1.2 prerelease 2: MusicXML issues

• Mar 11, 2012 - 21:55

Hope its OK to fork this off - the thread for the first was branching off in lots of different, and I figure we wouldn't want to lose track of anything reported on the second prelease.

Over course of the couple of dozen or so MusicXML files from Finale I tried importing, I found two unexpected issues. I say "unexpected" because I don't expect MusicXML import to be perfect, but there following seemed beyond the bounds of what I *would* expect. I have no idea if these are regressions or would be considered serious enough to hold up release, but here they are. Unfortunately the attachment facility is still not working for me - I keep getting upload errors. So I have posted the files in question elsewhere and linked to them here.

The MusicXML file brilliant.xml will not play back once imported, at all. Neither does ronery.xml . In both cases, if I try to start anywhere but at the first note, *nothing* happens. If I try to start on the very first note, it jumps to the very end and tries to play the last note, but only makes a slight buzzing noise. These might relate to the MusicXML import playback problem reported in the first prerelease thread, but there was no example, so it's hard to say.

The MusicXML file as.xml plays up until letter D, then the last note just keeps playing forever, and you can't get it to playback starting anywhere after D. Similarly, soon.xml makes it to just before L, and obsession.xml stops right at letter C.

Those were the two out and out bugs I found. Two other things I found that I assume are just design limitations but I mention in case they *are* supposed to work: any percussion parts in my Finale scores play back as piano in MuseScore, and courtesy accidentals are completely ignored.

Overall, though, things went extremely well - much better than re-importing into Finale in many cases. What a joy to see so many of my older pieces loaded into MuseScore in a matter of moments, and hear them played using the FluidR3 soundfont!

Comments

• Mar 12, 2012 - 11:48

I made quick fix. MuseScore was importing a tempo text even when there is a sound element with tempo 0. I added a test and create a normal text instead.

The import of drumset is not implemented in MusicXML import. That should become a feature request.

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• Mar 12, 2012 - 15:45

Thanks; I was hoping there was something relatively simple going on there!

Now that I know what the issue actually is, I went and checked against my original scores, and I can see exactly why this happens. It is definitely *not* likely to be an issue for most people. It's user error on my part, really. It appears I had inadvertently defined a couple of "measure expressions" (equivalent of "staff text" in MuseScore) to have a playback effect of setting tempo to 0. Finale ignores this in its own playback, but goes ahead and exports it to MusicXML. And because these particular expressions are defined in a template I created, any time I use one of these expressions in a score created from that template, I get the spurious "tempo=0" elements. So my scores will be full of these, but no one else's would likely be.

I guess ignoring a tempo=0 marking does beat the current behavior, so it was probably worth fixing anyhow, but sorry for wasting your time - I probably could have examined the MusicXML files and figured this out for myself.

BTW, what a bizarre experience it was to load these scores back into Finale this morning while investigating this. Although I used it extensively for around 15 years and knew about as well as anyone, it seems unbelievably foreign and arcane to me now.

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