MuseScore 3.6 forgets custom chord symbols

• Jan 25, 2021 - 23:37

Every time I open a score in MuseScore 3.6, the chord symbols from my custom style sheet are replaced by a combination of the chord letter and an unrecognizable symbol wherever a flat, major 7/9 or other symbol should appear. I can restore the custom style sheet symbols by reloading the style sheet (Format > Style... > Chord Symbols), but the score reverts to the jumbled symbols when I close and reopen the file.

Attached image shows a page from a score when first opened (left) and after I have reloaded the style sheet (right).

How do I get 3.6 to remember my custom styles?

Attachment Size
chord-symbol-formatting-problem.jpg 163.79 KB

Comments

• Jan 26, 2021 - 06:24

In order to investigate what is going on with this particular score, we would need the actual file, not just a picture.

There was one other report of this happening that turned out to be a partially corrupted file that seemed to have custom chord definitions loaded into it.

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• Jan 26, 2021 - 20:06

It's definitely a similar issue to what I mentioned before, but I still don;t understand how the score got into this state. It's a 3.5.0 file so whatever went wrong already went wrong, but it would be good to understand how it happened.

Can you describe more about how this file was created, with respect to chord symbols? A special template you created it from, some series of steps involving loading MSS files, or something else? I guess at some point you created a custom XML file?

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• Jan 26, 2021 - 20:51

Description of process in reply I posted a few minutes ago. Corruption appears to happen when 3.5 closed with the score open and 3.6 is then launched. The automatic interpretation of the score by 3.6 seems to introduce the corruption.

Attaching my custom chord symbols file. It works in 3.6 when a score is opened in 3.6 (i.e., not left open in 3.5). I still have to go through the step of replacing it with a standard chord file (e.g., chords.xml) and then reloading the custom file, but at least it "sticks" once saved.

Attachment Size
cchords_sym_02.xml 41.97 KB

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• Jan 26, 2021 - 22:04

To be clear, chords.xml is not a file you should ever use for anything. It was needed in MuseScore 1 and had not been used since nor should it be. So if you were trying to sue that in some way, that could be part of the problem.

What would really help is steps to reproduce a problem like this from scratch - in a score that is not already using any custom chord files. Then walk us through the process of how you specified the custom chords.

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• Jan 26, 2021 - 23:18

Good to know about chords.xml; I don't recall seeing any notes about that in previous releases. As it happens, the ONLY reason I ever attach chords.xml -- and it is only temporarily -- is because MuseScore doesn't always load my custom chords file, even though it show as loaded in the Styles. In order to get the custom chord file to be recognized when I first import a file I need to temporarily select another chord symbols file -- doesn't seem to matter which one -- and then go back to the one I WANT to use. I don't know why MuseScore doesn't recognize my custom chords file from the outset but I do have a workaround.

I previously described the steps that created the problem and was able to replicate it by following them. What you are requesting in no way resembles my process for creating a score. Every score I create uses my custom chord symbols by default, from the outset (it's in the default new score style). As I'm creating the score the chord symbols display correctly. The problem seems to occur only when I open 3.6 and it attempts to display a score that was left open the last time I used 3.5. Now I know not to do that, but I don't think it should happen in any event.

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• Jan 27, 2021 - 05:39

Indeed, what we see here shouldn't happen, but I'm still trying to understand how it did.

You say every score you create uses your custom chords by default - how did you make this happen? By using a template, or setting an MSS file as your default? And what is the intended purpose of your custom file? As far as I can tell offhand it doesn't seem to do anything different from the standard jazz style, other than using "j" to produce the triangle instead of the usual "t" or "^". I guess also it forces all minor chords to display as "mi"?

Anyhow, in my previous score I show how to fix the problem, so hopefully that allows you to move forward.

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• Jan 26, 2021 - 22:14

In any case, it seems to me the problem has to do with the formatting applied manually to the chords. If I click the first chord symboi and check the Inspector, it shows as MuseJazz Text, but it also shows that is not the default - the reset and set as style buttons are both active. So hit set as style, and all chords are now set to MuseJazz text and look good - not sure if that's the originally expected result, but they look better anyhow. Then save and reload and it remains good.

The mismatch between apparent and actual default text styles is visible in 3.5.2 as well, that's part of whatever is going on here.

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• Jan 26, 2021 - 20:39

I think I figured out where the corruption -- if that's what's going on here -- may have been introduced. Here's how to replicate it:

1) Open a score with custom chord symbols in 3.5. Leave the file open and quit 3.5.
2) Open 3.6, which will then attempt to apply the new formatting improvements to the open score, but will garble the chord symbols.
3) Go to Format > Style > Chord Symbols. It will show that the custom chords file is attached. Replace it with a standard chord symbols file (e.g., chords.xml), then replace that with the custom chords file. This should fix the garbled symbols. Save and close the score.
4) Reopen the score. The chord symbols should be garbled again.

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