Did I change something my mistake?
OK, I am very confused. In the past, if I had several instruments in a score and I wanted to enter a new note somewhere in a particular instrument's measure, all I had to do is click on one of the notes in that stave to select the instrument, then enter a new note by clicking on the stave, and it would appear, sounding like the instrument I selected. For example, if I wanted to enter a new violin note on beat 2 of a 4-beat measure, I could click on the note in beat 1 to tell MuseScore to select the violin, then click on beat 2's rest, choose a note (say A), and it would enter the measure at beat 2 sounding like a violin.
Somehow now, when I do the above and click on the rest for beat 2 in the violin stave to enter an "A" note, it does not sound like a violin. It sounds like the TOP instrument in the score (piano or trumpet or horn). I cannot tell if the note I entered is correct because it is not a violin sound when I enter it. Once it is entered and I click on it however, it will sound correctly as a violin, but not when I am entering it.
Have I done something to screw up the default choices in MuseScore, or am I going a bit batty and have just forgotten how it was yesterday?
Comments
Maybe I'm not understanding you. As far as I know, entering a note in a particular staff does not require pre loading the sound.
You could be working on the flute staff. Then go down to the violin staff, select a measure and enter a violin note in that measure.
To enter a new note, all you need to do is select the location where you want to enter it, go to note input mode, and start entering notes. No need to first select some other note - that has never been necessary. But it should be harmless. Either way, the note you enter will us the sound of the staff you are actually entering on, regardless of what other note you clicked previously.
If you have a score where things aren't working as you'd expect, we'd need you to attach it here, and give precise steps to reproduce the problem, in order to understand and assist further.
In reply to To enter a new note, all you… by Marc Sabatella
Marc:
The problem appears to involve the virtual piano. Using the keyboard and entering notes (A-G) by pressing keyboard keys works fine.
See my further explanation with screenshots below.
Frank
Could be #291962: Unable to play a staff instrument live from MIDI keyboard or on-screen piano.
In reply to Could be #291962. by geetar
It appears to be exactly that, but I have not tried to upload MuseScore 4. I am still using 3.6.2. The problem does appear to involve the virtual piano.
Here is more detail. Look at the 1st screenshot below:
Notice it has two instruments, a trombone and a piano. I have also activated the virtual piano (which I use a lot). Now, here is what happens:
1. If I click on a MEASURE in the piano stave and it turns blue as in screenshot 1, then if I want to hear what a note would sound like before I enter it, I can just click on the virtual piano keyboard notes, and the sound is a piano, not the trombone.
However, in screenshot 2, notice that the 2nd quarter REST in measure 1 of the piano stave has been selected. if I click on the REST in the piano measure and it turns blue, then click on a virtual piano note to listen to the sound to be entered as the 2nd quarter note, the sound changes to the trombone, not the piano. This can be a real problem if the 1st instrument is a different key (Horn in F for example). In fact, it is even worse. If you click on the "D" note in measure 1, it sound piano. But if you want to add a 2nd note to it to make a small chord, click on it, then press a virtual piano key to see what note you might want to use, the sound changes back to the trombone, not the piano. I cannot tell how the chord might sound.
I am certain this did not happen last week. Both actions resulted in me selecting the piano instrument and using the virtual piano gave me a piano sound. This is why I feel I am going nuts.
Try it yourself. I have attached the test score, but I don't think it is the score. I think it is the program. Somehow, I changed something in my version of MuseScore this week. To test, activate the virtual piano feature, then try using it to play notes when clicked on the piano note or rest in example 2.
If I'm correct, is there a way to fix this, possibly by entering something in the default setup?
virtual piano test.mscz
What do you think?
In reply to It appears to be exactly… by fsgregs
Yes, this happens.
But if you select a piano measure instead a rest or a note, it sounds in piano style. The same, if you select more than one note or rest.
Probably a little bug.
In reply to It appears to be exactly… by fsgregs
Indeed. Select any rest, half or smaller, anywhere. Then use the virtual piano to preview what a note in any given staff might sound like. The sound is whatever the top staff is.
This leads me to believe that the piano was never intended to be used that way.
In reply to Indeed. Select any rest,… by bobjp
OK, then I must either be nuts and the virtual piano behaved differently last week, or by coincidence, my top instrument in most of my songs was a piano to begin with, and clicking on a rest or note in any other stave to listen to the sound of the new note, always sounded a piano sound but I just never noticed it. I am almost certain that is not what it did last week. I distinctly recall being able to click on a note in another instrument stave, pressing the virtual piano key, and hearing what the new note in that SAME instrument would sound like. That is why I posted this in the first place. Something seemed changed.
