It converts to finale 2014 properly now!
Hi everyone,
so I've been using finale for almost a year now, still sticking with musescore for the community and my old scores though :)
With musescore 2.0, musicxml finally converts transposed instruments properly! I'm having a lot of fun playing back my musescore compositions with human playback now! Thanks guys!
Comments
Thanks for sticking around! But can I ask, aside from Human Playback, what does Finale have that you'd like to see in MuseScore?
In reply to Thanks for sticking around! by Isaac Weiss
I'd like to see an "export" feature for smartmusic, and, in my opinion, better parts, percussion changes in the middle of a piece, all around better percussion interface and vst sounds. That said, there were a lot more problems in 1.X that were addressed in 2.
if i think of others I'll name them :)
In reply to I'd like to see an "export" by Blobfish
Thanks! I'm afraid export to SmartMusic is about as unlikely as export (or import) of Finale or Sibelius files—I understand proprietary file formats are incredibly difficult to figure out.
I'm not sure what you mean by "better parts."
But "percussion changes in the middle of a piece"—is it possible that Mid-staff instrument change is exactly what you're asking for? ;-) New features, friend!
And the percussion interface is actually not quite the same as it was before, with the very notable new feature of the ability to edit the drumset. You might like it better.
As for VST sounds...? Again, I'm not sure what you mean. Somebody else has been asking for a "MuseScore VST Plugin," though: see MuseScore as a VST too Hard to Do? and #51546: Musescore VST Plugin.
In reply to Thanks! I'm afraid export to by Isaac Weiss
I never expected Musescore to export to smartmusic, since it's owned by Makemusic.
And in my opinion, having all the individual parts already made, with customized parts a touch away--and not taking up the tab--is better than what Musescore currently has. I will say your windows are much nicer though (switching between scores in finale is a two steps procedure, not one XD)
Yes, that would've helped when I used Musescore primarily. I would advise fixing the transposition because composers frequently call for changes from oboe to English horn, clarinet in Bb to A, different horn transpositions. ..
I'd like to investigate into all the features of 2.0. It reminds me of Sibelius with its (apparent) intuitive set-up and I will definitely check the percussion menu.
I was referrering to Virtual Studio Technology, specifically in place of midi playback. Finale gives you the choice between them, which is very nice if you have a nice sound font and vst (garritan, Vienna sounds, etc.)
All in all, I am very impressed with 2.0, and if I had started with it, I probably wouldn't have bought finale as readily since you addressed so many issues. However I will probably continue to use finale (I paid money for it XD) and use the now functioning .xml import and export to share my scores easier (up until now I have only moved my choral and trombone ensemble scores to Musescore since all the others contained transposing instruments)
In reply to Thanks! I'm afraid export to by Isaac Weiss
And another feature, playback of trills, tremelos (noticed you fixed rolls on snares! awesome!) and crecendos.
In reply to And another feature, playback by Blobfish
Again, I don't know what you mean about "having all the individual parts already made, with customized parts a touch away." I've never used the full version of Finale, so I really haven't the faintest idea what you're referring to. Could you either describe it in detail and/or maybe post a couple of screenshots? (Also—just so there's no mistake—I'm not on the MuseScore team, I've never contributed a single character of code, and the single-window interface wasn't my idea. Just a fellow forums user. I'm sorry if I came off as some kind of official representative.) ;-)
I totally agree about the transposition when changing instruments thing, though I wonder how feasible it is, considering the complications that would arise when displaying in concert pitch. But it should be possible, if Finale can do it. I can file a feature request, unless you'd rather.
And, yes, people do say that MuseScore is similar to Sibelius, or at least more than Finale.
I've been reading Wikipedia's article on Virtual Studio Technology, trying to understand it. I think I get the concept now—you'd like some kind of sound editing capability in MuseScore to process the MIDI output, have I got that right? It's unlikely—the developers have said repeatedly that the core focus of MuseScore is to be notation software, and playback is a secondary issue. They've got nothing against it, but they simply aren't going to spend a lot of time developing it.
By the way, I checked out your musescore.com profile, and it would be very nice to see more of your work as something more than a "go watch this video I made with Finale." My younger sister, who has recently become obsessed with the music from the Lord of the Rings movies, thinks so too. ; )
Playback of trills has been requested before, and will very probably be in the next release. There actually is a way to play back tremolos, only it's a little bit odd. See How to change instrument sound (e.g. pizz., con sordino) midway through score . You can add the tremolo marking to the notes, and then make the text invisible. And crescendos and decrescendos are played back in 2.0! Except that the MIDI playback system doesn't let MuseScore do this over a single note. But a sequence of notes will gradually get louder or softer according to the crescendo or decrescendo under them and the dynamic levels that may be indicated at the beginning or end of the passage.
In reply to Again, I don't know what you by Isaac Weiss
I to am curious what is meant about parts - as far as I can tell, MuseScore's linked parts are extremely similar to Finale's. One thing missing is the ability to explicitly *break* links when desired, and that's high on my list of priorities to help investigate for 2.1.
Regarding transposition when changing instruments mid-score - this is also on the short list of features I most want to try to help implement. I actually don't think it will be particualrly difficult. No need to file a request - it's been around a while already. See #9352: Add ability to set transposition by range.
