Adjusting Velocity in MuseScore 4 with New Soundfonts
Hi all,
I wasn't exactly sure if this was a bug or just something I'm not doing correctly, so I thought I'd post this here:
In MuseScore 3, there is an option to "fine tune" the dynamics to essentially change what the dynamic really means. For example, a "forte" dynamic is set to a volume of 96 by default, but that can be too loud or too quiet in certain scenarios for whatever reason, so I often have the need to fine tune this myself to a slightly higher or lower volume. This is done by selecting the relevant dynamic and altering the velocity in the right-hand menu up to a maximum of 127 (I think this is due to how MIDI works which gives a maximum of this value).
It seems that MuseScore 4 have replaced this with a slightly different feature that (from what I understand) is supposed to allow you to change the velocity on each individual note, rather than from the dynamic marking itself, presumably to give you more control over the velocity of different notes. This is supposed to be done by selecting the relevant note(s) and going into the left-hand menu under Properties -> Playback and adjusting the velocity in the same way as before.
I'm not sure if I'm just not doing this correctly, or if there is an issue because this feature doesn't seem to be working for me with the nice MuseScore soundfonts from MuseHub, so I'm not sure if it is an issue with those.
I should point out that I am using the latest version of MuseScore 4 on Windows 10.
For an example, please see the attached file. In this score for example, I would like to increase the volume of the cornets in bars 12 and 16 from from 96 to something like 112 whilst still preserving the "forte" dynamic marking. Changing the velocity doesn't appear to be doing anything for me, even lowering the number to 1 yields the same volume when surely this shouldn't be heard anymore. Some of the notes don't appear to be playing either and I'm not sure why.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Dave.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| 31 - Apothéose, Sleeping Beauty Op.66 (Act 3).mscz | 68.42 KB |
Comments
Hi Dave and all,
Just wanted to add that I have experienced the same problem trying to adjust the velocity of individual notes using the Clarinet B from the MuseHub.
I am using version 4.2.
KInd regards,
Bent
In reply to I have experienced the same… by bronsholdt
Hi bronsholdt,
Just updated to the newest version, and I'm quite disappointed that this isn't higher on MuseScore's priorities of things to update and fix. Seems a bit pointless releasing new soundfonts when they don't have the correct balance with other instruments. Not to mention the way to fix them doesn't seem to work.
Have to confess that I have reverted back to MS 3 until the problem is drastically improved.
Anyway, apologies for the slight rant, and I hope you get your problem resolved.
Happy New Year!
Kind regards,
Dave.
In reply to Hi bronsholdt, Just updated… by Dave5400
And four months later, we still can't do it.
What I don't get is, how complicated can this be—changing a note's velocity value?
Dynamic marks change playback velocity (but only very generally); and when you select a note, the setting is already there to enter a specific velocity (Properties > Playback > Notes > Velocity), but it has no effect.
I would've assumed MS's developers had de-prioritized this because they considered MS primarily a notation program rather than a sequencer. But there's clearly a big emphasis on playback, with the creation of entire library of realistic sounds, the ability to play scores online... And I must admit, there have been several times now when I've felt frustrated being limited to dynamic marks' pre-set velocities.
Isn't it just a matter of having MS change the velocity values that are already being sent to the sound engine? Or is there more to it?
I breezed through this post ... but I don't think anyone mentioned that note Velocity does work in MS4 but ONLY with MS Basic soundfonts (and I think it works with other soundFonts built to respond to velocity.)
Nevertheless I agree, it's a huge disappointment that Velocity doesn't work in MS4 with MuseSounds.
As I understand it, the rationale was to dump MIDI velocity while working on some sort of superior playback system that supposedly comports better with dynamics. We'll see. But I fear this will drive a larger wedge between MuseScore and MIDI.
All to say: If you can get by with MS Basic soundFonts you can employ note Velocity, but I think there are some gotchas around pairing that with dynamics in MS4. For one, we lost the ability to set a "level" for various dynamics. And now the Velocity property in buried in the Playback tab—and that tab always closes itself when you select anything but a note.
My solution was to move to MuseScore Evolution 3.7, but 3.7 doesn't have access to MuseSounds or MuseEffect ... or other innovations found in MuseScore 4, though some have been backported.
More information at the following links:
https://musescore.org/en/search/content?keys=musescore+4+velocity