Measures changed to too wide for an imported MIDI file then exported as MXL
Hi,
I think I've just found a bug. Here are the steps to reproduce the problem:
1. Open the attached elf.mid MIDI file.
2. Export it to "Compressed MusicXML File" format.
3. Close the MIDI file
4. Open the exported MXL file
5. The measures are too tight:
So let's go to
(Menu) Style -> General -> Measure -> Spacing: 1.5 sp (or any value bigger than the default value)
6. And this is the bug: Some measures are suddenly very very large! Eg, measure #9 and #10
It is worth to notice that this only happens to MXL file. If you open the original MIDI file and change the measure spacing, you don't have this strange behaviour.
Based on observation, it seems this problem appears on every other stave.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| elf.mid | 1.91 KB |
| default-measure-spacing.png | 34.48 KB |
| wider-measure-bug.png | 42.85 KB |
Comments
I don't see a bug here. I think perhaps you have failed to notice the line breaks at the end of the second and fourth lines. Remove those and the score will reformat.
In reply to I don't see a bug here. I by Marc Sabatella
@Horinius Try Ctrl+A -> Layout/Decrease stretch
In reply to @Horinius Try Ctrl+A -> by Shoichi
@Shoichi
I think you mean *Increase* stretch instead of Decrease.
Oh, the "Ctrl+A"! Now I understand why it didn't have effect when I tried that! LOL
In reply to I don't see a bug here. I by Marc Sabatella
Indeed, I didn't pay attention to those "crooked arrows" which only appear on every other line after enlarging the measures. The "Getting Started" just succinctly indicates it's a "line break". I thought it's there to have a wider space between staves.
I'm a newbie - I started to use this software yesterday. I searched through the docs but didn't find anything. Perhaps an article for this does exist - maybe I didn't use the correct keywords. So I intuitively went through the menus and found that "General -> Measure" thingy.
So, on exporting MIDI file to "Compressed MusicXML File" format, some line-breaks are arbitrarily attributed while there is no need! Well, that's a basic knowledge a newbie got to be taught. Or is there a way to prevent line-breaks from being inserted? I mean, measures should be scaled freely *by default*. I have other big MIDI files which have much more measure than this little MIDI file I just started to test with your software. I would be tedious to remove tens of line-breaks on every file export.
Thanks
In reply to Indeed, I didn't pay by Horinius
Perhaps. The current decision is to (by default) do the most possible to ensure that the score is laid out similarly when the MusicXML version is opened with other scorewriters. You can turn this option off in the Export tab of MuseScore's Preferences.
In reply to measures should be scaled by Isaac Weiss
(Thumb up!)
For the record: I chose the option in Preferences > Export > MusicXML > Export manually added system and page breaks only.
In reply to Indeed, I didn't pay by Horinius
Measures *do* scale freely by default - when using MuseScore took created a score. It's only when importing a MusicCML file - not the most common use case - where line breaks are used. It's not arbitrary - they are present in order to better mimic the original formatting of the score as it might have looked in the program that created the file. Usually that's what you want when using MusicXML - as faithful a recreation of the original as can be managed. If your desire is not to mimic the original, then indeed, turning that option off or removing the breaks manually is the way to go.
In reply to Measures *do* scale freely by by Marc Sabatella
If you're asking why I chose MusicXML file format, the answer is that I'm new in using software with music so I don't know which format to choose. But it appeared to me that MusicXML might be an open standard while .mscx/.mscz is certainly a proprietary standard, so I chose MusicXML.
In the case of MIDI, the line breaks are arbitrary. That's because there's no format in MIDI and the so-called format is the format imposed by MuseScore when we open the MIDI. Well, at least that's in my POV.
Talking about MusicXML and the idea to keep a *faithful recreation of the original format*, I found that "Increase stretch" are not saved in MusicXML. So, that means line-break is part of MusicXML format while stretch (or more space inside a measure) is not?
In reply to If you're asking why I chose by Horinius
MusicXML is indeed an open standard, so it's a good choice when exchanging files between different applications. There will be some loss of information - including details on measure widths - but it's your best bet for that particular purpose. It's listed as an "export" format rather than "save" took help make clear this is not a native format.
For normal purposes, you should simply save, not export. There is much about what MuseScore does that is lost when exporting to MusicXML, so it's really *only* suited for exchanging information between programs, where you can tolerate some loss of information because it's better than nothing. No need to settle for this otherwise though.
Line breaks are not added when importing from MIDI.