In reply to I to am curious what is by Marc Sabatella
Breaking links is really helpful when formatting parts for printing! I went in depth in my other response, so you should be able to get the gist of finale's parts.
Yay! As I said before, proper instrument switches could lead to a lot of new, more advanced music being published by people that really want instrument changes in the percussion section, and it would eliminate scores on Musescore.com that are literally full of tambourine, cymbal, and wood block lines that are only present for a few bars XD
if you ever want me to test compatibility between finale and musescore I'd be happy to!
In reply to Breaking links is really by Blobfish
Instrument changes in percussion don't normally involve transposition, so they are already possible in 2.0 using the instrument change text elements. Even in 1.3, it's possible to do that a couple of different ways, such as having separate staves for each and then using the "Hide empty staves" option so only one appears at a time. But again, for 2.0, simply add an instrument change text to any staff at any time and you can change the sound into something else, so if transposition changes aren't required - and they are generally not for percussion - then you've got it.
In reply to Instrument changes in by Marc Sabatella
I only ever used mutes in Musescore a few times, so I wasn't familiar with that portion of Musescore XD Thank you!
In reply to Again, I don't know what you by Isaac Weiss
Oh ok. I was wondering about your username. XD
the parts are a bit hard to explain, but basically on the 'view' tab there are options to edit score or parts (when the mouse hovers over it the list of parts appears) from a part it can be exported in any method finale has(smartmusic, midi, mp3, paf, print etc.) and of course, edited. I prefer that layout than having to generate all the parts manually and having them all in the tab alongside the scores, but that's my opinion.
With a few of those tweaks like transposition added, I think Musescore could be used to write much more complicated music!
I understand Musescore is primarily for notation and I love that fact. It allowed me to put notes on the printed page in grade 7, and it boost the moral of students dabbling around with manuscript to have a genuine engraved copy of their music. That said, though, I was always frustrated showing people my music and saying things like "that's not supposed to sound like that" "that should be a crescendo" "this is a ritardando" "Obviously this will sound more lyrical in performance." Even though I don't own garritan, going from 1.2 to Finale 2014 was unbelievable. I don't think the jump is for everyone; finale is for nerds, and has an incredible amount of power in a somewhat awkward interface at first. Sibelius is probably better for Musescorians looking at going professional in the future. But the fact that my music sounded presentable made me feel awesome XD
I just posted the xml file of my LOTR suite, but all the tempi were lost XD and the reason there isn't a lot of stuff is because since about last near years (2013/14), I really haven't composed anything in Musescore, so I'm rusty ("you have to press N to enter notes?" XD)
The playback issues are pretty much the same as the playback sound. I just wanted to hear my music the way it would be performed. Thought I'm happy to hear all about the improvements in version 2!
In reply to Oh ok. I was wondering about by Blobfish
The username simply reflects my hobby of pasteboard manipulation, for entertainment purposes only. 8D (I like that smiley because it's also the name of playing card.) "ZackTheComposer" would stand out rather less, don't you think?
It should be noted that you don't have to create each part manually—from File -> Parts, click "New all" and they'll all appear. And the fact is that "from a part it can be exported in any method MuseScore has (MusicXML, MIDI, MP3, PNG, print, etc.) and, of course, edited." Not to mention, choose "Export Parts" and you can do a batch export of all of them.
I know exactly what you mean about "showing people my music". But that was for the most part in the past. Now I feel much better about the playback with crescendos, at least. But I'll tell you that going from Finale Notepad 2007 to MuseScore 1.1 was an unbelievable jump, too, and what with Notepad's incredible lack of power and awkward interface, I've never cared to look back at Finale. Also, I've recently started collaborating with a friend who just bought Finale, and he's more impressed by what I can do with MuseScore than I am by what he can do with Finale.
Holey Moley, that LOTR piece is huge! And very impressive. I confess I have not watched/played/looked over the whole thing, but I definitely intend to.
By the way, the workaround for producing playback that gradually slows or speeds up is to simply enter a series of tempos and make them invisible, and it's easy to load a different set of sounds: see Soundfont . Oh, and I think MuseScore's note input method is more like Sibelius's.
In reply to The username simply reflects by Isaac Weiss
Well my username is just a weird animal XD
I never knew about all that part editing! I know the old one had to make the parts as separate files, which is something I didn't like XD
I've tinkered with Notepad, and it sucks. A lot. Let me tell you finale 2014 is nothing like it! XD and yes, I'm more impressed with Musescore too; it's a free program that (now) could be considered "the program" for budding composers and hobbyists. Of course finale and Sibelius have more power, but you are paying infinitely more for them XD. But if he's just bought finale, he's probably just learning how to do instrument changes (like I was XD)
Thanks! Like I said on the page, none of the tempos crossed over and some parts are displayed wrong. It almost crashed my laptop combining all 4 movements XD
I am familiar with that work around, I just love to get things done quickly :P and I know about sound fonts, and I have a few favorites. However, finale can load both vst and sound font, and it's much easier to obtain a professional quality vst than a high quality soundfont!