In MS 4.0, dynamics marking cannot be edited. I do this VERY OFTEN in Ms 3.6

• May 21, 2023 - 19:02

In MS 3.6, all dynamics could be easily edited in the Inspector. Just visit the proper menu tab and type any new value you want. I've edited those volumes extensively (every song) because I upload the MP3 file as well as the sheet music score, and I want the online Mixer to play each instrument at the volume I want, not what it chooses to use. So, "p" might be a default of 49 in velocity, but I could change it to "55" and label it "piu p" if I choose. It not only gave my songs a precise note volume but gave the musician a clue as to what volume to play notes in the song, especially if I was adapting an existing song to MuseScore and using the dynamics the original composer used.

Now in MS4.0, the option is gone. I cannot edit the dynamics of any symbol. As suggested on the forum, I could create a custom dynamic of say "55" (not sure how), and insert it in a custom pallet, but what if I wanted "53", which sounds a bit different? Do I also have to create a custom dynamic of 51, 52, 53, 54, etc.?

I have read in the forum some defense of ignoring dynamics adjustment in MS4 and just using the standard symbols so that musicians can choose any volume they feel OK with, but it is such an important option for me and others using the online Mixer that it really needs to be a firm menu field in MS4, just like it was in MS3. It is that important!!!


Comments

It seems to me that there are sounds in MU4 that kind of do what they want with dynamics. Maybe sounds ought to be fixed first. So that being able to edit dynamics actually does something.

In reply to by bobjp

Bob: That may be true! Some sounds in MS4 may in fact need work. Separately however, the dynamics marks all need to be given a velocity menu in the properties (inspector) menu, as in MS 3.6. I think these two things are two different issues that need to be kept separate.

In reply to by fsgregs

I believe that both have already been reported on GitHub. You might check there to see what progress is being made.

When some melody being played fades away by itself, I find that much worse than not being able to edit a dynamic.

I agree that being able to edit a dynamic could be useful. Although I never used it in MU3. But then I didn't place much demand on MU3. There are many things not yet activated in MU4 that people have to find a way around.

I think the software has to be able to stay at the dynamic you set.

You wrote:
^So, "p" might be a default of 49 in velocity, but I could change it to "55" and label it "piu p" if I choose.*

I, too, miss those MuseScore 3 velocity controls which were deprecated in MuseScore 4 (along with other stuff).
See:
https://musescore.org/en/node/334701#Velocity_controls

Here's an interesting discussion between Marc and Tantacrul related to this topic. It's about MuseScore 3's velocity "offset" values and "absolute" values; and whether there is any good reason for keeping both..
https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/10990#issuecomment-127778…

In MS3, I appreciated the ability to change not only the "base line" velocity of dynamic markings (p, mf, f, etc.), but also the ability to "offset" from the baseline. This allowed, for instance in a piano score, to set a base line value for p and then to tweak the melody with a positive offset (for melodic emphasis). If one then changed the score's base line velocity (e.g., the dynamic marking), the offsets would still apply so that the melody would always have emphasis (without the need to manually change those values when a dynamic marking was changed).
Apparently, the whole dynamics system will now be re-worked for 4.1.

In reply to by Jm6stringer

Thanks. I read the posts and totally agree with Marc that dynamics and velocity controls are absolutely vital in MuseScore AND there should be offsets as well as absolute velocity for every dynamic. I continually use the offset menu in MS 3.6. If a dynamic has a "p" = 49 and I want to quiet it, I can just set the offset to - 6, and the dynamic now has a volume of 43. While I could also change the absolute value as well from 49 to 43, I like both options, particularly when using hairpins. The offsets allow me to slowly drop or raise the velocity over the range of the hairpin. Please developers ... keep the offset when you issue 4.1.

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