Confusing behavior: "Style > Chord Symbols" does not affect Realize Chord Symbols defaults
Hi everyone,
I’ve noticed something confusing in MuseScore (currently using version [insert your version here]) regarding the “Realize Chord Symbols” feature and the settings under “Format > Style > Chord Symbols”.
I initially assumed that changing options under Style > Chord Symbols would affect the default behavior of the Realize Chord Symbols function — especially things like:
Interpretation (e.g. root position, jazz voicing),
Voicing (e.g. number of voices, include root or bass),
Duration (e.g. whole note, rhythm from chord symbol placement).
However, after adjusting those style settings and even restarting MuseScore, these changes do not affect the defaults shown in the Realize Chord Symbols dialog. The same defaults appear every time, regardless of what was changed in the Style menu.
So my question is:
Why are these settings included under “Style > Chord Symbols” if they do not affect the realization behavior at all?
It gives the impression that you're configuring how chords will be realized — but in practice, they have no effect.
If there’s a technical or design reason for this, I’d appreciate some clarification. From a usability standpoint, it feels misleading or incomplete.
Thanks in advance!
Comments
That's my question, also. If it worked, that would assume that I wanted every chord realized the same way. Maybe it's left over from something else.
In reply to That's my question, also. If… by bobjp
That’s a good point — having the same settings applied to every chord realization might not fit everyone’s needs. But in my case, I actually do want every chord to be realized the same way most of the time.
So it would be very useful if I could set my own default parameters (like interpretation, voicing, duration, etc.) once, and not have to manually adjust them every time I use Realize Chord Symbols.
Maybe there could be an option to save preferred defaults, or link them to a style or template. That way, users who want consistency can have it — while others can still tweak settings per usage.
That's not what I see when I realize chord symbols.
I created two scores, exact copies. I hit Realize chord symbols in one, changed the settings, and hit the same menu option in the second. Then I copied them into one to display. In the screenshot below, the first set of four chords were "realized" with settings of ...
Interpretation: Literal
Voicing: Automatic
Duration: Until next chord symbol
The second set of the same four chords were realized with settings of ...
Interpretation: Jazz
Voicing: Drop two
Duration: Until end of measure
One very specific difference was the Duration value. In the first score, with Until next chord symbol, the realization filled the rest of the score with the final chord (which I have deleted). In the second, the final chord was the same one measure as the others.
I was actually quite surprised. I had expected that setting to NOT affect chord realization since the group of settings is clearly labeled Playback. I have always assumed that they only affected playback.
OS: Windows 11 Version 2009 or later, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore Studio version (64-bit): 4.5.2-251141402, revision: ac9d3bc
In reply to That's not what I see when I… by TheHutch
Sure, but we're actually talking about the settings in Format>Style>Chord symbols that don't have any effect.
In reply to Sure, but we're actually… by bobjp
I'm talking about the settings in Format / Style / Chords too. That's where I set these settings and they did have effect for me.