MuseScore 4.3 is now available!

• touko 7, 2024 - 10:35

We are delighted to announce the release of MuseScore Studio 4.3. This latest release in the MuseScore 4 series is the first to use the new MuseScore Studio branding that we announced earlier this year. This version contains numerous fixes and improvements, including a new sound flags feature that provides advanced control over score playback with Muse Sounds.

MuseScore Studio remains free and open source under GPL version 3.

Watch the release video

Having trouble viewing this video? Click here to watch it on YouTube.

How to get MuseScore Studio 4.3 and Muse Sounds

I already have MuseScore 4

If you already have MuseScore 4 or later then you’ll see a message about the 4.3 update next time you launch the app. If you don’t see the message, go to Help > Check for update, or download the app manually instead.

To get the latest Muse Sounds, you’ll need to use the Muse Hub utility (Windows and Mac) or Muse Sounds Manager (Linux). You can download this from musehub.com if you don’t have it already. Muse Hub can also be used to update or install MuseScore Studio.

I’m new to MuseScore 4

Head over to the Download page to see the available options.

Windows and macOS: The main download option gives you the Muse Hub utility, which you can use to install MuseScore Studio and Muse Sounds. There's also the option to download MuseScore Studio without Muse Hub if you prefer.

Linux: The main download option will just give you MuseScore Studio; you’ll also need to download and install Muse Sounds Manager if you want to get the new sounds.
You can find additional builds on our GitHub Releases page, including a portable Windows EXE, as well as AppImages for 32- and 64-bit ARM Linux. Please note that Muse Sounds Manager is not currently available for ARM Linux.

New features in 4.3

Sound flags

Image of new sound flags popup in MuseScore Studio 4.3

Sound flags appear as a 'speaker' icon to the left of Stave Text elements. Clicking this icon reveals a list of playback options that can be used to control an instrument's sound from that point onwards in the score.

At present, the playback aspect of sound flags only works with Muse Sounds, not SoundFont or VST. However, when you share a score that contains sound flags, stave text entered via the sound flags popup will still be visible to other users even if they don't have Muse Sounds installed.

Engraving

New options in Format > Style to:

  • Hide clef and key signature after the first system
  • Show ties and repeat fret numbers for tied notes in tablature

Plus Various other improvements.

Version history

For those of you that choose to save scores to the cloud or publish to MuseScore.com, you'll find that MuseScore.com now offers the ability to back up and restore from previous versions of your scores.

MuseScore Studio branding

The new name helps to distinguish the desktop program from other MuseScore products, such as the MuseScore.com and mobile apps.

While the name has changed to "MuseScore Studio", for compatibility reasons many files and folders relating to the desktop program are still called "MuseScore 4".

Privacy policy

We had to update the privacy policy to reflect the name change to MuseScore Studio, so we also took this opportunity to clarify some of the wording around data collected during error reporting (e.g. if MuseScore crashes). The actual data being collected and stored on our servers has not changed; only the wording of the privacy policy has changed. Data is anonymized as soon as it is collected. We do not store any personal information.

Other fixes & improvements

See completed tasks in the 4.3 project for the full list of changes.

Kommentit

• touko 7, 2024 - 11:54

Where is the download? When I open 4.2.1 and "Check for Latest version" it tells me I'm up to date. When I go to the download page, where I read "The latest stable version is 4.3.0" It still downloads 4.2.1.

Vastaa

• touko 7, 2024 - 14:43

So I had high hopes for some playback enhancements, and the staff text feature is great. One thing I've been wanting is muted trumpet. That is, with a straight mute, not a Harmon mute. When you apply the mute symbol (+) to trumpets, it still applies a Harmon mute. This sound is very different from a straight mute. Is there any plan to support a straight mute?

Vastaa

• touko 7, 2024 - 15:03

Yeah, so the options you see in the "sound flag" popups are all taken from the sound libraries themselves. As we continue to expand the libraries, more options will become available (without us needing to even update MuseScore Studio). I can confirm that different brass mutes are being worked on as we speak :-)

Vastaa

• touko 18, 2024 - 22:35

Preferences -> I/O -> make the buffer size larger. In my experience this helps with the crackles and pops in older computers, tho it may cause some other issues with audio while you are editing notes.
It’s probably a problem with your computer handling muse sounds—they are pretty hard to play back live. If the problem persists, make a new post.

Vastaa

• touko 7, 2024 - 17:12

Will there be any work on Musescore Drumline in future versions? I've had success working with Muse Sounds but sometimes it is just not suitable for writing for marching percussion. Love the changes in this version, though!

