Better instrument quality
Would it be possible to create a SoundFont that comes close to the quality of actual instruments or perhaps code MuseScore in a way that would allow a person to use free instrument libraries as well as SoundFonts?
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You have seen http://musescore.org/en/handbook/soundfont, haven't you?
The quality of the Soundfonts, as with any sample library depends largely on the size of the samples associated with it.
Given unlimited storage it would be quite possible to sample every note of every instrument, but would need a lightning fast computer to render such a soundfont, this is apart from sound system issues.
Even then you would not get the minute nuances associated with a professional standard player.
Music notation is still incapable of conveying the finer nuances of interpretation which are still passed down from teacher to pupil.
So you could have the best sample library in the world, and the piece would still sound like a bunch of automatons.
Karaoke anyone?
I have tested all but the smallest SoundFont mentioned in the handbook. The General User one is probably the best of them. I am aware of the limitations of notation software but other software such as Sibelius has better sound quality.
Is there a way to make the sounds in MuseScore similar to the professional packages?
In reply to more professional sound. by peter-frumon
Use a better SoundFont!
Either that or pay for Sibelius.
A Google search may yield dividends!
In reply to more professional sound. by peter-frumon
Exactly. Sibelius, just like MuseScore, allows the user to install whatever sound sample library he likes. It's just that Sibelius happens to be fortunate enough to have a higher quality sound library available for it than MuseScore currently does. Understandable, since Sinelius has been around much longer, shares a format with Finale (which has been around even longer), and someone figured they would be be able to make enough money developing a sound library to sell with those two packages to make the enormous effort worth their while. Hopefully, MuseScore will eventually become popular enough that people will feel they can make enough money developing sound libraries for it to make it worth their while, as well. And then you'll be able to buy such a soundfont for MuseScore just as Sibelius was able to buy one to distribute with their application.
But FWIW, while the GeneralUser soindfont is pretty good, and a small handful of its samples might be better than those in Fluid, the Fluid soundfont is definitely quite a bit better overall, as one should expect from its much bigger size.