slur

• Mar 22, 2024 - 08:50

Can you hear slur in playback, respectively in MP3 (MU4)?

Comments

• Mar 22, 2024 - 16:46

I don't know about MuS 4.
In MuS 3, for example, it is audible for the flute, but not for many other instruments.

The zipped file contains an mp3 export of two whole notes of the flute. The first two measures with slur, the other two without.

If you use MuS 4 with the VST instruments, it may be completely different.

Attachment Size
Flute_Slur.zip 187.06 KB

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• Mar 22, 2024 - 17:54

@HildeK...
Oh well... yet another MuseScore 3 capability that is no longer available in MuseScore 4 is tweaking on/off times and note lengths.
This example, comparing staccato, normal, and slurs:
Slurs_compare.png
...sounds way better in MuseScore 3:
Compare.zip
....unzip to obtain the audio mp3, play, and follow on the image above.

Here's the MuseScore 3 mscz file:
Flute_articulation.mscz
Experiment in MuseScore 3 and you can even change the instrument from flute to trumpet, bassoon, trombone, etc...

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• Mar 22, 2024 - 19:13

I would have to make too many changes to my installation to check it with other instruments, as I have changed the instruments.xml file and don't know how MuseScore 3 behaves with your file when changing instruments - whether it re-reads my instruments.xml or continues to use the existing entries.
I made the change in instruments.xml because my F horn originally showed no audible difference between with and without slur. At least I couldn't hear it :-).

The modification consisted of adding this to some of the instruments I used in my scores:

           <Articulation> <!-- added, only works with new scores-->
                 <velocity>100</velocity>
                 <gateTime>90</gateTime>
           </Articulation>

The gate time value of 90 is quite good for quarter and eighth notes but it should be higher for half and whole notes because it is a percentage of the duration. The flute used the value 95. It is therefore not perfect ...
And these definitions are carried over into the score and are there even if someone with the original instrument file plays it.

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• Mar 23, 2024 - 05:39

I made the change in instruments.xml because my F horn originally showed no audible difference between with and without slur.
Do you mean that you have tweaked an instruments.xml file to "recognize" notated slurs so that they play audibly different when encountered during playback?

And these definitions are carried over into the score and are there even if someone with the original instrument file plays it.
Does that mean I can play one of your scores with my MuseScore 3 (original, default instruments) and hear that nuanced playback?

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• Mar 23, 2024 - 09:09

I answer both questions with "Yes"!

In MuS 3 you can specify which instruments.xml should be used, I copied it from the installation folder into e.g. my template folder, changed it accordingly and referred to it in Preferences -> Score:

MuseScore Preferences.png

Listen to the attached file and compare it with a new one that you have written yourself. You can also see these articulation entries if you take a look at the mscx excerpt (Line 245).

Edit: Therefore it works only on newly created scores because the existings ones do not have these modifications.

Attachment Size
slurs.mscz 4.8 KB

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• Mar 24, 2024 - 19:47

The answer is yes.
I played your attachment using my copy of MuseScore 3 with MuseScore_General.sf3 soundfont. The horn played the transition from one untied note to the next distinctly. The notes with ties were played accurately as legato.
I'm going to experiment with this further.

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• Mar 23, 2024 - 15:29

Maybe people are complaining about the wrong thing. Listen to the Compare file in MU4. The Slurs line all sounds the same. Maybe because there is a lack of separation between all the notes, in general. Notes are longer in MU4. Maybe people should complain about lack of separation instead.

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