Multiple Issues
I've had M4 one day and found over a dozen bugs or annoyances. I apologize if some of these may have simple fixes that I just cannot find… and I've looked.. I have found a couple things in some rather unintuitive places.
—CRASHES
1. When I clicked on Preferences / General / Appearance the program crashed.
2. I created a VST3 directory and when selecting it in Preferences the program crashed. Why should we have to create the Score & VST3 folders anyway? Change its location?… sure; but there is no good reason not to have them there by default.
3. Saved a file and closed… The file became corrupted and can not be opened.
— NO LONGER FUNCTIONAL
4. Some SF2 sound fonts that worked in M3 are showing up but not playing in MS4.
5. Changing guitars even to MS Basic may or may not play. Even with restarting.
6. Bends are no longer recognized.
7. Scores made in M3 have some unexpected behaviors different from scores made in M4.
—INTERFACE
8. When renaming instruments in the Instruments palette… the name doesn’t change in the Mixer or under the Parts menu so the same instrument can end up with 3 different names.
9. When resorting the instruments in the Instruments palette to rearrange the staves, the order of the instruments in the mixer doesn’t change so now instruments are in different order with different names.
10. When selecting Instruments, it’s annoying that it keeps reverting to Common every time instead of the Previously selected category or at least All Instruments. One often tests various versions of an instrument for awhile and repeating the steps to change the group each time makes it take longer.
11. The Go To Beginning button, <|, doesn’t go to the beginning until the Play button, >, is clicked.
—HUB
12. In the Hub there are apps and sounds etc with no explanation of what they are, how to use them, or where to find out. Clicking Audacity does nothing at all. StaffPad does go to the App Store. Tonebridge downloads but there is no explanation about what it is what it does or how to use it and it’s Quick Tour is non-functional.
13. In the Hub, 4 effects appear in the top box labeled Muse FX. I could check those and they seem to work. The same 4 effects plus others appear below it. Only about half of them the GET button works. The rest do nothing. On occasion one began to download as UNKNOWN @ ZERO/km/sec then quit. Again there is no information about the effects. The Help files took me to help for M3.
14. The scrolling for the effects is buggy and jumps in random amounts with the end items half showing. The < & > scroll buttons can’t be seen half the time because they are on icons of the same color. I didn’t realize they were even there at first.
15. Your online How To page does not include M4. How can this be?
Thank you for your attention.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Crash.png | 72.48 KB |
| Sounds - spinning wheel.png | 31.15 KB |
| Won't download.png | 292.77 KB |
| Multiple names and order.png | 621.5 KB |
Comments
2) There should be no need for a user to create and/or configure additional VST3 directories if all vendors would keep to the standard. The folders you can list there are additional folders MuseScore will scan for VST3s on top of the default folder which is a fixed location as per the VST3-specification.
4) Feel free to share an example score with which sf2 to test in a separate topic. But are you sure that sf2 is either GM-compatible or only contains 1 sound patch? If not, then MS4 will not find the sound for it.
If this is not the case for your soundfont, then try loading the free Sforzando or Sfizz as VST and have it load your soundfont instead.
6) This should work in MS Basic. It is indeed broken in Muse Sounds afaik
Hub things:
The hub is a separate application by the Muse Group; it contains access to and provides updates for all of their software packets. It is not exclusive to MuseScore and no requirement to be able to run MuseScore (but it is the only way to install the optional Muse Sounds).
The Hub team has their own support center at https://musehub.zendesk.com/
In reply to 2) There should be no need… by jeetee
Thank you for the response.
13. The MuseFX that wouldn't download before did this morning and all function so that problem has resolved itself.
2. I only know that as I was going through setup; under Preferences / General / Folders, Scores and VST3 were unassigned... blank.
Please direct me to where "MuseScore will scan for VST3s on top of the default folder which is a fixed location as per the VST3-specification." there was no default folder set that I could tell. I have searched so I don't know where that folder or search option would be located. Score and VST3 folders dialogue was blank until I filled it in and there is no other that I can see.
The only VSTs I have are the MuseFX.ZIP files in Library / ... / Effects / ... (see VST ZIP.png) The MuseFX that would download and function but don't see them anywhere but those .ZIP files and the VST3 folder I set up is empty but all the MuseFX work.
4. So far only "Palm Muted Guitar.sf2" isn't working so I will have to find a substitute.
6. Bends work on nothing in M4. I have tried many instruments I was told in another post that guitar bends have not been implemented for guitar but they don't seem to work at all.
Hub: I have sent my questions via HUB since these postings.
Thanks
Les
In reply to Thank you for the response… by 6y2v2hq9yt
> "Please direct me to where "MuseScore will scan for VST3s on top of the default folder which is a fixed location as per the VST3-specification." there was no default folder set that I could tell."
