Chords from chord symbols appear in MIDI exports even when chord playback is off and chord channels are muted in Mixer
Reported version
3.5
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S3 - Major
Reproducibility
Always
Status
by design
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
- Create a jazz combo chart, with chord symbols in the instrument parts.
- Export parts as MIDI. Exported individual part MIDI files contains chords in addition to the actual instrument line.
This occurs even if chord playback is turned off AND the chord channels are muted in the Mixer.
Opening the exported MIDI files again in MuseScore shows two instrument parts: the "actual" part plus a piano part with the chords. Deleting the piano instrument and re-exporting the resulting MIDI file gives the expected results.
There should be a straightforward way to exclude chords from exported MIDI parts, and I believe this should be the default, as it was before chord playback support was added.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Actual_Proof.mscz | 54.04 KB |
Comments
I can't reproduce this with 3.5.1. Can you attach the specific score?
In reply to I can't reproduce this with… by Marc Sabatella
I did on the original ticket.
In reply to (No subject) by Jojo-Schmitz
Sorry, first bug report. I didn't know what "frequency" meant but I get it now.
Just to clarify, this is not specific to the score I attached though. I just opened another existing score and the same thing happened. I also just created a new score and it also happened there.
I omitted a step: you need to create parts first. I am having this issue with Export Parts… not Export….
Here's my exact version info:
OS: macOS 10.15, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.5.0.28537, revision: 43c5553
No chord symbols sound in 3.5.0 for MP3 nor MIDI export of that sample score, which has the harmony channels muted and chord playback disabled (one of this should be enough and actually is, I tried, with that score)
In reply to No chord symbols in 2.5.0… by Jojo-Schmitz
The issue I am reporting is not that the chord symbols sound in playback. It's that the chords are converted into MIDI notes that are in the MIDI export files for the individual parts. I'm attaching the export files I get when I run this. All of these MIDI files have two instruments when reopened in MuseScore — the actual part I'm trying to export, plus a piano instrument containing the notes of the chords. I want a way to have the MIDI export to just contain the actual instrument part, not the piano part with the chords (because they all get mashed together into one instrument track when I open the MIDI file in Logic).
I'm attaching a screenshot of Logic when I import the soprano sax MIDI file, as an example — you can see how all of the piano chord notes are getting added as well as the actual soprano sax line.
There should be a way to have a MIDI export of an instrument part that is just the actual notes of the instrument without the chords being included and converted into notes, especially when it's a part for a monophonic instrument. I'm not saying there would never be a use for the way MuseScore is doing this right now, but it seems logical to me that the default would NOT include the chord realization, especially since those chord notes are not literally in the score I am exporting.
Of course you need to disable Play for the Chords and/or mute the channel in mixer in the Parts too (or even only for the parts, in the case of export parts)!
These are style setting, separate between score and parts.
In reply to Of course you need to… by Jojo-Schmitz
Ahh…. now I get it. Yes, that makes sense.
I would still suggest that the default for MIDI export should be not to include the chord realizations though.
In reply to Ahh…. now I get it. Yes,… by room34
OK, I can confirm that unchecking Play and muting the chords in the Mixer on the individual parts does keep the chords from showing up in the exported MIDI, so this is not technically a bug. But I would again suggest that this is VERY unintuitive, especially since it is a change from previous behavior.
In 3.5.1 that won't happen anymore with pre-3.5 scores, if that helps?
And I've tried to improve the handbook to be more clear on that, see https://musescore.org/en/handbook/playback-chord-symbols-nashville-numb…
Much appreciated, thanks! Keep up the great work… MuseScore has completely transformed how I make music.
Also, you don't need to touch the Mixer, ever, unless you want. Merely unchecking play does it, and as mentioned, 3.5.1 will do that by default for older score.s For newer scores you create, you can either set a preference to uncheck it by default, or you can simply make that style setting then save this as a template so future scores created form that template have it off. Then you are in complete control over which scores play them (most people would want lead sheets to have them on) and which don't (combo charts, perhaps, although I normally prefer than on there too).