Tab Ring plugin for improved "Let Ring" guitar playback — Update 1.4.0 : Voice Ring Mode
Got choppy sounding guitar parts? Add realistic smoothness to fretted instrument playback in MuseScore with the TAB Ring plugin.
TAB Ring intelligently extends note playback durations until there is another note on the same string - just like playback on a physical guitar. It accomplishes this transparently by adjusting MIDI durations without altering the actual notation (or TAB) face value durations. So, your notation looks the same but sounds way better, especially for styles like finger-picking.
Short Demo
https://musescore.com/user/28842914/scores/11375725
Full Details and User Guide
https://sites.google.com/view/tab-ring/
Comments
Fabulous! Even neater and more powerful than Tab Tools.
In reply to Fabulous! Even neater and… by msfp
Thanks. TAB Tools is due for an overhaul.
Viva Laissez Vibrer!
Here’s an example score that demonstrates the effects of the new TAB Ring plugin.
( I’ve attached an image that shows the settings I used. )
https://musescore.com/user/35880724/scores/13282477
It's probably surprising to hear a piano sound emanating from a guitar score, but generally I resort to that because MuseScore 3's guitar sounds are pretty cheesy. (More about the audio ahead ... and why I was unable to post the example score from MuseScore 4 with a high quality VST guitar.)
The TAB Ring plugin and controls
TAB Ring's purpose is to ring each note's "playback duration" until another note is played on the same string ... as naturally occurs in styles like guitar finger-picking. Think of it as "spray on" guitar realism, or canned Laissez Vibrer!
Not surprisingly, depending on its settings, TAB Ring occasionally extends durations overzealously. To rein in a small amount of excessive ring in the Kathy's Song example score—i.e to eliminate dissonances a guitarist would not normally produce—I placed five Ring Tokens in the score. And that did the trick.
Ring Tokens are Staff Text objects, like $O and $5.
This recording highlights the effect of the TAB Ring Plugin.
You can listen at Audio.com: https://audio.com/audius/audio/kathy-s-song-intro-tab-ring-comparison
Notes on the audio rendering
I processed the first 16 bars of the recording with TAB Ring. At 24 seconds the song reverts to MuseScore’s default face value durations. At 36 seconds it switches back to TAB Ring processed durations. The difference is significant, and the result is often unattainable with "Let Ring"—which is actually just MIDI sustain.
The audio uploaded to audio.com was rendered in Logic Pro ... where I imported a MIDI export of the score.
NOTE: From scratch, i.e. starting with face value duration, you could achieve the same result in MuseScore's Piano Roll Editor, or in your DAWs Piano Roll Editor, but for a normal length score that could easily take an hour.
In contrast TAB Ring renders realistic durations instantly, with a click. Afterward you can refine the results with a few Ring Tokens, And for a finishing touch you can hand edit durations in the Piano Roll Editor. The results produced here did not require any Piano Roll editing.
Unfortunately these results are not possible currently in MuseScore 4.
I wanted to export audio with a good VST guitar from within MuseScore and since MuseScore 4.2 supports VST instruments in (and I've successfully worked with guitar libraries in v4.2) I was quite hopeful. So I expected I'd be able to upload from MuseScore 4 to MuseScore.com with a pristine VST guitar sound. BUT there was a major hitch.
Due to its own shortcomings (regressions) MuseScore 4 can't use the TAB Ring plugin. So I devised a workaround. I created the score in MuseScore 3.7 (aka MuseScore Evolution) and planned to open it in MuseScore 4.2, set the VST guitar and upload. But when I opened the v3.7 score in MuseScore 4 I heard the default face value durations, not the play duration set by the TAB Ring plugin.
A simple test score proved that MuseScore 4 discards altered play durations as explained here.
Sadly this means we can't have extended play durations and VST playback in MuseScore 4 until the Piano Roll Editor is reinstated, or until MuseScore4 will read and honor altered play durations—my guess that means honoring the Len property of individual notes. Ideally we'll get both before too long. Then MuseScore 4 will be an even more popular place to score for guitar and to creat guitar tablature notation.
scorster
9 Dec 2023 | Version 1.1 | Fixed bug with picking gap sometimes missing
1 Jan 2024 | Version 1.2 | MuseScore 3.6.2 Full Ring Compatibility Mode
A workaround has been added to allow MS 3.6.2 to implement the full ring already possible with MS 3.7. Please follow the instructions in the Additional Information section of the plugin's documentation to use this option.
