Possible developments to the Playback module

• Apr 25, 2011 - 20:36

I really like MuseScore and use it a lot running under Windows XP and Ubuntu.
It would be very useful for me if the Playback module could be developed to include better realtime virtual conductor playback control. For example, could tempo be controlled by either tapping a laptop touchpad or by using a finger to make conductor-type movements on an IPAD screen? The current tempo slider is difficult to use when trying to follow the tempo indicated by a conductor. Could other dynamics also be controlled by finger movements on a touchpad or IPAD screen? I realise some of my suggestions require MuseScore to run on an iPAD or similar touchscreen device and that this may not yet be possible.
Bill

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• Apr 26, 2011 - 13:30

Just a reminder that MuseScore's main focus is first and foremost as a program to create printed music. It has been said more than once on the forums that it is notation first, playback second. I'm not saying that the things you would like to see won't be implemented somewhere down the line, but focus for the foreseeable future is on creating a program that produces beautifully printed music to be played by real musicians.

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• Apr 26, 2011 - 14:57

I fully accept the notation first philosophy of and for MuseScore. and I am very grateful that the program exists and that it does produce 'beautifully printed music'. But I am trying to address a practical problem: our small village choir does not have and cannot find a 'real musician', e.g. pianist, to play for and with them. I am trying to help the choir members be real musicians by providing them with computer generated accompaniments and I would like these accompaniments to be as authentic as I can make them, given the limitations of the technology. Perhaps I really should hang up my guitar and learn to play the piano.

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• Apr 26, 2011 - 16:41

MuseScore is, first and foremost, a music printing program (and it does an excellent job).

It’s playback features are intended primarily as an aid to the composer. It doesn’t attempt to do things like crescendos, diminuendos, rallentandos, etc. But this suggestion may be of use to you:

You can save a MuseScore file as a .WAV file. You can then import it into one of many sound editing programs which do most of the above fairly easily. One I use is freeware and is called Audacity ®. (It is easily located with Google.) And there are others available.

After tweaking you piece -- adding tempo changes, dynamic changes, inserting silences after fermatas, etc. -- you can then save it as an .MP3 file. You can't make these changes during a live performance but you may end up with something very useful as an accompaniment track.

I hope this helps.

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• Apr 26, 2011 - 16:43

It would be better exporting in MIDI and use a MIDI player or editor to make control the playback live.
The current trunk of MuseScore has an OSC interface that can set the tempo of the score while playing. We could imagine an mobile app or a software to tap, detect the tempo, and communicate to MuseScore via OSC.

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• Apr 27, 2011 - 03:46

"It would be better exporting in MIDI and use a MIDI player or editor to make control the playback live."

Yes, I suppose, depending on your goals.

Regardless, I used Cakewalk to produce recordings for many years, but it no longer works with Windows 7 and they are being less than helpful regarding upgrades. (They invited me to purchase a new version at full retail price.)

Can someone recommend a MIDI editor? I have a couple, but they do not use staff notation and I find piano roll notation irritating to use.

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• Apr 27, 2011 - 07:55

A MIDI editor often uses pianoroll since it's the natural way to manipulate MIDI data i.e a list of events. Except Rosegarden on linux, I don't know any free (as in beer and speech) midi editor trying to support piano roll and notation at the same time. In the proprietary world, I'm sure you'll find a lot of them.

To go back to your first issue in MuseScore. Did you try using the play panel and the arrow keys ?
Play a piece, open the play panel, and click on the tempo slider, use the arrow keys to move the tempo slide up and down.

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• Apr 27, 2011 - 15:32

I am aware of the play panel, but perhaps I am not exploiting it fully. I guess one might become adept at “conducting” during playback using the tempo slider. There are a number of utilities that will record (via a WAV or MP3 file) whatever is going through the sound card. That is a possibility although it does not appeal to me at first blush. For me, it is easier to vary tempo using a sound editor, as I mentioned earlier.

I became accustomed to creating a “tempo map” in Cakewalk using a sort of graph which was very specific and didn’t rely on my dexterity during playback.

But is there some other way to use the play panel that I am missing?

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• Apr 27, 2011 - 16:37

When I need a ritardando, I will string several tempo texts together over the course of a measure or two, putting in a gradually slower and slower one, and "landing" on the tempo I want. (I right click them and set the tempo properties to get them exactly like I want them.) When playback is set, I right click them and set them to invisible so they don't clutter up the score.

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• Apr 27, 2011 - 18:06

Yes, that is what I am doing now.

However, I have decided to bite the bullet and am ordering a version of Cakewalk. I spoke again with them and they have a package which is not expensive (about $35) and which they say will do what I am needing. (And it uses staff notation -- very important to me.)

So I will anticipate continuing to create my files in MuseScore, then, if I need a good recording, export MIDI files and tweak them in Cakewalk (which I did for a number of years in the past.) BTW, in those days I was using music notation software which I wrote (which went into production in 1980) and a few years later I coupled it with Leland Smith’s Score music printing software.

Thanks for all your help though. You all have assisted kindly in my making a decision.

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• Jan 20, 2012 - 09:31

More and more I am using electronic resources. I would like to see tablets (androids can be cheaper) on the instrumentalists music stands. It would be just awesome for librarians and conductors. I can foresee Muse Score in those tablet stands with the capability of a foot pedal to turn pages, a scrolling line to guide some learning musicians available. the possibility or re orchestrating a piece according to available instrumentalists (real life situation), and of course the possibility of storing thousands of pieces in a little tablet.

So being realistic, the future is not far. more and more paper is vanishing (even in my medical records !!!). So... I guess is a good recommendation to lift the vision, see more that what we have now, dream a little and suggest thigs that can be possible.

I still want to see a huge tablet for conductors !!! ...

Wouldn't you may think that Open Source and "Green" thinking may be related somehow ?

Without being bias, wouldn't be a great idea to have both possibilities ?

Well Sib and Notion have that feature available. I guess other "notation " software has also embraced that idea. I have used Notion 3 with this feature for my little ringers .... and I know some Suzuki teachers and conducting classes also use this for rehearsals and even performances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMJz7acDQmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5p5xLaSYCU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXancmhkV6Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSO4VIAP5No&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEfUZD5cFm0

Mephi

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