MuseScore Studio 4.6 Beta is now available

We’re pleased to announce the beta release of MuseScore 4.6. This release is packed with a huge number of new features and improvements. See our alpha announcement to learn about them!

In this beta release, you can now test new playback features for MuseSounds, including the new online sounds from Cantai.

To get started, download the 4.6 beta files here:

• Windows (MSI installer) - first uninstall 4.6 alpha or any previous testing builds (see below)
• macOS (DMG)
• Linux (x86_64, ARM64)

For Windows testers only! If you previously installed MuseScore Studio 4.6 alpha – or any other ‘MuseScore 4 Testing’ build – you’ll first need take a couple of extra steps:

1. Go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall MuseScore 4 Testing
2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\ and check whether the MuseScore 4 Testing folder is there. If it is, delete it.

This is due to a known issue where the beta build doesn’t overwrite previous testing builds: See #29651.

Testing online sounds and new MuseSounds features (Win/macOS)

To test the new Cantai online sounds feature, or any other playback feature supported by MuseSounds libraries (including realtime improvements, as well as guitar- and handbells-specific features), you will need to ensure that:

1. You have registered for beta testing (those who have already registered should be ready to go straight away. Registration has now closed, but if you are keen to help with testing and would like to register, please contact b.kunda@mu.se).
2. You are running the latest version of MuseHub: 2.3.10 on Windows, 2.5.0 on macOS. See below for how to update to this version.

New MuseHub users

1. If you don't have a MuseHub account yet, go to musehub.com and create one. (Important! Please use the email address you used to sign up for beta testing.)
2. Confirm your account via the email address you provided.
3. Download the MuseHub app from musehub.com.
4. Run MuseHub and sign in via the button at the top right of the app window.

Existing MuseHub users

Check your version number in MuseHub > Settings > About. It should be 2.3.10 on Windows or 2.5.0 on macOS.

If your version is lower than this, check for an update in MuseHub > Notifications. If you don't see an update there:

1. Uninstall the MuseHub app from your computer.
2. Re-install the app from musehub.com.
3. Restart the app and check the version number again.
4. Log into your account via the Sign in button at the top right of the app window.

Cantai (online sounds) testers

Once you’re signed in to the MuseHub app on your computer:

1. Navigate to Library.
2. Select the Beta filter button in the top panel.
3. Locate and install Cantai beta.

Everyone

Once you’ve completed the above steps:

1. Run MuseScore Studio 4.6 beta
2. In MuseScore Studio, confirm you have the correct sampler version (Help > Diagnostics > MuseSampler > Check MuseSampler. Should be v.0.102.2.XXX)
3. For Cantai testers: check that Cantai appears as a sound library option in the Mixer (within the MuseSounds menu)

If everything is in order by this stage, you’re good to start testing!

Problems with installation? Reach out to b.kunda@mu.se.

Testing playback in Linux

In addition to VST and Pipewire support, Linux users will benefit from an updated MuseSampler, which comes with significant realtime improvements. To ensure you’re using the correct sampler version:

1. Run MuseSounds Manager, then
2. Run MuseScore Studio 4.6 beta
3. In MuseScore Studio, confirm you have the correct sampler version (Help > Diagnostics > MuseSampler > Check MuseSampler. Should be v.0.102.2.XXX)

A note for Linux users about Cantai (online sounds)

We know how important it is that MuseScore Studio remains free for Linux users. Since Cantai is only available by paid subscription, we’ve decided not to release it on Linux.

Another reason is security: protecting our partners’ servers and sound library assets across the many Linux distributions would be an extremely complex undertaking—unfeasible for a team of our size. Assuring our vendors of secure usage is essential if we want to keep bringing world-class sound library creators to MuseScore Studio.

We understand this may be disappointing, and we’re sorry for that. But we also know most Linux users value free and open-source software, and we want to keep supporting that ethos. To this end, we’re do aim to bring more free online sound libraries to all MuseScore Studio users—including those on Linux—in the near future.

Reporting bugs

We’re all expecting bugs in this process! (That’s why you’re here). Since this release has a lot of interdependencies, please ensure you send your bug reports to the right place (so they’ll get noticed by the right people).

Everything to do with Cantai (online sounds)

Raise them via this dedicated form – but check they haven’t already been raised first in this spreadsheet (Note: This spreadsheet is a dedicated tracker we’ve set up specifically for Cantai issues.)

UX/UI issues, or playback issues that can be reproduced using MS Basic/VST

Raise them in our GitHub repo but check they haven’t already been raised first!

MuseSounds playback issues not reproducible with MS Basic/VST

Raise them in MuseHub customer support.

Known issues

Our full list of known issues can be found here in the MuseScore Studio issue tracker. Always check here first before raising a bug report. This said, the following may crop up when testing beta (so watch out for them!):

Keyboard navigation

The spacebar is currently being tested as a playback trigger – regardless of where your focus is in the app. This means you’ll need to use the Enter/Return key to click on buttons and other controls (although some dialogs will still preserve the existing spacebar functionality to click on controls). We are very interested in feedback about this from users who rely on keyboard navigation to get around the app.

Handbells palette

This may need to be added twice before it appears.

Layout panel

This may need to be reset to ensure the new Fretboard Diagram Legend option appears.

Layout panel

If buttons stop working, close and reopen the panel. We are also working on a fix for some fairly serious bugs that may occur when re-ordering instruments around system marking separators (See #29265).

Polychords

These don’t yet have playback support (we will work on this for the next release).

Video links

A number of these don’t yet point to the correct URL (we’re still making the videos!).

Tips for working with Cantai (online sounds)

Audio processing happens in the background

Once you’ve loaded a Cantai singer into an instrument track (via the mixer), you’ll start seeing a purple bar above any section of notation that’s being processed. This will happen while you notate music and lyrics. There are options in Preferences > Audio & MIDI > Online sounds that let you control whether or how often audio gets processed.

You can choose when to process the audio

Go to Preferences > Audio & MIDI > Online sounds and uncheck “Automatically process online sounds in the background”. A button in the status bar (next to Workspaces) will trigger processing on demand.

If things get stuck…

…You can always clear the online sounds cache. Go to Help > Clear online sounds cache for this score. Doing so automatically re-triggers processing for the entire score.

We’ll add proper user documentation for this feature in our handbook as we get closer to the release date, but for now, hopefully this helps to get you started.

Thank you for helping us test MuseScore Studio 4.6!

The MuseScore Studio Team