See: https://sites.google.com/view/tab-ring/
Hi all. Maybe I'm just not aware of it, but I am very interested in using TabRing for instruments other than a guitar. For example, I am using a soprano voice sound for one of my instruments, and I want the last "F" note in measure 2 to ring/hold through to the "E" note in measure 3. Currently, even with the tie, the voice cuts off at the end of measure 2 and does not carry into measure 3. Can I use TabRing to make it carry? If so, how? If there is a better way to do so with some other control/key/feature, what is it? I just don't know. Thanks in advance.
![Screenshot 2024-08-29 111143.png]( "Screenshot 2024-08-29 111143.png")
In reply to Hi all. Maybe I'm just not… by fsgregs
The TAB Ring plugin works with any fretted instrument and requires a linked tablature staff to calculate its Let Ring (Laissez Vibrer) enhancing effect. That said, notes need to be on separate strings in the tablature staff for TAB Ring to overlap them intelligently beyond their face value.
But you might not need TAB Ring to achieve your particular goal. By performing a duration edit (a LEN edit) in the Piano Roll Editor (PRE) you can manually achieve anything that TAB Ring can automatically accomplish and you can go beyond what TAB Ring or a fretted instrument can do.
You can easily change the LEN play duration in the Piano Roll Editor, and this will not affect the note's face value—but then the intent/affect is not apparent to the anyone reading your score. (Alternate solutions: you can place the notes in separate voices, or possible tie a note forward to another of the same pitch.)
The PRE and LEN options are available if you work in MS 3.6 or 3.7. So this would not require much effort if there's just one (or a few) locations where you want the E and F notes to overlap.
The release of MuseScore 4—nearly two years—sadly revealed that development completely discarded the PRE.
However the PRE is alive and well in MuseScore 3.7. And you can even open MS4.x scores in MS 3.7 ... BUT once you've processed your score therein, the same score then opened in MS4 plays without regard to the LEN properties that TAB Ring set—thus the score sounds as if it never met TAB Ring! If you're thinking "Arrrg!" then you've understood perfectly understood the conundrum and quagmire.
It's hard to tell if/when we'll witness the return of the important and abandoned functionality of the Piano Roll Editor and LEN property:
• the LEN duration issue is targeted for "one of the next releases" after MS 4.4.1 ...
• the "post MuseScore 4" return of the PRE has been in perpetual limbo pending the proposed completion "of an improved playback system."
scorster
In reply to TAB Ring works with any… by scorster
Scorster: Golly, thanks for the advice. I have never used the piano roll editor before, and now using it in the "F" note to extend it into the next measure (set LEN to 1060 or so), worked fine. That said, I have no idea what a "Tabulature Staff" is. Never used one, and until today, never even saw one. I just read a bit about them in the User Manual, but because I rarely write music that includes a fretted guitar, I've never bothered to add a Tab staff to my sheet music before. I do use lots of strings in my adaptations, but they are not fretted instruments, so I assume I don't need to add a Tab staff. Anyway, thanks for the tip about the Piano Roll Editor. I will use it a lot more.
In your post for MS4, you mentioned, "... pending the completion "of an improved playback system." I have been waiting since 2022 for the coders of MS4 to restore the ability to edit velocity (volume) for all dynamics marks and hairpins. In MS 3.62, I routinely edit the default values for dynamics and hairpins to lower or raise them to suit the song (i.e. changing the value of "p" to 53 or 42, instead of just the standard 49 default). Are the designers of MS 4 going to make these changes soon? If so, do you know when?
In reply to Scorster: Golly, thanks for… by fsgregs
Scorster: Golly, thanks for the advice. I have never used the piano roll editor before
Your'e welcome. All in day's work!
I have been waiting since 2022 for the coders of MS4 to restore the ability to edit velocity (volume) for all dynamics marks and hairpins.
Likewise, I miss the option to define dynamics (per score) away from their default values, as we could in MS3.
scorster
In reply to Hi all. Maybe I'm just not… by fsgregs
If the sound is stopping even with a tie then maybe the soundfont has insufficient sustain.