In any case, this BUG should get fixed. If I am using a violin stave and use the virtual piano to sound the next violin note, it should sound like a violin, not the top instrument in the score. For example, I am currently working on a song with a Trumpet as the top instrument. When clicking on a note in the violin stave then pressing the piano keyboard to preview what the next note would be, it should NOT sound like a trumpet (complete with its automatic key change). It should sound like a violin. It already works when you click on the stave itself. It should also work if you click on a note or rest within the stave. Does anyone know if this is to be fixed in MuseScore 4.0?
In reply to OK, then I must either be… by fsgregs
Again, this bug regarding the behavior of the piano keyboard with respect to what is selected has been present for many years - just check the issue mentioned, and the links to it. So yes, you must have always happened to have had an instrument of the desired type at the top of the score, or you must have happened to clicked the "correct" thing before playing. Hard to say. But again, it's absolutely positively been this way for years, as all the other posts on the subject confirm.
And yes, as already observed in the issue report linked previously, this bug is on the radar for a fix in MuseScore 4, although the piano keyboard is still a work in progress. Right now the piano keyboard doesn't work at all outside of note input mode in current MuseScore 4 builds, but a fix for that is pending.
In reply to It appears to be exactly… by fsgregs
Ah, this is different from what you originally described, which was about note input. It's definitely a known bug that the virtual piano keyboard behaves in this odd way when used outside of note input mode.
BTW, this bug has been present for years, it didn't just happen last week :-)
In reply to Ah, this is different from… by Marc Sabatella
See my note above posted today.
In reply to See my note above posted… by fsgregs
OK. I'm just trying to understand this particular use to the virtual keyboard. How does this help you? And, by extension, other people.
In reply to OK. I'm just trying to… by bobjp
The virtual keyboard is a BIG help to me when composing a song. Let's say I am working with multiple instruments in a score, and select the violin stave. It's in 4/4 time. I divide the measure into 4 beat rests. I then enter an "A" note for beat 1, and am not sure what note to enter for beat 2, 3 or 4. I don't have a violin to try out, but if I can click the beat 2 rest and click on a key on the virtual keyboard, it should ring with a violin note that I can listen to. If I like it (say a "C" note), I can then open note input mode and enter the "C" note. If I don't, I can click a D or E or F or G note or even enter a high "F" note an octave higher, and listen to the violin note, to find the next note to use. It is very valuable to me, and presumably to others.
In reply to The virtual keyboard is a… by fsgregs
No doubt, it can be valuable. but I'm curious, why do this in two separate passes? Why not simply go straight to note input mode, enter the note you think you want, and if that's not it, just back up and enter a different note instead, or use the cursor keys to change the pitch of the note you just entered? Unless you almost always get it wrong, it seems an enormous duplicate of effort to have to enter each note twidce - once as just a trial, once for real.
Also, why "divide the measure in 4 beats rests? Why not simply enter the note directly? This also will save a ton of effort.
In reply to No doubt, it can be valuable… by Marc Sabatella
Marc: I wish I could just "feel" that the next note in a measure is an 8th note followed by a 1/4 note, followed by ... Sadly, I am not there yet. It was not that long ago that I didn't even know what a beat was, let alone know what note will come next. Also, I have no skill at reading notes. I cannot look at an A" note on a score and know it is an "A", without almost reciting "EGBDF" and "FACE". I'm not quite that bad and I am practicing, but ...
Although I'm 74 yrs old, I can teach an old dog new tricks, but it goes very slow, I'll tell you. That said, I will try harder to enter notes more by feel and less by trial and error. Thanks for the push. It has been through you guy collectively on the forum, and my own perseverance with MuseScore, that has taken me this far.
In reply to Marc: I wish I could just … by fsgregs
That's great that you're perservering! But, I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying. Nothing I am suggesting requires you to have any additional knowledge that you do now, or to be able to figure things ut better or faster, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with "feel". it's just about learning to use the software more efficiently, so you don't take 10 clicks to do something you could have done in 4 or 5.
So, I'm not suggesting you need to know you want a quarter note soonerthan you already do. I'm just saying, when it is you do decide you want a quarter not, the step of first dividing an existing rest into quarter notes is entire unnecessary - MuseScore will do that for you in note input mode. Similarly, the extra step of first figuring out the note in normal mode, then entering it in note input mode - that's also unnecessary. It works just as well to do that same figuring out in note input mode, and thus saving a number of steps. You're still figuring it out one note at a time, but at least once you've figured it out, the note is already there, rather than needing to then spend more time entering it.