musicxml and banjo 5th string

• Mar 2, 2020 - 21:11
Reported version
3.4
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S3 - Major
Reproducibility
Always
Status
closed
Regression
Yes
Workaround
No
Project
MuseScore

Create a 5 string banjo tab. Make sure to enter the 5th string open a few times. Save as MusicXML. Load the musicxml file that was just saved.

Notice that all the 5th string notes have been moved to the 1st string. It looks like the musicxml files are saved properly -- the xml load seems to ignore the string/fret info for only 5th string notes -- the other notes seem to work fine.

Older versions of Musescore loaded the 5th string info properly so this bug was introduced sometime in the last few years.

The test xml file below was created by musescore 3.4.2. It has several notes on the 5th string that are displayed on the 1st string.

Attachment Size
test.musicxml 12.36 KB

Comments

• Nov 23, 2020 - 01:40

I don't think this bug is really fixed, or if it is then I've discovered a related bug.
Recently I was bitten by the bug that misunderstands what 0 means on the fifth string of a banjo and thinks that a 7 on the fifth string is 7 half steps above the open string, rather than 2 frets above the 5th string peg at the 5th fret. So I chose the work-around of saying that the fifth string was tuned a fourth lower than reality knowing I would have to replace all 0s with 5s on the fifth string.
So I opened Staff/Part Properties for the banjo, clicked Edit String Data, and changed the fifth string from G4 to D4. Unfortunately that moved all the fifth string notes to the first string, making every measure a complete mess.
I'm running version 3.5.2.312126096 Rev 465e7b6
Sigh. And while we're at it... I'm immensely grateful for the existence of Musescore and how well it works (having experienced the others for years), but I would love it if the banjo's tab idiosyncracies could be accommodated. . .
Just sayin'. . .
-=P=-

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