Play is permanently disabled

• May 26, 2011 - 14:07

I'm a new user of MuseScore on Debian Squeeze, but can't get its play function to work. I have no expertise in these matters (I'm setting up a linux box for a musician), but the start up messages don't look good:

$ musescore
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server socket
jack server is not running or cannot be started
Portaudio open stream -1 failed: Invalid device
no audio output found
Portaudio close stream failed: Invalid stream pointer
init audio driver failed
sequencer init failed
link SVGID_3_ hasn't been detected!
link SVGID_3_ hasn't been detected!
registerPlugin: add action idx 10
Load plugin: no menu property
preferences.checkUpdateStartup: 720
lastupdate: 26.05.2011 07:40:59.106

When first started after installation, I experience the following immediate problems with
MuseScore:

a) When MuseScore starts, the Sound Enabled while Editing, Enable Midi
Input, and Play Repeats are all ON, even if they were OFF when MuseScore was
last closed. I suspect this is not default behavior.

b) Pressing F11 (or Display->Play Panel) does not display the Play Panel pop up
(it is not hidden under another window). I should think this panel would appear
even if there were a problem with the sequencer.

c) Clicking the Play button does not automatically move MuseScore into Play Mode
as far as I can tell (Play Mode icon does not look depressed).

d) Clicking the Play button does not play the displayed sample Moussorgsky score,
although I am able to play MIDI files on my machine with timidity.

Does MuseScore still depend on the old OSS interface, /dev/sequencer? My ALSA
modules no longer include the snd-seq-oss module that emulates the old OSS
sequencer.

To what extent is this string of woes an effect of my profound ignorance or is there
a real problem with my MuseScore?

Haines Brown

Comments

[DELETED] 5

• May 26, 2011 - 22:33

Can you check Edit > preferences > IO. Portaudio should be selected and try other interface.

Haines Brown

• May 27, 2011 - 13:52

Your suggestion much appreciated, but I'm setting up a linux box for a musician, and she is as ignorant of computers as I am of MIDI. So when you tell me to try the "other interface", I'm at a loss which of the options on the I/O page refers to interfaces. Is "JACK MIDI out" the "other" interface (API)?

I took a guess that JACK MIDI out is the "other interface" and so enabled it ("use internal synthesizer" can't be disabled). Now I have to worry about port choice. Default is port 2. There is a choice of 8 ports. $ aplaymidi -l tells me:

Port Client name Port name
14:0 Midi Through Midi Through Port-0
16:0 SB Audigy 2 ZS [SB0350] Audigy MPU-401 (UART)
16:32 SB Audigy 2 ZS [SB0350] Audigy MPU-401 #2
17:0 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 0
17:1 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 1
17:2 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 2
17:3 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 3
128:0 TiMidity TiMidity port 0
128:1 TiMidity TiMidity port 1
128:2 TiMidity TiMidity port 2
128:3 TiMidity TiMidity port 3

Selecting JACK MIDI output and default port 2 does not give me sound. I get this message when I now start MuseScore:

$ musescore
JackAudio()::init(): failed
no JACK server found
init audio driver failed
sequencer init failed
link SVGID_3_ hasn't been detected!
link SVGID_3_ hasn't been detected!
registerPlugin: add action idx 10
Load plugin: no menu property

I was not sure how to get JACK support, but guessed it is the application jackd. But installing it did not change this error message. How do I know if a JACK server is running?

Haines Brown

[DELETED] 5

• Jun 1, 2011 - 15:55

In Edit > preferences > IO

Uncheck Use Jack Midi output
Check use internal synth
Check "Portaudio" and uncheck "Alsa audio" and "Jack Audio Server"
Next to portaudio you have two combobox, try several options there, if you can't find anything, give us the list of options you have.

Haines Brown

• Jun 1, 2011 - 19:49

> On Wed, Jun 01, 2011 at 03:00:09PM +0000, MuseScore wrote:
> In Edit> preferences> IO
> 1) Uncheck Use Jack Midi output
> 2) Check use internal synth
> 3) Check "Portaudio" and uncheck "Alsa audio" and "Jack Audio Server"
> 4) Next to portaudio you have two combobox, try several options there, if
> you can't find anything, give us the list of options you have.

I did as you suggested. In the portaudio comboboxes, there were no
options at all (both boxes are blank and un-writable).

I saved and restarted MuseScore:

I run Debian Squeeze. Is the API "/dev/snd/seq"? If so, it seems as if
MuseScore is not automatically finding the proper device interface.
With move from OSS to ALSA, my impression is that /dev/seq device file
was removed and replaced with /dev/snd/seq. I have not tried to create
a symlink from /dev/seq to /dev/snd/seq because I don't know anything
about MIDI.

Thanks,

Haines Brown