Setting "Solo" in Mixer does not export to mp3
Reported version
3.6
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
Setting a part to "solo" in the Mixer only play this part in musescore playback. When you export to MP3 the setting is ignored and all parts are played.
Comments
Generate parts and export those
Thanks for the answer. Works from the UI. Any hint how to generate parts from windows commandline script. I did not succeed using the "--score-parts" option.
In 2 steps maybe, first
--score-partsto generate .mscz files, then--score-mp3or-o file.mp3to create .mp3 files?In reply to In 2 steps maybe, first -… by Jojo-Schmitz
I did not get --score-parts to work . Where is it supposed to put the resulting part files. The handbook does not mention any output option for this (-o ?)
It is by design that solo doesn't affect the mixer - normally one would not want this. But this could be an interesting additional option for the export dialog, along with ones currently be discussed to control the export metronome and other settings that were designed to be for internal playback only.
I don't understand the logic behind this design , since all other mixer settings are export relevant, including the mute button right next to the solo.
I am hoping to get more support in Musescore 4 which apparently will focus on audio generation, incl features like metronome playback and volume adjustment of individual voices in one part. There are longer discussions for these here in the forum.
I am producing rehearsal audio files for choir practice - for each voice one with the voice raised in volume and one solotrack for the voice. The only solution i found was manipulating the xml data of the mscx file in a script and export with the commandline interface. I did not get to the audio data using the plugin interface. For a eight voice SATB score , this produces 17 mp3 files plus the metadata to upload the files to the choir webpage. Any UI dialog is not a good option for this.
If the Mute button does change the export to MP3 (or other sound formats), the Solo button should too. If it doesn't that it a bug.
It definitely does for several years - I have been using this quite a lot.
This has been discussed on and off over the years and in general the consensus - which I completely agree with - has been than muting is something you expect to do "for real" but soloing is only normally done for very temporary override purposes. One of the "for real" purposes include having one version of a staff for notation but no playback, another version for that is invisible but has the playback. This is very common for guitar/piano/bass/drum parts in jazz & pop settings. There are other common real world use cases for muting too, and in virtually all of them, you absolutely need it to be respect on export. Whereas solo is virtually always something done just to check a part while "debugging" an arrangement, and you almost never want that exported. The one exception I can think of is one very particular use case at hand, that is basically using solo where the parts facility is really what is meant.
So this is absolutely a case where usability wins big time over consistency. No point being consistent if it means being wrong most of the time. If the default behavior for export makes sense to be different for mute vs solo - and it absolutely does - then I'd much rather make sense than arbitrarily force the same default when we know it is the wrong choice.
And again, this is the consensus based on probably dozens of previous discussions on the topic, so it really is a deliberate - and excellent - design decision. A way to override this default is a good suggestion, though.
I am an IT consultant for 40 years and I strongly disagree. A software design, for program used by millions of people needs to be guided by clear desing rules, that are easy to understand. If things that look alike function differently, even worse without any documentation, this might not be a good choice with only a few insiders understanding what the system does and why. Additionally, if this is used temporarily to try things out I assume the temporary setting is turned off after use. So no harm done when is respected in export. I have more than once played with the balance to study a piece, forgot to reverse and was suprised listening to the export later. But I would never argue that the balance should not be exported.
I agree, if this is by design, then it is bad design. If I carefully adjust the mixer to hear what I want to hear, I'd want that in the MP3 export too.
There is a clear design rule - give the people what they want. Doing what users actually want beats consistency for the sake of consistency any day of the week.
Yes, sometimes you might play with balance and not want it exported, but the main purpose is to actually affect the real life balance, and in the vast majority of cases, you do want it exported. Ditto for mute. But it's precisely the opposite for solo - it's vritually never used for any purpose you'd ever want exported - other than, in the case where someone just doesn't know about the parts facility.
Indeed. If i mute something, i want it muted. If I solo something I want it soloed