MS4 - unable to pick instruments in font?
Wrote this in a thread over in Bug Reports but I'm honestly not sure if it is a bug or what's going on, so I'll ask here where it's less likely to drown.
In MS3 there was a drop down menu in the mixer where I could choose what instrument in the soundfont should be playing for each part, whereas in MS4 I can only pick the soundfont. For MS Basic there is an instrument assigned to each one in my score but for Symphonic Sounds it's just quiet whenever I start playback since it doesn't know what instrument to use as I'm writing for brass band and cornets etc aren't technically in its list of instruments.
Comments
It's a limitation currently indeed. The plan is to replace the old system with something better, but for now, you'd need to use a General-MIDI-compatible soundfont, or separate soundfonts for each instrument, or - better - VST instruments. Or a VST player like sforrzando that allows you to load soundfonts and select sounds within it.
In reply to It's a limitation currently… by Marc Sabatella
Agh, finding free and reasonable-sounding vsts for all instruments featured in a brass band doesn't seem possible :( I've been looking forward to MS4 so so much for the engraving improvements, but I think I'll have to stick with MS3 for another while until decent playback is doable.
In reply to Agh, finding free and… by Lena Mini
Why not just Muse Sounds for everything for supports, then simply find a soundfont or VST for euphonium, which is as far as I know the only instrument that would be noticeably missing?
In reply to Why not just Muse Sounds for… by Marc Sabatella
Muse sounds doesn't have a satisfactory cornet/trumpet, nor any flugelhorn, Eb horn, baritone, or euphonium. What's left are the trombones and the tubas (which I haven't tried yet, to be completely honest), along with the percussion. I'll admit I didn't spend more than maybe 20 minutes on looking around, but in that time I couldn't find any free vst for the missing instruments, and the one sf2 I found for euph didn't make a sound when I tried it in Musescore :(
I sorely wish I could invest in a decent vst but I am barely making rent atm so that's for whenever life's looking better than it does currently. I struggle heavily with brain fog and cognitive fatigue, so going on a Google hunt for individual sounds for each instrument and trying them out is a very daunting task, while I have the symphonic sounds sf2 working just fine over on MS3
In reply to Muse sounds doesn't have a… by Lena Mini
Not sure what you mean about trumpet, it’s surely 1000 times better than any soundfont that has ever existed. And is Eb horn really so different sounding from
F? But indeed, flugelhorn is also missing. So if you just had soundfonts or VST’s for those two you should be good. Or use sforzando, which would allow you to continue to use non-GM sounds from with your existing soundfonts .
In reply to Muse sounds doesn't have a… by Lena Mini
Hi there Lena Mini, have you tried the Virtual Playing Orchestra at http://virtualplaying.com/virtual-playing-orchestra/ (note: this is only available in SFZ format which cannot be used with MS4 natively at this time, so you will need an sfz playing VST such as Plogue Sforzando at https://www.plogue.com/downloads.html#sforzando, or Sfizz at https://sfz.tools/sfizz/, You can also use an sf2 playing VST such as JuicySF at https://github.com/Birch-san/juicysfplugin or the old rgc audio sfz player at https://plugins4free.com/plugin/217/, I also found another sf2 player VST called RF-SOUNDFONT at https://ronanfed.rf.gd/RF-SoundFont.html) You can also checkout the VSCO2 Community Orchestra at https://vis.versilstudios.com/vsco-community.html, as well as the
VERSILIAN COMMUNITY SAMPLE LIBRARY (VCSL) at https://vis.versilstudios.com/vcsl.html, these are all available in SFZ, VST, Kontakt, etc..., you can see all Versilian's free instruments at https://vis.versilstudios.com/products.html#freeware. You can find other interesting VST's at https://musictop69.wixsite.com/orchestools