Almost had my ears blown out (default playback much too loud)
When the new MuseScore 2.0.3 crashes (still too often) and i have to restart it, the volume is so loud I have rip off the earphones if I don't forget to reset it. Can anything be done to lower the output volume at startup without my having to remember to do this manually? This is actually hazardous.
Comments
Hmm, it shouldn't be 9 can't be, actually - louder than other applications on your system. If you prefer it to be quieter than other applications, simply lower the volume in the Synthesizer window and hit "Set as Default". Seems to me it makes more sense to simply lower your system volume, however.
Have you filed bug reports for the crashes you are seeing? The only ones I know of have to do with SVG export.
In reply to Hmm, it shouldn't be 9 can't by Marc Sabatella
Firefox, Safari, and iTunes don't have this problem. It's not a system volume problem. I'll try the synthesizer volume; I'm amazed that no one else has hit this, but they might all be deaf now (didn't stop Beethoven).
I'll try the synthesizer volume. I just reported the crash.
In reply to Firefox, Safari, and iTunes by [DELETED] 1831606
Firefox only plays the audio you ask it to play. If you are asking it to play quiet files, then of course they are quiet. But if you ask it to play loud files, I guarantee they will be as loud as MsueScore - it's pretty much impossible for any program to force the operating system to play louder than the volume you have set it on.
It *is* possible you have a a system mixer that alows some programs to be set to a louder default than others, and perhaps you have turned MuseScore up or other programs down. But again, that's between you and your OS. There is absolutely nothing any program can do to force the OS to play its output louder than you are set it to in your OS settings.
In reply to Firefox only plays the audio by Marc Sabatella
Oh, c'mon. Like millions of other internet users, I use Firefox and Safari not exclusively to play files of clavichord music, but whatever audios and videos, usually unasked for, that thousands of web sites I visit post, NOT THE LEAST OF THEM MUSESCORE.COM. None of them have any problem, even musescore.com. Musescore 2.0.2 did not exhibit this behavior. I don't even think Firefox has a global volume control (I often wish it did).
The synth setting seems to work, see if it continues too, but there is a problem here; the release notes confess that the default volume was greatly hiked.
In reply to Oh, c'mon. Like millions of by [DELETED] 1831606
All I can do is repeat what I have said: there is simply no way any program can force the oeprating system to play louder than you have set your volume controls.
On the other hand, if you have turned up your default MuseScore volume too high - maybe you did this in the past and then forgot about it - you *will* get distortion. It won't be louder distortion than your current system volume allows, but it might *seem* louder than other programs that are playing undistorted audio. Perhaps this is what you are perceiving.
Anyhow, simply setting a reasonable default volume in the synthesizer should produce good (non-distorted) results. So do a Help / Revert to factory settings to be sure you are actually at the default volume.
EDIT: yes, the default volume was raised, because in the past it was *less* than other programs. It's easy enough for any program to play *quieter* than the max, and MuseScore was doing this. But again, there is no way MuseScore or any other program can play *louder* than your system volume allows.
In reply to All I can do is repeat what I by Marc Sabatella
To be clear, the release notes don't say the default was "greatly hiked"; they say that #98036: Volume drop-off when synthesizer delay module (Zita1) is ON was fixed.
In reply to To be clear, the release by Isaac Weiss
Something here doesn't add up. I have just set the Mac volume control to maximum. There is no volume control on Firefox or musescore.com. I went to a choral score just posted there without any attention to volume, and played it. It's a bit loud for my taste, but it is not at all painful or deafening. Even a "pretty loud" organ score I posted Friday (https://musescore.com/user/1831606/scores/2008676) is quite loud, but not even at all "too loud." iTunes at 100%, loud organ music, no problem at all. But MuseScore at the 90% or whatever it was, clicking on any single note is ear-piercing. The only thing that changed was 2.0.2 to 2.0.3. 2.0.2 was not capable of producing that kind of volume. Believe me. The intepretation of the volume control changed between releases.
Something does not add up. Can you try that experiment on a Mac, set the synth volume to 90% as it defaults, play a note, and find any application on the computer that can make such a loud noise even with its volume controls all the way up?
In reply to Something here doesn't add by [DELETED] 1831606
No way! The only way that could possibly be the default is if you set it that way. The actual default has the slider exactly in the middle. Try the Revert to Factory Settings option under the Help menu, and you'll see.
In reply to Set the synth volume to 90% by Isaac Weiss
I have it set to about that now. I suppose what might have happened is that the scale changed, and the setting I had in 2.0.2, which was reasonable for that release, was no longer reasonable.
If the default is really 50% (no, I don't want to reset my settings to prove it), there's no problem, although any 2.0.2 user who doesn't know how to persistently store the synth volume (as I just did according to Marc's instruction) will soon join Beethoven ....
Thanks for exploring this with me.
In reply to I have it set to about that by [DELETED] 1831606
I think any 2.0.2 user who doesn't know how to persistently store the synth volume will still have the original defaults, which have not changed from 2.0.2 to 2.0.3. The screenshot at https://musescore.org/en/handbook/synthesizer#soundfont is from 2.0.2.
But you're very welcome.
In reply to I think any 2.0.2 user who by Isaac Weiss
Wait a second --didn't we just prove that I didn't know how to persistently store the synth volume until today?
