MusicXML export error for Tenor saxophone

• Jan 8, 2011 - 18:54

Hello I think I have found a bug in the MusicXML export. Here's what I was trying to do and a semi-solution that seems to work for me.

I'm transposing cello parts for the tenor saxophone and I wanted to use Finale to playback my transpositions (I prefer their playback engine). However after I exported my parts, I found Finale played them an octave too high. Wondering where the problem was I wrote the same piece in both Finale and Musescore, exported them both to MusicXML and compared the files. I found a difference in the transpose tag inside the attributes section of the first measure of the part:

Musescore MusicXML:

<transpose>
<diatonic>-8</diatonic>
<chromatic>-14</chromatic>
</transpose>
</attributes>

Finale MusicXML:

<transpose>
<diatonic>-1</diatonic>
<chromatic>-2</chromatic>
<octave-change>-1</octave-change>
</transpose>
</attributes>

If I replace the Musescore code by the Finale code, it works fine in Finale but Musescore will play an octave higher. I haven't tested this with other transposing instruments but I think they would all be affected by this. I don't know which way is more correct (I suspect Finale isn't doing things exactly as they should but that's just my bias against commercial products...), but it would be nice to have some way to have the same playback in both software.

If you want the complete files, I'll be glad to provide them.

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