programming error
So here's an issue I found. As I go through MuseScore, learning how it operates and how to enter special characters as a Staff text, I have come to realize that there are two symbols in there which are incorrect. When I go to Add, Staff text, Insert special characters, and choose Unicode symbols, I then pick Byzantine Musical Symbols. The field looks empty but it is not. If you hover over each square, you will see a Unicode number pop up. When you click on the symbols labeled 1d0c7 and 1d0c8 you will get two symbols that have the correct shape, but both of these symbols should be on an angle to the right. In other words, if I were able to take each of these symbols and rotate them 45 degrees to the right, they would be correct. But as they are, straight up and down, they are not correct. So how do we get to the programmers, to have them fix this in an update, so that the actual Unicode number will give the correct symbol? I use these symbols to transcribe Byzantine notation into Western notation. Any help is appreciated.
Comments
In the meantime, your request is here and a more comprehensive answer will probably come. Meanwhile, to make up for it save the symbols as an image, rotate them as needed and add them.
Just an idea.
Another idea is to convert Noto music font glyphs https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Music to svg
https://barrd.dev/article/convert-all-glyphs-of-a-font-to-individual-sv…
Musescore has the ability to rotate symbols, but not unicode characters. This is a strange limitation.
In reply to Another idea is to convert… by mercuree
Thank you for your help. I'm not sure I know what I'm doing here. I was able to go into the fonts and see the glyphs online, but I'm not sure how to get them on my computer. I downloaded the font, but when I open it up, all I see are regular letters and such, even though it says music. I don't see any glyphs, or how to access them.
Christopher
In reply to Thank you for your help. I… by caholwey
I doubt this is a good way to solve your problem.
However, I am attaching an archive with svg glyphs from noto music font. You can unzip the archive and drag the desired file into Musescore.
Theoretically, you can create a custom palette with these images in Musescore, but at the moment it does not work very well.
In reply to I doubt this is a good way… by mercuree
Thank you so much. Those are awesome, and I see the Unicode ones that I need, but I'm not able to drag them in. I'll keep trying or looking for a way. But MuseScore has been crashing on me as well. Not sure why, but I appreciate your help!
Probably whatever font you are using simply doesn't have those symbols. So choose another that does (FreeSerif is provided on all systems and is reasonably complete). If that doesn't solve it, please attach the score and say which text you are trying to edit and which symbol you are trying to add
In reply to Probably whatever font you… by Marc Sabatella
@marc, I believe the problem is that FreeSerif contains the wrong symbol. The symbol should be placed under an angle, but is upright in FreeSerif.
In reply to @marc, I believe the problem… by Henk De Groot
Hmm, I don't see where they said they were using that font. Since they mentioned empty squares, sounds like the font they are using doesn't have the characters at all and some random fallback is being chosen.
In reply to @marc, I believe the problem… by Henk De Groot
It's actually not a font issue. After I click the note, Add, Staff text, it doesn't matter what font I pick, because I'm choosing to "insert special characters." Then, I pick the Unicode symbols and scroll down to Byzantine Musical Symbols. It appears that the field is empty, but it is not. If you hover over each square you will see the unicode for each symbol. And what I found was that the two codes (5th line from the bottom) 1d0c7 and 1d0c8 are not the correct symbols. The shapes are correct, but they come out as straight up and down, and these particular symbols both need to be at an angle 45 degrees to the right. If you go to this listing of the Unicodes, you will see them both. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1D000.pdf
So, somehow, these two symbols got put in incorrectly. There already is the first symbol straight up and down as 1d0BB, but the 1d0c7 needs to be on an angle to the right. When I click on 1d0c7, it comes out as 1d0BB. And there is no such symbol of 1d0c8 straight up and down. It's always at an angle to the right. That's why I thought it was a coding or programming issue, as to how they put these Unicodes in the system. These two number need to be fixed.
The previous comment from mercuree, with the ZIP file, did help. I was able to copy these two symbols and put them in as an image ... for now. Hopefully, the Unicode programming will eventually be fixed with a future update. Thanks very much for your help...
In reply to It's actually not a font… by caholwey
It does matter what font you pick, because if you pick one that actually has those characters, the fields won't be empty.
But I tried FreeSerif - a free open source font that MuseScore provides and is probably what is being used as the fallback although I can't really be sure. I can confirm that in that font, the characters are pretty vertical. I don't know enough about the style to say if that's right or wrong, but if you think it should be changed, it would be best to contact the developers of that font. I'm not sure it is actively maintained anymore, but a quick web search suggests it might be at https://www.gnu.org/software/freefont/. MuseScore has its own copy so if necessary, they could make the changes locally, but it would be better for it to come from upstream.
Assuming that is the font actually being used, anyhow.
BTW, fonts aren't "code" or "programming" per se. They are line drawings. So they aren't put together by programmers in general, but by graphic designers. MuseScore does have some on the team, so if it is firmly established that the symbols are incorrect as they currently exist and if it looks like GNU isn't likely to provide an update (or that reincorporating their update into MuseScore would be too much work), I'm sure they could make the change themselves.
