Musescore 3 files compatibility issues

• Dec 26, 2018 - 11:16

I am now regularly using musescore 3 on my desktop.

1) Unfortunately, I just discovered that I cannot use it on my tablet, because it runs Windows 10 32bits version. Hopefully, a 32bits release of musescore 3 will be available soon.

2) As my scores are organised by category rather than by software, I have a problem with the same file type being used by both musescore 2 and 3, but not readable by musescore 2 if generated by musescore 3. Is there a way to easily identify them? Due to compression, the contents is binary...

3) I am getting concerned about this compatibility matter; I understand that it is more exciting to develop new features than to file converters, but if the focus/policy is just to move ahead from version n to version n+1 wthout keeping further (even backward) compatibility, I see a risk to be stuck with a too old or too new score one day or another. Based on a reply to another post, the solution could be to convert all my Musescore files to music xml format to keep a "safe" copy hopefully surviving the evolution of Musescore. Is there a way to perform such conversion using Musescore line command parameters, so that it can be automated in a batch file.

4) I just discovered that I cannot open my new scores (version 3) with Musescore Songbook on my Android device. Is there a plan to adapt it in a near future?

Of course I realise that there is a lot of work to get a new major release in place; thanks to all those who are working on it. I would just like to stress that keeping at least some compatibility would avoid all these "cannot read file" issues and facilitate the migration.


Comments

In reply to by Anatoly-os

Thank you Anatoly, I will try it on my Windows 10 notebook.

I repeat here my other questions as there is a risk that they get lost due to "answers" that were actually other requests:

2) Is there a way to easily identify Musescore 3 vs Musescore 3 files?
Due to compression, the contents is binary...

3) The solution to secure my old and new scores could be to convert all my files to music xml format to keep a "safe" copy, hopefully surviving the evolution of Musescore.
Is there a way to perform such conversion using Musescore line command parameters, so that it can be automated in a batch file.

4) I cannot open my new scores (version 3) with "Musescore Songbook Pro" on my Android device.
Is there a plan to adapt it in a near future?

In reply to by Flying Roger

It happened just yesterday, the latest version of the Andoid app (2.1.8) should now be able to work with MuseScore 3 scores, at least the changes text in the play store indicates that:
Added support fot MuseScore Editor 3 scores.
Fixed "Solo" mode in Mixer.
Added events that occur after long press on "Solo" and "Visibility" buttons in the Mixer

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

The new version is not yet there for me.
I just registered as "beta"; maybe it is only visible there.
Concerning the Android version, I wonder why "Explore" does not allow to select local files; the only way to load a score is using a long press in a file explorer and selecting the "Songbook" app.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

My "beta tester" status has just been confirmed and I have downloaded the beta version.
The bad news is that I cannot test, because the Musescore app no longer appears in the proposed list when I long tap on a .mscz file in the explorer !

II checked the version: Musescore 1.14 (not 2.1.8 like mentioned by Jojo-Schmitz.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

The good news is that I have now resigned as beta, deinstalled and reinstalled the official "Songbook" app and I have recovered the possibility to open local scores with a long tap in the Android explorer.
The bad news is that this version cannot open Musescore 3 files...

Now , I was also able to install the Musescore app (v2.1.5).
Bad surprise: it proposes a 30 day trial and then an annual fee of 39€, but my former credentials are accepted.
The problem is that I cannot load local files with a long tap (it only shows the Songbook app), nor in the application by trying to add a score to the "Songbook tap", so I could not test new v3 files.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I did, but I still cannot test because I cannot open local mscz files with this app.
- long tap in explorer: the app is not proposed
- using the "Songbook" tap in the app and clicking on the "+" shows my local files but when I select a mscz file, it says "no score found".
I have registered as beta tester on this app, and I got the newest v2.1.8 version.
With that version, I can select an mscz file in the "Songbook" tap, but when I click on "Open", it still shows an empty songbook "No score found". Any idea what I am doing wrong.

In reply to by Flying Roger

Regarding your point 2), I take you meant Musescore 2 vs Musescore 3 files. You can in both cases save the scores as mscx ("Uncompressed MuseScore file (*.mscx)" in the Save As dialog), and the score will be saved in a XML format (not MusicXML, but an internal XML format) which has the version tag at the beginning of the file.

Take a peek at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19724021/parse-xml-file-with-window… for easy ways to extract the version from a command-line utility.

In reply to by dilon2001

Thank you dilon2001 for the link to stackoverflow parse-xml.
Actually, I would have to open all scores one by one to save them in mscx format, so not really a solution for me, but I will start studying the command-line parameters of musescore for possible automation of the conversion.

If an integrated automatic conversion function is not practical then a standalone conversion tool would be a nice solution to allow v2 scores to be converted to v3 without overwriting the v2 source.

I have tried transferring scores as music XML files with only partial success, (with Guitar Pro and TablEdit), so I would suggest saving PDF versions as a fallback option as this at least gives an accurate representation of the printed score.

In reply to by Flying Roger

When you open a v2 score with v3 you are recommended to reset all element positions. Whether I choose "Yes" or "No" my scores are about 95% correct and need the remaining 5% of elements to be manually adjusted. Yes vs No just affects which elements need correction. Adjustments are mainly positions but I also had a few font-size issues.

So I would test some of your own scores before batch converting as you may find they each need a bit of final adjustment.

In reply to by frfancha

It depends on how you tend to use manual adjustments in 2.x. Some types of manual adjustments end up being unnecessary in 3.0 and reset does great with those. Otherwise mean essentially the same thing in both versions and not resetting does great with those. The problem is the manual adjustments that are needed in both versions but that work differently; these are ones for which it's a toss-up. If your score has many of those, sometimes best is to not take the automatic global reset then go through the score and use Ctrl+R to reset things that look off and then if necessary reapply new manual adjustment.

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