Notes with User velocity 0 from 1.x score sound in 3.1 and later, when (automatically) switching to "Expr." sounds

• Jul 20, 2019 - 01:01
Reported version
3.2
Priority
P2 - Medium
Type
Functional
Frequency
Few
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
Yes
Workaround
Yes
Project
  1. Open attached score (produced in 1.3).
  2. Play.

Result: Note sounds (despite being 0 in velocity).

Workaround: Untick 'Play' in Inspector (was only available in series 2).

Using MuseScore 3.2.3 - Mac 10.11.6.


Comments

Confirmed, this is odd.
Seems to to be due to now using "Choir Aahs Expr." rather than just "Choir Aahs", with that it is silent (and hence a workaround)

Title Note with 0 velocity in 1.x score sounds Notes with User velocity 0 from 1.x score sound in 3.2 and later, when (automatically) switching to "Expr." sounds

Should be a 3.1 regression.

Priority P2 - Medium

When using single note dynamics, velocity no longer controls volume - that's kind of the point. But it would be if the import code would convert 0 velocity into turning off "play" automatically.

cc11 plays back the velocity set on the note and works for SND also. Perhaps CC2 not playing properly should be considered a feature and an alternative.

I know it's been said that velocity works with CC11, but I hear no evidence of it myself. Standard soundfont, set dynamics method to CC11, new score for flute, add a single note, set it to velocity 0 - it still plays for me, same volume as if I hadn't changed the velocity. No changes I make to velocity (whether with the User or Offset) have any effect on volume of notes for me when using an expr sound.

I have attached a sample score.

Attachment Size
velocity.mscz 2.41 KB

I was never very clear in what offset and user did within velocity. I just needed the note silent to reflect something that shouldn't sound (e.g. spoken word).

Can someone explain some of this terminology (e.g. CC11; SND)?

User velocity means absolute value, 0-127. Offset velocity means offset from what ever the current velocity is as per dynamics and hairpins, plus or minus

CC11 was working. I know there have been some bug fixes, I guess one of these broke the single note velocity assignments being played back. In previous versions people who imported Midi would say their playbacks were wrong, which was true in CC2. Now it doesn't work in any situation.

SND is Single Note Dynamics - the ability to have a single note change volume over its duration, so you can crescendo during a whole note for example. The old MIDI model of dynamics had velocity - how hard you strike a key - be the sole determinant of volume, so it was impossible to change volume after the note started. But MIDI supports "continuous controller" message that allow changing volume at any time (for the whole channel, not per-note). Single note dynamics uses the latter approach. But there is no one standard for exactly how this should work. So we support different methods of doing this, via options in View / Synthesizer. Some sounds support SND, others don't, you can tell by the "expr" in the name. Also, you can enable/disable SND per instrument in Staff Properties.

If you have further questions, best to ask on the forum.