Tenor Drum playback not functioning correctly

• May 4, 2017 - 22:22
Reported version
2.1
Type
Functional
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Status
closed
Project
Tags

After updating to the newest version of Musescore, the instrument samples on the spock plate and the fourth drum of the Tenor Drums instrument have stopped producing sound.

Reproduce bug:
1. Open a new score.
2. Add Tenor Dums instrument.
3. Input any note that uses the fourth drum/the first space of the score or the spock plate/the space above the score or the Drum 1 Muted from the fourth space of the score.
4. Commence playback and the samples from the middle three lines play normally but the aforementioned samples do not play.

Issue arose when upgrading from 2.0.3 to 2.1. Can recreate in current nightly version, revision code 1409eac.

Could be due to some unintentional change in the default drumset but I haven't the slightest clue.

GIT commit: 871c8ce

Attachment Size
tenor_Bug.mscz 5.68 KB

Comments

Not sure I understand all the issues involved, but would reverting to 2.0.3 version of both instruments.xml and the soundfont solve the problem? Would that be a workaround for people affected?

No point in reverting to an older instruments.xml—the issue (at least for new scores) is that that didn't change. SoundFont, yes, and that's now documented in the places where it made sense to document it.

Ok. So how do we solve this?

First, note that instruments.xml is only one part of the problem. Any change we do in instruments.xml will end up in scores. And so scores and soundfont will not be in sync...

The problem is that instruments.xml (and so scores and the soundfont needs to have have the right sound at the right MIDI number. In 2.1, we changed the soundfont, but not instruments.xml and so MuseScore can't find the right sound at the right number... If we keep the soundfont as it, but change instruments.xml (like the workaround suggested here), then scores will not play in 2.0.3 since they will contain wrong mapping and scores created with MuseScore 2.0.3 will not play either.

So we can do two things A and B.
A
* As a workaround, use the soundfont of 2.0.3! not a different instruments.xml or a drumset file
* Revert the soundfont to same mapping used in 2.0.3.
* It means scores created with the drm or instruments.xml will not play correctly in 2.2

B/
* As a workaround Use instruments.xml or drumset and the soundfont of 2.1
* It means old scores will not play in 2.1 or future versions, or they need to be remapped
* In this case, we change instruments.xml in 2.2

My understanding is the remapping of tenor drum (and in a even more recent version of bass drum) samples in the soundfont was done to fit them in 61 keys MIDI keyboard. I'm not sure this is really necessary, so I would favor solution A.

Any input? A silent tenor drum if played in 2.1 here https://musescore.com/user/12704786/scores/2708671

If I understand correctly, the 2.0.3 had some given given sound at pitch X, and the instruments.xml file defined this correctly, but for 2.1 we moved the sound to pitch Y but forgot to update instruments.xml. But even if we *had* updated the instruments.xml, though, wouldn't it have *still* broken existing scores? Because the mapping would already have been baked into the scores, no?

Scores created with stock 2.1 are basically the same as scores created with 2.0.3 in terms of their mapping then. Only scores created with a customized drumset definition (whether done via instruments.xml, a drm file, or just manually editing the drumset definition) would have an issue.

If this understanding is correct, then to me, what makes sense is to include the sound at *both* locations in the soundfont. We could then either update the instruments.xml and any drm files we ship to point to the new location if this is still thought to be a good thing, or not. Either way, all scores would work in all versions.

Is it possible to move forward with an updated definition in instruments.xml to match the updated instrument in FluidR3Mono, and on opening scores have a check for the old definition and fix it if necessary? Or would scanning through the instruments like that unacceptably slow down loading the score?

But even if we *had* updated the instruments.xml, though, wouldn't it have *still* broken existing scores? Because the mapping would already have been baked into the scores, no?
Yes, the drumset is saved in the score

If this understanding is correct, then to me, what makes sense is to include the sound at *both* locations in the soundfont.
That would work only if there is no overlap between the two mappings

on opening scores have a check for the old definition and fix it if necessary?
That would be subsuboptimal...

Let's ping @churchorganist

From my email reply to Nicolas.........

I've just checked the mappings, and they do overlap - which is pretty inevitable when you are shrinking the mapping area.

One possible solution to this problem is to include 2 Tenor Drum presets with the soundfont - one with the old mapping and one with the new.

Users would then simply have to change the Preset in the mixer in order to have their scores sound correctly.

That seems to be the most sensible solution to me.

I can allot some time to this next week, when I can also do the same thing for Marching Bass Drums.

Let's do that and so make sure that previous mapping is restored. Marching Tenor drums is on 95 and Marching bass on 57 in MuseScore 2.0.3. We will need to edit instruments.xml to whatever we choose.

[[nodetitle:#151781]] definitely is - the problem only appears after compression with the SF3 tool.

Certainly on the Linux version I have compiled, and also in SF3's produced with Polyphone.

