Musescore 4.0.2 Experiences
I tried /tested MS 4.0.0, 4.0.1 & 4.0.2 on Windows 10 hoping that each new release would at least start to get it right. As far as I am concerned, there are still just too many problems and issues to even try and start reporting them, let alone use this software for any practical work.
I want to write music , not test software. I am sick to death of having my time wasted.
The only good thing I can say about MS 4.x.x is thank goodness MS 3.x.x is still available and working.
Comments
In order for anyone to understand and assist, please explain the problem you are experiencing in more detail. Chances are it is a simple misunderstanding we can easily straighten out, but we can't begin helping until you let us know what you are having trouble with.
In reply to In order for anyone to… by Marc Sabatella
Musescore on my laptop used to work well, circa v3. Tried 4.0 and it "seemed ok". But 4.2 is giving me performance grief. Playback "stutters". Editing is sluggish. I have lots of memory available and my cpu isn't especially busy while this is happening. Someone suggested doing all preliminary work in v3 and migrating to v4 for publication. (Hmmm, can a v4 file be read by v3? Reading v3 files with v4 seems to change things.)
I think you need a tool to diagnose any systemic (non-Musescore) deficiencies. And perhaps a suite of test scores that "ought to" play perfectly.
A lot of your users have posted complaints off-line. Is performance of v4 a known and accepted issue? Is there any relief in sight?
I LOVE Misescore. But the current implementation is suckin' mud, for me and quite a few others.
Please advise. Thank you. Brent.
In reply to Musescore on my laptop used… by Brent Sterner
Stuttering playback is normally one of two things:
1) Your buffer size may be too small in Edit / Preferences / I/O - so try 2048 or 4096 instead of 1024.
2) Your audio device's internal sample rate might not match what your operating system is reporting - so try 44.1 kHz (or 48 kHz if it's currently 44.1). You'll need to find that setting in your operating system or device driver.
For any other issues - like if you are perceiving some sort of problem reading an MU3 file in Mu4 - you would need to attach the score and describe the problem in more detail.
For the record, there are millions of scores that play successfully through MuseScore 4, on millions of different systems. And a suite that is run every single night on several different system testing every single change made to the program. So in general, things do work. but if someone finds something that doesn't, it's important they describe the problem as accurately as possible, ideally with a sample score and precise steps to follow.
In reply to Stuttering playback is… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you Marc.
I've already increased the buffer size to 4096.
I assume audio sample rate is the same as it was with v3 I since have no idea how to fiddle that.
But my problem is overall performance of v4, not just playback. Editing. Everything.
Even loading a score seems to take a very long time. The whole issue feels like throttling somehow.
So there is nothing to "reproduce", but playback is incredibly obvious.
Yet v3 ran all my scores like a charm.
Is v4 dramatically more resource intensive than r3? CPU? Memory? Other?
I have no trouble reading v3 files with v4. Many such files have been converted and further edited.
So now, as a work-around, I'd like a way to recover those further edited files in v4 file, back to v3.
Is there any way to get there from here?
Thanks.
In reply to Thank you Marc. I've already… by Brent Sterner
MU4 uses the audio system in different way than MU3 m, so sample rates and other settings that worked with MU3 might not in MU4 - and vice versa (no audio at all was a super common problem).
Anyhow, if that’s the issue it will indeed slow lots of things down, so definitely try to adjust that first. Then if problems continue, post a score for which editing is slow and give precise steps to reproduce the problem, then we can go from there.
If you have an MU4 file you’d like to open in MU3, try exporting as MusicXMLz. But first let’s try to fix whatever is wrong that is slowing things down in your system. It should be about as fast as MU3 overall, so let’s find out why it’s not for you.
In reply to MU4 uses the audio system in… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you. I'd love to figure this out! Prefer not to go backwards!
I looked some and see this in device manager...
Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
General tab - device is working properly
Driver tab - version 10.0.19041.1, 12/6/2019
No driver files are required or have been loaded for this device
Details tab - Device description: Audio Endpoint
Events tab -
8/9/2022 Device configured audioendpoint.inf
8/9/2022 Device started
I see nothing about sample rates...
What should I explore next?
