Wood blocks percussion instrument not producing correct sound on play

• Apr 13, 2022 - 22:47

Hi. I'm using MuseScore 3.6.

I'm in the process of creating a click track to add to an mp3 export I can use for practicing. Actually, all goes pretty well - I add the instrument (wood blocks), then enter the beats I want into the percussion staff using note input mode and clicking the notes from the drum palette. The track then plays exactly the click rhythm I want along with my instrument score.

Only one problem. The sound being produced is not the clap of wood blocks, but rather a musical tone.

I've played around, Googled, hit the MuseScore forums, but I'm not having any luck.

What's going on here? Why can't I get the wood block clapping sound? Am I missing something?

Comments

• Apr 14, 2022 - 01:12

Find attached a 3 measure snipped from the score exhibiting the behavior.

PartWithClickTrack.mscz

Here are the steps I used to add the click track:

  • Open up the score I want to add the click track to.

  • Go to toolbar, click Edit -> Instruments

    • select Percussion -> Wood Blocks
    • click Add to score button
    • click OK button, return to score

  • Select first measure of percussion staff

    • Click 'N' note entry button on toolbar
    • drumset palette appears at bottom
      status bar reads
      "Note; Pitch: Low Wood Block; Duration: Eighth; Voice: 1; Measure: 1; Beat: 1; Staff: 2 (Wood Blocks)"
    • select note duration
    • enter percussion beats by double-clicking notehead in drum palette
      (note - sound emitted when adding beat is musical tone, not clapping of wood blocks)

See attached screenshot below of instruments dialog box after adding the percussion track.

InstrumentsDialogBox.jpg

Reply

• Apr 14, 2022 - 10:24

This excerpt indeed looks and hears all ok over here.
One possibility is that you have loaded a non-General MIDI soundfont at the top of your soundfonts in the Fluid tab of the Synthesizer; If so, simply move MuseScore_General back on top and then reassign the other instruments for which you're wanting to use the custom soundfont in the Mixer.

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• Apr 14, 2022 - 17:50

Thanks all for the responses and help.

Jm6stringer sez "In the Mixer, verify Drumset is checked". It is, in the original score as well as the snippet extracted from the score and posted here.

jeetee sez "One possibility is that you have loaded a non-General MIDI soundfont at the top of your soundfonts in the Fluid tab of the Synthesizer". This may indeed be a part of the puzzle. I do have a separate tenor sax soundfont loaded in addition to the MuseScore_General soundfont, and it was indeed listed at the top.

In playing around further I stumbled on a workaround that appears to resolve the issue. If in the the mixer I select the wood blocks instrument, and then in that panel go up to the 'Sound' pull down list and choose another sound from the list, the wood blocks sound then plays correctly. If I then switch back to the original Sound selection ('Standard') the correct sound persists and continues to play correctly, including after saving off the score, exiting MuseScore, restarting it and reloading the score.

I must admit to being somewhat confused regarding the relationship of the various sound production elements - instruments, soundfonts, the synthesizer and mixer. This episode has done much to help me clarify things for this.

Again, thanks to all who took the time to respond and offer help.

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