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 14:16

Dorico really hit the jackpot with the whole player model when it comes to percussion...
I really hope it's engraving changes (cross-staff beaming between tuned and untuned would be INCREDIBLE) and an update to the Edit drumset dialog, which is so hard to use at the moment. Either way, I'm so hyped!
I'm not so fussed about playback personally, but that would still be cool :)

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 14:32

I’ve listened to some old drumline scores and they sound great. Can’t wait to use that with muse sounds and musescore 4
Glad to see someone who likes Dorico too 😉
Definitely struggling over here with whether I want to subscribe to Dorico, with its features being made much more up-to-date by a full-time (afaik) staff. It was launched much later than MuseScore, and it is already on 5.1.32 over here!
But musescore is free and has a music sharing platform; and it’s really tedious converting files from one to the other.

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 14:41

Yeah, I'm not sure whether I should pay for Dorico or not. I think if Musescore implements a condensing feature similar to Dorico and improves the workflow for part preparation, I'll definitely stick with Musescore. I use notation software mostly for engraving so playback isn't hugely important to me, which is why I'm torn!

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 16:59

"I think if Musescore implements a condensing feature similar to Dorico and improves the workflow for part preparation, I'll definitely stick with Musescore."

"Condensing feature, Part préparation"? 🙄
Could you please elaborate on exactly what features you are referring to in MuseScore (I don't know of any, at least under that name) that would be inferior to the equivalent Dorico features?

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 17:22

Sure! Condensing is when you have parts for separate instruments displayed one staff, which is often the case in orchestral music (2 flutes on one staff etc.). In Dorico this is handled super easily; you write the flute parts separately and then the parts are merged onto one staff in the score and crucially the staff label updates to match, a 2 text is added, the two voices share stems when in rhythmic unison but not when not in unison, etc. The fact it does this automatically without actually changing the content of the music is so nice, because then in the part view the music for the individual instrument is completely intact. In musescore it's possible to do something sort of like this by writing both parts in different voices, but the staff labels don't change when only one staff is visible, you need to change visibility of beams and such to make unison passages, etc. So it's possible, and I've done it before, but it takes a lot more work. Musescore is generally on par with Dorico and I'm a huge fan of musescore! But it's these kind of quality of life features that make a world of difference when I have an orchestral score and need to prepare good looking individual parts :)

Vastaa

• touko 7, 2024 - 17:13

Sound flags are not working for me on Windows 11. When I drag "staff text" to the score it has a red circle with a line through it and it doesn't drop anywhere. Does something else have to be enabled?

Vastaa

• touko 7, 2024 - 17:37

okay, it doesn't work if I "drag" the staff text to the score, but it does work if I select a measure and click on staff text. Dragging is what is creating the circle, so I guess it's not supported.

Edit: okay, it does work, but you have to be more specific about placement.

Vastaa

• touko 8, 2024 - 09:57

Nothing is working. The problem is much more deeper.

https://musescore.org/en/node/358850#comment-1222375
here is a solution how to get Musescore studio running, but it this case muse sounds doesn't appear in a menu, even it installed. I've uninstalled muse hub completely, (with deleting files from the library) Installed the strings from new, and the error came back again.
https://musescore.org/en/node/363760 - here is another issue. It might be Big sur issue.

Vastaa

• touko 10, 2024 - 09:46

I've done that too, now. And indeed this way the MuseSampler got updated from 0.4 to .61. I've deleted and installed percussion and brass again. But still I can't use the new staff text features. The reaction is, that for trombone there is no staff text action available. So may it be. So I tried for vibraphone as demonstrated in the 4.3 video. But even for vibraphone there is no staff text action available for me.
Is there any additional voodoo action that I can try?

OS: Windows 10 Version 2009 or later, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore Studio version (64-bit): 4.3.0-241231433, revision: 5f36e74

Vastaa

• touko 8, 2024 - 09:24

Hello,
I just finished updating MuseScore 4.3, but only some of the sound flags seemed to be working. I updated all the MuseSounds from MuseHub, but after checking the diagnostics, the muse sampler was still 5.3. How do I recover/install the new version of muse sampler? Thank you in advance.

EDIT: I have now deleted and reinstalled a MuseSounds Pack, which updated the muse sampler! For anyone interested, go to MuseHub, hold the alt key to bring up the delete buttons, then delete and reinstall a sound pack.

Vastaa

• touko 8, 2024 - 12:28

Hi! The app keeps crashing when trying to open since the studio update released yesterday. I don't know why it happens, it has never been any problem launching the program and I really need some help. I'm using Musescore all the time and I really need it to work. //Jakob

Vastaa

• touko 8, 2024 - 17:47

As I updated MuseScore 4.3, I went to see about the brass. When brass goes from mf to f, it gives a different tone, a much more "brassy" loud tone. Sometimes this tone is perfect for certain pieces, but for those that it isn't, it just limits me to mf so I do not get that sound.

I was hoping this would have been a thing for brass but I realized there are no options for it when I go to staff text. So my question is, which instruments are involved with that updated besides the ones shown (string, percussion). Is there a substitute for brass, or is mf dynamic the only way to go?

