Legato vocal sound
In my choral works, the playback doesn't really achieve a legato effect. Is there an no audible gap between the notes on playback, (well, maybe yes, if you listen very closely) but the point is but the notes don't carry through without a "punch" of sorts. This is a shame when demonstrating the music to people - several remark upon it. Slurring doesn't make any difference, or tenuto, neither does choosing Choir Aahs or Voice Oohs in the mixer.
Normally you can get away with it, because lots of choral stuff overlaps between parts, but there are usually sections when each part moves at the same time (of course!).
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| extract to show no legato.mscz | 11.28 KB |
Comments
There's no legato playback in MuseScore, except for a pretty subtle effect on some very few instruments (Piano and a flute or 2) but even there not without the 'Attack' portion of the sound.
In reply to There's no legato playback… by Jojo-Schmitz
Would you regard it to be fair to ask that an enhancement be requested on this one?
In reply to Would you regard it to be… by Ali Wood
See #9345: Playback of slurred notes (yes, more than 11 years ole)
In reply to See #9345: Playback of… by Jojo-Schmitz
That's interesting. In general I find Musescore playback to be at least as good as Sibelius; but choral aahs and oohs are not the greatest of MS offerings! In these days of on-line publishing it is vital that we push for the best possible. Is it 11 years wait because it isn't important, or has it actually been taken off the list? Cheers
In reply to That's interesting. In… by Ali Wood
You wrote:
In these days of on-line publishing it is vital that we push for the best possible.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/node/249356#comment-829942
Best Edition of 2018 award.
Not good enough?
OK... So now everyone clamors for "studio quality" audio.
MuseScore comes with its own GM (General MIDI) SoundFont, MuseScore_General.sf3, containing over 128 instruments, sound effects and various drum/percussion kits. Many different soundfonts are available on the Internet: some free, some commercial. MuseScore is limited to what's available, subject to cost and licensing. You are free to find one with better choral aahs and oohs.
Anyway, MuseScore 4 is slated for playback improvements, so sit tight. Perhaps there will be improvements to things like legato, portamento, falls, etc.
P.S.: You should have heard the choral aahs and oohs in the old soundfonts!
In reply to You wrote: In these days of… by Jm6stringer
Don't get me wrong - of course there's loads of wonderful stuff in Musescore generally, congrats on the awards.
I am merely making the specific point, that the choral and vocal sound fonts are, shall we say, not as advanced as the lovely instrumental and orchestral sounds that one can produce (with MS). And I did concede that MS compared favourably with other commercial packages when it comes to human voice sounds; nevertheless I often find it more useful, when asked to demonstrate one of my choral pieces to friends, to playback instrumental parts, because they convey the music that much more effectively. Also, there is nothing along the lines of solo voices or a rendition of 3 or 4 voices per part; only a large choir sound. Maybe we just have to accept what's available, and thanks for explaining that.
My use of the words "on-line publishing" relates to choral music having taken such a big hit with the pandemic, making it almost impossible to put on human productions apart from zooming. Yuk to the effort that requires!
Anyway, thanks, I just don't want to wait another 11 years - I probably won't be alive then!! ;-)
PS My age is one reason why I even can't remember how to italicise bits of this reply!!
In reply to Don't get me wrong - of… by Ali Wood
The sound for vocals has got nothing to to with legato.
In reply to The sound for vocals has got… by Jojo-Schmitz
Sure, I understand.
In reply to Sure, I understand. by Ali Wood
I think that the priority for Musescore 2 and 3 has been the engraving, (which is very good), but it looks like v4 is going to give us some major playback improvements.
See https://musescore.org/en/node/319957
The timeline suggests a release date of Q1 2022.
9You wrote:
Also, there is nothing along the lines of solo voices...
You should be able to find a soundfont with solo 'ah' or 'ooh' somewhere on the internet.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/soundfonts-and-sfz-files#soundfonts
.
You wrote:
In my choral works, the playback doesn't really achieve a legato effect.
The piano roll editor may be useful to you.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/piano-roll-editor
I took your attachment - "extract to show no legato.mscz" - and tweaked some note lengths.
Compare this: Legato.mscz
to your posted example
Regards.
In reply to Also, there is nothing along… by Jm6stringer
I apologize for not getting back to you on this - I will take a close look at your suggestion on piano roll; at first sight it seems to necessitate a tweaking of all the individual notes in the score, which might be practical only for a short extract, but I will look to see if I can find a way of doing a 'mass' tweaking of a whole score...
In reply to I apologize for not getting… by Ali Wood
Yes, I can only guess that I have to select using Shift and Enter to add, note by note, a series of notes to the selection and then change the Length, which may take quite a bit of time!
In reply to Yes, I can only guess that I… by Ali Wood
And now! I discovered the means to select multiple notes. Thank you.
I wonder whether you adding the slurs makes a difference - I can't tell.
In reply to And now! I discovered the… by Ali Wood
Only barely and only for some instruments. We don't yet have a way to change the actual attack, but for piano (and flute), there is special code to make the default note length only 95% of what is notated, and adding a slur bumps it back up to 100%.
In reply to I apologize for not getting… by Ali Wood
Instead of the piano roll, consider the excellent articulation plugins available via the Download menu above - a much simpler way to do this sort of tweaking, especially on a mass scale.
In reply to Instead of the piano roll,… by Marc Sabatella
I wasn't sure what you meant by the download mentioned above.
In reply to I wasn't sure what you meant… by Ali Wood
The Downloads menu is at the top left of this page, and within it, you'll find the plugins, including the specific one I recommended.