New features in MuseScore 0.9.5
- With the release of MuseScore 0.9.5 comes the first stable release for Mac OS X 10.4 and above
- Create sound files of your scores via File → Save As... (WAV, OGG, and FLAC)
- Use and create plugins
- Know the pitch range of instruments (MuseScore marks out-of-range notes for amateurs in yellow and professionals in red)
- Double-click to open a MuseScore file
- Over 30 crashes fixed
Playback
- Dynamic markings affect playback. For example ff sounds louder than mp
- 8va and 8vb now affects a single staff (as expected) instead of all staves in a score
- Tempo changes playback correctly for scores with repeats
- All staves playback on Windows using the default
SoundFont. Previous versions only played the top staff unless you manually setup a General MIDI SoundFont - Position of slider in play panel is now reliable
- Mixer allows you to change instrument sounds on Windows. Linux versions could already do this
- Individual notes can be microtuned up to 200 cents above or below the original pitch via the note/chord properties dialog. The Tuning plugin allows you to modify the pitch of all notes in a piece
- Reworked internal fluid synthesizer
- Reduced the idle load on the processor from ten percent to nearly zero percent. MuseScore only processes chorus and reverb if sound is present
- Faster startup and smaller memory footprint especially when using large SoundFonts. MuseScore only loads samples from the SoundFont if needed
Files
- Sets file type associations for MuseScore (".mscz" and ".mscx")
- Drag-and-drop of files onto the MuseScore window opens the score on Windows (already available in Linux)
- Automatically delete temporary files with names such "msHp4124" on Windows
- New file extension ".mscx" replaces the old file extension ".msc". The old file extension conflicted with a type of Windows system file
- Fixed problem with special characters (&<>\") in filenames for Compressed MuseScore Files
- Part extraction is less prone to crashes (slurs, voltas, and bar lines through multiple staves are no longer a problem)
- Export to sound file. See [[nodetitle:Export]] for more details on WAV, OGG, and FLAC
- Improvements to MusicXML import: recognize text style, credits, meta-data, multi-measure rests, dominant chords
- Improvements to MusicXML export: include information about page layout, credits, meta-data, multi-measure rests; fixed dominant chords, percussion clef, tempo markings, measure width, correct order for elements in note tag, correct octave for B sharps
- Improvements to MIDI import: recognize key signature changes, copyright text
- Improvements to LilyPond export: fixes for B, C, and C-sharp major key signatures
- Implemented a preference that lets you apply a custom style file to all imported scores
User Interface
- Close button appears on each tab similar to modern browsers instead of a single button off to the side
- Default shortcuts conform to platform conventions. For example Ctrl+Y for redo on Windows, Ctrl+Shift+Z for redo on Debian/Ubuntu
- Beginning note entry with the mouse in a selected measure no longer causes a crash (prominent crash introduced in 0.9.4)
- More instruments added to the new score wizard
- Drag-and-drop of dynamics now works
- Copy-paste of measures also includes chord names and lyrics
- Copy-paste of full-measure rests
- Note and rest split correctly across barline on paste
- Note entry mode
- Cursor now advances when you enter a rest
- Notes snap into correct positions so that a slightly misplaced mouse no longer divides existing notes into unexpected smaller durations (bug introduced in 0.9.4)
- Backspace undoes the previously added note
- Tuplet are created a little differently. See tuplet .
