Cannot add certain percussion instruments.
I create a brand new score, and tell MuseScore I want to specify what instruments to add. I change from "Common" to "All," twiddle the "Percussion-Unpitched" and "Percussion-Body" arrows, and add "Stamp" and "Stones".
In the score, I hit "N" in order to add notes to the staff. The Drum Input palette opens, with one note, shortcut "A", and it's called "Bass Drum 2". Which is exactly what I get when it plays.
The same is true for "Stones," except I get "High Agogo 2".
I'm running MuseScore 3.3.4 in what I think is a fairly default configuration under MacOS.
I've spent about two hours trying everything I can think of to get any sound other than the dreadfully limited default set. I can't get other soundfont files to play, or even access their sounds in any consistent or reliable fashion. It's quite possible, given the, well, let's just call it "variability", in how soundfont files are constructed, that I'm not loading them properly or some such. But having determined that MuseScore can't even access its own built-in sounds when asked, I've given up trying to deal with external sound fonts.
Comments
The default soundfont uses the General MIDI standard, so indeed, no sounds for "Stones". If you want to use such a sound, you will need to find and install a soundfont for this, and then set your staff to use that soundfont using the Mixer. See the Handbook sections on playback for more info. Not sure what you mean when you say you are having trouble figuring out how to access MuseScore's own built-on sounds - according to your descriptionk you did that successfully, you got bass drum and high agogo. If you want to use different sound from these in your instruments, you need to edit their drumset definitions, as explaining the the Handbook under drum notation.
In reply to The default soundfont uses… by Marc Sabatella
"Stones" and "Stomp" are the instruments that MuseScore told me I would get when I added that staff to the music. If General MIDI doesn't have it, then why is MuseScore including it in the list of instruments?
Yes, I do eventually want different sounds, but first I want the sounds that MuseScore claims to have, or to not have it make up imaginary instruments. Either one would be nice.
In reply to "Stones" and "Stomp" are the… by snarke
MuseScore provides them to be able to notate them, so they show on the sheet.
In reply to "Stones" and "Stomp" are the… by snarke
An instrument does not necessarily equal a sound. most instruments have multiple sounds.
MuseScore provides a list of instruments for notation; as it doesn't have access to all sounds in the world, it also pairs it with fallback sounds that are present in its own soundfont (based on the General MIDI standard).
MuseScore does not claim to have these sounds, it allows you to notate these instruments despite not being able to provide the sound for it.
In reply to An instrument does not… by jeetee
I must disagree. I am given a list. I choose "Grand Piano." I get a staff and when I put notes on it, I hear a grand piano. I choose "Stomp." I do NOT get a stomp. There is absolutely no indication that some instruments have actual samples and others are placeholders. Whenever I need an instrument that isn't on the list it is trivial to just change the name of the staff. Putting an instrument on the master list is precisely claiming to have the sound to back it up. There are innumerable instruments not on the list, so the fact that it doesn't have access to "all sounds in the world" is irrelevant.
The fact that most 'instruments' have multiple sound samples is also irrelevant. Whether a particular instrument on the list is represented by one sample or a hundred, they are samples of_that_instrument, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. (Well, the tam-tam and handbells are unreasonable facsimiles, but at least they tried.)
In reply to I must disagree. I am given… by snarke
The musicians reading your score will know what to do when reading 'stomp'. MuseScore is a music notation software, having an instrument available for notation has got little to do with whether there's a correct sound going along with it. If it were, MuseScore whould have exactly 128 Instruments, the number GM has sounds for.
You can search for a (non-GM) soundfont for stop and use that with MuseScore, then you have the correct sound too, but if Stomp weren't available as an insterument, even that would be impossible
In reply to I must disagree. I am given… by snarke
Whenever I need an instrument that isn't on the list it is trivial to just change the name of the staff.
Sure it is, just as it is to adjust the transposition for it in case it happened to be a transposing instrument. As well as providing the playback range hinting for it. And the long and short name. And don't forget to create the correct string definitions for those instruments that require it (always fun for a 13-snared instrument!). And how it should be exported to other formats (such as MusicXML and oh.. right: MIDI).
Or you could do that once, then ask us to include that definition so you don't have to do all that every time. That is what MuseScore is about; notation.
Putting an instrument on the master list is precisely claiming to have the sound to back it up.
No, that is what you made of it. Having it on the list means you can notate for it (you know, the primary function of this software).
It also means you'll be provided with the best facsimile sound we have for it. Ask anyone that ever heard a real pipe organ play at how the organs provided by most soundfonts sound. You'll be hard pressed to find someone that even considers those sounds to be remotely close.
Thank you for bringing up that word though, facsimile. Interesting how you think that for handbells it is ok to provide "the next best thing" but somehow for "stones" it isn't.
So you also think we should not be able to choose a Cornet as an instrument (it falls back the the Trumpet sound). Lets also drop the Bass Clarinet (falls back to regular Clarinet), Kazoo (Solo Vox), Finger Snap (Claves), Slap (Low Tom 2), Stamp (Bas Drum 2), Irish Flute (regular Flute), Lute (Steel String Guitar), Duduk (Clarinet), …
Or do all of those (added at explicit user requests) fall under the umbrella of "They're ok, because at least they tried to offer a facsimile sound by default". Then again I fail to see why Stones isn't allowed under the same umbrella.
To top it off though, MuseScore realizes it doesn't provide every possible sound for every instrument out there, which is why it made an effort on top the facsimiles offered by it to support different soundfont formats, thus allowing you to load in the "correct" (or whichever sound you find to be the most fitting given the chosen instrument and style) sounds into it.