Producing any sound in Musescore causes ANY sounds from my computer (Musescore or not) to be accompanied by loud static

• Jul 3, 2022 - 16:29

Now, this isn't a new issue, and I've seen a couple of other posts discussing the same issue. For instance:
- https://musescore.org/en/node/297672
- https://musescore.org/en/node/297838

The way this typically happens for me is that... I load Musescore on my laptop, open one of my projects (or create a new project), and then, whenever I play any notes (either by adding new notes or using the Play button), they are accompanied by extremely loud static (as you would hear on a radio station with poor reception). But after that, whenever I play other sounds on my laptop, (even when I exit Musescore), such as a YouTube video, those other sounds are also accompanied by static.

Some known troubleshooting techniques I've tried:
- Restarting my laptop: did not permanently resolve the issue
- Factory resetting Musescore: did not permanently resolve the issue
- Uninstalling and reinstalling Musescore: did not permanently resolve the issue
- Using the "Troubleshoot Audio Problems" wizard on Windows 11: asks me to turn off "sound enhancements", but my device don't have those, then returns "audio format not set to default: fixed", which does remove the worst of the static, but causes my speaker to make annoying noises that are only removable by restarting my laptop
- Unplugging my headphones and plugging them back in: does fix static for non-Musescore sound on my laptop, but then Musescore refuses to play any audio, forcing me to close out of Musescore and open it again (likely producing the static issue again), and it doesn't even close properly... nevertheless, this is my go-to fix
- Restarting Windows Audio Endpoint Builder: actually worsened the issue (there is now a low static hum in addition to the standard static)
- Changing the I/O from Windows DirectSound to ASIO: does nothing
- Restarting audio and MIDI devices: does nothing

Something else to note is that when I tried to take a video of Musescore to showcase the static (using OBS), the static failed to appear in the video. And on top of all this, I'm also experiencing spontaneous crashing with the application. These issues are making it really difficult for me to compose music using Musescore, and I'm hoping there's a better fix.

I am on Version 3.6.2, and my laptop is a DELL Inspiron 15 3000 with Windows 11. This is the first and only device on which I've experienced the static issue. So far, Musescore is the only application on my laptop which causes this issue for me.


Comments

Bummer.
Some observations.
Reinstalling MuseScore only deals with the UI. Not the inner working that control MuseScore. Those don't get deleted unless you go through and delete all the MuseScore folders, including the hidden ones.
Your computer does have enhancements. Bass boost, virtualization, and the like. They may already be turned off.
In that same area, there is a setting allowing programs to control your sound card. uncheck that.
Unplugging headphones while using most any notation software causes the sound to not work.
AISO only works if you have an AISO sound card. Did you try the other three drivers listed?

FWIW, V4 playback is garbled for me. Although exported sound is fine. Go figure.

In reply to by bobjp

Update: the error is still occurring regularly. I've tried switching between drivers, but switching in-app does not improve the issue. A new symptom I've commonly observed is seeing a message on YouTube saying "audio renderer error, please restart your computer". Same static issue might also cause my laptop touchpad to malfunction until I restart.

> In that same area, there is a setting allowing programs to control your sound card. uncheck that.

Tried that and it didn't affect anything.

I MIGHT have found a consistent remedy, and that's to set your audio devices to "16 bit, 48000 Hz" in Systems > Sound > All sound devices > Properties (on Windows).

In reply to by jlizhiyi

What did you have it set to before? I set mine as high as it would go and no problems. Not any real sound difference either. But you need to do what works. And fits your equipment. I guess I'd have to hook up my Focusrite to experiment properly.

On a desktop running MS 3.6.2 under Ubuntu Linux 18.04... Occasionally I'll start MS, load an existing score, and on play, I'll get scratchy, static-y distortion of the playback. I've found that (turning down the volume to a tolerable level and) letting the score play back, in less than a minute, the static disappears.

There's no rhyme or reason to this, but it's what I do to have no problems for the rest of the MS editing session. And this may be a long shot since we're on different OS's...

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