Playback problems

• Mar 5, 2020 - 21:40

I'm starting to really hate Musescore. It used to be great but the last few upgrades playback has been buggy:

1) Playback (when it works) comprises of white noise / static not my score.

2) After closing the app, I do not have any audio on Skype or YouTube - looks like Musescore doesn't release audio resources. Whey does Musescore should work in concert with other applications, not take over completely and not release audio resources. This looks like sloppy programming. I need to restart my system for other apps to use the audio.

3) After using other apps with audio, the playback in Musescore is disabled. Restarting my computer allows me to have toe playback buttons enabled. (But see 1 above - it doesn't playback just playing white noise or static).

This is driving me crazy.

Give me one good reason why I should persevere with Musescore.


Comments

I can only tell you that these problems are rare and seem to only affect a few people, and probably can be traced to some sort of driver or other conflict on your system. I'm not an expert in tracking these down, but I do suspect that people who are most able to help would probably need to know more information, like which version specifically of MuseScore, what OS, info about your audio hardware/driver, etc.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I agree. Please post specs and versions. Strange things that can happen. On my little bit older laptop, after switching between programs and headphones and speakers, sometimes there is no sound in the headphones. The one audio jack is for both mic and headphones. After going to my audio software I find that for some reason the jack has set itself to microphone instead of headphone. This is not your problem. Just one of the many odd things that can happen.
Driver issue is very common.

In reply to by bobjp

It is isn't a question of the score - I experience the problem with different scores - and even other users have experienced the same problem - Musescore seems to grab the audio drivers and doesn't release them. Other software using audio works fine and do not rely on exclusive use of the audio drivers. This issue is a serious BUG in the Musescore software.

In reply to by squeezy99

Well, it's a bug somewhere to be sure, but since it doesn't affect everyone, it seems it has to do with an interaction between MuseScore and audio drivers and other support libraries and the OS, so it's impossible to say without more info exactly where the bug is. So we still need a way to understand how to reproduce the problem - precise steps, including a sample score and details about the system where the problem occurs (OS, audio hardware, device drivers, etc). Unfortunately it's next to impossible to begin an investigation otherwise.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I have installed version 3.5.0.13199 and the issue now has a different characteristic.

I loaded the attached score into MuseScore and played it - everything worked fine.
With MuseScore still open I ran an audio file from a news report using MS Edge browser.
I then reloaded the same MuseScoire file and played it - I get the white noise issue.
Closed MuseScore, reopened, and played - same issue.
MuseScore still open, open Windows Device Manager - get the white noise.

System details attached. If you need more info let me know.

I also have the same problem with the sample file stone2test.mscz from a previous message in this thread.

Attachment Size
Polska efter Per Johan Arnström - Gm.mscz, 10.78 KB
audio.PNG 17.65 KB
system.PNG 17.79 KB

In reply to by squeezy99

My results:
1. Playback score in MuseScore. Close score. Leave MS open.
2. Play pocast in Chrome. Stop podcast.
3. Re-load score in MS. Playback is normal. Leave score playing.
4. Return to and play podcast. Both podcast and MS play at the same time normally.
This laptop has Conexant audio. So I went to a different computer that has Realtek audio with drivers older than yours, not that I think that makes any difference here. Same kind of result. Second computer can play MS and YouTube at the same time. No White noise or distortion. No release of drivers required, apparently.
My speaker/headphone properties in Windows are at default 24 bit, 48000 Hz. Some claim that changing these settings can help with sound problems. It just seems like the is a conflict somewhere.

In reply to by bobjp

I still have this problem with playback rendering MuseScore unusable. I'm using latest version of MS. The playback issue still occurs after a cold system restart. I have tried stopping services that maybe using the audio, and I still get the same playback issues. Playing YouTube with MS open, or after closing MS, still presents the same issue with playback. After restarting my system, YouTube plays back fine.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.