Hairpins in Musescore4 do not work as they used to in Musescore3
In Musescore3, I used to place “Hairpin”, select it and then, apply “Velocity change” which would produce Decrescendo (or perhaps it is called Diminuendo).
In Musescore 4, I can place "Hairpin" but I cannot find a field to set "Velocity Change" and the "Playback" button is disable.
----Questions regarding Musescore4----
1__How is Haipin useful without "Velocity Change"?
2__Why the "Playback" button of a Hairpin disabled?
3__How do I produce Decrescendo without Haipin?
Please keep in mind that I am NOT a professional musician and therefore, I am not familiar with many muisic terms which I read in this forum. I would appreciate if the answers are kept in simple language.
Thanks
Comments
First, decrescendo and diminuendo are indeed synonyms. MuS 4 calls them diminuendo in the Properties tab, but you can change the display text there if you wish.
Place a hairpin over some range of notes. Click the first note to select it, then Ctrl+click the last note to add it to the selection. (You can do this in either direction.) Click the appropriate hairpin tool from the Dynamics palette. This places the hairpin from first note to last.
Play it. To my ear (which is not terribly good: :-( I have tinnitus), it sounds like it lowers (or raises, for the other hairpin) the volume by approximately one or two dynamic levels. Thus, if the dynamic level is ff going into the hairpin, it will be either f or mf going out. (I'm not sure of this!!!)
To make it change by a specific amount, place a new dynamic mark on the last note of the hairpin or the one immediately following it. So if it ends with p, then whatever the dynamic level was going in, it will end on p. (I am sure of this!)
If you do not want the following dynamic level to appear, uncheck Visible from its Properties tab.
I believe that the cresc. and dim. lines work the same way. They also do not have Playback buttons.
Hairpins still work exactly the same way. The issue is that "velocity" is a MIDI command, and Muse Sounds isn't MIDI; it works directly with whatever dynamic markings you put in the score, instead of interpreting dynamics as velocity levels, and translating them into MIDI commands. If you put a dynamic at the end of a hairpin, that's what it will change to. If you don't, it will change by some small amount in that direction, proabably one or two dynamic levels as suggested by the other commenter.
If you use MS Basic or a soundfont instead of using Muse Sounds, the old method should still work.