Has Muse Hub stopped working - even just for a short while?
Muse Hub now doesn't seem to work at all on my Apple Mac. The computer may have some problems - but most things seem to be working, so I do suspect Muse Hub. The library sounds for MuseScore 4 are all back to Muse Basic again.
If this isn't "just me", is it because of an imminant upgrade?
Comments
I believe that once Muse sounds are loaded, the HUB doesn't have anything to do with the sounds showing up in MuseScore. You can turn everything off and close the HUB.
But the HUB is still working as far as I know.
In reply to I believe that once Muse… by bobjp
That has not been my experience. If there's an update or some other change, then libraries can disappear, but if Muse Hub is set to do automatic updates then they should reappear when Muse Hub is restarted. Sometimes Muse Hub itself updates. The symptoms typically are sounds reverting to Muse Basic within MU4.
It's not just a question of the data downloading and being stored locally, but some of the libraries are registered to users/machines, and my understanding is that possibly verification checks are performed to ensure that users are only using libraries they are entitled to.
Muse Hub appears to be the software gatekeeper which does the downloads, the verification checks, and also monitors for updates etc.
In the last few months there have been several instances of problems when new versions of MuseScore are released, and these have often required reactivation via Muse Hub.
In reply to That has not been my… by dave2020X
No idea. I only use the free stuff. There's nothing about verification checks in the paperwork.
How does one reactivate the HUB?
I just now updated the HUB to version 2.1.0
Muse sounds are still there.
As I said, I have Everything in the HUB turned off. And the HUB is closed. I open it now and then to check for updates. I don't have any problems.
In reply to No idea. I only use the free… by bobjp
Ah - Mea Culpa!
FIgured it out. The symptoms I described can happen if there's an update or some other change in MuseHub or MuseScore.
However they can also happen if the libraries are moved locally, or if a drive containiing the libraries is not plugged in.
That is what happened in my case.
My current version of MuseScore is 4.4.4 and of Muse Hub is 2.0.30.
Looking into this, I'm not at the moment sure how my Muse Hub is 2.0.30 while yours is 2.1.0.- I thought it would be easy to update Muse Hub without having to do more work. I'll leave that alone for the moment.
As I was migrating libraries between SSDs, eventually most of the MuseScore libraries - including the 3rd party ones - were installed on a separate SSD. Then a local rewiring of some of the SSDs via a USB C hub left one of the SSDs out of the mix.
As scores in MuseScore only know about libraries in the Mixer it doesn't seem that either MuseScore or MuseHub check and warn the user when libraries are not available - a feature which some other software such as DAWs may offer on occasions.
So - yes - it was my inattention to this detail which raised the concern.
Ideally I'd like to have all the libraries on one large SSD - or if I ever get yet another computer with more storage space I'd like all the libraries on one internal volume. For the moment the libraries are now spread across two SSDs - one the original smaller one which has been working with libraries for quite a while, and the new much larger one connected via a USB C hub. There aren't enough spare USB ports on my machine for all storage devices and some of the other accessories, so there is now a rat's nest of wires hanging off the back including some of the SSDs.
The larger SSD is also used for other purposes, and that wasn't plugged in when the issues were noticed. I can't amalgamate all the libraries at the moment onto the larger SSD to release the smaller one, as even if there are no problems with relocating the Muse Sounds libraries, some of the VSTs [Kontakt, Spitfire - possibly Orchestral Tools] which are also on the original smaller SSD would be likely to require verification as mentioned earlier, so for now both have to be connected.
In reply to Ah - Mea Culpa! FIgured it… by dave2020X
Is your computer a desktop or laptop? How old? It isn't hard at all to replace an internal drive. Except for new laptops that don't use SATA format. There are USB hubs that can be used to hookup several devices.
In reply to Is your computer a desktop… by bobjp
It's an iMac from 2019 - one of the relatively few models with a Fusion drive. Those drives seemed like a good idea at the time - in an attempt to get some of the performance of SSDs with the cheaper HDD storage capacity. For a whole bunch of reasons the sofware doesn't really work too well.
I'm not sure that drive replacement is so easy - though I guess it can be done. Apple probably won't do it, or support it, though there may be other 3rd party maintainers who would. I don't want to scrap the machine, as the screen is great. Putting in a much larger SSD would be great, and would save machines like this from becoming door stops or going to landfill.
In reply to It's an iMac from 2019 - one… by dave2020X
How much total storage space do you need? It is possible to clone your internal drive to one very large external drive and boot from it.
In reply to How much total storage space… by bobjp
I have looked into that, and it's not so easy. Apple seem to have made that kind of thing more difficult in recent years.
MuseScore, Muse Hub and the Muse Sounds libraries will all work quite well on external SSDs. Currently I have over 2 Tbytes connected via USB C cables and hubs.
In reply to That has not been my… by dave2020X
Updaate on the latest state with Muse Hub: I have now updated to Muse Hub 2.1.0. In order to do that I first had to force Muse Hub to stop - which I did vai the Activity Monitor. Then Muse Hub was restarted, but it also had to be prevented from logging back in. There was a notification indicating that action had to be taken, so a verification process was then carried out to log back in. That restarted Muse Hub, and the libraries were visible there. However the libraries did not immediately appear in MuseScore 4. MuseScore had to be closed down and restarted and also permissions for Muse Hub to install libraries reset again. Actually I don't think there was much of a download operation carried out, as the libraries started working with MU4 shortly afterwards, but there was definitely some intervention needed in order to get all the libraries working again.
MuseScore 4.5 is about to be released - but I expect similar processes may be needed for that. At least I now have some idea of what to expect. Things may go quickly with minimal intervention, or require some assistance, or present new problems. I'm hoping things will be simpler though.
In reply to Updaate on the latest state… by dave2020X
It just seems to me that if everything MuseScore is on one drive the better off you'll be.