Creating audio from score

• Feb 9, 2014 - 04:23

Hi everyone, hope someone can help me. I'm fairly new to MS, a couple of glitches and lots of crashes last week required me to uninstall and reinstall. I'm now using V1.3 Revision 5702.
I've created a score with a very clumsy click track (not sure how to do it, but I just added a snare drum). Now I'd like to create audio to play along with for practise.
Problem I have is that on playback on the score or the created .wav file voltas don't work correctly. The playback consistently misses a bar in first ending, every time.
It's not a problem for printing, but absolutely huge for practise.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
(hope I've attached the correct file ... hmmm)
Wedding Song.mscz

Attachment Size
Wedding Song.mscz 6.85 KB

Comments

Welcome! The problem with the voltas is that you did not extended them correctly. See Volta in the Handbook. You need to double-click and use Shift+arrow to change the actual starr or end points. Dragging just changes the voltas visually but doesn't change where they attach.

As for the tidying up, what did you do that disappeared? It basically looks good to me, although the second system is kind of overfull. I guess you reduced stretched a lot to try to fit all those measures on the line?

In reply to by Robyn.fnq

No need to start over. If you double click the volta and start dragging a handle, you see a dotted line appear howing you where that end of the voltas is actually attached. So first, drag the handles so the voltas are lined up with the narlines they are actually attached to. Them you cam extended them properly. But it's probably just as easy to delete the voltas and re-add them. And yes, this is why playback is not what you want. MuseScore is trying to do what you are telling it to do, but by not extending the volta correctly, you are telling Musescore the volta is only measure long.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks again, and I've replaced the voltas using the correct technique as you've outlined.
Playback is now fine as long as I turn off repeats, but as soon as I turn them on playback just goes all over the shop ...
And some of the items in the palette have altered in size ... is there something I've done to change them? I've removed all repeat markings, eg, DS al coda, and replaced them by dragging and dropping, but the text is now so small as to be pinpoints.

In reply to by Robyn.fnq

...would help to clear up the playback issue.
Also, when you wrote: 'And some of the items in the palette have altered in size ... ', do you mean that the items shown in the palette itself have shrunk, or that the repeat markings dragged into the score display too small? or both?
In the score, you can double click on a repeat marking to enter edit mode, select all the text in the repeat marking, then change the font size using the text toolbar which appears at the bottom.
Again, posting the score is best.
Regards.

In reply to by Jm6stringer

Yes, I've tried editing the text size, which worked, but I have no idea why it happened in the first place ... the number 1 on the first volta is correct, but the second ... well, I've attached it without changing that, or the DS al Coda text, so maybe someone will work it out.
I've installed Windows 8, and have regretted it ever since, for many reasons, not just this one. Maybe it's time to make my confession, I've been using Finale for a year or so, and when I upgraded the OS, it refused to reinstall, hence my defection to MuseScore. But until recently I was glad I did.
Thanks again for all the help I'm getting here, and I'm finding the forums interesting, though I'm nowhere near understanding most of the programming language ... ah well.
And yes, both in the palette and the score ...

Attachment Size
Wedding Song.mscz 7.26 KB

In reply to by Robyn.fnq

Weird! For the volta, just editing the text restores the normal size. But I have no idea what happened with the DS.

Are you saying the text is small on the palette too? Could you post a screenshot?

If you can figure out how to bring up a command line window in Windows 8 (I'm sure Google can find you a way), you might need to try Revert to factory settings .

You have 2 end repeat bars, the 2nd is not needed (and confuses MuseScore), there the D.S. al Coda will do the jump. But the To Coda inside the repeat doesn't work, might be that MuseScore gets confused when jumping out of a repeat?

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I've replaced the repeat with double barlines. The playback is everywhere ... and the whole idea here is to create a playalong.
So how then do I instruct it to jump to coda? I've done the factory reset.
Ok, having tweaked the repeats a little, it now plays the first and second repeats flawlessly, but is still missing the last bar before DS al coda, then doesn't jump at the To Coda mark.
Getting there ... I'm happy so far.

Attachment Size
MS screenshot.odt 249.32 KB

I exported as MusicXML and looked at the individual measures. There are bits of code - probably from earlier edits - that are where they ought not to be, including extra references to Codas. I couldn't correct it using MuseScore and without resorting to editing the MusicXML file.

If it helps, I have created two copies - one (Wedding Song(new)) that looks OK and another (Wedding Song(playback)) that ought to play back or export to an audio file OK. I have set the playback tempo to Andante ( = 96) but you can adjust that.

Attachment Size
Wedding Song (new).mscz 6.1 KB
Wedding Song (playback).mscz 6.62 KB

In reply to by underquark

Thanks for doing that for me underquark, I never thought to just copy and paste the repeat section for audio.
So in future I need to check the handbook for specific instructions first ... the palette tools all have different places to drag and drop (on a note, in a bar, above a bar), and because I used a hairpin with no problems, I just presumed I could drag the boundary marks for a volta the same ... (didn't read the instructions!)
I still have not discovered how to make the program do the jump to Coda, or follow the dynamics as placed. A small issue, and not important in the overall quest as I described above.
Once again, thank you all for your assistance, I'll get to know the program more and will probably find some more little details to ask about.
Cheers!

In reply to by Robyn.fnq

Well, hairpins only "appeared" to work because they don't affect playback. If they affected playback, you'd find dragging them equally ineffective. They to are supposed to be lengthened using Shift+Right. Actually, not just playback - extending lines properly, so MuseScore knows where they actually attach, is important to make sure MuseScore continues laying them out correctly as you edit your score. Consider, if you add a hairpin, volta, or other line, adjust it so its length looks right, then change the layout of your score so the beginning and ending point are further apart than they were before, or even move to different systems, MuseScore needs to know how to adjust the length of your line.

Dynamics should work fine for playback, but as mentioned, hairpins don't. There is a plugin (see Plugins menu at right) that can allow you to make hairpins work.

Segnos and coda also work fine in general, but there are known bugs in certain combinations like a segno on the same bar as a start repeat or something like that.

Overall, though, I fear you may ultimately be disappointed if your primary goal is to create playalongs. MuseScore is a notation program than only happens to provide some playback features. So you'll always keep running into limitations - things that just aren't suppoirted for playback. Might be good enough, but do keep the purpose of the software in mind as you consider your expectations.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks again, and I'll keep that in mind.
As I said, overall I'm very happy with the software, my learning skills let me down.
But it wasn't so much a 'musical' playback I was looking for, just a score that translates into an audio file that has proper placement of notes and beat, so that when practising with my ipod I can complete the tune as written in front of me. That's what I now have.
I'm overwhelmed by the support on this forum, not just for me, but watching other posts always get answered.
Cheers all,
Robyn

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