So many problems with MuseScore 2.0
My conscience has been bothering me that I've used the free program without so far contributing one way or another. The problem is that there are so many problems I wonder if I can continue.
Tried to print a number of files and each time got the message 'Changing media type to plain paper would cause an unresolvable conflict with the selected custom paper'. I 'continue' and get 'Changing the destination paper to custom would cause a conflict'. I continue with printing and find 'custom' as the paper size in the printer, even though 297x210 appears alongside. I've only ever used A4 with any of my files.
I used to be able to change the point size of the instrument names in the score (one way or another) but I've had to give up with 2.0 and it isn't because of the flats, in fact one of the instruments with a flat in the name is correct (10 pt.) and the others are appearing as 18 pt. No one EVER uses a size that big on a score.
(There so many different ways to change text.)
One of my dynamics (mf) changed type style and had to be replaced. Easily done but why did it happen?
I tried to centre two lines of text but it just wouldn't work. Strangely, a line of text above where I was working (a separate line of text) changed even though the selected text wouldn't change.
I'm still only able to get a 'save as' when I try to save (previously reported). None of these problems can be traced to opening files produced in older versions in 2.0.
Comments
In general, it's best to ask separate questions in separate threads. Most of what you are describing are just simply misunderstandings.
1) The printer issue seems to be an extremely rare configuration problem. i guess maybe some specific printer drives aren't compatible with the Qt libraries we use. Try updating your printer drivers. If that doesn't help, please report more system details - what OS, what printer, what version of the printer drvier, etc. Also post the specific score you are having problems with and precise steps to reproduce the problem.
2) Chaning size of instrument names is easy - go to Style / Text / Instrument Name (Long), also Instrument Name (Short). It's possible scores imported from 1.3 have some formatting "baked in" and these old scores will need to be updated. One way is to do a Change Instrument, then just choose the same instrument again. But that should only be needed in older 1.3 scores that had hard-cocded formatting. If you are seeing a problem in a new score, you will need to post that score and steps to reproduce the problem in order for us to see what be be going on.
3) Without a sample score and steps to reproduce the problem, we can only guess. But most likely, you clicked the dynamic then inadvertently clicked one of the buttons in the Inspector that changed the style.
4) Centering text is easy - use the Center icon under the horizontal offset section in either the "Text Properties or "Text Style" dialogs (depending on whetehr you want to center just that element or all elements of a given type).
5) "Save As" will always show up the *first* time you save a new or imported score, because it doesn't have a name yet. If the score has already been saved, then a regular save works,. This is exactly the same as virtually every program eve written for Windows, Mac OS, or Linux. The only thing *slightly* unusual is that we treat scores from older versions as imported, so you don't accidentally overwrite the older version in case you decide you need to keep it. It isn't all that unusual really - many other programs do this as well - but indeed, there are also many programs that will silently overwrite files created with older versions. So it is indeed possible you've never used one of the ones that does tries to protect you from accidentally doing this. But it's just a safety thing, and once you do the Save As, you never need to again for that file.
In reply to In general, it's best to ask by Marc Sabatella
Re your opening comment:There are so many problems here and I don't complain for a living.
System: 27" iMac 16 GB ram 1600 MHz DDR3, 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5. Printer: Brother HL-2240.
Please refrain from saying 'this' or 'that' is 'easy'. I'm not a fool and wouldn't be on here if the problem was simple. I know how to change the size of instrument names. It isn't working. Ditto 'centering'.
We've had the discussion about file saving before and somehow I can't get you to accept what I tell you.
These problems are affecting every file I select, not the occasional one and, in view of the fact that I've used every kind of program imaginable since I bought my first computer in 1988 (and still do), without these kinds of problems, I'm asking you to accept that the developers need to iron the bugs out of this program.
You will hear no further complaints from me.
Thanks, as always, for your prompt and detailed response.
John Morton.
In reply to Re your opening comment:There by John Morton
Without being given more details about the problems you describe, they won't get fixed. Please show the score and give a step by step description what you tried to do, what you expected to happen and what happened instead.
Changing size of instrument names is easy, as is centering text, if it isn't for you, there must be something going on we don't understand, so need more details about it.
In reply to Without being given more by Jojo-Schmitz
Sorry, guys, and thanks yet again. I find it difficult to accept that program developers require this kind of input to fix problems, John Morton.