Thank you.
In reply to Thank you. I'd love to… by Brent Sterner
Sample rate rate settings are probably within your OS, so do a web search for “set sample rate Windows 11” (or whatever your OS is) to learn more. Could possible as simple as right clicking the speaker icon and choosing Properties, but every OS is different.
In reply to Sample rate rate settings… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you. Found them (This is for me to get back there again. :-) )
Windows 10; Control Panel > Hardware and Sound >
Sound > Manage audio devices
Playback tab
Speakers > Properties > Advanced
Shows 24 bit. 48000 Hz (Studio Quality)
24 bit choices... 41000, 48000, 96000, 192000
Suggestions? Thank you.
In reply to Thank you. Found them … by Brent Sterner
I assume the 41000 is really 44100. That’s what seems to work best for many. Also try 16 rather than 24 bit if possible
In reply to I assume the 41000 is really… by Marc Sabatella
Marc, yes. 44100. Sorry.
There are also 2 boxes...
- allow applications to take exclusive control of this device (selected)
- give exclusive mode applications priority (not selected)
I suspect both boxes should be selected.
Your thoughts? Thanks.
In reply to Marc, yes. 44100. Sorry… by Brent Sterner
Hey, I did not change anything, honest... to nervous to try without you watching. :-) Just looked. It seems better. In fact fixed. ? Certainly usable now! So I experimented... 48000 is "fixed" with just a little stuttering. 44100 has nearly no stuttering, but occasional!
Very few points on my curve though. Is "less" "better"? Should I give exclusive mode apps priority?
Willing to experiment at this point. But educated experimentation is probably smarter.
THANK YOU. For repair via proximity? :-)
Summary, is there a "rule of thumb" for others that I see complaints from, outside these forums?
In reply to Hey, I did not change… by Brent Sterner
Interesting! Wish I could claim credit :-). Unfortunately there is no one-size-fits-all solution; that's why so many different options exist. I do know many people have had success changing to 44100 (aka 44.1 kHz), but I think it has to do with the specific hardware, and of course everyone has different hardware. I don't have any insight into exclusive mode.
In reply to Interesting! Wish I could… by Marc Sabatella
Sorry... you're stuck with the credit. :-) Bottom line... you knew enough (and sounded to me like you knew enough) that I trusted your suggestions. I only wish I could say I actually changed something. I believe in cause and effect. But the "cause" is a mystery, Charlie Brown.
Thank you again.
btw, I accidentally had 2 copies of Musescore open at the same time and they both were functional! Double fixed.
In reply to Sorry... you're stuck with… by Brent Sterner
You know, it's not actually impossible that the mere fact of opening the dialog might have fixed it. Could well be a bug in Windows where the sample rate is not initialized properly and opening the dialog does the job.
In reply to You know, it's not actually… by Marc Sabatella
Perhaps. As good a place to shift the blame/kudos as any. :-)
imo it is people like you who help other users that give real credibility to this platform.
I think this 44100 concept otta be a "thing" for diagnosing Musescore.
SOMETIMES Musescore installation leads to issues; other times (I assume) not so.
Is it possible that Musescore s/w might be able to detect when things go south?
Similar to detecting measures with bad beat counts for the time signature?
I ended up "thrashing" until I got some guidance (thank you). But was this necessary?
I'm out of the woods, but others may not be.
Can Musescore help them like they helped the 17/16 vs 4/4 people?
Large thanks again for your help. I'm very grateful.
In reply to Perhaps. As good a place… by Brent Sterner
The goal indeed is always to make everything work automatically. But with literally millions of different system configurations out there, it's not really feasible. So improvements are made whenever they can be discovered, but meanwhile, we all just do our best to inform people about possible workarounds to try. There are help articles on the subject but they can't cover every possible case.
Not sure what you mean about 17/16.
In reply to The goal indeed is always to… by Marc Sabatella
OK, I get it.
I meant the earlier issue...
Voice too long: Full score, measure 43, staff 25, voice 2. Found: 17/16. Expected: 4/4.
That issue has been solved for some time. Not hard to fix, but you need to know where to look.
Again, thanks for all your help.
