muse sounds, solo violin

@sevcikshifter wrote > MuseSounds solo violin sounds a weird glissy portamento effect.
So between one note and the next [it sounds] as if the violin only had one string, and was being played with one finger.

Thanks for your observations! I'm of a similar frame of mind.

NOTE: I think the term portamento best describes the sound heard ... or one could refer to it as "a poorly executed shift." Technically glissando is a rapid "slide" though distinct scale tones—or chromatic tones—with a pronounced but very brief pause-articulation at each. There's ongoing confusion about the two names, possibly because, in onomatopoeic terms, "gliss" implies "glidey."

Example score:

I tested Muse Sounds' Violin 1 (solo) on a piece I wrote. In doing so I definitely noticed a substantially excessive amount of the portamento effect described in the opening post.

I hear distinct unwanted portamento in my piece at Measure 9, 14, 15, and then a lot after Measure 18. Probably the only place I'd want a portamento slide is at measure 23, but there's no control for attenuating or omitting portamento where deemed appropriate.

Thoughts

I appreciate that—when applied intentionally and judiciously—Violin 1 (solo)'s portamento effect can add an impressive realism to MuseScore's violin playback. But violinists work tirelessly to perfect their shifting to eliminate inadvertent portamento. So when they apply portamento deliberately, for effect, it's not just anywhere and everywhere as with MuseSounds Solo Violin. And when portamento occurs unintentionally in performance it's usually very brief ... and appears mainly at the end or beginning of the shift, or both.

Additionally the amount that Violin 1 (solo) invokes is excessive in terms of:

    a) the amount of pitch "slide"
    b) the length of time devoted to the slide
    c) that the portamento is essentially the default, particularly on high notes, or on notes with intervals greater than a minor 3rd.

That said, the Muse Sounds Solo strings are quite impressive. I'd just want to eliminate portamento as the default playback. And when I want it I should be able to control the portamento's extent and timing, as scorists could with MuseScore's bends in MuseScore 3.

I imagine this is all coming ...

scorster

https://musescore.com/user/35880724/scores/13703899

I've attached a file that demonstrates the difference between "default playback" (excessive portamento, and a weird "chorus" effect), and "straight playback" (somewhat robotic, but nice and clean).
In both cases all notes are in Muse Strings Violin 1 solo.

So for my money, this could be fixed with some sort of playing technique annotation or sound flag that controls what output is sent to Muse Sampler so that if you want the "clean" sound, you can get it without resorting to using a second staff.

Just adding myself to the list of people perplexed and annoyed by the weird default violin 1 sound

Regarding détaché, I think the best approach is to invent a specific symbol for it. Historically, it was interpreted by the musician, but with sound libraries, it's almost impossible to achieve the desired effect.

My problem with NotePerformer was quite the opposite. I had to fill the score with slurs to get the legato sound, and when the passage is long (such as in string harmony layers), it becomes incredibly cumbersome to manage.

As for staccato, it is not a rigid concept. From my experience, its duration is typically half the note's value. However, when using sound libraries, it becomes an instantaneous incident within the score.

Additionally, if the playback options for a note included more parameters than just velocity and tuning—specifically, if they included "duration"—it would be much more helpful and precise.

Maybe off topic for you guys, but I like the fiddle “sound” selection within the mixer ( not an instrument). It has a different articulation. Make a violin instrument, the select within the mixer, msbasic/world/fiddle.

Validating your concern
https://musescore.com/user/10533076/scores/17734597
And yes, I have tried Solo Violin 2 and it wasn't any better (imagine how horrible the second movement sounds). Try your best to utilize various combinations of solo violin 2, solo violin 1, and all kinds of articulations. You can also make any unwanted clutter like repetitive articulations invisible with the "v" key. Other than that, there isn't much you can do.

You could try switching the sounds for the violin to violin 2 solo via the mixer, the violin 2 solo still has a little bit of portamento but not to the extent that the pitch is affected.

A lot of misinformation given here. I can tell you as a fiddle player that here's the way music for violin is interpreted, as far as I know:

1) Notes not connected with a slur or tie are played as separate bow strokes. Whether or not they are accented or as any other bowed stroke articulation is done by separate articulation symbols. You can optionally specify the direction the bow using the two articulations given in the program for this purpose (hard to describe the symbols here). If bow direction is not specified it is up to player discretion.

2) Notes of the same pitch that are connected with a tie are played as a single note of the combined duration of the notes. Notes of different pitches that are connected with a tie ... I'm not sure that's "legal". I've never seen scores with that.

3) Notes of different pitches that are connected with a slur are to be played as fingered legato, that is, where each note is played with a different finger, but using one bow stroke. The notes sound "slurred together" with subtle transitions because they are not played with separate bow strokes.

4) (EDITED this part): Portamento is usually denoted with a straight line between the two notes. In a violin portamento, the same finger is used for both notes, which slides from the first note to the second.

This is the way MuseScore should be playing violin music. And it basically does if using one of the paid third party sounds, such as Berlin Strings first chairs, or CineSamples solo violin, etc. However, I've noticed that they sometimes sound more like portamento than fingered legato. But the violin 1 sound using MuseScore's own violin 1 is flat out wrongly played in my opinion, since all notes are seemingly played portamento. I just assume it is a bug.

UPDATE: MuseScore does not play violin portamento correctly at all, when notes are connected with a straight line, as MuseScore plays it as though a harp glissando, (as a series of notes going from the beginning note to the ending note), instead of a slide from beginning note to ending note. I think that's because it doesn't really have a straight line articulation without the "gliss." text accompanying it. Ironically, the portamento sound does come out if you use MuseScore's violin 1, but wrongly as just mentioned, because this only happens when individual notes aren't connected with the slur notation.