In reply to Sorry, guys, and thanks yet by John Morton
John, except for the printer error thing, all of the "bugs" you described (text styles not working, "Save As..." instead of "Save") sound exactly like the expected result of opening an MSCZ file created with an earlier version of MuseScore.
In reply to John, except for the printer by Isaac Weiss
That comment (somewhat) surprises me. I personally converted several hundred files from 1.3 to 2.0.2 and I didn't have any problems of the type in this thread. Of course they were all 1.3 files that I created and they were all set up the same simple way, so not really a representative sample.
I'm guessing there is no place to go to see some list of potential conversion problems? Even a partial list. (No need to reply unless there actually is such a list.)
In reply to Sorry, guys, and thanks yet by John Morton
Caveat: I'm not speaking for the Musescore team, just my personal thoughts.
It would be most helpful if you would post a copy of a file that has the problems you describe.
I'm retired now but I worked in IT for 20+ years and my experience with vendors is they would often need exactly the kind of info the developers and helpful volunteers on the forum are requesting. And I think rare that you might get to interact with actual developers that have deep knowledge of the system in question. Usually you have to work through levels of support that start with "reinstall everything from scratch" and support people that clearly know less than you do.
But it is the nature of many open source projects such as Musescore that you *can* have that access. It is also the nature of open source that the pool of developers is relatively small, and usually unpaid volunteers. The process works best with active cooperation between users and developers. It is a tradeoff for using a free product. For many people the open source approach is just not a good fit and won't meet expectations.
Musescore is a complicated application. There are things that are common use issues that just need a bit of explanation (centering text is easy) and there are problems that rare and hard to track down (my text doesn't easily center). Your problems seem to fall in the in the latter group but without copies of your misbehaving files it is hard to know what is going on.
My thought is that non-centering text may have "stuff" (the technical term) embedded in it that doesn't display but affects the centering algorithm.
In reply to Caveat: I'm not speaking for by jim.weisgram
Re: non centering text: Did you select just the text box or did you select the actual text. My experience with MS has taught me that one has to select the actual text to effect it.
In reply to Re: non centering text: Did by xavierjazz
Centering text: I was centering two lines of text, not a text box. I think the problem is probably one of 'layering'.
Currently, I'm producing music for submission to hire companies by producing orchestral scores that are saves as midi files, imported into a DAW program (Logic Pro X) and mixed for playback with freshly assigned virtual instruments. MuseScore has hitherto been ideal since the many interactions with the program-selecting notes and groups of notes, changing the pitch and time value of notes, etc.-are far easier and faster to do than in Finale, for example. (I also use Encore, occasionally.) This is one of the reasons I'm so disappointed to be experiencing the current problems. My printing problems occurred on ALL files, whether in 1.3 or 2.0, originally, but they have all been amended and re-saved in 2.0 anyway. I am not able to release scores, unfortunately but, as I say, they are ALL causing trouble.
I have to print out for proof of copyright ownership purposes.
When so many users report problems on here concerning simple, everyday tasks the writing is surely on the wall that the program is problematic.
Thanks to all respondents, John Morton.
In reply to Centering text: I was by John Morton
I do know some of the problems with text formatting from imported 1.3 files will persist even when saved with 2.0, until you explicitly apply the "Reset Text to Style" command in the Inspector. I wish I could be more helpful in figuring out what's going wrong.
In reply to I do know some of the by Isaac Weiss
That is exactly what I'm doing when converting scores from 1.x to 2.0. This and checking staff properies for XML stuff in Instrument names, checking voltas for XML stuff in them, reentering repeats (Segno, Coda etc.), all to get rid of the 'baked in' styles Settings, and finally also changing away from using an external chord symbol file to the builtin ones, and some other minor things I've forgotten now.
In reply to Sorry, guys, and thanks yet by John Morton
We can't fix problems that you won't tell us how to reproduce. The functions I describe work perfectly for me and for everyone else. Which is to say, if you follow the correct procedure, the correct things *do* happen. I use these featrues practically every day, and so do thousands of others, so we *know* they do work. Meaning, we can't see anything to fix unless you explain to us more precisely what the problem you are seeing actually is.