Sorry, yes I understood that. It's the others I don't know if we actually have a full handle on. I believe we've identified the commit that triggered the bass synth pops, but I don't know if we know if the commit itself is bad or just that it exposed a weakness in the SF3 conversion. There is also an issue with Salamander piano - SFZ - that clearly is not SF3-related.

The mapping is working ok for me. Both tenor and marching drums from scores created with Musescore 2.0.X or 2.1 and scores created with 2.2 and a new instruments.xml with the new mapping are working. I will commit the new instruments.xml and let's see if we can solve the problem with the SF3 because distributing the SF2 is far from convenient...

When is version 2.2 going to be released? All I see is 2.1 for download. I was really wanting to notate a tenor part to help me learn it, but I can't do that if there are no sounds for two of the drums.

Can someone help me out here? I don't understand how to "fix" this.

Also, I thought the new version had two spocks. There is only one.

Help, please!

That is a link to an instruments.xml file. Here is a copy of that file that you can use.

instruments.xml

Save this file on you computer. Open your musescore program folder and then open the instruments folder and save it there. I suggest you rename one of them to something like instruments_1.xml. I would rename the existing one. This is in case the file is unusable for some reason you will still have the backup.

After this, from the main menu open the edit->preferences dialog and click the score tab. In instrument list 1 click the folder icon to the right and navigate to this file. Finally double click the file name and click ok. This will use the instruments dialog that Jojo wants you to try.

Ok I have read through all the programming jargon that you all have posted and I am very thankful for it, because I know that without it these problems don't get addressed. I actually like to see it because, at least, us laymen can see movement with the issue. I am honestly only able to understand about 25% of what's going on, since I am a musician, and not a developer, but I am very frustrated because every time that I read that there is a "fix" or "work around" the chatter stops and it seems like we must have a winner. So I try to execute the "Fix" directions and it NEVER works. There is always some part of the instructions that does not play out the way the person says it will.

In one case we were instructed to navigate to the Styles folder and drag in a particular .xml file supplied to us for download via link and the file ended up being a .dmg.xml file. Whether that had any baring on the situation, I don't know, but whether it did or not, the file was greyed out when displayed in the Edit Drumset's LOAD Dialog box.

Then THIS thread concluded with "Open your musescore program folder and then open the instruments folder" There is no such folder in the Musescore folder and I have searched my whole hard drive for a file called "Instruments" and the only thing that appears is the one I just downloaded, which is supposed to be the replacement. Guys, I have spent sooooo much time trying to figure these bugs out that I have completely exhausted all of my music writing time and then some. Pleading for some solid direction with out dead ends. Please.

MacBook Pro Retina
MacOS Sierra 10.12.6
Musescore 2.1.0
871c8ce

@Jerad Whitaker as far as I'm aware, those steps should work. I can't see your screen, so "it doesn't work" gives us very little to none information to go on. Can you share a screenshot of the score tab in the preferences window to see how it is configured in your system?

In reply to by Jerad Whitaker

@Jerad strange; I just did what you described and it seems fine here:
1. Closed MuseScore
2. Downloaded that instruments.xml file from this issue; it was called instruments_14.xml, saved it into C:\Program Files (x86)\MuseScore 2\instruments
3. Renamed the instruments.xml file to instruments_original.xml
4. Renamed the downloaded instruments_14.xml file to instruments.xml
5. Start MuseScore
6. Went into Edit → Preferences… Score tab
7. Change the value of Instrument List 1 by clicking on the folder icon and navigating to the file (just as in your screenshot)
8. OK out of the dialog and close MuseScore
9. Start MuseScore
10. New Score → Choose Instruments…
All of them are available here (so right after your last instrument (Flageolet) the list of woodwinds still continue here)

The only other thing that seems a bit off in your screenshot is that you're not seeing the flat symbols in instrument names, while I am.

In reply to by xxHANGMANxx

There are two MuseScore folders, one in (in Windows) Program Files and the other in Documents. The one in the Documents library wouldn't have an Instruments folder. You have to find the MuseScore folder in Program Files (or whatever your operating system's equivalent is). Hope this helps.

In reply to by jeetee

Near as I can tell, there must have been a problem with the download, but it still doesn't work properly. The instruments are now fully populated as before. This time, however, the tenors under battery percussion now is a piano sound. Older scores still sound like a tenor, but the lower notes are silent.

OK! I'm trying to add battery percussion to my arrangement, but drum 4 and Spock are not working. I already know that this problem has been discussed a lot, but I need to know what I can possibly do to fix this problem and I need it to be explained to me like I'm 5 years old. Maybe somewhere in that mess of comments there was a solution, but I don't have the patience for that.

The plan is that S. Christian Collins reverts the mapping to what it was in 2.0.3 in a version of MS_General that will be included in 2.2, right?

Status (old) patch (ready to commit) fixed
Status PR created fixed

This is now fixed for 2.2 with the last 0.1.1 version of the soundfont.