Errors converting to MIDI
I don't know if I have arranged the music wrong, or what, but Musescore seems to somewhat mix the pedal and left hand parts as if they are played on the same keys when the music is exported as a MIDI file. I noticed it after listening to the playback on the uploaded version, then I exported a MIDI file from the software on my computer and got the same results. I didn't think the pedal part should be entered into Musescore as a different voice. Is that the solution, or is this a bug?
The problem can be heard starting in measure 9 when the pedal note matches a note in a left hand chord. In a virtual MIDI player, the pedal notes which match the lowest note in a chord get converted to the left hand's voice while trying to maintain the written length.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Toccata_from_Symphony_No._5.mscz | 53.64 KB |
| midi problem.jpg | 56.41 KB |
Comments
Question: How would you expect notation/midi software to handle two equivalent note-pitches on one instrument channel with different durations? For example, a "piano" C4 and a "forte" C4 can't be sounded at the same exact time and vibrate separately on that instrument. Real organs have multiple voice-generators apparently, but it seems that with soundfonts, it's as if there is only one voice-generator for the instrument.
Observations: Notation like this will usually have a brace spanning all three staves if they are all of one instrument, e.g., an organ.
Whenever having this issue of overlapped notes, you can use two separate instruments in MS and then have one brace/bracket span all appropriate voices so that the notation reads as one instrument. Another weirder option is to uncheck "play" of the shorter note durations so that the longer pedal notes play instead. Yet it sounds like you're having a discrepancy between in-program playback and online playback/midi export, and that reads like an inconsistency bug and might be worth adding to the issue tracker.
In reply to Question: How would you… by worldwideweary
As seen in the attached picture, the software has identified 3 different parts/voices. In my experience, it would play the exact same note under these circumstances, which would not be heard with any distinction between the parts unless the playback instrument is set to be different for each part. Visually, and audibly the music would play back as written: (according to the picture) in measure 11 the blue pedal note that matches the green notes would normally appear as one long blue line (in front or behind the green notes, I do not know what would determine that, though behind would be a better way of displaying). Instead, what appears to have happened is that the pedal note stops when the chord sounds again, but the length of the lowest note in the following chords compensate with extra length. Its as if the program converting to MIDI assumed there is only one voice generator as you noticed.
Attached is how I would have expected it to appear, though it looks as if the version shown was recorded straight off a keyboard without any auto arranging since the timing of the notes is not perfect.
As for the bracing, Musescore tends to automatically brace only the top two lines. Some sheet music has all three. I looked it up, and it would seem all 3 should be braced except for the fact that it is common to brace the only the parts for the keyboards, not the pedals too.
It's too hard to tell if in-program playback is correct or not with all 3 parts played as an organ, but the issue seemed more obvious in online playback, and I think also in windows media player playing the midi version, so that tells me there is a bit of a difference between MIDI playback, and in-program playback.
Would it be possible to copy all the pedal notes and reassign them as voice 2, do you think it might export properly?
In reply to As seen in the attached… by Nutball
Maybe the MIDI file you have is using multiple channels or instruments, allowing for overlapping note-on events instead of being "replaced" as MuseScore is doing here. It would seem impossible to overlap notes like that on one regular midi keyboard, so I'd guess it wasn't live, at least not in one take. Wouldn't bet my !@#$ on it, but although it's very easy to switch notes of a particular staff to voice-2 [(RangeSelect), Tools->Voices->Exchange options], merely switching to voice-2 shouldn't fix the problem in MS since there's still only one instrument and there'll be overlap again.
I'd try adding an additional/separate instrument if you want overlapping notes without cut-offs, especially if you've decided to have the brace only encompass the first two staves and not the final one, and then cut-and-paste the old pedal-staff information into the new instrument, then delete the original third staff. It's really easy to set up, and afterwards all note-entry etc is exactly the same except that you'll have an extra mixer channel control and won't be able to perform cross-staffing if the need should arise. Plus, you'd be able to assign a distinct sound in MS for the pedal tone. Another "attempt" that I'm not sure about is using a System Text on the pedal-staff and with it set the MIDI channel to channel 2/3 or something distinct from the others, but that's just a second thought and not verified.
In reply to Maybe the MIDI file you have… by worldwideweary
How do I make the brace encompass all 3 staves? Also, I think the other MIDI file I have was recorded off a real organ console with MIDI capability. I don't know enough about how MIDI works to know why it worked.
EDIT: I may have figured out how to adjust the brace size. But, I already removed the original pipe organ pedal staff, and added another pipe organ with only the pedal staff, and it plays properly now.
In reply to How do I make the brace… by Nutball
Okay. If there's a problem with the brace-spanning, the handbook should help:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/brackets#edit
Enjoy