The more info you and others experiencing the problem can provide, the better the chances someone will be able to identify the common denominator.
In reply to Actually, I've seen only a… by Marc Sabatella
While I don't disagree with you on this, I will say that when I experienced this problem, (and reported it) it occurred immediately after one of the 3.x updates, and persisted despite updated drivers until I replaced the computer itself. I distinctly recall that after a restart I would have no problem with any audio devices until I ran MS. Once MS had interacted with the sound card, however, everything that used sound on the computer created pops, clicks, and distortion. I'm not saying that MS CAUSED the problem, but it was clearly a TRIGGER for whatever latent driver compatibility issue was laying in wait.
New computer - pristine sound.