Midi Export: shortened note durations
Hi,
when exporting to midi the durations of all notes are shortened a bit. (A friend is using a software that misinterprets this as shorter notes e.g. a quarter note will become a dotted eight-note with a 16th-rest.
The software has no quantization options to set)
Is there a way in Musescore to make it export the notes by their full duration?
I know the workaround to give all notes the Tenuto-articulation, but that would overwrite staccato durations.
Comments
The default length of notes for any given instrument is controlled by settings in the instruments.xml file. As far as I recall, only piano and flute have this shortened a bit. Piano because this is meant to accurately reflect how a piano might normally be played. Flute was more of an experiment I think, to see if it would result in slurs having a more noticeable effect.
So assuming you are in fact using one of these two instruments, one solution would be to add slurs everywhere, but that might also mess with staccato or other articulations. Another would be to create a custom instruments.xml that is a copy of the default but repalces the "95" with "100" in the default articulation for piano and flute. Another would be to use a different instrument but set the sound to be piano or flute using the Mixer.
Question stems from http://notensatz.forumprofi.de/index.php?topic=1725
Realistically, MIDI is not the right format to use if trying to convey musical notation. The issue you see here will just be the tip of the iceberg. Tons of other information will be lost as well - information about spelling of enharmonics, all articulations and dynamic markings, etc. If the goal is for your friend to see the notation, and the software he is using does not support MusicXML, then far better for him to simply install MuseScore, or for you to send him a PDF. MIDI just isn't cut out for this.
In reply to Realistically, MIDI is not… by Marc Sabatella
Marc,
thank you very much for the invaluable information! Excellent!
Played around with the instruments.xml and it was a little bit more confusing than I thought. So after reading the manual I will just repeat some infos here:
a. One can use the "instruments.xml" that comes with MS in the instruments-folder. Modifying that has no effect. One has to load it into a slot in the preferences->score->instruments list.
b. A saved score (.mscx) itself also holds instrument settings that have highest priority and can be modified with e.g. Notepad+.
c. There is a order of priorities instrument/articulation settings are used:
1. the settings in the .mscx itself
2. the default ":/data/instruments.xml"
3. the modified instruments.xml loaded into the second preferences slot.
So if one has a .mscx with a piano and wants to change the duration of its midi notes he can change
gateTime 95 gateTime
to
gateTime 100 gateTime
in
a. the .mscx itself. or
b. the default piano of a modified instruments.xml and load that into the first slot of the preferences instruments lists (replacing the default ":/data/instruments.xml"). Then reassign the instrument of the staff in the score again to "piano". or
c. create a new piano in the modified instrument.xml and load it into the 2nd slot of the preferences instruments lists. Then reassign the instrument of the staff in the score to the "new piano".
Now I have to go to dinner :-)
(If there is a failure in this description I'm happy for any kind of corrections)
In reply to Marc,… by musikai
Ok,
things are a little bit different. The priorities are:
1. the settings in the .mscx itself or in a used template
2. the modified instruments.xml loaded into the second preferences slot.
3. the default ":/data/instruments.xml"
So there is no need to overwrite the first slot.
But to make use of a custom instruments.xml one can't use the predefined templates, as the instruments in these templates use their builtin settings. So either reassign the instruments later or use a complete empty template and choose the instruments manually.
In reply to Ok,… by musikai
Important things first: Happy Xmas!!!!
Even with a
![TooShortMidiNotes.PNG]( "TooShortMidiNotes.PNG")
gateTime 100 gateTime
Midi-Notes get exported not at full length but a little bit too short.
Tested with all Musescore versions: 2.0.3, 2.1, 2.2(Nightly) on Windows7
In reply to Important things first:… by musikai
Should be exactly one "tick"(1/480 of a quarter note) short of the neat note - otherwise there are potential overlap issues. So it looks about rightfrom your picture.
In reply to Should be exactly one "tick"… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc, is it possible to make this 'one tick gap' behavior optional? I found no way of turning it off, and for my application the gaps are undesirable. Would you maybe accept a pull request? Can you explain the 'potential overlap issue'?
In reply to Hi Marc, is it possible to… by matangover
Write the same note twice, if the note off and note on of the second note happen at the same tick it is considered overlapping and a restrike will be prevented (after all, you can't release AND press the same note at the exact same time on most physical instruments)