Initial impressions version 3.0.
I've been looking at version 3.0 for a couple of hours now and have posted a feature request I've been thinking about a long time, but waited for 3.0 to see if it was implemented. I've also posted a few bug reports, that will no doubt be followed by more.
After so many bug reports I did not want the impression to be that I do not like version 3. The opposite is true. I'm very impressed by the way the auto avoidance system works. I haven't even started entering new notes because of all of the differences between the interface between 2.x a 3 that I'm still finding new ways of doing the same old thing. Most of the issues I have seen with adjusted elements from version 2.x can simply be fixed by using Ctrl+a then Ctrl+r to undo changes made in version 2.x and version 3 will make it look good. Exceptions can be seen in the issue tracker.
I have opinions about the interface I would like to share.
Menus: They are now out of place. Previously they looked like they were part of the program by having the same background and text style as the rest of the interface, but now they are plain white backgrounds like what you get when you click the desktop in windows.
The Inspector: It's too wide for normal use. Perhaps if the icons were smaller it would help, but you have to make the inspector so wide to see all of the icons and text fields that it takes up a significant amount of space from the score. Between my bad eyesight and my relatively small screen, I have to make the score bigger to be able to read it and be able to click an item on my first attempt. Page width just doesn't work for me and I don't see why the inspector needs to be so wide.
The icons on the Files toolbar will take some getting used to. They look more primitive that those of previous version and will take some getting used to.
Selected buttons on the toolbars look more like they are deactivated than that they are pressed. For example, the Play repeats button defaults to pressed but looks like it's deactivated.
The Mixer defaulted to the title bar and first few instruments being off the top of the screen. Fortunately I know how to move it with the keyboard and it remembers where you put it when you close and reopen MuseScore.
If did find some really neat things, like when you select Hide empty staves and the end of the score is filled with empty measures, the first staff remain visible. In previous versions the empty systems just disappeared.
One thing that I can't figure out is the PDF Transcribing Assistant. It opens a window with everything grayed out. I have no idea how to use it.
It is probably a good idea to start a version 3.0 handbook to help explain the new layout and the new features.
All in all I like the new version much better than 2.x and I look forward to using it for inputting scores.
Comments
I started entering notes into version 3 finally. I still have a lot to learn.
Entering notes is unusable. I've never had MuseScore 2 slowdown as much as version 3 does. I have a 25 measure score with 45 staves and after 3 or 4 notes the Windows 10 circle starts spinning and the sound of the notes gets annoyingly stuck. If I type too fast the MuseScore window even fades like it's going to crash. Fortunately it doesn't crash so I don't usually have to reenter the notes, I just have to wait for it to return to normal so it will accept my next few key strokes so it can get stuck again. I started this score in version 2.3.2 and it was moving along like an empty score still. This is part of a series of about 20 files so far that have the same instrumentation and even with over 200 measures in a score, version 2.3.2 didn't slow down nearly this much.
I've given it more than enough time to ensure the sound font is done unpacking. I opened version 2.3.2 while 3.0 was open and started entering the notes into the same score and all was normal.
The only things I have open are 2 scores, the inspector and palettes
Perhaps I'm missing something, I'm open for suggestions.
In reply to I started entering notes… by mike320
I tried to see what the problem might be. The score was started in version 2.3.2 and opened in version 3. The score was actually up to about 100 measures total while I was adding notes to measures 24-28. I deleted the last 50 measures and the score started letting me enter notes like it's new. I added the 50 measures back and it started getting a little slow, but not unusable. Perhaps the extreme slowdown has something to do with the import from version 2.3.2. IDK.
In reply to I started entering notes… by mike320
As I continue to enter notes, I still notice version 3 is not as responsive as version 2 was. I would expect that making the as 64 bit build would make everything work better, but the note entry response is just not what I expected.
I think there is a regression. When in continuous view, there is no instrument name at the beginning of a system. You have to move the start of the system of the screen so the blue courtesy info will be displayed.
In reply to I think there is a… by mike320
Hi a few things that might help from my experience.
The muse score "native" file format is not compatible between versions. Reading and writing between different versions will cause file corruption at some point in time. Essentially, the format changes as a version is developed, as features are experimented with etc. The prudent way I think to workaround loss of effort is to export a file into Music XML and then open the music XML file into the version you are using. I think it is worthwhile to do this with importing and exporting between various versions. Note however that Music XML export doesn't export bar repeats, (I haven't worked out what other aspects are not compliant with Music XML 1, 2, 3 yet) but it is the most conformal way to save and restore work. Apart from when a project may crash before saving you can use the more stable nightly apps and become more familiar with the new interface and features and produce some score sheets at the same time, minimising loss of effort and rework.
In reply to Hi a few things that might… by Ron Southworth
I appreciate the tip, but the idea is that you should be able to open version 2.x scores in version 3 and there will be few issues that need to be manually fixed. I'm testing version 3 and adding to my notes in hopes of helping the developer to improve this portability between versions. Opening a version 2 score should not make note input slow down to a crawl and needs to be fixed. I'm not too interested in using workarounds like exporting to xml and importing to version 3. This should not be necessary at all. Some workarounds, like deleting empty measures and reentering them to speed up note entry may help the developers in understanding what needs to be fixed.
In reply to Hi a few things that might… by Ron Southworth
Never version of MuseScore should be able to open scores from older version. If they don't, there's a bug.
And the 3.0 beta is exactly about finding such bugs.
The opposite is not true though, and that is not a bug. And indeed there MusicXML ex-and import would be the way to go.