Help us improve the sounds in MuseScore

Hello fellow MuseScorers! This is S. Christian Collins, virtual instrument designer and creator of the GeneralUser GS SoundFont. I have been asked by MuseScore to make some major upgrades to the default SoundFont for the next version of MuseScore (and beyond).

My goals for the new SoundFont include:
1. Improve the quality of the instrument sounds, starting with those most frequently used in scoring.
2. Address known issues with the current SoundFont, including notes that are out of tune, and the extreme volume difference between PP and FF dynamics.
3. Only freely-licensed samples will be used (e.g., MIT, CC0, CC-BY)

The plan is to gradually replace the instruments from the current FluidR3Mono SoundFont with higher quality samples and better programming. Instruments that continue to use FluidR3 samples will be updated to scale better with velocity changes (both volume and tone).

Development versions of the SoundFont will be shared on this forum to get feedback from the community regarding any changes we might make. I would like to avoid any functional regressions with the new sounds.

Ways that you can help:
1. Testing: Test out the instruments as they are developed, and let me know of any problems you encounter.
2. Create / Suggest Instrument Samples: One of the problems with using only free samples is that the available options can vary widely in quality. I will be posting to this message board with requests for samples as they are needed. We already have one generous user (ericfontainejazz) who has offered to record his saxophones.

I cannot guarantee that we will be able to use every sample we are sent. For every user-submitted sample included in the new SoundFonts, those users will be credited in the documentation that will accompany the release of the new SoundFont. The new SoundFont will published under a CC-BY-SA license, but many of the contained instruments will be usable under a less restrictive license. This licensing has no bearing on scores or recordings made with MuseScore, but only applies to those who want to redistribute the samples in some way. We are encouraging users to submit their samples under the CC0 license so that we can make as much of this "culturally free" as possible.

I will be posting a new SoundFont for you to try very soon, so keep your eye on this thread. I am very excited to be able to work with MuseScore--a project that I have long been passionate about--and I look forward to working with all of you along the way!