Stem Direction not always saved properly
In a score I'm working on, the stem direction keep not being saved properly for some measures containing a 2nd voice.
While working on the score, I can change the stem direction just fine and it will allow me to save it. However, if I close the score and reopen it, the stem direction is not being saved. This isn't happening in every single measure, but each time I go through this process, it's always the same measures having this problem. I'm not sure exactly what the pattern is, but it seems to be related to whether or not it's the first such note in the 2nd voice on each system. When I do go to fix one note, MuseScore seems to realize it's a mistake and fixes the stem direction of the rest of the notes in the 2nd voice on that system.
Digging into the code of the .mscx, it looks like MuseScore is inconsistently saving the stem direction. I can add in "down" for each place that it happens, and it fixes the problem (seemingly permanently). Whether or not that's a suitable workaround is up for debate.
In short, it seems that it's a problem with MuseScore not always not always saving the manually adjusted stem direction correctly to the file.
Working in MuseScore 4.1.1 on M1 MacOS 13.2.1, though I've noticed this problem in a few versions of MuseScore 4 now.
Comments
Please attach a score that demonstrates the problem, saying which measure and note is affected. Then someone can investigate.
In reply to Please attach a score that… by SteveBlower
Here's a demo.
In reply to Here's a demo. by CarmodyC
Hmm, only the first voice 2 note has its stem set to down, all others to automatic (which means down too)
Which do you want to change and why?
In reply to Hmm, only the first voice 2… by Jojo-Schmitz
Yes, that's what it looks like on my end every time I open the file. However, for some reason the stems of the "automatic" notes are visually appearing up, not down. And when I try to change them to be manually down to match the first note in voice 2, it says that I've done it, but when I save, close, and reopen the file, it reverts back to the way it was. Try to manually change the stem direction on your end, then close and reopen the file to see if this is happening on your end too.
In reply to Yes, that's what it looks… by CarmodyC
If I set all voice 2 stems to down, they stick down even after a save/close/reopen.
If I set them all to automatic, they are all down, but after the save/close/reload they are all up. That indeed seems a bug and might be related to their noteheads being invisible
In reply to If I set all voice 2 stems… by Jojo-Schmitz
This bug still exists in the latest development build, so should get filed in the issue tracker on GitHub, https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/new/choose
I've seen this too.
I've found that if I add a measure, re-add the notes, set the stem direction (etc), and delete the original measure, it usually fixes the problem. Sorry, I don't have an example file handy. I'll try to find one.
In reply to I've seen this too. I've… by TheHutch
Hmm, that could work if I encounter the problem early on in a score. However, the score I have this problem in is nearly an hour long and everything else is fully engraved. To have to recreate measures would mean hours of lost work.