I'm not saying you are a "fool", just that perhaps you might be misunderstanding something. There is no shame in that. We are very willing to help you see what you might be doing wrong, but in order to do so, we need you to post a sample score and steps to reproduce the problems that you are seeing. Otherwise the best we can do is guess. It is certainly *possible* there will turn out to be a bug that somehow only you are seeing - something unusual you are doing that no one does and hence hasn't been tested. Again, without a score and steps to reproduce the problem, we'll never be able to tell. If you're concerned about psoting a full score for copyright reasons, just delete everything but the affected measures. or, since you say the problem you are seeing occurs with all scores, show us how to reproduce the problem in a brand new score you create from scratch, so we can do the same. Again, without a scroe and precise steps to reproduce the problem, all we can do is guess.
That said, my best guess - as I and others have said - is that you are trying to make edits on scores originally created with 1.3 (or earlier). And if you wish to use the new text style facility with these older scores, you will have to hit the Reset Text to Style button as explained. The new text style facility works right out of the box with scores created in MuseScore 2, but with older scores, you simply need to take that one additional step.
Again, if you are having specific problems, we would *love* to help, but we can't help you solve a problem we still don't understand. So in the future, any time you ask for help, please get in the habiot of attaching the specific score you are having problems with and *precise* step by step instructions to reproduce the problem you are seeing. Only then can we see if there really is a bug in the program or if you are simply doing something incorrectly. Many of know the program very well and can usaully figure out the problem within minutes if you provide that information. Without that information, all we can do is guess, and the back and forth might go on for days before the problem finally gets identified.
And yes, you have mentioned trouble with save. I explained then how it works. I assuemd you understood then. But if you are having problems still, again, please psot the specific scorew and give us *precise* steps to reproduce the problem, and we can explain what you might be doing wrong. Otherwise all we can do is guess.
In reply to Sorry, guys, and thanks yet by John Morton
As a musescore user I can tell you I do comparable things with musescore an experience non of the problems you describe. I even use the same printer (Brother HL-2200) and never had a problem here.
As a former SW developer (not on musescore) I can tell you this is exactly the kind of information you need to analyse rarely occurring problems. If a functionality *reliably* misbehaves every third time its easy to reproduce (try four times an watch it happen), if it happens in one out of 100000 cases you will probably not even be aware that a problem exists. There seems to be something special about you files, even if it is on ALL of your files. From a "statistical" point of view your files don't count as independent samples because they are correlated by your typical workflow.
So, no one said you did something wrong, are a fool or whatever, but there *really* seems to be something special about your files. Best / only way is to post a sample to be analysed.
In reply to As a musescore user I can by drowo
Thanks for that.
If I prepared a sample, because I'm unable to share the scores, the results would only apply to that sample and would therefore be inconclusive, scientifically. I would have to be able to guarantee reproducing every aspect of the 'offending' files for the experiment to be meaningful. The problem is I don't know what they are and I don't believe anyone else does, either, or we wouldn't be having this discussion. As a developer you will know that many programs in regular use, including those on board aircraft (remember the early Airbus coming down in trees?), have errors in the code.
One thing I didn't mention is that I'm on OS X Yosemite and there have been reports of incompatibilities affecting other programs. Apple, as you will know, don't worry too much about backwards compatibility. I only update when I absolutely have to.
I'm embarrassed by the time so many souls are devoting to this matter which I believe is becoming self-defeating. MuseScore had always been my scorewriter of choice.
Thanks again, John Morton.
In reply to Thanks for that. If I by John Morton
:-) that's because everyone's it trying to help you. Yes, I know there is not one SW in the world being bug free. And yes, I do have issues with Musescore now and then, but in totally different areas (let's swap ;-) ) and non of them resulted in loss of work worth more than a couple of minutes or even worse, a dead end street. So I hope you could fix or work around your problems. If not, reconsider the idea with the sample. If you can reproduces your errors with that sample it's a test case, no matter if it's reproducing every aspect.
Regards, Robert
In reply to :-) that's because everyone's by drowo
OK, Robert and thanks etc. but it might be a while before I can create a sample. JM.
In reply to Re your opening comment:There by John Morton
BTW, one reason we ask that you try to ask questions in separate threads is for your own benefit. If you describe six unrelated problems in one post, then there will generally be six times as many responses, making it six times harder for you (or anyone else) to find a solution to any one of the problems later if one gets posted and you forget later but want to look it up. Also six times less likely someone *else* with the same problem will be able to find the problem or solution - worse, actually, since the trherad title is not descriptive of the actual problem. Meaning if others were to similarly lump unrelated problems together, it would make it harder for *you* to find solutions that were already posted as well.