- Undo now works for the following
- Moving note up or down with mouse (pitch change)
- Changes to the Page Settings dialog
- Changes to Edit Text Style dialog
- Changes to Edit Style dialog
- Stem flip
- Part and staff property changes
- Measure stretch
- Added Slur to line palette (previously only available via keyboard shortcuts)
- Breath marks placed after the note it was dropped on instead of before
- Notes outside of the pitch range of an instrument appear red and notes only playable by professionals in yellow
- Edit → Search allows you to jump to a measure
Notation
- Ledger lines
- Thicker lines to match standard engraving practice
- Half-note and whole-note rests in voice 2 have proper ledger lines
- Avoid touching other ledger lines when notes are close
- Automatically widen to reach noteheads on the opposite side of the stem
- Percussion
- Note entry for drums and percussion is less prone to crashes
- Drumset can include notes above staff
- New Score wizard no longer adds key signatures to unpitched percussion staves
- Vertical note alignment and slurs for whole-note chords now follow the same rules as stemmed notes
- Ties copy-paste correctly (bug introduced in 0.9.4)
- Accidentals after a tied note now follow standard notation rules
- More control over the layout of notes and articulations in the Style → Edit Style dialog
- Dotted notes allowed in tuplets
- Shifting notes by an octave retains pitch spelling (sharps or flats)
- On small staves key signatures, time signatures, accidentals and dynamics are also small and rests are positioned correctly
- The measure property dialog now has options for "layout stretch" and "measure number offset"
- The bar line for grand staff instruments goes through both staves by default
- Arpeggios can span two staves
- Multi-measure rests automatically break at voltas, key changes, and time changes
- The default size of the staff and notes can be changed via the scaling option in the preferences
- Two new clefs: bass clef 8va and bass clef 15va
- Visibility of note stems and staff lines is now saved
- Note head position (left/right of stem) can now be overridden by user. This supports notation of "Griffschrift" for Steirische Harmonika
Text
- A special toolbar for text editing makes it easier to change the formatting of specific text
- Improved layout for formatting options in the Edit Text Style dialog
- Separate style options for odd and even lyrics. For example you can alternate between normal and italic type for each stanza
- Lyric hyphens better match the lyric text
- Lyrics, measure numbers, and other relevant text resizes with the staff when you change the scaling (via Layout → Page Settings...)
- Changes to the text style (via Style → Edit Text Style) are visible without closing and reopening score
- Dynamics (such as mf or pp) now resize properly using Style → Edit Text Style → Dynamics
- Flats and sharps in chord names now resize properly using Style → Edit Text Style → Chordnames
- Chord names are configurable via an external XML file: styles\chords.xml
- Experimental jazz font for chord names (the font is incomplete and several symbols are missing)
Plugins
- Plugins enabled for Debian and Ubuntu due to new features in Qt 4.5
- Plugins can now include dialogs created with Qt Designer
- Eight sample plugins added
- Most script actions are now undoable
- Script debugger option added to the Help menu
- Added
-p
option on command line to launch a plugin
Internationalization
- Eight new translations for the software: Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Traditional Chinese, Traditional Chinese (Taiwan) and Ukrainian. This brings the total to 18 languages and dialects
- More text in MuseScore is now translatable (certain sections of the user interface were English only in previous versions)
- Italian and Norwegian versions of the handbook. The handbook is now available in nine languages
Credit
Programming
- Werner Schweer: Project lead, main developer
- Nicolas Froment (lasconic): Windows and Mac OS builds, MusicXML import-export developer
- Toby Smithe: Debian and Ubuntu builds
- Olav Gundersen: LilyPond export developer
- Leon Vinken: MusicXML import-export developer
- Raffaele Russi: MusicXML import-export developer
- Joachim Ganseman: Mac OS build
Localization
- Arabic
- Hosam Adeeb Nashed
- Chinese, Traditional
- Ying-Da Lee
- Chinese, Traditional (Taiwan)
- benice
- Danish
- Stig Wolff
- Dutch
- Jaap Plaisier
- English, US
- Raymond May Jr.
- Finnish
- Heino Keränen
- French
- Jean-Louis Waltener
- Nicolas Froment (lasconic)
- Galician
- Xosé
- German
- Werner Schweer
- Hindi
- Shashi Sharma
- Italian
- Angelo Contardi
- Antonio Marchionne
- Norwegian
- Dag Henning Sørbø
- Per Holje
- Polish
- Piotr Komorowski
- Portuguese
- José Luciano Batista Gomes
- Portuguese, Brazilian
- israel_zeu
- Russian
- Alexandre Prokoudine
- Spanish
- Carlos Sanchiavedraz
- Macedonious
- Marcos Guglielmetti
- Swedish
- Magnus Johansson
- Turkish
- Halil Kirazlı
- Ukrainian
- Serhij Dubyk
Other
- Thomas Bonte: Website
- Magnus Johansson: Instrument list
- David Bolton: Documentation, instrument lists, Windows SoundFont
- Han-Wen Nienhuys, Jan Nieuwenhuizen & others: Emmentaler font