TAB Ring would be easy to adapt for human voice since it is normally a monophonic instrument and the start of a new note always ends the previous note. Therefore TAB would not be required to generate the extended ring in this situation. (It is like having all the notes played on a single string).
In reply to If the sound is stopping… by yonah_ag
Yonah_ag: TabRing appears to be useful only when (1) the instrument is a fretted guitar), and (2) the note needs to ring a bit longer than a standard plucked note. So ... how would one go about using it for a voice? If you could list the few steps needed, that would be great. Conversely, if I need a note to ring through the next measure line, can I use TabRing to do so, or would use of the piano roll editor do just as well (since it can be used for any instrument soundfont)?
In reply to Yonah_ag: TabRing appears… by fsgregs
(1) Is correct but it would be easy for me to add an option to TAB Ring to apply to non-fretted instruments which are NOT polyphonic, e.g. the human voice, (although there are a few people who can sing 2 melody lines at the same time).
(2) Is incorrect. TAB Ring is designed to sustain like a real guitar, not just a bit longer. If a 1/256th note is scored as the first note of the first measure on string 6 and there are no more notes on string six for several measures then this note will sound for over 2 semi-breve notes, just like a real guitar, right through measure boundaries. (At present the maximum ring is limited to 9 quarter notes as this is usually more than sufficient).
Check out the demo score at the start of this thread and you will see long extensions going across measure boundaries. Click the play button to hear the effect.
TAB Ring does not depend on any particular soundfont. Scorster regularly uses it with guitar scores playing a piano soundfont. Any soundfont instrument with good sustain is usable with TAB Ring.
Piano Roll Editor is great for a few note extensions but labour intensive when there are many. I have no idea why your tie did not do the job.
In reply to (1) Is correct but it would… by yonah_ag
@yonah_ag wrote
TAB Ring does not depend on any particular soundfont. Scorster regularly uses it with guitar scores playing a piano soundfont.
Quite true! I tire of MS3's rubbery "guitar" sound, and to my ear the Mellow Grand Piano is one of the most realistic of the naturally decaying sounds in MS3. So that's what I generally resort to it—because MS3 still doesn't support VST libraries.
The remarkable effect of the TAB Ring plugin (for MS 3.7, 3.6 ... and someday 4.x?)
Here's an example of a bit of finger-picking accompaniment
This example is the same thing with a decent guitar VST. I simply export from MS3 to MIDI, import to Logic Pro, selected the desired VST, add effects and I'm done. Halfway through this recording you'll hear the same phrase without the effect of TAB Ring. The choppiness of that second half tells the story.
Long gone LEN and PRE
Regarding MS4, the missing Piano Roll Editor (PRE) and the LEN property, that's a sad story indeed. If MS4 hadn't jettisoned the PRE and if it hadn't become entirely dismissive of the LEN property I could manage projects like this without Logic Pro—except that MS4's EQ plugin in is so award AND MuseSounds knowingly leaves it fully undocumented.
But note, the PRE is necessary when running the TAB Ring plugin. So it's easy to think I could process scores with TAB Ring in 3.7 or 3.6 and then import those scores to MS4—and that would be true is IF MS4 honored the LEN property settings. But it doesn't.
TAB Ring plugin merely changes to the LEN property BUT as stated, MS4 completely ignores the all-important LEN values, the very properties that impart the desired Ring. That's precisely why
• I have process my score with TAB Ring in 3.7/3.6
• export to MIDI
• The select my VST and do the mastering in my DAW.
And it's important to be clear, this is no shortcoming of TAB Ring. MS4 ignores all LEN properties, even those hand edited in the PRE.
According to the current triage we may not see fixes until MS 4.5+ ...
Many wonderful features were flung out the window to clear the path for the promise of a more robust and flexible playback system. But the demise of the PRE and LEN is akin to being in a body cast for the last couple of years waiting for the healing to occur.
In closing
It's important to remember that, as intended, TAB Ring communicates directly to the playback engine "behind the scenes"—without altering the face values of notes in the score—so then, it does not communicate with the person reading the music. If that's the intent, one must write in separate voices.
scorster
In reply to @yonah_ag wrote TAB Ring… by scorster
Scorster: OK, NOW you've got me very intrigued. I think I would love to try using TabRing with some other instrument beside a guitar. The question is, HOW do I do that? Do I just set up a guitar track in MS 3.6 but use a piano soundfont (via the Mixer) instead, then launch the TabRing plugin on that track, or is there some other trick? If so, what do I do?