In reply to BTW, one reason we ask that by Marc Sabatella
I understand about forum ethics, Marc, this is common, of course, but I felt I had suffered enough already at that time. I'm interested to note that the loss of work problem has been fixed in the latest update. One moment I'm being told 'this' or 'that' is 'easy' and the next I'm being asked to provide score samples. Which is it?
In reply to I understand about forum by John Morton
Well, the tasks you're apparently having a problem with are usually really easy. Apperently they aren't for you or in your special case, that's why we keep asking for the score and the exact steps.
It could be that you are doing the wrong steps in the wrong order or that your scores are special in one way or another and/or that you found a clever way to trigger a yet undetected bug
In reply to I understand about forum by John Morton
Exactly. Centering, changing font size - these *are* easy tasks. If you are encountering some situation where you are having difficulty, then either you aren't doing it correctly, or something unique about your particular score about the precise series of steps you are folloiwing is triggering an as-yet-unreported bug. Either way, that is why we need you to include sufficient information for us to understand what is going wrong. If it's something you are doing wrong, we can tell you how to correct it and you can be on your way. Either way, it's a win for you to help us help you.
This extends to the general forum etiquette aspect: if you post about problems individually *as you encounter them*, then you would be less likely to reach the point of feeling you had "suffered enough". If a problem is a simple misunderstandings on your part, we can show you what you are doing wrong and you don't have to keep going on hitting the same issue over and over. If a problem turns out to a bug, we can fix it, and meanwhile provide you with a workaround. Either way, you can then go on and work successfully and not have to feel frsutrated that things don't seem to be working as they should.
Finally, a note on the "loss of work" issue: the bug fixed is very specific rare corner case bug where a small handful of people encountered a crash *while saving* a file, and this resulted in a file of 0 bytes. Normally the autosave file would still be good so you'd be able to recover from that on the next run of MuseScore, but in even rarer cases, this might not exist either, so you'd truly lose work. Anyhow, that bug is fixed - both the conditions that led to the crash while saving, and the fact that a crash while saving could lead to a 0 byte file. But this has nothing to do with the case you described earlier. That had to do with whether or not MuseScore prompted you to save your change and whether or not you saved them in the place you thought you did. We still do not have enough information to understand what went wrong in that case. It could be a bug (one that so far apparently has only happened once out of the millions of save operations performed thus far), or it could be you made an error soemwhere along the way. At this point, it's probably impossible to ever know, but if you ever do find steps to reproduce a problem in this area, by all means, start a new thread and post them.
In reply to Exactly. Centering, changing by Marc Sabatella
This is turning into a panel v John situation. My use of MuseScore was relatively smooth until version 2.0. Now I can't save a file without going through 'Save As'. You would have to sit where I'm sitting to duplicate the conditions.
I understand about etiquette. I've been using forums since they were invented. You have failed to notice, above, that I've agreed to try and replicate the issue with a sample file when I get the chance. I also explain why I'm pessimistic about the success of that idea. Checking through pre-existing posts is an even more important example of etiquette.
I realize you may not be interesting in pursuing a solution since you are starting to feel that you may not want to continue with Musescore, but my guess is that if you can make a sample score that still exhibits the problems you have been having, it could still be helpful to troubleshoot the problem.
For example, from a new test copy of one of your files, delete all but a few measures. Those few measures would be selected to show the problems you are having. My guess is it would also still show the printing issue that you mentioned. If you still can't share that much, perhaps you could use the re-pitch mode on the remaining notes to change them to different pitches. If it was me, I'd make them all the same pitch.
All that would remain is a few bars with unchanged rhythms but no melody or harmony.
I've tried Finale and other notation programs and I find Musescore is as time effective or better (bugs and learning and whatever) as other comparable products. Having said that, I am concerned that several people report having lost their work without useful primary or auto-timed backups.
In reply to I realize you may not be by jim.weisgram
FWIW, the problem with a crash in the middle of a save oepration resulting in loss of work is fixed for 2.0.3, so that should no longer happen.
In reply to I realize you may not be by jim.weisgram
Agreed, Jim. MuseScore is a breeze compared with Finale. I can achieve twice as much in a given time span.