Because the specification demands a fixed location, it is hardcoded inside the program. You can't see/change it as a user. That default folder is always checked because the VST3 specification demands it is so.
See https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/115000177084-VST-plug… for the information page from the VST3 format owner as a reference.
The ZIP files themselves are not VST3s, but probably Muse Hub downloads them in that format because it is smaller. It then unzips/installs those into the standard folder as per the specification.
So again, nothing about this should require you to configure additional folders via preferences. Your MuseFX works because it is installed in accordance with the default location from the standard specification.
In reply to > "Please direct me to where… by jeetee
Thanks but this is still very confusing for me. As noted above there is a dialog that indicates paths. Styles, Templates, Plugins, and Soundfonts all had paths. VST3 and Scores were blank. So what is this dialog for then?
I filled in paths and Scores do save in the folder I created. The VST3s downloaded from HUB did not go to this VST3 folder.
I cannot find the VST3s anywhere yet they work. I've searched for all .VST3s and searched by names; eg Mac_SimpleEQ. All I can find are the .ZIP files in user/Library/Containers/Muse Hub/Data/Install Data/Effects/3861d4f0-82c4-4da0-81fa-33f048540b7d/ Mac_SimpleEQ.vst.zip
Your link to Steinberg shows VST3s in Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3 but I have no such folder. A Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST folder is there but it's empty.
I got some soundfonts a few months ago and copied then into the Soundfonts folder and they work fine except Palm_muted Guitar.sf2 which doesn't work at all.
And I have looked and there seems to be no simple direct instructions anywhere about how to install a VST3. There are obtuse references in the community posts but nothing in the handbook. There is no Tools > Plugin > VST3 > install > Select. No "How To install" with actual instructions that I can find. A search took me to a community post from 2018.
Thanks
In reply to Thanks but this is still… by 6y2v2hq9yt
> "So what is this dialog for then?"
For VST3, it is to configure additional folder for MuseScore to look for. So on top of the hardcoded default one it always looks at, because the VST3 definition requires it to look there.
Your screenshots are not showing the default VST3 folder according to the Steinberg page but you're showing the "rarely used" one; which indeed is not used by default (and thus probably not by Muse Hub either). You need to look in
/Librarydirectly under your root, not in the user folders.There are no specific instructions on how to install VST3s, because the installation isn't done by MuseScore; it is done by the installer of whomever provides them. In the case of Muse Sounds and Muse FX, this is done by the Muse Hub application when pressing that Get button for them.
If those VST3 suppliers adhere to the standard location, then that's all there is to it.
As for your "Palm_muted Guitar.sf2" soundfont, what about it doesn't work at all? Doesn't it show up as a selectable option in the Mixer?
In reply to > "So what is this dialog… by jeetee
I did find Library/Audio/Plugins/VST3/ Thank you. Interesting the VST3s still do not show up in Spotlight or Search. That the Musescore 4 VST3 is an additional folder is good to know. Interesting that it was indicated but not created. Same with Scores.
VST3 path.png attached is what I saw. It shows the path in the User folder.
That VST3s are installed by the third party software would be useful information.
The palm muted guitar.SF2 does show up as an option but doesn't play in M4 but works in M3.
Thanks for the help.
In reply to I did find Library/Audio… by 6y2v2hq9yt
The Reason you Palm Muted Guitar isn't working directly is that it has its sound set to sound bank 28, which is the position for the "Electric Guitar" sounds according to the General MIDI standard. But MuseScore is looking for a different normal guitar inside the soundfont instead (and not finding it, thus silence).
What however does work is using Sforzando (so most likely Sfizz as well) and import the sf2 in there. Tested it out just now with success.
In reply to The Reason you Palm Muted… by jeetee
Interesting. It is an electric guitar sound and it does work with M3. This is the only Sf2 I've downloaded that doesn't work with M4... as is. I'll look into Sforzando and Sfizz.
Thank you.
I don't know anything about sound banks. I am relatively new to Musescore and not knowledgeable about midi or all these additional third party audio programs and options.
I could be wrong but my sense is that those who write instructions for Musescore assume the users are more knowledgeable than many of us are. I'm sure we come to it from different perspectives, with different objectives, and with different levels of expertise. Technical instructions should assume we know nothing and be tested by novices like myself to find out where information can be improved.
I found that many of the items I tried to look up before asking questions I could not find in help... which in some cases took me to M3 help or community posts from 2018.
In reply to Interesting. It is an… by 6y2v2hq9yt
People using additional soundfonts usually indeed are a slight bit more knowledgeable on the terms involved with them than the average joe.
Also note that these hoops are currently only required because of a yet to be restored function; just selecting the sound from within the SoundFont will be restored in one of the next updates and than all of this technobabble can go back to the dark pit where it came from ;-)