OS/X 2.0.3: it appears that Staff Text ("pizzicato") simply does not work at all in this version
In Version 1.x, I had no difficulty adding "staff text" and then choosing that said text should refer to "piziccato." In version 2.0.3 on OS/X, I find that I simply cannot do it.
I add the Staff Text, then right-click "Staff Text Properties." Whether I (on the first line of tab #1) select "piziccato" for all four voices, or (on tab #2) select it as "MIDI properties," upon playback I simply do not(!) hear ... piziccato!
This seems to me to be a severe – yet, incomprehensible – regression from how 1.x used to work.
(P.S.: I have utterly no idea how the "MIDI Action" panel is supposed to work. I don't seem to be able to make anything at all happen in the lower page, "Actions for selected channel." I'm afraid that I haven't a clue what to do with it.)
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GIT commit: 3c7a69d
Comments
Which instrument? There was an issue about this for 2.0.1, which Jojo Schmitz fixed, but I don't remember all the details. I would presume it carried over to 2.0.3...?
Hey, I just observed something that might well be "very significant."
When I click on an individual note in the score editor, in a region where this Staff Text is in place, I =hear= a "pizzicato(!)" sounding of that individual note! (When I click on other notes in other staffs which are not pizzicato, I do not hear this playback.)
However, upon =playback= of the entire score, I hear the part "legato."
Therefore, it seems to me that the scope of the bug is confined in some way specifically to "entire-score playback." As though MS is aware of the staff-text influence when I click on individual notes in the editor, but fails to apply it when playing back the entire score.
Although the instrument in question is "strings," the computer-programmer in me thinks that this bug is probably not linked to any particular instrument.
Indeed: when I click upon individual notes in the score editor, in regions where a different Staff Text ("arco" ...) rules the day, the playback of that individual note IS(!) ... "arco."
... no, wait!! On score-playback across these regions, I actually hear BOTH! I hear a pizzicato string SUPERIMPOSED OVER an "arco" string! (But only on score playback.)
Here's the sequence: in the SCORE, I specify a "pizzicato" sequence of notes followed by "arco." When I click on individual notes in either section, I hear only the appropriate sound. However, when I play back the score, I hear: "arco" sounds (not piz...), but then, when the Staff Text switches to specify "arco," I hear both. I hear an arco sound with a piz. sound underneath it.
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Also: I am right-now ABSOLUTELY(!) [just ...] "looking for a work-around!"
I have fiddled with the "voice" buttons, all four of 'em. Nada. I have fiddled with the "MIDI" tab. Nada.
Anything that works-now, please. Anything to give me back(!!) my piz strings.
Can you post the actual mscz file of your score so the developers can look/listen to it? I run Win7 and 2.0.1, and I'm not a progammer, but there are people here who can check out what's happening in your score if you make it available.
The feature definitely works in general. If you have some specific case where it seems not to be, you would definitely need to attach the actual score and precise steps to reproduce the problem in order for us to investigate why it doesn't work in your case when it does for others.
My guess is you aren't using the dialog properly (and the MIDI tab is not relevant here; ignore it), but it's hard to say exactly what you might be doing wrong. When in doubt, be sure to read the Handbook - see in particular the section on the Mixer, which seems to be where this is currently documented.
Well, I'm glad to hear that.
I doubt that my score is exceptional, and I have no idea how to "attach" it, so here's what I've done. (Note: this file IS carried-over from MS 1.3)
(1) Click on a note. Choose "Staff Text." Add text such as "Piz."
(2) Right-click on the note. Choose "Staff Text Properties."
(3) A dialog appears which, on its first tab ("Change Channel") offers 4 rows with 4 buttons each, with a drop-down with three choices: "Normal," "Pizzicato," "Tremolo."
(4) Dutifully ignoring the "MIDI Action" tab, just because you now told me to, click on "Voice #1" (or, what the heck, all four of 'em), and choose "Pizzicato."
(5) Now, hit the "Rewind" button and the "Play" button and ... guess what ... you hear legato strings: NOT pizzicato!
(5a) Okay, now: click on individual notes in the various tracks. When you click on any note in the Violin region that's covered by the Staff Note, you hear: a pizzicato sound. Click on any note where a different Staff Note rules (e.g. "Arco"), and you hear an Arco sound. Click on any other track (instrument ...) and you hear an appropriate voicing for that instrument.
(5b) If you listen carefully to the playback: during the regions that are supposed to be "Piz," you hear "Arco." However, when the next Staff Note is encountered – one that is supposed to switch from Piz to Arco – you now hear both.
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Ahh, I just discovered how to attach files. Here you go. The anomaly is in the first few bars.
Also: this file was transferred from 1.3, which was able to render it perfectly.
Hmm, I don't quite understand what you mean. When I play your score from the beginning, I hear exactly what I expect: the "Violin" part plays pizz, everything else arco, just as the score says it should be. Are you saying you hear soemthing different, or are you *doing* something than simply playing the score from the beginning? To be sure I am hearing it properly, I deleted the notes in the other staves.
Also, if I try followng your steps in a score created from scratch (for a single instrument: violin), it also works perfectly. Here is the score I created to test this. Does it not play back correctly for you? If not, have you perchance changed soundfont from the default?
If you are still having problems with your score, please tell me exactly what I need to do in that score to hear a problem, but as I said, it plays just fine for me. I do notice you seem to have used the Mixer to set the sound for the "normal" channel (arco) for the violin to "Pop Bass"; maybe you did that accidentally and are now being surprised by that sound when it occurs starting in measure 7?
Well, I found it. And it WAS, as we all suspected, a false alarm.
It turns out that the ViolinCello part, which doubles the Violins-1, was much too loud and was overpowering it such that the quiet pizzicato could not be heard.
I diagnosed the problem by opening the Mixer window and systematically soloing each part, one at a time. First, I determined that the pizzicato strings WERE, in fact, sounding. Then, shortly thereafter, I found which part was squashing it.
This problem report should be "closed."