Can't get Contrabass part to playback arco

• Jul 18, 2011 - 03:54

Dear Friends,

I would be most appreciative of any suggestions on how to resolve this. I am using 1.0 on a PC. The Contrabass part will only play back as pizzicato when I press the play button. I even created staff text and set the staff text property for the channel to be normal and it is still happening.

Thank you for any help.


Comments

In reply to by peacenow

Well, if you haven't changed it, then it's still the default TimGM6Mb. It's controlled by the Display->Synthesizer dialog. And it definitely has an arco bass sound, which shoukd be the default for the Contrabass instrument, unless you've customized instruments.xml as well.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I am going nuts. Now the bass part is working but it is occurring in the cello part.
I am looking at the .xml file and this is the channel information it provides. Perhaps the midi channel numbers correspond to whether it is normal or tremolo or pizzicato.
The violas part, which works, has midi instrument id P25-13 and midi channel 12 and midi program 49.
The violoncelloa part, which was scored Normal but which is playing back as pizzicato, is midi instrument P27-13, midi instrument P27-13, midi channel 2, midi-program 49.
The contrebasses part is instrument P28-13, midi instrument id P28-13, midi channel 5 and midi program 49.

Are these channels and i.d.s correct in order to have all of the string instruments in the normal channel setting rather than pizzicato?
If not, is thee a way to edit the Musescore file or .mscx file as text or otherwise correct the problem?
I will try to post a short file that reproduces the problem. I have to figure out how to post the file to your site.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Here is more of what I see happening. If you have a whole note in each of two successive measures, and if the channel is tremolo and there is a tie between the two whole notes:

--If I click on the first whole note it is played back arco.
--If I click on the second whole note it is played back pizzicato.

I will try to post this file fragment. The problem can be seen between measures 62 and 63, where I deleted the tie in the cello part but the effect sill happens.

I can try the following: For the two tied whole notes, each in a measure, if I delete the second one and the tie, and then copy the first measure into the second, perhaps that will solve the problem.

The question is whether a player would play it differently if there is a tie vs. if there is no tie, since both notes are tremolo.
It is getting too late to be up any more in this time zone.

In reply to by peacenow

I looked at the attachment, but don't see a problem. The cellos play back as expected for me in measures 62-63 whether tied or not. Now, I'd say the tremolo samples in that soundfont aren't hugely convincing, but I'm definitely not getting pizzicato. So maybe I'm miunderstanding the problem?

In the attachment I sent, on my PC the cello part is playing back pizzicato from the very beginning. The other parts are all right. I do not know why this is happening. It was occurring in the bass part but then it stopped, and now it is happening in the cellos. If I start where the strings enter in the attachment and then click the play button, all of the string parts enter as arco except the cello part, which enters as pizz and is easily heard that way. Why would this occur on my PC and not yours?

In reply to by peacenow

Actually, I hadn't tried playback from the very beginning - only from measure 62. But when I did try it from where the cello enters, it started arco, and it did so even if I removed the invisible "normal" you tried putting there.

So, why is it right for me and not for you? Good question. I suppose it's possible your soundfont got corrupted somehow, although frankly that seems unlikely. Still, could be worth reinstalling (you wouldn't normally lose any settings). In fact, might as well try the 1.1 prerelease.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you for the information.

When I generate the .wav file, that is working.

Concerning the reinstallation or the 1.1, does that mean I remove Musescore and then download the new version? What is the best URL to download it from? I probably will finish this piece with the .wav file generation, as I am so close to the end, and install the new version before the next piece.

In reply to by xavierjazz

It's indeed better uninstalling to let your Start menu clean. But it should work without uninstalling also. You will just have duplicated entries in your start menu if you use the default settings in the installer.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

The computer on which I am using Musescore is not connected to the Internet. I downloaded and saved the 1.1 file onto a flash drive on another PC. Then I moved the flash drive to the computer on which Musescore is running. From there I tried to run the file. I received this message: Installer integrity check has failed. Common causes include incomplete download and damaged media. Contact the installer's author to obtain a new copy. This is listed as an NSIS error. I don't know whether NSIS is from Norton or from Windows. This is preventing the installation from proceeding. The file I downloaded has size 161KB and is listed as being of type Application.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.