Serious audio output corruption on all output file types
I am having a significant problem with Musescore 4.1.1. audio file outputs.
Install info: OS: Windows 10 Version 2009 or later, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 4.1.1-232071203, revision: e4d1ddf
The simplest description of the problem is that all output files are corrupted and/or damaged (they are unusable). By corrupted, I mean the output of a .WAV file is almost unrecognizable. There are squeaks, instruments passages where instruments are loud, unrecognizable sounds, pulsing, and serious skips in the .mid file, etc.
I have tried all forms and variations of output files, including .FLAC, .MP3, .WAV. And I have tried all possible settings including your standard fall-back reference, 44, 100 Hz.
Additionally, using Musescore 4.1.1, I also produce corrupted .MID files which do get to a DAW but do not work. I have tried two different DAWs, although the two DAWs sound different, the file is so seriously damaged as interpreted by the each DAW (Reaper and Cakewalk), that they can not be used, as-is, or even reconstructed to resemble the original work.
I am, at this point, totally MUTE with my Musescore 4.1.1 output. I have no output in any file form.
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PLEASE NOTE: I do have a clean and available windows 10 computer and MY STRONG PREFERENCE is to install a new user version of 4.1.0 or 4.1 on my second computer. But this install software MUST be clean of any reference using 4.1.1 libraries.
We could ALL gain from a clean roll-back test because I will share my results and I could also have a way to export my scores.
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As of now, I have no way to forward my music to any person or organization in an audio file. As I mentioned above, I did finish one of three pieces piece by mid August.
I keep meticulous backups during my writing sessions. I can say without doubt, that the July 18 version of one of my compositions was as close to exact, in my mind, as I could write it. The first piece of 3, for review by the symphony orchestra, and has 52 versions.
I have working .WAV and .MID files which are very good reproductions of my original work. But other work I have, dated AFTER approximately Aug 10, does not play in any output file format as I have described. I believe this is the 4.1 to 4.1.1 transition.
I did not make any .WAV files at the time of early August work development but my discovery of this output file issue was in mid August.
I can produce a before (working) MuseScore 4.1, and after (corrupted) 4.1.1 .WAV and .MID file along with a PDF score file… but it does seem like I am doing most of the work.
This work has been promised to a local organization and I have been working day and night to meet an expected deadline of September first. My hours have been in the range of 14 to 18 hours per day. My work after August first is a total loss unless
I can roll back my operating system to 4.1. or move ahead to 4.2.
I do believe that, if I can reinstall 4.1 as a BEGINNING user of MuseScore, my work could be salvaged and I could present all of my work. I have attempted to uninstall and reinstall 4.1.1 but no improvement – same bad software.
Unless I can access 4.1, I have no choice – I am at a dead stop. A number of people have asked for rollback information and all got the same information. The answer, when the suggested rollback link is followed, is Musescore 3 editions. I believe what each of us wants, for all of us in this terrible position with defective 4.1.1, is to access and reinstall 4.1
I did believe in the original Musescore mission (100%) up through Musescore 4.1. But this total system mute situation is simply unusable and fatal to me unless and until some other working 4.x.x solution is developed.
Mute411
Comments
You haven't posted your full computer specs.
Also unless you post at least a page or two of a score that gives you this problem, no one can help you.
In reply to You haven't posted your full… by bobjp
Specs on my PC:
Device name MAIN-PC-NEW
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB
Device ID 228C1C78-9F6C-4648-9D56-9BF265553D3D
Product ID 00330-71420-61680-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on 10-Feb-21
OS build 19045.3324
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19041.1000.0
This PC was built by Falcon Northwest
This is a high performance gaming PC as a custom build - about
$4500 as a final price. The graphics card is an Nvidia GEForce RTX. The I9 cpu is liquid cooled. This is the most powerful PC I could buy, it is about 5 years old. The system has five, one T solid state drives. I have attached one full score which produces very bad .wav audio files. I have tried to attach a .wav file but I can not see if it was accepted by the file attachment load window. I also attached an example of a defective .MID file.
one .MSCZ and one .MID were accepted it seems.
00 FINAL - AWAKEN V 52 21-AUG-23.mscz
00 FINAL - AWAKEN V 51 19-AUG-23 11 PM.mid
I suspect the .WAV and .MP3 file are to large to transmit.
In reply to Specs on my PC: Device name… by mute411
I made a WAV of your file. It sounds fine. I think it is too big so I'll send half.
