String playback sounds different today than it did a few days ago
Several days ago I finished a score I was working on, the instrumentation of which included a string quartet. I used the MuseSounds solo string sounds and they sounded fine, no issues. I exported the audio and everything was great... until I went back into the score today to make some edits. Before I had changed a single thing about the score, I started playback about halfway through the piece and, much to my confusion, the strings suddenly sounded different than they had a few days ago. Particularly the solo Violin 2 sound, which for some reason had started swelling in volume as it changed between long whole notes, even though the dynamic was set to mp. It had never done this before, and I had not touched the score between when I exported the audio a few days ago and when I opened it today, which is why I'm so confused as to why it suddenly sounds different. Was there some sort of update that occurred that changed the way the MuseSounds strings behave?
Here's how the playback sounded when I exported it a few days ago:
CR - Fake Cyclone1.ogg
And here's how it sounds now, without changing anything about the score:
CR - Fake Cyclone2.ogg
Here's the score if anyone needs it: CR - Fake Cyclone.mscz
Notice how the Violin 2 in the second playback file sticks out way more than it did in the first playback file. I'm really struggling to understand why it suddenly sounds different without me changing a single thing. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!
Comments
Pretty hard to say without seeing both copies of the score. Presumably you changed something in the mixer or in the dynamics and apparently didn't realize it, but it's impossible for us to guess what you changed or when or how.
Note that Muse Sounds do get updated from time to time, and it's also possible you had gone long enough without updating that you only just now got the latest version of the strings sounds, but there haven't been any recent changes to overall balance - just some fixed note samples here and there etc.
In reply to Pretty hard to say without… by Marc Sabatella
I'm 100% certain I didn't change a single thing in the mixer or dynamics. I literally exported the audio several days ago, closed the score, and re-opened it on the day I posted on this forum and it sounded different. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the older score because I didn't make a backup of it. I'll assume there was some sort of Muse Sounds update, because I've started noticing the issue with the 2nd Violin swelling as it changes notes on other scores of mine. Very peculiar.
In reply to I'm 100% certain I didn't… by Oliver Harrington
Well, as noted, there are regular updates to Muse Sounds to make improvements. While I don't hear any particular difference in the overall level of violin 2 in my scores, it's possible one or more samples were upgraded in a way that makes a noticeable difference for certain notes at certain dynamics in your particular score.
Unfortunately, I dont have an answer But I have the same issue with sttings. One day, the music sounded very beutiful, then the next day, it doesnt have the same quality to it. I did tweak my mixer settings, but even when I reset it to default, it still has that same timbre/quality :(
In my experience files sound different on different computers, and change over time on the same computer whether you change anything or not. Some people say it has to do with Windows updates, some say drivers... But then you notice it's only certain instruments, which kind of makes those theories seem highly improbable. I don't know if updates to Musescore have anything to do with it but I have never noticed serious changes after the official updates. Updates to instrument files apparently occur in the background and I have noticed that my older files tend to experience drift in the instrument volume settings over time, which may be due to that. Fiddling with mixer settings can help to "fix" the file but it is next to impossible to restore the original sound. I had luck once fiddling with playback settings and keeping the mixer enabled... but that creates the hazard of inadvertently changing instrument volume or reverb. I have seriously wondered at times if there might be bugs associated with deleting measures or some other problems causing dynamic markings to "drift" (due to noticing that my markings were definitely not the same as they had been the day before in some measures or were not having the same effects). The function for marking sustains is another good candidate for suspicion when sounds change. I have had several instances when the tie markings changed without any input from me or I had failed to notice and delete some of those extra ties that are almost always added. To put it another way, this is difficult to diagnose!
In reply to In my experience files sound… by jmountfort640
An additional note. I keep my old files. When changes to sound occur it doesn't just affect files I have been working on, it changes all the ones I haven't touched in ages. I wouldn't waste too much time worrying about inadvertent changes you made yourself. You can be almost 100% certain it was software related.
In reply to In my experience files sound… by jmountfort640
One more note. I run Musescore on 4 computers. Two of them have experienced several radical changes of sounds that basically forced me to go back and re-do the scores so the playback wouldn't be awful. Two other computers have been fairly stable. These are ones that are not running Musehub. I am disabling all auto-updating related to MuseHub (and maybe MuseHub itself) to see if this insulates me from time-costly changes in instrument performance. This would be a good place to suggest a change in how instrument updates are managed. I suspect that most users ultimately value a reliable sound for their finished and in-process work more than an improved sound that destroys the playback of past work and creates unnecessary fixing tasks. Simply allowing users to rename updated sound files rather than overwriting the old ones would save a lot of grief. Better yet, simply update the files into a sound library and let people decide whether to use them.