Insertion following playback

• Oct 23, 2022 - 04:38

Coming from DAWs, something that drives me crazy is the lack of a toggle for disabling "insertion follows playback." As far as I can tell, the only option in MuseScore is to have the playhead constantly changing to match the current position.

DAWs and other non-linear editors default to the opposite: wherever you set your playhead, playback will begin from that exact spot every time. It allows for rapid listens of the same section. Without a toggle, this is a constant multi-step process instead of just hitting spacebar twice.

Some people prefer to work the way that MuseScore defaults to, but I'd wager most people coming from DAWs to notation will have a similar struggle. With all the new audio features and effects, it seems that MuseScore is presenting itself as a sort of bridge option between notation programs and DAWs, so this would be a big part of making that transition more seamless.

I searched for other feature requests regarding this, and the loop function has been brought up as a possible solve. It's nothing like what I'm after here, as that's even more steps and requires changing the loop points every time you want to move the cursor.

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• Oct 23, 2022 - 15:14

Moving the loop points happens automatically when you make a selection. So simply leave the loop mode enabled and it should work pretty much as you describe. Although, you will need to make sure your selection extends to the end of the range you want to hear. So, one extra click. In the future, indeed, a command to restart playback from the previous location would be a welcome addition, but currently, the loop method does work.

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• Oct 31, 2022 - 19:02

Hmm I do not see the loop points updating when the selection changes. The selected measures play correctly, but I have to double tap the loop button to get the flags to adjust.

Inside a loop point, it still behaves like the rest of MuseScore. When you have a two measure loop and stop playback at the beginning of bar two, it'll continue on bar two when starting playback again.

Obviously some people prefer to work linearly, as this hasn't come up much on the forums. But there's so many basic navigation things that I hope come to MuseScore in the near future.

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• Oct 31, 2022 - 19:18

They don't update immediately, but do as soon as you hit play. Assuming you've made a range selection (with blue rectangle). if you are seeing a case where this doesn't happen, please attach you score and give precise steps to reproduce the problem, so we can understand and assist better.

Also, I don't understand what you are saying about playback continuing where it left off even with loop mode enabled. For me, it always starts sat the beginning of the loop. So again, if you have a case where this isn't happening, please attach the score and give precise steps to reproduce the problem.

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• Nov 1, 2022 - 19:03

Oh, from the screenshot, it appears you are talking about an experimental pre-release test build of MsueScore 4? This wasn't obvious; I was talking about the current release 3.6.2.

I can confirm a bug in a current nightly builds of MU4 that the flags don't visually update on selection. The behavior is still correct, but the visual appearance is not.

I can also confirm playback starts where it left off, not at the start of the loop.

Best to report these two separate bugs on GitHub as requested in the various MU4 announcements.

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