In reply to I made a WAV of your file… by bobjp
Thank you for testing my score. I do not know where "default audio device" is to uncheck "exclusive mode" - need help with this. I had some doubts about audio setup. I am using a Creative Sound Blaster sound card.
my buffer is at the max, 4096.
I am also happy to hear you can run the score with no problems - thank you!
as for the score details, the violin you hear is the MuseScore default violin. I have a full set of VST instruments from BBCSO. I am using almost full Musescore default as a minimum load on the software read and process code. Each instrument in the VST set is about 4GB per instrument. But it has run in MuseScore until my probable settings in Musescore or sound card settings changed.
I fully intend on setting sound levels and instruments when I can move the score into "Reaper". Reaper has done very well for me up to July 15. But now the MuseScore .MID file is damaged in the output process of my setup so I can not run a DAW, and clean up the score, until I can get a clean .mid output from Musescore.
>>>If you can get a clean output on your system as a .mid file, would you PLEASE send me a copy!<<<
In reply to Thank you for testing my… by mute411
Control panel/Sound/select you audio device/after that select "Properties" in the lower right of that window/select the "Advanced" tab at the top of the next window/here is where you turn off exclusive mode and change bit rate. Hit apply, then OK.
No idea if my mid file is any good.
In reply to Control panel/Sound/select… by bobjp
bobjp,
I am sorry to say that I have made each of your suggested changes, including resetting - my idea to just reset my system to original factory settings - but no improvements. I did check out your .mid file and it is exactly like mine...quite a few skips and the sound inside reaper is terrible. This what happened before so I believe my Musescore 4.1.1 is not working or I am missing a major setting inside my 4.1.1.
I did reduce the master mixer volume to -6db and that did help but not much. I still have a serious output problem. One of the real problems is that in an mp3 file I just made, the lead violin is playing full notes but most other instruments are in a kind of staccato mode. I also believe that is very difficult for you to hear the subtle sounds is this piece as I wrote it. Since your .mid file is corrupted also, I think this problem is more difficult that either of us suspected.
I am out of ideas and very tired of this problem. I would really like to download a 4.1 (not 4.1.1) version of this software and install it in a PC which has never played MuseScore 4.1 before. I would then download some simple piece music from the Musescore Site and see if I have an output problem with the new install.
Mute
In reply to Specs on my PC: Device name… by mute411
OK. Your file plays and exports to WAV and mp3 just fine. I can even change to MuseSounds and it is fine.
To get your computer to work, you might need to change some settings. Notation software is not like other audio software. Partially because audio is not the primary function. In the settings for your default audio device, uncheck "Exclusive mode". You might also lower the bit rate a notch. In the software, go to Edit>Preferences>I/O and raise the buffer to 4096. There are several other things to try. but I would be surprised if you would have to go that far.
In reply to Specs on my PC: Device name… by mute411
I hope you are considering panning this score. And fixing the out of range violin notes. Just a thought.
In reply to I hope you are considering… by bobjp
What I keep forgetting to ask is how is playback in MU4. You have only mentioned exporting problems. Normally people that have problems with playback, can export just fine.
When I listen to the midi, I don't think that the notes are staccato. I think the instruments that are playing short notes sound more like mallet instruments. I also deleted all the slurs just to see what would happen. Though not in the copy I sent you. MU4 can't read them anyway.
I assume you have the latest drivers for your sound card.
I also think it might be worth turning off your sound card and trying onboard sound.
Nightly builds (from the download page) sometimes have fixes.
In reply to What I keep forgetting to… by bobjp
Thank you for your help, but...
I have not made any progress.
Yes, the notes played sound like short notes - maybe eighth notes. I have just finished a 3 hour session of testing and I am tired of guessing - something is wrong and do not know if it is 4.1.1 or my system. The last time I tested my output as a midi file about a month ago (.mid) it was perfect. I did not have this set of problems at that time and, as far as I know, I did not change anything on my PC.
I have made a very short version of this work just for tests. It allows me to make a FLAC file that is 12MB. This should show you what is happening...sometimes short burst of notes, sometimes skips, sometimes ok. This is crazy...I need a resolution.
The file is 12MB and still will not transfer. The file I was about to send was a FLAC from this test piece.
This is approximately how this piece should sound. On the short version, I have attached, it is the midi (.mid) gaps created by the score or created by 4.1.1 which are fatal and prevent me from moving forward? I saw gaps in your version you created and sent to me.
I just exported as midi .mid file. Inside Reaper the sound is there but so are the 3 gaps - empty areas in the midi file where no sound plays. I can not move forward, no sound export as a sound file and no midi export where I could get a good .wav "render" from Reaper.