In reply to OK, I get it. I meant the… by Brent Sterner
<* sigh *> The stuttering is back. I'm really confused.
I looked; the frequency and bit rate are unchanged.
I tried changing the frequencies. Really high values just stop playback dead.
I even tried 16-bit values. Nothing worked. So I rebooted.
The problem is back. And I was so happy just yesterday...
I actually played through several scores that I had downloaded to tinker with.
Everything was great. Until it wasn't.
Begging for more help. Again. Please. And Thank you.
In reply to <* sigh *> The stuttering… by Brent Sterner
Double <* sigh *>. And just like that, it is fixed. I have no idea what is going on. When it works, it works very well. No recent or pending MS updates. Suggestions wrt what to watch for are welcome. Thank you.
In reply to Double <* sigh *>. And… by Brent Sterner
I'm guessing it relates to some other software that either is or is not running concurrently.
In reply to I'm guessing it relates to… by Marc Sabatella
I have been following this conversation with interest.
I don't know whether this helps or not but I gave up on Musescore 4.0 long ago and went back to 3.6 because all sorts of other software such as Band-in-a-box, Reaper, Krita and others caused it to crash/freeze or play up in various ways. My platform is Windows 10 Home with 16 Mb RAM ssd hard drive Radeon R7 M260 graphics and Behringer UMC 404HD audio Interface. Musescore 3.6 works fine with other software but I have to be careful with audio config or I get audio problems .
With Musescore 4 there was no sign in Task Manager of running out of resources.
I still have Musescore 4.0 2 installed on my computer
In reply to I have been following this… by wilsonts
Hmm, did you report any issues? I'm not aware of any specific conflicts with those programs; others seem to be using at least Reaper successfully. Could well be an "exclusive mode" issue with the settings on your system.
In reply to Hmm, did you report any… by Marc Sabatella
From memory I did report one or two problems as they came to light and then just gave up once I figured out that it was software conflicts. I don't have the time or inclination to spend hours/ days messing around trying to get software working and as you well know , these sorts of problems can be hard to track down and sometime impossible to eradicate without compromising the system . Musescore 3 does the job OK for me and everything else works OK.
In reply to From memory I did report one… by wilsonts
Not here on musescore.org.
In reply to From memory I did report one… by wilsonts
Not here on musescore.org. except for this thread here.
In reply to From memory I did report one… by wilsonts
If you give us the link to the issue you opened, we can follow up on it. I don’t see anything here from you, and a search doesn’t show anything on GitHub. The developers cannot begin investigating a problem until someone reports it. No need to spend hours or days; takes only minutes to open an issue and report the problem and give the relevant system info.
In reply to If you give us the link to… by Marc Sabatella
It was a while back and I have no idea. All I would have said is something like it keeps freezing so I have given you all the information I have but please don't worry about it. I just thought the information that some else had conflict problems might have been helpful. I'm sorry mentioned it.
In reply to It was a while back and I… by wilsonts
It's helpful if someone can confirm there is a problem and then report the details - because it could be others are experiencing the same and also haven't reported it. So if you do still have 4.0.2 installed, I'd encourage you to check it out and if you can still reproduce the problem, please do yourself and other users a favor and report it on GitHub and give all the relevant details - a clear description of the problem itself and precise steps to reproduce it.
In reply to If you give us the link to… by Marc Sabatella
Not sure if this helps. A few months back I abandoned MS Office in favour of Libre Office. Long shot... I don't see much in the way of overlap/conflict with Musescore, but I'm not a s/w guru.
For now, I have my audio set at 16-bit 44100 Hz. Less seems to be better.
Can some one explain exactly what "exclusive mode" is? My system shows "allow apps to take exclusive control of this device" (checked) and "give exclusive mode apps priority" (not checked). Is Musescore an exclusive mode app? How do these mechanics work? Is this a red herring?
My current investigative methodology is to "test" Musescore 4 with a random score before I leave my laptop; if it fails, perhaps I'll remember what I did. :-)
Lastly, and I don't mean this to be derogatory in any way, might Musescore 4 be "fragile" somehow? As opposed to "robust"? My son works with game programming and he occasionally uses these terms...