Musescore on school network: (i) on PCs, no sound function (ii) on laptops, sound function very quiet
Hello, I work in a primary school and our headteacher is an experienced software user with an interest in coding.
At my request, he had musescore downloaded on to the school network.
On the desktop PCs, the sound function simply isn't present at all - the "play" and "rewind" buttons are greyed. Might our OS be too old? Might our PCs be too old?
On the laptop PCs, it's even stranger: the functions are all there but the sound is barely audible. We compared the sound on musescore to the sound when using a different program - the different program was fine. We checked that the musescore volume itself was turned up - yes. And we tried again on a different laptop but had the same problem.
I can ask the head to go back to our support service the week after next when school starts again. However, I'd appreciate help/tips as to what questions I should ask....
Thank you.
Comments
It's possible the PC's are too old, or at least, that their OS and/or sound drivers are too old. You might do a search of this forum to find other discussions where people talk abouut specific configurations and what settings worked them in Edit / Preferences / I/O.
As for the quiet sound on laptops, *where* did you turn up the sound for MuseScore? The place you normally need to do it is Display / Synthesizer. The default is set quite conservatively so the loudest passages don't clip, but most people find they can turn up more with no ill effects. Also be aware MuseScore pays attention to the dynamics set in the score itself - it there is a "pp" marking, it will be quiet no matter what. Default is equivalent to "mf", which is about 60% of max.
In reply to It's possible the PC's are by Marc Sabatella
At the time (Mint 16 64 bits= Ubuntu 13.10), I have no sound (from 10 days about)
In the past I also had glitches, and no sound. I fixed it using https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure.
I'll try it again, and report.
In reply to At the time (Mint 16 64 bits= by robert leleu
The problem was an instability between headers and speakers, which was easily seen on the pavucontrol windows.
I installed http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/package/core/trusty/universe/base/pavucont… and after some minutes the sound stabilized....
However, after I had installed Project-neon (not a musical project), the sound had disappeared. I uninstalled Project-neon, and the sound is back.
For the laptops, as Marc said, you can go to Display -> Synthesizer and Display -> Play Panel and increase the sound volume.
For the desktops, are they running Windows? Which version of Windows? You might want to check the known incompatibilities page.
Just wanted to say that Display Synthesiser worked on the laptop. Hurray! And thank you for the support.
Will check out the OS on the desktops.
I have checked our OS - it is Windows 7.
Thanks in advance.
In reply to is W indows 7 incompatible with sound? by Razzmatazz
No, it is not, in general. But some component might
In reply to is W indows 7 incompatible with sound? by Razzmatazz
Should work fine in Windows 7.
Please will you attach a screenshot of the I/O tab of the Edit Preferences dialogue so we can see if the settings there have any bearing on the problem.
I have Windows 7 on a docked laptop that uses secondary speakers on the monitor. I've set the I/O settings to be the same as my previous MusScore install. Now I have the system volume all the way up, the synthesizer default all the way up and the playpanel settings all the way up. The volume in the mixer for instruments is also at maximum. The playback output is still just acceptable. It should be blasting my ears with everything as high as it will go. I didn't see a solution given here. Did I miss something.
In reply to Very low volume here also by marimeri
I assume the score itself isn't notated "pp"? Does it happen with all scores or just some? If all, it must be a Windows system mixer setting if you are sure you have turned up all relevant settings within MuseScore.
In reply to I assume the score itself by Marc Sabatella
It is everything which I have keyed in using the older version. So I tried something fresh with 2.0 - no dynamics marked and it is still very reduced in volume. That was a good idea though since I was not even aware that dynamics were an option here. By setting it as fff I can overcome the low volume somewhat, but this is rather a drop in output from the previous version. I've used this a couple of years to key in my part for two different choirs in which I sing - so I can put the disc in my car and learn while I drive - and I didn't even realize the dynamics markings would actually change the output. (Don't ask me why I made that assumption) I set the volume per staff (instrument) but had never used the dynamics marking. Thanks for waking me up to that. Just ran a test. WAV files saved using MusScore 2.0 have the same volume level when played back as those recorded using the earlier version so the final outcome is not going to be an issue.
In reply to not the score by marimeri
Try to look at the image attached here:
http://musescore.org/en/node/33706
and change the setting to "Master Effects" (if you have not already done so)
In reply to @marimeri by Shoichi
Yes that was one of the first things I saw and tried. But I looked again just to be sure and placed the windows side by side to be sure I had it set just as demonstrated. My feeling is that it has something to do with the play panel's control of instruments since everything else (metronome and count-in) come through loud and clear by comparison. For my purposes, I can work around by setting the song to ff or fff and all other volumes to maximum while doing notation then resetting it before I convert to a WAV file. If no one else is having a problem, it isn't an issue - just something new with 2.0 that I didn't experience in 1.3.
In reply to Synth set as demonstrated - still the same by marimeri
The default sound font in 2.0 might be slightly quieter for the same settings. But you shouldn't be needing to to artificially set everything to "ff". Did you check the Windows system mixer yet?