MuseSounds Sax Crackling/Popping
There are a number of playback issues with the saxophones from MuseSounds, but for the most part I've been able to figure out work-arounds so it is at least useable.
The latest MuseSounds update, however, has made it so that the saxophones make a bunch of crackling/popping noises that make them effectively unusable. This seems to be an issue with alto, tenor, and baritone at all dynamic levels and tempos, and does not seem to be restricted to any particular range.
I am not using the latest version of Musescore 4 because the lastest version has a plethora of issues that make it practically unusable as well (random crashes, extreme differences in dynamics, messing with VST3 drum playback). What is very frustrating about this issue is that, unlike with Musescore, I cannot revert to an older version of MuseSounds. If you cannot solve this issue, can you at least please make older versions of MuseSounds available for download?
I know very little about computers and nothing about coding, but if it is helpful, here is my system information:
OS: macOS 14.5, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore Studio version (64-bit): 4.3.2-241630832, revision: 22b46f2
Comments
What are the rest of your computer specs? Ram, cpu, type of hard drive (HDD or SSD).
In reply to What are the rest of your… by bobjp
I know very little about computers so I will give as much information as I can from my computer. I think this is the hard drive specs:
Apple SSD Controller:
APPLE SSD AP1024Q:
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,555,581,440 bytes)
TRIM Support: Yes
Model: APPLE SSD AP1024Q
Revision: 373.120.
Serial Number: 0ba0142183b4ac43
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Removable Media: No
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
iSCPreboot:
Capacity: 524.3 MB (524,288,000 bytes)
BSD Name: disk0s1
Content: Apple_APFS_ISC
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 994.66 GB (994,662,584,320 bytes)
BSD Name: disk0s2
Content: Apple_APFS
Recovery:
Capacity: 5.37 GB (5,368,664,064 bytes)
BSD Name: disk0s3
Content: Apple_APFS_Recovery
I don't know how to tell ram or cpu so here are some things that might be it:
Memory: 16 GB
Type: LPDDR4
Manufacturer: Micron
Apple M1:
Chipset Model: Apple M1
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
Total Number of Cores: 8
Vendor: Apple (0x106b)
Metal Support: Metal 3
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir10,1
Model Number: MGQN3LL/A
Chip: Apple M1
Total Number of Cores: 8 (4 performance and 4 efficiency)
Memory: 16 GB
System Firmware Version: 10151.121.1
OS Loader Version: 10151.121.1
In reply to I know very little about… by Chapeau Canotier
Great. I just wanted to make sure you computer was powerful enough. Now open Musescore. Go to Edit>Preferences>Audio&Midi. There is a place to select your Audio Device. Select the down arrow. Sometimes it makes a difference what device you choose. If you are using headphones or speakers, select what you are using. Otherwise use Default, if you don't have a choice. Below that is Buffer size. This affects playback more than recording. But you never know. Try higher numbers first. 4096. Then the others.
I have heard of some people that have fixed some audio problems with Muse sounds by using an older version of MuseScore. No idea if an even older version will help you.
One thing I notice is that the newer sounds are made to be used with the new System Text.
I too have heard of people having random crashes. When I look at their scores it is usually because they did something that the software didn't like. I can't think of an example off the top of my head. But once the score was fixed, it was fine.
I had Spitfire and BBC (not from the HUB) and while they worked fine, I didn't like the sound. So I dumped them.
Crackling in recordings is new to me. Is this in WAV or MP3? Usually playback has problems, but recordings are fine. Have you tried the different sample and bitrate settings in the Export settings? You might try those first.
Good luck. Good playback, recordings, and no crashes are all possible.
In reply to Great. I just wanted to make… by bobjp
Thank you so much for the help.
Unfortunately, it didn't work– the noise is still an issue :(
Changing the buffer size to 4096 made the program lag a lot, but it didn't get rid of the popping/crackling noises. Lower numbers didn't lag but still didn't help with the noise.
Changing the playback location didn't help– the crackling noises were still present even when I took the headphones out and used my computer's speakers.
I can't use an older version of MS4 because once a file has been saved in a given version, it can no longer be opened in a previous version of the app (no matter how minor the changes are). Switching to an older version would mean all the scores from at least the past nine months are effectively inaccessible.
Is there anything else I can do? In case it is helpful, here's a link to an mp3 exported from musescore showcasing the playback issues (it won't let me attach mp3 files here):
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7xs9uavp1npayf4fc66gq/noise-issues.mp3?r…
In reply to Thank you so much for the… by Chapeau Canotier
Interesting. I'm not hearing any crackling or popping in your recording. Do you hear any in mine?