MIDI Export vs MusicXML (MIDI) Export

Right, well it sounds like that answers my question and the issue may indeed be on the DAW's import end, or perhaps simply down to my misunderstanding of how all the parts fit together.

I should mention: I'm new to MuseScore and I've not dealt with MusicXML before (I'm coming to this from the DAW perspective: Logic just recently added MusicXML import to its toolkit and I'm simply exploring potential workflows using it). And: yes, I'm aware MuseScore is a notation application, and that playback is therefore a secondary concern.

As to my basic statement about MIDI data being exported as part of the xml file: I was basing that on two (probably faulty) assumptions: (a) since MuseScore is able to trigger playback through its internal synths, and is also able to export MIDI data, there must be MIDI data stored or generated somewhere behind the scenes; and (b) that the exported MusicXML file contained a description of the MIDI data, along with the score data (I never suspected that it held MIDI data itself) which, when imported to Logic, produced a MIDI region as well as a score view - and so I was wondering if MuseScore, when it performs the export, was somehow specifying what that xml description of the MIDI data should be, based on it's own internal data.

It sounds like that's all wrong, and that the DAW is simply creating the MIDI data on import, based on whatever is being described in the xml score data.

Finally, as to the difference in the resulting MIDI files (so no one thinks I'm just making this up), see the following screen grabs of a simple test score:

Exporting this as a MIDI file produces the following in Logic:

The score, of course, looks pretty bad - the notation is poor and most of the symbols have been dropped - but we expect this because it's a MIDI file import. The MIDI data itself, on the other hand, honors most of MuseScore's articulations: the piano-roll view shows the shortened staccato notes and changing dynamics (as MIDI velocity, denoted by the various note colors) and the event list on the left shows those changing velocities (2nd column from the right). Playback is quite faithful to MuseScore's internal playback, except now I can use my own selection of virtual instruments. All of this is as one would expect and I should think it's a fair guess to say that MuseScore is producing this MIDI data, on export, based on whatever is in the .mscz file.

Exporting it as MusicXML, however, produces a very different MIDI result:

Here, the score is not bad (though not nearly as nice as the MuseScore original) and you can see some meta events (here representing a few of the score symbols) in the event list on the left. But the MIDI region contains no articulations (except for the two accented notes in bar 2) and no dynamics.

So my entire question was based on: why is this so, and at which stage in the process (at the MuseScore export end, the MusicXML file format end or the DAW import end) is this difference in MIDI data being produced.

From your reply it sounds like MuseScore simply generates, on export, either MIDI (based on it's internal playback) or xml (based on it's score definition) and there's no way to capture both at the same time. I was also mistaken, I take it, in thinking that additional MIDI note data (velocity, altered durations etc) could be described in the xml file using MusicXML's 'sound' element tags. Forgive my naivety here - as I say, some of this stuff is new territory for me.

What I'm looking for, btw, is the best of both worlds: composing raw materials in MuseScore, then importing to Logic - for further development and sound production - while retaining both the score data and the 'real' MIDI data (and perhaps being able to shuttle things between MuseScore and Logic as well). And yeah, I realize this may not be the exact use case MuseScore is intended for but I do think there could be some useful scenarios if this were possible. Logic has some wonderful MIDI manipulating capabilities stemming from the old Emagic days, and MuseScore strikes me as fabulous venue, not just for beautiful notation, but also for the development of interesting tools for composing.

I hope that helps clarify things. Thanks for the reply, Mark. Any further comments you care to add to the above would be most appreciated!