Liite Koko
Screenshot 2024-05-08 104540.png 35.94 KB

Vastaa

• touko 8, 2024 - 19:41

Thank you for another great release to everyone involved in any way! <3

I would also like to say thank you to all of you who are active in the announcements forum to regularly share insights about upcoming releases for those who don't follow along with all the activity on github.

I understand that musescore.com, iPad and android app as well as muse sounds are not developed as open source (and probably by other people) but sometimes I wish there would be this level of transparency as well. (if there should be a similar forum that I am not aware of for these products, I'd be thankful for the respective links.)

Vastaa

• touko 8, 2024 - 20:48

I just did the update to 4.3 and I can't get the sound flags to work. The speaker icon shows up but disappears when I click on it. I tried to right click and left click,,, maybe I'm doing something wrong, IDK.

MuseHub 1.0.2.800
MuseScore Studio 4.3
Windows 11.

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 02:41

Since nobody sees my post:
Are the samples accessible thru the sound flags supposed to be devoid of articulation? I apply accent, staccato, and marcato to a cello playing sul ponticello, and it continues to play them legato.

Vastaa

• touko 9, 2024 - 18:17

fantastic upgrade, amazing!
However, the solo violin sounds still have the same annoying quality. Basically they sound like someone is playing the violin with one finger on one string, so that every note must have a slide or glissando in front of it. Up gliss or down gliss, doesn't matter, it is an unneeded "artifact". Just a clear definition between one note and the next would be great. Sorry to complain, it kind of makes that particular sound unusable.

Vastaa

• touko 10, 2024 - 15:57

Will MuseScore 3 Evolution still be able to open MS 4.3 scores?
Need that as MS4 can not handle midi export with parameters made in the mixer.
Maybe this is a question for Jo-Jo Schmitz?

Vastaa

• touko 12, 2024 - 16:51

Thanks for the update! I'm really excited to try all the new sounds.

Unfortunately, the vowel choices for the choir aren't showing up for me. (I've attached a picture for reference.) The piece I'm working on requires humming, so I was relying on this feature.

I reinstalled everything to be up to date, but I'm still having this issue. Any suggestions?

Liite Koko
Screenshot 2024-05-12 115003.png 47.78 KB

Vastaa

• touko 13, 2024 - 22:09

Thanks again to everyone who worked on this update and everyone in the discussion helping guide other users through troubleshooting! And sorry for all the questions…

It seems that there's an issue with both the "Women" and "Full choir" sounds. The "Women" sound can't play above a G4 (it seems like it should be a combination of the "Soprano" and "Alto" sounds, which both reach above that note). The "Full choir" sound is also not playing its upper range.

I've also attached an image of what my interface looks like, where there's a whole separate drop-down (drop-sideways, I guess) for the expanded brass and choir sounds. Don't know if it looks like this for anyone else…

Are these both glitches that everyone is running into, or is it just me?

Liite Koko
Screenshot 2024-05-13 170129.png 70.95 KB

Vastaa

• touko 20, 2024 - 18:59

The first problem - where some sounds don't include notes above G4 - is known and reported on GitHub already as https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/22572. Apparently it doesn't affect all systems, and it does not appear there is an understanding yet of why someone people experience this and others don't.

The second problem - where the menu is labeled incorrectly - is just a sign that you don't have the most recent versions of those sounds. Fire up Muse Hub and check for updates. Remove and reinstall those sounds if need be.

Vastaa

• touko 19, 2024 - 06:05

I'm having a problem where I can't add and or see the option for the stave text, so I cants chamge the siund of the instrument. Does anyone have any tips on how to solve this?

Vastaa

• touko 20, 2024 - 18:55

The sound flags are only available after updating both MuseScore Studio and Muse Sounds, and it will only appear for instruments that are using Muse Sounds.

if you have further difficulty, please ask for help in the Support forum, and attach your score there, and give precise steps to reproduce the problem. Then we can understand and assist better.

Vastaa

• kesä 1, 2024 - 01:12

Thanks for the upgrades. Since updating my program, I am no longer able to stretch/shrink measures using the shortcut keys. Have they been disabled, or is there a fix to get them working?

Vastaa

• kesä 1, 2024 - 16:58

Do you mean the "{" and "}" keys to activate the "stretch" commands that are designed for certainly unusual spacing effects? If they are located above the "[" and "]" keys, they should work as usual, but maybe your definitions got messed up somehow. Or if your keybaord layout places them differently, that might be an issue. Either way, you can go to Edit / Preferences / Shortcuts to redefine those commands.

Do note that these commands would not be something one would need to use in normal use very often, unless the goal is to create inconsistent spacing. In previous version the default spacing was bad enough that these commands might be needed to fix it, but that should almost never be needed as of MuseScore 4. It was also formerly usefuly to squeeze more measures onto a system in cases where simply reducing the default note spacing or staff size isn't the better approach. But now there is a better way to do that also - the "keep measure together" element on the layout palette.

If you have further questions, please start a new thread on the Support forum and give more details, so we can understand and assist better, while keeping this thread focused on the update itself.

Vastaa

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