Please Note:
Because this is so difficult to resolve, I need to concentrate on my midi export file failure. The file is attached...it is the gaps that I can not get around...the export is a failure also. I do not know what to do about the midi file gaps!!!
In reply to Thank you for your help, but… by mute411
When I play your midi on my system there are no gaps. The closest is in measure 3 when you have a pppp. But even so, there is still sound. All the time. I'm just using Windows Media Player to play your midi. As a test maybe get rid of the dynamics and see what happens.
In reply to When I play your midi on my… by bobjp
I do not understand the difference. I am exporting as a .mid file and then opening the .mid file with Reaper. I have numerous gaps of different sizes and in seemingly random places. Screen grab/Photo of Reaper editor shows gaps below. I will try windows media player.
Some gaps are as long as 3 seconds.
Thank you for staying with this, I hope others might understand their problems better and maybe solve on their own.
In reply to I do not understand the… by mute411
Even in Audacity there are no gaps.
In reply to Even in Audacity there are… by bobjp
You are absolutely correct. Audacity plays in its own weird way but no gaps. BUT...I just exported a working midi file from Audacity to Reaper and Reaper takes the correct midi file and REINSERTS the gaps.
I will find a way...everything you have said is correct...this is with me.
1. I lowered the master volume by 6db.
2. I inserted VST instruments with adjustments to the instrument such as the violin.
3. You are smart enough to use Audacity, which trust and there are no gaps.
4. Now I need to find a way to enter the corrected Audacity midi file into Reaper. (export from Audacity did not work) I will find a way.
Thank you,
soon to be a non-mute I hope, but with great respect to all people who might really be mute...this was a lesson to me in that sense.
In reply to You are absolutely correct… by mute411
My thought, as an experiment, would be to find what instrument is playing when Reaper registers a gap. Then substitute in the score, a known good instrument that does work. Export a midi and see what happens.
It sounds to me that it is a combination of MU4 midi export and Reaper import. Should there be any of these problems? Of course not. But what fun would that be if everything worked perfectly all the time.
In reply to My thought, as an experiment… by bobjp
I FOUND THE REASON FOR GAPS IN THE MIDI WHEN A PERSON USES A MUSESCORE MIDI OUTPUT FILE IN REAPER.
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I have used Musescore tempo settings to control the speed of a small section of a score. To be clear, in a section of a score I might set the time to: quarter note = 50, but later in the score if I might want to slow for a score emphasis, so I set the tempo: quarter note = 30, than later I take the tempo back to: quarter note = 80.
CRITICAL MESSAGE
Reaper can not read tempo changes done in this way (quarter note=50) at the top of the Musescore, score!
So every time Musescore tempo is changed numerically, Reaper drops several notes, probably trying read to the header time note, then gets back to the right note. The result of this is that Reaper shows a gap in the midi editor. This gap is usually a very obvious moment of silence. If the note dropped is a whole note, there can be a gap in the sound of the score of a full second or more.
If you plan on using Reaper, DO NOT MAKE TIME CHANGES IN MUSESCORE DONE WITH A NUMERICAL TEMPO CHANGE.
FULLY unmuted411
In reply to I FOUND THE REASON FOR GAPS… by mute411
Interesting, indeed. What happens if you use rit. instead. Not as precise. although I'm sure you can set tempos in Reaper and not worry about them in MU4.
In reply to Interesting, indeed. What… by bobjp
Yes, Reaper has an IDENTICAL numerical tempo control system. So the only change, for a person using Reaper, would be that they would need to strip out most if not all numerical tempo settings in Musescore, and put them back after running the .mid file fed into Reaper.
By the way, no one is at fault here - this is a typical incompatibility between two large and very fine programs! It is now up to Reaper coders or Reaper working with Musescore coders, to solve this compatibility issue and make it go away completely - for the user.
bobjp, I want to thank you again for working with me, guiding me away from my accusations about 4.1.1, and allowing me to peruse the real issue which we have solved together and we have an excellent result from working together.
If I have another issue, I hope I can find you and work with you again. The kind of excellent thinking and guidance you have offered is now, unfortunately, very rare. Good for you and good for Musescore.
THANK YOU,
mute411
In reply to Interesting, indeed. What… by bobjp
I find you to be contributing in many ways. If I may, thanks from all of us.
In reply to I find you to be… by xavierjazz
Thanks. I just wish I knew something about writing code so I could fix some of the problems.
Many moons ago, before CRT's, I used to program in basic. Results came out on a teletype.