Playback for Long Trills (over Multiple Bars) Cuts Out and/or Is Distorted

• Aug 1, 2021 - 13:34
Reported version
3.0
Type
Performance
Frequency
Few
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
MuseScore

There seems to be an issue with the playback of trills that are long (over multiple bars). The playback either becomes distorted or cuts out entirely. Attached is an example, where the playback cuts out around bar 6.

There was a temporary fix, that worked for a few bars of trills: "Restarting the Audio and MIDI devices" (Preferences/IO), which was suggested by a commenter at https://musescore.org/en/node/321309. However, for longer trills (e.g., 16 bars of continuous trills), this problem seems to always come up.

I have tried a few work arounds, including changing trills to tremolos, having each bar trill on its own (by removing tie and having trill symbol above each note), but none have worked.

Attachment Size
Trill_Issue.mscz 19.59 KB

Comments

• Aug 1, 2021 - 16:22

I think the problem is due to overlapping of vol-env-release parameters of many layers (some take 3 seconds) in piano patch in default soundfont of Musescore.
Try with another piano soundfont or test it by selecting "Electric grand" patch from Mixer.

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• Aug 1, 2021 - 16:58

Thank you for the suggestion. It works for a selected few soundfonts. Among the piano soundfonts, it works only for Electric Grand. The other fonts (e.g., Mellow Grand, Bright Grand, Honky Tonk, Tine Electric) ran into the same issue.

I am wondering if there is a solution for the default soundfont at all.

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• Jul 8, 2022 - 17:12

I have the same issue with the distortion and cutting out with trills, especially in orchestral scoring where all instruments are playing together and the string section is trilling over multiple measures (see attached).

Anyone got a fix for this? Thanks!

Attachment Size
orchestra-trill issues.mscz 20.9 KB

Reply

• Jul 8, 2022 - 19:51

Yes, I can hear the crackle of the voice.
This is almost the same problem as the topic's opening post.
Polyphony (or buffer clogging) problem occurs as a result of overlapping release values ​​as a result of playing many short sounds one after the other (synthesized-tremolo). I think this is one of the problems with the old fluid synth used.
PS: Some (sfz) piano soundfonts using Release samples were also discussed in the forum due to this buffer clogging. And their problem was that their long release times overlapped.

For the tremolo problem:
If you are using Windows, setting the output to "DirectSound" slightly reduces the problem, but does not eliminate it. // API: Windows DirectSound; Device: Primary Direct Sound Driver.
After that: Turning the 5-pin MIDI icon off and on again from time to time at the top of the UI to clear clogged buffers also reduces the crackling from time to time.

On a more powerful computer and a better sound card the problem can be minimized (but not completely eliminated, even if it is inaudible). //Unfortunately (or fortunately) my computer and sound card are not powerful enough to handle this in Windows OS. That's why I can confirm your problem and write an answer accordingly.

Note to Enthusiasts: In MX-Linux OS I can reduce the problem a lot, but it's hard to deal with system settings. In addition, (in software such as Musescore, Polyphone and Audacity compiled with QT), some settings must be made in order not to encounter distortion by suffering the wrath of the ALSA / PulseAudio duo. And there is no standard correction setting. A setting that applies to one soundcard may not apply to another soundcard.

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• Aug 17, 2024 - 19:07
Reported version 3.6 ⇒ 4.0

This problem is still present in MuseScore 4.3.2. I'm attaching a snippet from a guitar ensemble piece that demonstrates the problem. The trill should sustain over three measures of tied whole notes.

Attachment Size
trill demo.mscz 73.01 KB

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