2ndly, you imply that you can actually use a VST instrument inside MS 3.62. Apparently, you can do so by exporting a score out of 3.62 via MIDI, importing that file into something called "Logic Pro", then fooling around with external VST libraries, DAW keyboards, added effects, etc. then importing something or another back into MS 3.62. Is that possible? If so, how could I slowly learn what to do? It seems it would be a big learning curve, but I may be able to do it if I had some help. Advice????
In reply to Scorster: OK, NOW you've… by fsgregs
@fsgregs wrote:
• I think I would love to try using TabRing with some other instrument beside a guitar. The question is, HOW do I do that? Do I just set up a guitar track in MS 3.6 but use a piano soundfont (via the Mixer) instead, then launch the TabRing plugin on that track, or is there some other trick? If so, what do I do?
Just set up any fretted instrument track in MuseScore 3.7 or 3.6 and add a linked staff, and make sure it's the topmost track in your score ... at least when you want to run TAB Ring. And yes, you can select any sound for your fretted instrument track in the Mixer. (Alternately you can just add a tablature staff without a linked standard staff, but I think you prefer to work in standard notation.) Unfortunately you can't hide a linked staff in MS 3.7 as you can in MS4—but then MS4 can't run TAB Ring or make use of TAB Ring processed scores. But in 3.7 you can delete a linked TAB staff once it's imparted its purposeful Ring.
• 2ndly, you imply that you can actually use a VST instrument inside MS 3.62.
Sorry. No. MuseScore wan't able to connect to VST libraries until version 4. No dice in 3.x.
The MIDI export was to import the TAB Ring generated playback into my Digital Audio Workstation (Logic Pro X). I don't import anything back to MuseScore. You should be able to use Audacity, MuseGroups free DAW.
I prefer working in a notation-centric environment but, for the reasons cited, MS4 (even 4.4) is insufficient for my needs. So I take a score as far as I can in MS 3.7 and then export to MIDI and bring that into my DAW. If I need to make major changes or additions I edit in the DAW, or go back to MS3.7 and then another MIDI export/Import cycle.
Projects of mine, like this wouldn't have reached a level I'd approve without this workflow—and convincing guitarist ingredient was afforded by TAB Ring!
Now I think it could be difficult to "design a stringed instrument tuning" that would yield the vocal results you're seeking, however, as long as you work within MS 3.7 or 3.6 you can freely edit LEN properties to customize play durations to your liking. On the other hand, if you want realistic plucked stringed instrument playback TAB Ring is truly an amazing and flexible tool for performing hundreds of play durations in a split second.
scorster
In reply to @fsgregs wrote: I think I… by scorster
@scorster:
I could add an option to make TAB Ring work with any monophonic instrument without the need for tablature. It would work like an instrument that played all of its notes on a single string so that each note would stop the previous one. Single string means no TAB needed; work directly with the notation stave.
In reply to I could add an option to… by yonah_ag
Yonah_ag: You are so gifted. I applaud your skill!
Most of the strings I use in my many adaptations eventually incorporate a chord on the staff. It is designed to allow a symphony of string section to play multiple notes together, by assuming one violin or cello group will play the top note, another group will play the 2nd note down, etc. I assume TabRing does not work on chords.
However, I do have one instrument, a solo violin, that only plays single notes in a measure. On occasion, I would welcome the note being held for a longer time, even across the measure bar to the next measure.
Until yesterday, I was unaware that I could use the Piano Roll Editor to extend any note for any length of time, using the "LEN" menu. You are right, however, that it is cumbersome. If TabRing does the same job and could be used for any solo instrument playing single notes (i.e. solo voice or trumpets or solo violins or double bass), that would be very worthwhile. We would of course need a bit of printed instruction on how to set it all up with a Tab track. Thanks for thinking of this.
In reply to Yonah_ag: You are so gifted… by fsgregs
• TAB Ring works with chords on fretted instruments.
