Export SoundFonts or MuseHub Instruments with File?
(BTW, I'm now using MuseScore 4 nightly builds exclusively. Also, if there is a FAQ or a node in the documentation, I'd appreciate a link).
In the little I've done with MuseScore over the last few years, I've only worked with the "built-in" instruments (MIDI?), which I assume somehow are part of the download of the software itself. Now I'm starting to experiment with Classical Guitar and Saxophone pieces, which sound pretty bad with what comes out of the box with the program. I have downloaded a couple of the free Classical Guitar SoundFonts listed somewhere in the 3.x documentation, and also use MuseHub for the Soprano Saxophone from the Winds pack (is "pack" the right term?). This combo sounds great together.
Is there some way to export a piece and all the "external" instruments, e.g. SoundFonts and instruments from MuseHub that are in use by the piece?
The question also relates to saving a piece to the cloud (a MuseScore.com account). A piece with a SoundFont or MuseHub instrument sounds great when saved to my computer, but reverts to MIDI instruments when I save to the cloud.
Comments
When you export audio from MuseScore - whether to an Mp3 or to musescore.com - it should use the same sounds you are hearing during playback. For musescore.com specifically, it should pop up a dialog confirming you want to do this, at least the first time. It's possible at one point a while ago you disabled that? If you've been using these experimental pre-release builds more than a couple of weeks, best to do Help / Revert to Factory Settings to get back to a clean slate. Then expect to do the same when the actual release comes out. You won't want settings leftover from the older experimental builds interfering with the correct operation of the program.
In reply to When you export audio from… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks, but I'm afraid phrased my question poorly. I shouldn't have said export. What I meant is that if I create a score with MuseScore, and use SoundFonts, references to MuseHub instruments, etc., then I'd like to be able to save a ".mscz" file that incorporates those instruments. Then I could open that file on a different computer with a fresh installation of MuseScore, and it would play exactly as it did on the original computer. Which is to say, it would pack up all the instruments (SoundFonts or MuseHub instruments) and include them in the ".mscz" file itself. As it appears to be (and I imagine it always has been), the .mscz file only contains references to instruments already installed on the system.
To use an analogy from software, MuseScore appears to only support dynamically linked libraries, and what I was looking for was to create executables that include static versions of libraries in the executable file itself.
Anyway, let me know if something like I'm asking for is possible. And thanks for all you do on this great open source project!
In reply to Thanks, but I'm afraid… by garyschiltz
Hmm, are you suggesting you want to pack up all 15 GB of Msue Sounds and put them in each of your MSCZ files? I think I can safely say, that's not likely :-)
Your score contains references to the sounds you've used - whether MS Basic, Muse Sounds, another soundfont, or VST instruments - so that if you load that score onto a system that also has those same sounds installed, it will sounds the same. But packing gigabytes of audio data into a score file is simply not practical. if you want to hear the audio on another system that doesn't have the sound installed, just export the audio file itself.
So, to do what you are wanting, simply install Muse Sounds (and/or other soundfonts and VST instruments) on the second computer and all is well.
In reply to Hmm, are you suggesting you… by Marc Sabatella
Of course, you're right - it wouldn't be practical at all to pack this much data. In fairness to myself, I was only thinking of packing the instruments used in the score. Of course, in the real world I'm sure many scores have a lot of instruments in them. Forgive my naïveté. I'd like to chalk it up to youth and inexperience, but only one of those apply :-) Cheers.