Old Drumline Sounds
A couple of months back, I downloaded and installed a new patch for MuseScore 3.0.5. This patch included some additions and improvements to percussion instruments, which seemed great for me, as I write a lot of music for Drumline. In the new version, I opened a score I had been working on and was surprised to find that the sounds had changed completely.
I have never used soundfonts, and the patches in the mixer were listed as the same before I installed the update. I have MDL installed, but I never use its instruments, instead using the default MuseScore Snare Drum, Tenor Drums, Bass Drums, and Cymbals (found under All Instruments > Percussion - Marching). This change wasn't even listed on the changelog for the update as far as I can tell. I far preferred the old sounds, so I decided to forgo the new features and revert to a previous version (3.0.5.21343) from a backup.
Today, a similar thing happened, where a new update was available [edit: it was 3.2] which added stuff for percussion (mainly sticking caught my eye, this is something we have needed for a while), among other things. I installed, but then reverted to 3.0.5.21343 because the new sounds were still there and I couldn't find anyway to access the old sounds.
I would like to move forward and continue to receive updates, but I don't want to sacrifice my current (old) marching percussion sounds. Is there anyway to accomplish both of these things? Does anyone know why this is happening in the first place?
Thanks!
~ Josh
Comments
You say you have MDL soundfonts, but then also say you never use soundfonts. Both cannot be true - MDL uses a variety of different soundfonts. So most likely you simply are missing the MDL soundfonts. Or maybe you have some other custom soundfont installed and forgot all about it. Only way to say is go to View / Synthesizer and tell us what you see on the Fluid and Zerberus tabs.
In reply to You say you have MDL… by Marc Sabatella
Correction: I have MDL installed, but no other soundfonts (the folder is empty, and all the MDL ones are filed under "Extensions"). Under View / Synthesizer, Fluid said "MuseScore_General.sf3" and Zerberus listed
"MDL_BassLine.sfz"
"MDL_CymbalLine.sfz"
"MDL_DrumSet.sfz"
"MDL_Flubs.sfz"
"MDL_Snare.sfz"
"MDL_SnareLine.sfz"
"MDL_TenorLine.sfz"
"MDL_Tenors.sfz"
I reinstalled the update (3.2.1.22851), and all of these were still the same.
In reply to You say you have MDL… by Marc Sabatella
Update: So working on a concert band score between the two versions as well, I also think the trumpet sounds may have changed as well (I'm sure the marching percussion sounds have, but could be wrong about the trumpet ones). Were some of the MuseScore default general sounds overhauled between 3.0 and 3.2?
In reply to Update: So working on a… by JoshuaF1210
Other than adding support for single note Dynamics, I'm not aware of any changes at all, so I still suspect something else may be going on. What happens if you copy the default soundfont from 3.0 to 3.2, or vice versa?
In reply to Other than adding support… by Marc Sabatella
Whatever the issue is, it's going on with the application itself and not with the folder, as I can restore different versions of just the app from backups and the sounds follow. How would I go about copying the default soundfont?
In reply to Whatever the issue is, it's… by JoshuaF1210
Same as any other file - it's just a regular file in the soundfonts folder of the application itself. So you can just copy from there to your own soundfonts folder.
In reply to Same as any other file - it… by Marc Sabatella
Like the actual folder on my Mac "Musescore / Soundfonts" that was downloaded with the application? It's totally empty. Or do I do this in the application itself?
In reply to Like the actual folder on my… by JoshuaF1210
Exactly. On Windows or Linux it's just an ordinary file, but I guess on Mac you probably.have to open the application package or something like that.
In reply to Exactly. On Windows or Linux… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, that worked, thank you!! It's a bit of a long workaround for something we didn't even know changed, but we got there in the end
In reply to Yes, that worked, thank you!… by JoshuaF1210
Hmm, so you are saying it worked to use the 3.0.5 MuseScore_General.sf3 with 3.2.1? If so, that implies something changed that probably was not intended. Or maybe it was and I just didn't know about it, which is always possible. Can you describe what you perceive as different?
In reply to Hmm, so you are saying it… by Marc Sabatella
I didn't care to uninstall and reinstall the default sounds again, so I've got two examples from searching "MuseScore Drumline Cadence" on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok8CMlmJj5o is similar to what I heard before 3.2, my "preferred sound" (but that's just me).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT7uh98E48o is what I heard post-3.0.5. This version could be using MDL, I can't really tell, but regardless these were more like the sounds I was hearing after updating. I doubt MDL was the issue, since just copying the 3.0.5 General Sounds file fixed the problem entirely.
I believe there were also slight differences in the trumpet sounds, with the post-3.0.5 ones being brighter and having more attack.