Issues with MusicXML export/import

• Dec 20, 2019 - 20:49

I have saved an MS score in MusicXML format and imported it into Guitar Pro 6 but unfortunately it seems to have gone a bit awry. So I then opened the same MusicXML with MS and it still has problems.

The original mscz score looks like this:
Before.png

The MusicXML looks like this in GP6:
GP-Import.png

and the same MusicXML looks like this in MS3:
After.png

The original score is:
https://musescore.com/user/28842914/scores/5154865

Any ideas what's going wrong?

Comments

• Dec 21, 2019 - 06:42

I'm sorry, there's a lot of things wrong with your score. First of all, it was created with 2.2.1. At that time, the the Capo feature (via the staff text properties) did not exist. To get around this, I guess, you changed the guitar tuning completely, a whole octave higher (E3 instead of E2 for the bass, and E5 instead of E4 for the first string, for example.) These are things you'd better not do. Then, in the Staff Properties, you used Transposition with a minor seventh interval.
That's not all, unfortunately. You have picked up some bad habits by using Tablature in a totally unusual way and especially one that was not intended for. Once again, on a TAB, the rhythm can only be displayed for two voices (the rhythm of one is displayed above, the other below), and not for four voices that you persist in using, with error, so I repeat.
tab.jpg
notes.jpg
So, don't be surprised that MuseScore and Guitar Pro (which doesn't do better, of course, and even worse, Guitar Pro doesn't even display any rhythm in the TABs, it sticks to the "Simple" option of MuseScore) mix up the pencils - as you see on your images - and even more so, using an Xml format that is not intended for that purpose either.

EDIT: In a "normal" and intended way (ie two voices maximum), it's works as expected.
First image below: Notes + Tab "simple" (the way the more suitable, really, for all players), and second image, TAB only, "common" style, two voices.

defaut.jpg
défaut1.jpg

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 09:46

Thanks for taking the time to look at my score.

I used the capo work around from this forum.

I used 4 voices because there was no "let ring" in MS2, (and this option in MS3 does not work as a guitar would but possibly more like a piano pedal). Many fingerpicking arrangements benefit from 4 voices and do not need rhythmic information display for all voices. GP recognises this and allows you to choose which voices you want to show rhythm for.

If you playback your score it will not have a flowing sound because you have converted most of the notes into quavers. Only the bass notes will flow properly. I want the melody to flow similarly. So I persist in using TAB incorrectly because of MS limitations and my own lack of experience, (e.g. mixing up the voices). However I can see some of the problems that this is causing and I need to find a way of producing a good score, (like your example), without sacrificing playback quality.

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 10:01

"If you playback your score it will not have a flowing sound because you have converted most of the notes into quavers. Only the bass notes will flow properly"
That's the misunderstanding, your mistake I think. Look, listen to all the guitar scores on musescore com, and you won't hear what you're describing. You've got a wrong idea about legato. The use of different voices (I'm talking about polyphony) is the way to go.
This was a problem with older versions of MuseScore because the shared noteheads (in voices 1 and 2 for example) were systematically cut - by the shortest value. This has been solved, so if you use polyphony correctly, legato is no longer a problem.
Eg: pachelbel1.mscz

Edit: "Many fingerpicking arrangements benefit from 4 voices" Many, sure? Basically, I disagree with that.

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 10:11

I have several guitar scores downloaded from MS and quavers play as quavers, they don't continue to play beyond their notated duration and some other versions of this piece sound choppy. I will check your example but it has to sound different to mine because of the conversion of my minims to quavers.

Maybe this was a V2 issue but I will compare as I have both versions installed. I have used voices for polyphony but I have clearly mixed up my pencils. This was my first MS score so hopefully I am improving.

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 10:19

"they don't continue to play beyond their notated duration and some other versions of this piece sound choppy."

That's your idea (not mine) of it. Of course, it depends a lot about the tempo. At slow tempo, of course, that may be one aspect (but playing a score on a software program anyway will never be the way you hear it on your own guitar), but at moderate tempo, and fast tempo at that, it's strictly inaudible - and it's better that way, of course, in those high tempos.
So, eventually, for scores with slow or even very slow tempos, a prolonged support of some notes can be considered, but certainly not for the quasi majority of scores.

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 10:20

[ Edit: "Many fingerpicking arrangements benefit from 4 voices" Many, sure? Basically, I disagree with that. ]

Okay there may be a better way to write these pieces but it is quite usual to play fingerpicking where the strings all ring. You could argue that 6 voices would be useful, 1 for each string - but I am not suggesting this. There is often a melody, a bass line and an accompaniment so 3 voices is the least needed for ease of scoring and good playback.

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• Dec 21, 2019 - 10:21

" There is often a melody, a bass line and an accompaniment so 3 voices is the least needed for ease of scoring and good playback."
Exactly. And again, TAB staff, is this case, is not the good way to achieve a good result. With polyphony, yes.

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