Why do I have to load the soundfont I need for a particular score every time I open that score?

• Feb 9, 2022 - 22:31

This seems awfully inconveninet. What if I did a score 5 years ago and don't remember what soundfont I used for it?

OS: KDE Flatpak runtime, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.6.2, revision: github-musescore-musescore-


Comments

In reply to by bobjp

Subsequent openings of a score I just created in MuseScore 3. If I choose the organ font and load it from the score, it always reverts to the default font and I have to reload the organ font from the score whenever I open The score.

It plays the organ font correctly once I reload it to the score, but why do I have to do that every time? I have different pieces that use different soundfonts. And I seem to remember that old versions of MuseScore acted as I expect them to, but I'm not sure.

In reply to by Chuck Bermingham

Are these different fonts very big? Is there a reason you have to delete them? For example, I use the default General HQ font. But I don't like the trumpet and horn sounds. There is another font that has better trumpet and horn sounds but the rest aren't as good. I could leave both fonts installed. But they are huge and if I start a new piece, it takes awhile to set up the score. So sure I could just not load the second font if I'm not using brass. But what I've done is extract the trumpet and horn sound I want from that font and leave them loaded all the time. I think the less you have to mess with loading fonts the better. I confess to never having used "load from"or "save to" a score. Do you mean that MuseScore won't play the font you chose? Is that font in Fluid?

In reply to by bobjp

Let me put it this way: If I have a score that uses a General MIDI font, such as the one MuseScore provides by default, that font should play when I open the score. But if I have a 3-staff organ piece that uses Stefan's Cathedral Organ font, and I open that score, the organ sounds should play.

Instead, the general MIDI font always plays, on every score, including organ pieces, until I manually load the Stefan's organ font. That's not normal behavior, in any other music software I have ever used.

What if I did a score 5 years ago and don't remember what soundfont I used for it?

MuseScore will substitute an instrument sound from whatever GM soundfont is currently loaded in its synthesizer. If you used a non-GM soundfont 5 years ago, you may be in for a surprise as you may hear a completely different instrument.
If you used a GM soundfont five years ago you should hear the same instrument, but maybe not the "Bosendorfer Grand Piano" that was expressly sampled for that soundfont you used 5 years ago.

In reply to by Jm6stringer

What I'm driving at here is, I have a soundfont that's required for one score, and a different one for another score. Why does MuseScore NOT REMEMBER which is which, and why do I have to load soundfonts EVERY TIME I use a score? Some of my scores use the GM font; others use the organ font.

If I can't get this fixed, I may have to abandon MuseScore. I'm not happy I have to fiddle with soundfonts every time I load a score. The software should remember which one I used last for a particular score, and automatically load it if it's presnt. I'm asking why it doesn't, or if anyone is interesting in fixing thos.

In reply to by Chuck Bermingham

The reason it doesn't happen by default is that loading soundfonts is potentially slow, and having MuseScore need to load new soundfonts each time you load a score - and then again each time you change tabs while having multiple scores loaded - would make things unbearable. So instead, there are the save to score and load from score buttons, so you can control when the loading happens.

As far as I know, all notation software works similarly in this respect, for the same reason. But you're welcome to see if maybe there is an exception somewhere and if it meets you need otherwise.

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