During Loop Playback the Spacebar and the Playback icon may fail to function
On my advice several of my music students have downloaded and installed Musescore, some on Windows and other using MacOS. And I'm glad to report that everything has gone surprisingly well and that Musescore is a fun and powerful tool for them. In particular, Musescore's Loop Playback option offers significant focus and guidance to their practice.
However there are a number of problems observed with Loop Playback:
• each student has reported that sometimes they are unable to stop playback via the spacebar while in Loop Playback mode. Indeed I've encountered this myself but I've been unable to discern any trigger for the anomaly, like a loss of focus. However, I've always been able to stop playback with the toolbar's playback icon, but when watching my students on Zoom I see when **the spacebar fails to start/stop playback the playback icon may also fail, so they can't stop playback at all. ( I'll note that one student observed that exiting Loop Playback fixes the problem. I haven't been able to test that out since, nor was I able to directly observe that on Zoom.)
• Often there's a delay between the end of the loop and the beginning, at least initially.
• It's great that the user can change the selection without exiting Loop Playback mode, but the loop start and loop end triangles fail to update on making a new selection, which inevitably leaves students confused. I assure them that the triangles will update on play, but I dont' think that's the ideal UX.
Sorry that I can't provide steps to replicate. Nor do I think submitting any particular score with help to illuminate this problem.
Mainly I'm posting to see if other's have encountered these issues and if there are any workarounds or solutions, or if these are known bugs. And because I think Musescore has enormous potential in the education market±the price is certainly perfect (free) for most students and institutions!
Thanks!
scorster
Comments
See #308976: 'Loop Playback' won't stop (space or play just invokes playing from start point)
In reply to See #308976: 'Loop Playback'… by Jojo-Schmitz
Thanks for the link Jojo!
It appears this issue about the spacebar and Playback button was reported nearly two years ago. And a couple of posts say it's a replicable bug?
Hope to see this fixed soon and that Musescore embraces the importance of the educational market!
Do you know if the Loop Marker triangle is has been reported?
And the issue with delays on looping. I note that this is intermittent here, and may be related to my old Mac. (I should be on an M1 Mac in the next few weeks, and will report back on if that makes a difference.)
Perhaps I should have mentioned these other Loop Playback matters in a separate post, but for now I I'll reiterate and bring them to the surface here:
• Often during Loop Playback a delay occurs between the end of the loop and the beginning, at least initially. Then it may settle down at least temporarily. (Although I've seen this on other computers. via Zoom, I suspect locals it's perhaps related to my aging Mac.)
• It's really great that my students can change the selection (and thus the intended loop length) without exiting Loop Playback mode. But on making a new selection the loop start and loop end triangles fail to update, and this readily leaves students confused. I assure them that the triangles will update on play, but I dont' think that's the ideal UX—I'll venture that they should see the pending loop before playback commences.