In reply to Wait a second --didn't we by [DELETED] 1831606
Not quite—as far as I'm concerned, we proved that you did know how at some point, or did it accidentally, because somehow you got a very extreme default that's not the default default.
In reply to Something here doesn't add by [DELETED] 1831606
And in any event, I would still claim that if you are getitng *undistorted* audio at 90% - default or not - then any other programs *has* to be capable of generating that same volume, given the proper input. Operating systems don't discriminate in that way.
If your audio on the other hand is clipping (which it probably is), then it may well be creating the *illusion* of being louder than it really is.
In reply to And in any event, I would by Marc Sabatella
I suspect it was clipped, but it was still painfully loud in a way not explained by that. No, it is not an illusion. If I put it back up to that, I can put the earphones at arm's length and it is so loud that I am grateful it does not damage them. Unexplained; there must be something that other programs are doing that scales their audio range that MuseScore is not.
In reply to I suspect it was clipped, but by [DELETED] 1831606
It's certainly possible other program deliberately hold back on the volume for whatever reason, but that's not something we have any control over. Again, if the OS provides a system level volume control, it should not be possible for any application to exceed that volume. Perhaps it's a bug in Mac OS that prevents the system volume from working correctly, but I tend to doubt it - I suspect it's just that you aren't accustomed to playing loud files in other programs.
In reply to It's certainly possible other by Marc Sabatella
You might want to experiment with setting MuseScore's synthesizer crazy high again, clicking "Save to Score" to apply the settings to exported audio, exporting a WAV file, then playing that file in VLC or iTunes.
In reply to You might want to experiment by Isaac Weiss
Now that's an idea! Somehow, the works of Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Marcel Dupré don't seem to qualify as "Loud files" here; I guess don't have any recordings of jet engines or howitzer fire at close range, though.... I will try that.
In reply to Now that's an idea! by [DELETED] 1831606
I did this experiment. I cranked up the Synth Vol to near-full - an excerpt played in musescore, as before, was deafening. Exporting directly to WAV, playing in iTunes at full volume, it is reasonable volume. I then reset the synth to 50% and repeated the experiment. Apparently, the Synth Volume control has no effect on the level in WAV files.
OH I didn't say save to score. What does "save to score" do, before I try it, and is there a way to undo it?
In reply to I did this experiment. I by [DELETED] 1831606
That would be it. It makes a note of the current Synthesizer settings in the score file, which allows you to recall them later with the "Load from Score" button and allows audio export with those settings.
In reply to That would be it. It makes a by Isaac Weiss
I tried this. It clearly heard me, as it greyed out the "Save to Score" and "Load from Score" buttons. I exported to .WAV, double clicked and listened in ITunes. No change. It did NOT affect export.
In reply to I tried this. It clearly by [DELETED] 1831606
How nice—it appears the volume cannot be saved to the score. That looks like a bug to me.
In reply to How nice—it appears the by Isaac Weiss
Not so fast -- I have never, ever been dissatisfied with the recording level in an exported sound file.
In reply to Not so fast -- I have never, by [DELETED] 1831606
The way this feature is supposed to work, you can set any parameters in the Synthesizer you want, click "Save to Score," and at any point in the future recall all those settings by opening the same score and clicking "Load from Score." Loaded SoundFonts, effects and tuning are all saved and recalled correctly, but it appears that volume is being missed somehow.
In reply to The way this feature is by Isaac Weiss
I don't see why that would affect export levels one way or the other.
In reply to I don't see why that would by [DELETED] 1831606
Audio export respects Synthesizer settings including SoundFonts, effects, and tuning, if and only if those settings are saved to the score. The same system connects the settings to audio export and to the "Load from Score" button. So volume settings are not applied to audio export, and not recalled by "Load from Score," for the same reason—because they aren't included in "Save to Score."
In reply to Audio export respects by Isaac Weiss
So volume settings are not applied to audio export, and not recalled by "Load from Score," for the same reason—because they aren't included in "Save to Score."
No that's wrong...
Audio export is done in two passes. First pass, MuseScore renders the audio and get the max level in order to normalize in the second pass. Second pass, the audio is rendered again and normalize at -3dB. All audio exported from MuseScore should be have the same peak level.
Regarding the long discussion...
MuseScore 2.0.2 was too quiet so it's possible that some users decided to set the synth volume to 90% or more and save it as default for MuseScore. When they upgraded to 2.0.3, the settings was still there but the synth is now louder, and so it's possible that the volume is a bit too high for sensible ears. Then, most of the users will go to synth and change the volume to 50% again or revert to factory settings and everybody will be happy!
In reply to So volume settings are not by [DELETED] 5
Other than the notion that I had saved settings in the past, which I'm sure I hadn't, this explains adequately everything I observe today. And now having saved the volume, all is once again in order. Thanks!
In reply to I did this experiment. I by [DELETED] 1831606
You can always edit the audio in Audacity to normalize it - ideally, add compression to resemble how most commercially-record audio is produced. When I did this, the volume level was about the same as that from MsueScore after raising the level to just short of clipping, just as common sense tells me it has to be - again, it is impossible for any program to play back louder than the OS volume settings dictate.