Should differentiate intensity and duration articulations
I was trying to use double articulation such as staccato and marcato. As playback was weird, I looked at the .mscx file and I found the following settings (this was for a clarinet, I don't know if it is general):
<Articulation>
<velocity>100</velocity>
<gateTime>100</gateTime>
</Articulation>
<Articulation name="staccatissimo">
<velocity>100</velocity>
<gateTime>33</gateTime>
</Articulation>
<Articulation name="staccato">
<velocity>100</velocity>
<gateTime>50</gateTime>
</Articulation>
<Articulation name="portato">
<velocity>100</velocity>
<gateTime>67</gateTime>
</Articulation>
<Articulation name="tenuto">
<velocity>100</velocity>
<gateTime>100</gateTime>
</Articulation>
<Articulation name="marcato">
<velocity>120</velocity>
<gateTime>67</gateTime>
</Articulation>
<Articulation name="sforzato">
<velocity>120</velocity>
<gateTime>100</gateTime>
</Articulation>
As can be seen, each articulation, regardless of their character (intensity or duration) is asigned both a velocity and gateTime value, so when using simultaneously one of each, somehow one of the two parameters of each class prevails, not always yielding the desired result..
It would be more logical that staccato affected only duration (gateTime) and marcato affected only intensity (velocity), and that the effects, being independent, were cummulative. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulation_(music)
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulaci%C3%B3n_(m%C3%BAsica) (more complete, in Spanish)
I know, having read it dozens of times, that "MuseScore is a notation, not a playback program". But this is a question of definition of terms, since the playback engine wouldn't have to change severely. I also know that there is an easy (but not very elegant) workaround: to redefine the duration of an articulation that affects velocity from the Inspector panel and uncheck play for the other one.
Comments
I think you need to show us that score.
In reply to I think you need to show us by mike320
I came across this issue while working on a score, but the specific case is irrelevant since the problem is conceptual and boils down to the following: Every articulation has default velocity and gate time specifications, so when using two articulations on the same note, which value of each parameter is assigned to the playback rendering?
My suggestion is that intensity articulations (such as marcato) should involve only velocity, and duration articulations (such as staccato) should involve only gate time, so that when combining one of each we get the expected result.
I'd tend to agree that none of the "100" settings are needed for any of the articulations (except maybe the first unnamed one) and should just be the default, and getting overridden by any of the explicte named articulations if needed, and in a certain order of precedence.
This would allow to combine them, including effect on playback.
In reply to I'd tend to agree that none by Jojo-Schmitz
Has anyone tried making that change to instruments.xml to see if simply removing the 100's does the trick?
In reply to Has anyone tried making that by Marc Sabatella
Hmm, seems indeed worth a try
In reply to Has anyone tried making that by Marc Sabatella
I think it should work, if we keep both in first 'unnamed' section to initialize those values (they are not initialized anywhere else in the code, as far as I can see), and only set them in the named articulations when they are different from the values in the unnamed section.
Experimenting Shows though that it doesn't work quite as expected? Check the attached.