In reply to It does matter what font you… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks Marc. So, yes, I did try a font with these Byzantine characters, which are called fthora. They're not letters or numbers, but rather symbols of various kinds. They tell the chanter what key or scale to use when chanting the music. I have a font that works in other places, like Finale. It's called EZ Fthora. So for MuseScore, I did pick it as the font and tried to do the same process: Click the note, Add, Staff text, change the font to EZ fthora, and use the keyboard to enter the symbols. Sometimes they showed up, and sometimes they did not. But when they did show up on the page, and I went to save them, they disappeared from the page. I tried numerous times and different ways to keep them there, but nothing worked. That's when I went searching around and found these Byzantine Unicodes, which worked perfectly, except for the fact that 2 of them are incorrect. And these two are used a lot.
I don't know how each of the Unicodes were put into the MuseScore system, which is why I thought it was a programming and local issue. But I'll look at your other idea and see what happens. Thanks again!
In reply to Thanks Marc. So, yes, I did… by caholwey
By the way, I tried putting them in as System text, Staff text, Expression text, none of which worked. Then I tried Rehearsal Mark. That was the only one that worked with EZ fthora font, but it wanted to put either a square or circle around the symbol, which I didn't want. When I said "no frame" it removed not only the frame but also the symbol itself. So that failed as well. Just FYI...
In reply to By the way, I tried putting… by caholwey
Hmm, that does make sense, any well-formed font should behave exactly the same way regardless of which element type or text style it is applied to. Can you post a link to the font that is giving you trouble (if it's one publicly available)?
In reply to Hmm, that does make sense,… by Marc Sabatella
This font comes from St. Anthony's Monastery in Arizona. https://music.samonastery.org/ByzMusicFonts.zip
After you unzip the file, open up ByzMusicFonts directory, and in the Fonts directory you will see EZ Fthora.ttf. That's the font I tried using to insert these special symbols.
In reply to This font comes from St… by caholwey
It seems this font doesn't adhere to the Unicode standard, so entering them via "Special characters" won't work directly. Entering the Unicode character directly should, but also, it seems the font may be malformed, with the glyphs extending outside their own bounding boxes. At least that is how it appears to me.
In reply to It seems this font doesn't… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, I saw that as well, that some of them are placed higher and some lower than the normal spot. But it's interesting that the symbols did appear at times (although it was hard to reproduce that), and I could see them there on the page, but then they disappeared when I clicked back on the page. But now, having entered them from the special characters, they do stay in place and I can move them as needed. But again, only those two are missing.
In reply to Yes, I saw that as well,… by caholwey
Try installing Noto music font in your system, it is a unicode font.
![noto1.png]( "noto1.png")
![noto2.png]( "noto2.png")
https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Music
If you install the Noto Music font in Musescore and then open the insert special characters window, Byzantine symbols appear in the table, although they are very small.
Remember that you can print scores, export them, but on any other computer without this font, these symbols will be displayed as FreeSerif again in Musescore
In reply to Try installing Noto music… by mercuree
Mercuree, genius! That works perfectly. I had this font installed, as suggested earlier, but I didn't check out that font with the Byzantine Musical Symbols. They all show up, and I know right where to find each one, which I'm going to save in my Byzantine palette. Perfect! Now, I might even start using MuseScore, and retire the good ol' Finale, after I finish a few things already started. May its memory be eternal! (as we Orthodox say) Woohoo!!
I think it would be great if Musescore could import third party fonts in the future and include them in the .mscz project file.
There is already a similar feature request on github.
In reply to I think it would be great if… by mercuree
And my MuseScore 3.7 Evolution can do this already. As long as they are SMuFL compliant
In reply to And my MuseScore 3.7… by Jojo-Schmitz
Is there a good reason why there is a SMuFL compliant restriction?
Byzantine music symbols will not be added to SMuFL https://github.com/w3c/smufl/issues/45
In reply to Is there a good reason why… by mercuree
Yes there is a good reason: all fonts that MuseScore supporte are SMuFL compliant, and that's the easiest way to know the codepoint o of each glyph
In reply to Yes there is a good reason:… by Jojo-Schmitz
Well, if I understand all this correctly, it seems as if this issue was addressed several years ago, when apparently the Unicode Byzantine Music Symbols were added. If so, I'm wondering how a few of the symbols got put in incorrectly, where their Unicode doesn't match the proper symbol. So whoever, or however they were added, maybe that could be fixed and done correctly. Thanks everyone for your comments here...
In reply to Well, if I understand all… by caholwey
I would recommend opening a GitHub issue reporting the error in our copy of FreeSerif.
In reply to Is there a good reason why… by mercuree
Music fonts need to be SmuFL-compliant in order for MuseScore to be able to use them. But you don't need a music font here - just a plain ordinary text font. Those can already be used directly. So if you have a third=party font that includes versions of these symbols that you like, just install that font on your computer normally and select it for the text element in question. Music fonts and SMuFL don't enter the equation at all.