Euphonium sound does not exist, keep on tuba or change to trombone?
Euphonium does not have its own sound. Currently it uses the tuba sound, which causes an issue with the upper playback range, as per #324917: Euphonium uses tuba sound by default, no playback above C5. I list some manual workarounds .The most viable alternative would be to use trombone, which has the higher range. This leaves us with two options:
(a) leave on tuba: users should be mostly happy with the sound, but frustrated with the missing notes in the upper range (not sure what the frequency is of users using this high-end of the instrument). Users can just change it to use trombone manually if (any) playback at the upper range is more important than fidelity in the rest of the range.
(b) change to trombone: annoy/frustrate users happy with the current sound. Users can just change to tuba manually if sound quality is more imporant and upper range playback (above c5) is not require.
The actual fix would be to have a proper euphonium sound (which deserves its own issue, will post when I have created it).
How euphonium players and other interested parties feel about this? If there is not a strong enough vote one way or the other, I suggest we keep the status quo (with the issue and workaround widely known, or discoverable).
Comments
To track the root cause: #324929: Euphonium does not have native sound/playback.
In reply to To track the root cause: … by Riaan van Niekerk
Here is the Euphonium from Symphonic Sounds.
In reply to Here is the Euphonium from… by bobjp
Thank you bobjp. Using this would be another workaround for the issue, albeit dependent on 3rd party soundfonts. We are looking at a native solution, since a significant number of users will/do not install a 3rd party soundfont.
In reply to Thank you bobjp. Using this… by Riaan van Niekerk
And what are you considering a "native solution"?
Everything about MuseScore is 3rd party. You don't have to use the sound font that comes with MuseScore. In fact, many do not. The beauty of open source software is that it is highly customizable. The sound font that comes with Musescore is lacking in may ways. There is no solo horn or trumpet. I write a lot of horn solos. Guitars aren't that great. Tympani and chimes are poor. Only solo woodwinds. No woodwind sections. Adding a font or part of a font is standard practice, not a workaround. It's the way to use Musescore. Because you can. You can't with other software.
Of course, for notation, you don't have to have a sound font at all. Do you.
In reply to And what are you considering… by bobjp
It's not clear what you mean about there not being a solo horn or trumpet - that's the only type of horn and trumpet in the default soundfont. But indeed, the General MIDI standard is pretty limiting, so it's not uncommon to need to use third party soundfonts rather than the default in MuseScore.3. There is some hope that in MuseScore 4, it will not be needed to use third party soundfonts nearly so much, and indeed, the built in sound with the new "MuseSampler" is intended to be far far far better than any third party soundfont that exists currently. That is what is meant by "native solution" - the idea that wheat you need will be built in, no need to rely on third party soundfonts for "normal" things.
In reply to It's not clear what you mean… by Marc Sabatella
We could add an Euphonium sound at the same patch/program (58) as the Tuba, but in a different bank (i.e. not 0) into our soundfont. Has been done before with some other non-GM sounds, like e.g 12-string guitar
BTW: I just notice that all Buggles use the Tuba sound too, I'd guess they'd suffer from this defeciencs in the Tuba sound's range too?
In reply to It's not clear what you mean… by Marc Sabatella
I was incorrect about the trumpet. But the horn is labeled "French Horns" and does sound like a section rather than a single instrument.
In reply to I was incorrect about the… by bobjp
"French Horns" is plural...
And indeed there's no *Horn" (singlular) sound in the soundfont, except for "English Horn"
This seems to be indeed wrong, the GM sound is named "French Horn" (singlar)
In reply to I was incorrect about the… by bobjp
Hmm, to me it sounds like a single horn but with a bit of chorus or reverb on it. If you prefer a different sound for this or any other instrument, then indeed, a third party soundfont is currently a fine way to achieve that. And third party sounds will continue to be supported in the future. But I think the plan is for the native sounds to be so much better and more realistic (via MuseSampler) that few people will want to give them up!
In reply to Hmm, to me it sounds like a… by Marc Sabatella
Ah, that's it. Chorus. By itself, it's not too bad. Mixed with other instruments, it sounds more like a section than a solo instrument. With a few exceptions, the default font is far better than any others. I know sometimes my comments don't reflect that. It just depends on whether or not I'm commenting after a long day at work.