Soundfonts not listed in the synthesizer list.

• Feb 26, 2021 - 02:58

Hello. I have been using several sf2 and sf3 soundfonts with my scores. When I upgraded to version 3.6.0 the only soundfont now listed in the synthesizer list is Musescore_General.sf3. Any suggestions as to how to get the other soundfonts into the list?


Comments

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Hello Jojo. Thank you for your timely response. I updated to 3.6.2 and downloaded the Salamander Grand Piano (Yamaha C5) font in sf2 format. I double clicked the file and Musescore opened and asked if I wanted to install the file to which I replied yes. I then checked the Musescore 3 Soundfonts file and the Salamander file was indeed listed. However when I open a score and check the Synthesizer Fluid file, the Salamander file is not listed so I cannot 'Add' it. As I should have mentioned before I am using a Mac with the operating system Big Sur. Could this be a bug related to Big Sur? Thanks for any suggestions.

In reply to by Paulmjz

Be sure you really did get the SF2 not the SFZ, and that you downloaded it to the proper folder (your own SoundFonts folder under your own Documents/SoundFonts) and that this is the same folder listed in Edit / Preferences. Also, keep in mind the dialog only shows you at first the soundfonts already added. To add new ones, you start by pressing the Add button, which shows you the full list.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hello Marc. I did get an sf2 file and Musescore did put in the Documents/SoundFonts folder as listed in Edit / Preferences. When I press the Add button with Fluid selected, MuseScore_General.sf3 is listed in the full list but the Salamander Grand Piano sf2 soundfont (and none of my other previously loaded sf2 soundfonts) are listed so of course I cannot add any of them. Again could this be a bug related to Big Sur on the Mac? Suggestions? Thanks for your reply.

In reply to by Paulmjz

No, it is extremely unlikely this would depend in any way on any specific operating system or version. Did the sf2 file come in a compressed archive you need to unpack first? That's pretty common.

If you continue to have issues, please post screenshot(s) showing your Finder view of the folder as well as the contents of the "Add" dialog.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hello Marc. I downloaded the SoundFont SalC5Light2 directly from the list in the Musescore online catalog. I unzipped it and double clicked on the .sf2 file. Musescore opened up and asked me if I wanted to install which I did. Here are the Finder view of the Musescore 3 SoundFonts Folder and the contents of the "Add dialog.

In reply to by Paulmjz

Very strange. At this point I see a few possible avenues for exploration:

  • the possibility that there are incorrect permission on these folders, so that MuseScore cannot read their contents
  • the possibility that the "paul" folder shown under Favorites is something other than /Users/paul

Unfortunately, I'm not macOS-savvy enough to know how to suggest figuring that out. But, it would be interesting to check one of the other folders here. Like, save a score to your Templates folder, then try to create a new score with File / New. Does your template show in the list under Custom Templates? Or, try downloading a plugin from this site to your Plugins folder then see if it appears in the list in Plugins / Plugin Manager.

Probably this will turn out to be something extremely simple we are both missing, but I can't really think what else to suggest.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hello Marc. Apologies for being away from this thread for a while. I did save a score to my Templates folder, and created a new score with File / New. The template does indeed show in the list under Custom Templates. However I also downloaded a plugin Doubletime 3.0 from this site and It shows up in the plugins folder as Doubletime-master but does not appear in the Plugin Master list. Perhaps this will assist you to resolve the problem of soundfonts not appearing in the synthesizer Fluid 'Add' window.

Also the Soundfonts permission is read/write and I (Paul) am the primary owner of my Mac as /Users/Paul.

Should I uninstall Musescore 3 and reinstall? If so, where would I find a Musescore 3 Uninstall program?

In reply to by Paulmjz

It's really hard to diagnose problems with your installation without actually being there, but it definitely seems like you've got something wrong. To uninstall MuseScore, follow the same procedure you would any other program. I'm not a Mac expert so I can't help, but is't it just something like dragging the program icon to the trash?

BTW, the Doubeltime plugin hasn't been needed for MuseScore in years, that functionality is builtin now (Edit / Paste Double Duration).

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks. On a Mac, just dragging the program icon to the trash deletes the program but leaves bits and pieces scattered in various system files that are not deleted. If one of these is corrupt, it could possibly be the reason for the sondfonts not displaying in the synthesizer Add window. I suspect there is an uninstall program for the Mac: please let me know. If not I will search for a generic uninstall program or just drag the icon to the trash and proceed from there. I will let you know of the results of the uninstall.

In reply to by Paulmjz

There is no uninstall program for Mac.
You can run from command line with the -F argument to force a reset to defaults, which will take care of those "scattered various system files" by clearing out all non-default preferences.

In reply to by Paulmjz

Hello Marc. I uninstalled Musescore using a 3rd party uninstaller and reinstalled. Still no sound files in the 'Add' window in the synthesizer. So then I tried renaming the documents folder to MMusescore3 (just to see what would happen), uninstalled and reinstalled. A new Musescore3 folder was now in the Documents folder. I copied the sound files from MMusescore3 into the new Musescore3 SoundFonts folder and Voila - the sound fonts did indeed appear in the 'Add' window of the synthesizer! PROBLEM SOLVED. Go figure. Anyway thank you for your patience and understanding. The best, Paul

In reply to by Paulmjz

I'm not a Mac user, indeed I've never used Mac.

In Ubuntu (Linux), and I suspect it is the same in Windows, we have to close and restart MuseScore each time we add a new soundfont to our sondfonts folder. MuseScore will recognize the new soundfont after this "cold" reset, only.

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