Soundfonts sound different in musescore
Hello,
I've noticed that Soundfonts loaded in musescore sound different from other applications which also use fluidsynth, like timidity or VLC. They sound darker, as if they were filtered, and the difference in timbre between, for instance, forte and mezzo forte is very noticeable.
I'm using the default configuration, with no effects, and reverb and chorus turned all the way down in the mixer. Is there something I'm missing? As an example, I attach two versions of Reunion; one exported with musescore and the other with VLC after I converted the sheet to a MIDI file (using the maganda piano soundfont in case anyone is curious).
Thank you.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| example.zip | 1.1 MB |
Comments
Well, if some other program isn't showing a different in timbre according to the velocity, then that is a bug in that program. Most sounds *are* designed to have different timbres at different velocities - this is pretty important for any sense of realism.
In reply to Well, if some other program by Marc Sabatella
I've just had a listen, after normalising both samples to minimise volume differences between the two. I would have said that during the loud passage, both sound pretty much identical. At the start when it's quiet, the VLC sample is much brighter. To my ears it has exactly the same timbre as it does during the loud section. The MuseScore sample is less bright during the quieter sections, much like a real Piano. As Marc says, it looks like MuseScore is handling velocity correctly, and your other software isn't.
Playing back on my reference monitor speakers (Behringer Studio 50 USB) reveals exactly what you say chema_ (I too normalised both - to -3db)
The initial velocities on the MuseScore version sound muffled, as though filter cutoff has been reduced, only revealing the glory of the high end frequencies during the crescendo at the end.
On the VLC version, the piano is crystal clear from beginning to end, increasing in brightness during the crescendo as one would expect.
There are two points about the MuseScore version of FluidSynth which could be responsible.
The first is that it is customised - I'm not sure how.
The second is that it is quite old - and includes a bug that was fixed in mainstream FluidSynth r205 which we are in the process of fixing.
It's possible that this is also responsible for the change in timbre as the developer working on this has mentioned......
However, the Snare0.sf2 gives a sound shifted towards lower frequencies.
So it is possible these are related.
If you are interested in that discussion you can find it here....
#87066: FluidSynth plays Incorrect Pitch When Alternate Values Used for “Scale Tune”
Certainly I think this merits further investigation, particularly as I have noticed this myself whilst moving between Viena and MuseScore for testing soundfonts. I will start looking into it to see if it's fixable.
PS I'm wondering how you managed to playback a MIDI file on VLC?
My version - 2.2.1- does not have the FLuidsynth codec, and apparently MIDI support was dropped from the Windows version in 2.1.0
In reply to Playing back on my reference by ChurchOrganist
Any more news?