Choosing Varied Insturments for a New Score
I am working on a composition for my Orchestration class. This composition is intended to be for a mixed ensemble with a minimum of 8 parts, representing at least three orchestral sections (strings, winds, brass, percussion). I am allowed to choose which instruments I want to use with at least one transposing instrument that transposes by an interval other than an octave. Is there a way I can select individual instruments when I start a new composition, or is it possible to replace and/or add instruments in an existing template file?
Comments
Yes to all of the above.
See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/create-new-score#create-new-score for how to set up your selection of instruments; both during score creation as after it (Edit > Instruments…).
You can also replace instruments via their Staff/Part-properties, in which there is a "Change Instrument" button.
In reply to Yes to all of the above. See… by jeetee
I have tried both approaches but no insturments show up under "All instruments" when I change instruments or choose them from scratch (see images attached).
In reply to I have tried both approaches… by ahafeli19
Hmmm. Open MuseScore. File/New. Next. Orchestral/Classical Orchestra. Finish, just as a test. What happens?
In reply to Hmmm. Open MuseScore. File… by bobjp
I get eleven different insturments (a couple are in parts), but only a few of the instruments given are ones that I want.
In reply to I have tried both approaches… by ahafeli19
Did you by any chance experiment with the (or an additional) instruments.xml file? If not, then this is one of the very few issues that might be solved by attempting a reinstall.
In reply to Did you by any chance… by jeetee
I reinstalled MuseScore to its latest version - 3.6.2 -, but I am still unable to change instruments within a staff in an empty measure. Will there be another update to the program in the next three weeks that might resolve this issue? Or is there another process I can try?
In reply to I reinstalled MuseScore to… by ahafeli19
There are no updates to MuseScore 3 planned, period, as MuseScore 4 is coming soon - but probably not in the next three weeks.
Meanwhile, though, something is extremely strange here. Are you sure you weren't playing around with custom instrument definitions? If you do Help / Revert to Factory Settings, does the problem still persist? If so, what OS are you on? Then we can give you further advice on debugging the problem. I'm kind of guessing somehow the installation is for a different admin only, or for a different user, and somehow that's causing a problem.
But for now, here's a possible workaround: create an orchestra score using one of the provided templates sand simply remove instruments.
In reply to I reinstalled MuseScore to… by ahafeli19
Can you share a screenshot of the contents of the "Edit → Preferences → Score" dialog pane?
In reply to Can you share a screenshot… by jeetee
Yes, here is an attachement of it:
In reply to Yes, here is an attachement… by ahafeli19
That's your problem - as mentioned already, it seems you have been messing with the instruments.xml file, because that's not the correct file to be showing. That's not even an instrument list XML file at all - looks like you tried to put a score there. That won't work. Help / Revert to Factory Settings will restore it to what it's supposed to be, and then don't mess with this setting at all - it requires highly specialized knowledge of the particular XML file format used within MuseScore and the details of how instrument definitions are organized. If you explain what it is you were trying to do by changing that setting, we can help you find the correct way to do it.
In reply to That's your problem - as… by Marc Sabatella
Restting the app worked, and i am able to switch instruments around now. Thank you for your help!
In reply to I have tried both approaches… by ahafeli19
As mentioned, that's not normal. If you didn't experiment with custom instruments.xml files, did you by any chance build this yourself from source, or obtain it from some third party (any place other than this very website)? If so, probably it was not built correctly. Be to use the official version - 3.6.2 - downloaded directly from this site.