• A TAB stave is only required for fretted instruments and the link I posted earlier to the MuseScore handbook has full details on how to set up tablature. You can print this if required.
• I'll have a look at an option for monophonic "Let Ring" implementation. This would not require a TAB stave.
• Multi string section chord ring should be possible by putting the notes for each string section in a separate voices on the stave. This would allow for up to 4 sections on the stave. Again, a TAB stave would not be needed.
• The TAB Ring user guide is already quite detailed and I would add text to cover any new options.
(TAB Ring is a joint development between me and scorster. We both had ideas for how it should work, scorster provides the music theory knowledge and I do the programming.)
In reply to Yonah_ag: You are so gifted… by fsgregs
[moved]
In reply to Scorster: OK, NOW you've… by fsgregs
@fsgregs:
Detailed TAB Ring user guide: https://sites.google.com/view/tab-ring/
Currently TAB Ring is only for fretted instruments and requires a linked tablature stave to provide the string plucked information. I could add an option to allow it to work without tablature but only for monophonic instruments.
Any soundfont instrument can be used with TAB Ring. It does not need to be piano or guitar.
A VST3 can be used inside MS3 for real time playback. The same setup can be used to stream MS3 audio to a DAW in real time.
See https://musescore.org/en/node/358470
As scorster said, you can also export a score to MIDI format and import that file into any software that understands MIDI, such as a DAW, a dedicated MIDI player or another notation software. The export option is on the file menu.
This describes how to set up tablature in MS3:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/tablature
TAB Ring 1.4.0 - Voice Ring Mode
This option applies "Let Ring" processing based on voice number rather than string number so it can be used with non-fretted instruments.
It will process up to 4 independent voices in the first stave. If there is no linked TAB then Voice Ring Mode will be used automatically, as indicated by the option being ticked and not being untickable.
Voice Ring Mode can also be used with TAB but I'm not sure that there would be any benefit in doing so.
TabRing 1.4.0.qml
In reply to TAB Ring 1.4.0 Voice Ring… by yonah_ag
@fsgregs: Did this update work for you?
In reply to @fsgregs: Did this update… by yonah_ag
Yonah: I downloaded your new TabRing plugin, loaded it into MS 3.62, and set the plugin to launch when I open a score in MS 3.7. The problem is, I confess I have not yet tried it out for three reasons:
(1) The score I am working on is working fine with use of the LEN feature in the Piano Roll Editor because there is only a single choral note I need to let ring across a measure line. Doing so via the Editor is working OK. I don't yet need the TabRing option in this particular score. I am certain I will do so soon.
(2) At 76 yrs old, I am reluctantly, a bit fearful of having to read the TabRing directions in the manual and using the new plugin on different non-fretted instruments the way you've designed it to be used. I will do so and I am so grateful you went to the trouble to edit the plugin code, but I will need a bit more time to learn what to do.
(3) I have MS 3.7 on my desktop and can launch it whenever I want, but since the score I am working on was begun in 3.62, I simply have not been using 3.7 to add to it/edit the score. I will most certainly do so ASAP, but not yet.
Thanks again for all your work. You are a gifted man.
In reply to Yonah: I downloaded your… by fsgregs
I didn't know that plugins could automatically launch in MS3.7, how do you do this?
You can test TAB Ring with the piano roll open to observe the effect. If you don't want to make actual score changes then use undo or simply don't save the score. TAB Ring will not automatically save changes; you are in control.
Most of the options are self-explanatory apart from Ring Tokens. The default settings are shown in the first image in this thread and they work well in most situations.
Ring through rests is the normal behaviour for fingerstyle guitar but you might want to switch it off if vocalists are supposed to stop at rest symbols rather than sing through them.
The rest of the options can quite safely be ignored but here's a quick guide:
Ring Tokens give fretboard users of the plugin fine control over the ring behaviour, e.g. what to do during chord changes and similar. They really are just fine tuning and can be ignored with no ill effect. (They have no relevance to non-fretted instruments).
Stop seconds only applies to fretted instruments. I never use it but scorster sometimes does and it was added to the plugin specifically for his use. (It gets into music theory here which is not my strong point).
Keep articulations stops the plugin from changing durations which you have already manually tweaked in PRE. It slows things down a bit and is again a bit specialist.