Guitar Tab PDF with letters instead of notes
Reported version
3.0
Type
Graphical (UI)
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
needs info
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
I tried to export my guitar tab as pdf. I've chosen the new MuseJazz style for the musical text. But that doesn't work, because instead of notes there are letter like Ü or I.
Comments
Sample score needed
And I'll bet a nickel you're using Windows 10.
In reply to And I'll bet a nickel you're… by mike320
I am using MacOs
In reply to Sample score needed by Jojo-Schmitz
It´s something with the MuseJazz Text. If I change the whole document in that style, the notes are letters. If I change the title, other parts in the document will go crazy.
Still: sample score needed.
In reply to Still: sampe score needed. by Jojo-Schmitz
Following up, as this appears to still be an issue. I'm not attaching a sample score because a sample score is irrelevant; it is happening for me with any score.
I've just gotten a new M1 MacBook Air, and I copied my existing scores over from my old laptop. When I ran into this issue, I was afraid I had copied some other folders that maybe caused MuseScore not to fully install the correct fonts. That is, my guess was that MuseScore was checking for the presence of certain specific files during installation, to determine if it needed to install everything, and since it found some of the files I had copied over, it didn't bother to install something else that I hadn't copied over but needed.
So I wiped out everything — the app, its folder in Application Support, and its preference files — and reinstalled, and the issue was still happening: if I export as a PDF using the MuseJazz font, the PDF comes out with letters in place of the notes. I went into each of the parts and switched them to using Leland instead, and now the PDFs come out fine. (I realize as I'm typing this that I did not, however, delete the fonts I had copied over from my old Mac.)
I did occasionally run into this issue before on my old Mac, usually only when exporting full scores, not individual parts. But I never actually needed the full scores, so I didn't bother with them, or with reporting the issue.
I'm inclined to think that MuseJazz got corrupted somehow, but I'm curious why it would render fine in the app, just not in the PDF. Perhaps there is an issue with the font glyphs not embedding in the PDF properly? (I'm a web developer, but this is where my knowledge ends, so I'm just speculating.)
Can you give precise instructions to reproduce the problem? Also a sample exported PDF? If it's literally the same problem as described here, it does seem like a font issue, but I don't know enough about macOS to say more. I only know enough to say, be sure to use File / Export when creating your PDF - third party (including Apple) PDF "print" utilities won't necessarily know how to embed MuseScore's font correctly. Also, I know some some PDF viewers don't read fonts correctly. So it could be the PDF itself is actually fine.
In reply to Can you give precise… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, this issue is happening when using the built-in File / Export process. Weirdly, after I had switched my parts to using Leland, when I switched back to MuseJazz, the notes displayed properly… but the chord symbols in MuseJazz Text are still messed up (but in a different way than they were before). I have another score I haven't switched fonts on, and it's still entirely messed up. Both files are attached.
Update: Now that I take a closer look, it seems to me that it's using MuseJazz Text for the notes, instead of MuseJazz ("Minsk"). And then after switching fonts and switching back ("Maiden Voyage"), it's using MuseJazz for both the notes (correct) and for the chord symbols (instead of MuseJazz Text). I'm adding a screenshot showing the style settings in "Minsk".
Very strange, but at this point, I think it does seem to be likely connected to the score itself as well, so could you attach that too?
In reply to Very strange, but at this… by Marc Sabatella
I'm attaching both scores, since one ("Maiden Voyage") has had the font switched to Leland and back, and the other ("Minsk") has not.
I'm not really seeing a problem with the score and can't reproduce a problem, but can you list your exact steps? I simply opened the score, went to File / Export, chose the PDF & the clarinet part, and saved. The PDF came out normal. Are you doing exactly that and nothing else (eg, close MuseScore, one it, open that score, then do that only)?
In reply to I'm not really seeing a… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, those exact steps. I just did it again now (with the "Minsk" score), and it's still happening.
I'm currently on an M1 MacBook Air running macOS 11.4, although this did occasionally happen before on my Intel Core I5 MacBook Pro as well. (In that case, it always seemed to be just the full score that was having the issue, not individual parts.)
I also just created a brand new Jazz Combo score, threw in a few random notes, and exported it to PDF, and the problem happened there as well. It does only seem to be scores using MuseJazz font. I created a new treble clef score in Leland, and it exports to PDF fine.
I believe I'm running the latest MuseScore version:
OS: macOS 10.16, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.6.2.548020600, revision: 3224f34
(Side note… I see that Apple markets Big Sur as macOS 11.4 but under the hood still calls it 10.16.)