MuseScore has "Sound and playback" capabilities built in. This chapter covers the playback controls and ways to extend the instrument sounds beyond the built-in piano sound.
MuseScore has an integrated sequencer and synthesizer to play your score.
By pressing the Play button, you enter Play mode. In Play mode, the following commands are available:
Press the play button again to stop and exit Play mode.
MuseScore starts playback from the place it last left off. If you select a note, MuseScore plays from there instead. The toolbar also has a rewind button to quickly return to the beginning of the score for playback.
To also play repeats, activate the Enable/Disable Repeats-Button.
The Play Panel offers more controls over playback, including tempo, starting position, and general volume. From the main menu, choose Display → Play Panel to open the Play Panel.
MuseScore comes with a special type of file called a SoundFont that tells MuseScore how to play each instrument sound. Some SoundFonts are custom designed for classical music - others for jazz, or pop, etc. They can vary in size - some are large and take up a lot of memory, whilst others are very small and light-weight. MuseScore 0.9.6 to 1.3 features a relatively light-weight, general-purpose SoundFont called TimGM6mb.sf2
.
A SoundFont file can store any number of instrument sounds. Many SoundFonts are available on the web. Look for one that covers the 128 sounds of General MIDI (GM). If you use a SoundFont that does not conform to the General MIDI standard, others may not hear the correct instruments when you share the score, or save as MIDI.
The file size and sound quality of SoundFonts available on the web varies. Larger SoundFonts often sound better, but may be too large to run on your computer. If you find MuseScore runs slowly after installing a large SoundFont, or your computer can't keep up during playback, then look for a smaller SoundFont.
Below are some popular GM SoundFonts of different sizes.
Since SoundFont files are large, they often are compressed into a variety of formats, including .zip, .sfArk, and .tar.gz. You need to decompress these files before they can be used.
After finding and decompressing a SoundFont, do not double-click to open it, since this does not set up MuseScore. Instead, move the file to a folder of your choice, start MuseScore, and follow the instructions below.
Click on the Open icon next to the SoundFont location and browse for your new SoundFont (.sf2) file. In the open dialog, browse and select your file; then press Open.
If the toolbar play panel is greyed out, or not visible, follow the instructions below to get your sound working again:
If you are setting up a SoundFont for the first time, please use one of the recommended SoundFonts listed above.
If playback stutters, then your computer is not able to handle the SoundFont being used. Two solutions:
Playback tempo can be changed via the play panel, or via tempo text in the score.
Existing tempo text can be changed by double-clicking the text to enter edit mode. You can use text editing
to add a quarter note or another duration for a metronome mark in the tempo text.
Beats per minute (BPM, quarter notes per minute) on existing tempo text can be adjusted by right-clicking on the text and selecting Tempo Properties...
Note: Playback of tempo text may be faster or slower than the specified BPM if the tempo setting in the play panel is not set to 100 percent.
The mixer allows you to change instrument sounds and adjust the volume, panning, reverberation, and chorus for each staff. From the main menu, choose Display → Mixer to show the mixer.
Use the Mute check box to quickly silence certain staves. Alternatively, use the Solo check box to silence all staves, except the staff you mark as "solo".
To turn a dial clockwise, click and drag upwards. To turn a dial counter-clockwise, click and drag downwards.
The sound drop-down menu lists every instrument supported by your current SoundFont .
You can change a staff to be a different instrument. The following method updates instrument sound, staff name, and staff transposition all at once.
Some instruments can change sounds midway in a score. For example, strings can switch to pizzicato or tremolo and trumpet can switch to muted trumpet. The following instructions use muted trumpet as an example, but the same principles apply to pizzicato or tremolo strings.
Every note after the staff text you added now sounds muted. To return to an unmuted sound later in the piece, follow the same guidelines as above except type Open in step 3 and select normal in step 6.
Playback volume can be changed for the entire piece by the play panel, or locally by Dynamics text in the score.