Legato vocal sound

• Oct 25, 2021 - 15:25

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 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 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 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!!

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 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...

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