(MS4) Correct playback depends on ... dynamics?
So far every time I tried out Musescore 4 I found it incredibly buggy and slow.
What currently messes with me is the unpredictableness of the playback. It's almost as if I gave this to real musicians, that just misread something, forget a note here and there... except with real musicians I could tell them "hey you missed a note"
Example for strange behaviour in the pictures... those are two oboes. If the dynamic is mezzopiano, the first one will just ignore the third note (hold the second one instead), while the second oboe will completely miss the D flat, and produce a buggy sound-effect on the C.
If I change the dynamics to forte, they manage to play all the notes. o_0 o_0
Unpredictability in the playback is a weird feature. I know my laptop may struggle with Musescore, which increases the amount of bugs, but even when it works, the playback just decides to play some passage in a particular way and I have no direct control over it... what are the plans for further development?
I do like the idea of trying to algorithmically guess what a good phrasing would be, but in order for that to be actually useful, you'd need to have powerful tools to tell the program "no, you guessed completely wrong, try again". Curious to see what the devs will come up with. :)
As it stands, if I would write music with Musescore I would have to continuosly experiment and re-write each passage 3 times until the automatic playback does something sensible. (And the visual end result would probably not look sensible to actual musicians by that point)
I'm incredibly thankful that Musescore 3 exists; it's an amazing tool. I hope that in a few years, Musescore 4 will reach a similar level of refinement. :)
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| mezzop.png | 11.54 KB |
| forte.png | 9.25 KB |
Comments
Please post the score you are having trouble with. From your description, it sounds like you imported this score from different software, or a PDF. There can indeed be dynamic problems that need to be fixed. As to your laptop, have you tried the settings found here:https://musescore.org/en/node/339915
In reply to Please post the score you… by bobjp
Yes, I exported it from Sibelius 6 as xml, and from there to MS4. I'm sure there is stuff that did not get transferred correctly, but the notes all seem correct. I know that the way the crescendi and decrescendi are written is often not how Musescore wants to read them (it was written with real musicians in mind).
Changing the buffer settings does not have any effect.
I managed to make a small excerpt file with that specific playback bug. But to be honest, I'm more interested in how the playback works to misinterpret stuff this drastically. (Also choosing to play some notes louder than others when there is zero indication to do so.)
But you can have a look at the excerpt. Both oboes are bugged out als long as the dynamic is mp and work if changed to f.
In reply to Yes, I exported it from… by jundurg
I think the problem is in the font itself. Notice that if you change the C natural in the third measure of the 2nd oboe part to any other pitch, then the line plays. Same with the B flat, same measure in the 1st oboe part. You might have to adjust volumes all through the piece. Aside from the font being a problem, different programs interpret dynamics in their own way. I have to do that with scores I bring in from Sibelius 7.5.
Just a thought. I know you are writing for real players. Even real players need an idea of what kind of volume change you are after. You go to the trouble of adding phrasing and dynamics to begin with. Why? Sure players are going to do what they want, anyway. A single player will for sure. But a group needs to be able to work together. Especially if there is no conductor. Just a thought.
In reply to I think the problem is in… by bobjp
I don't think I have any idea what you mean with the font. I will think of it as "importing weirdness" for now?
(I have given up writing for real musicians, this piece is a decade old - and from the one short rehearsal it ever got I can say it worked out fine. I just wanted to see what Musescore 4 would make of it.)
(And btw, I have now also seen MuseSounds working without bugs - the issue was mostly the importing. And instrument ranges, in some cases; real musicians can sometimes play notes that are officially out of range.^^ The piano playback is pretty awesome, tho.)
In reply to I don't think I have any… by jundurg
What I mean by font is the oboe sound in MS4. I have had problems with the oboe before. It's not an import problem.