Demo files are converted from previous versions of MuseScore and are not laid out correctly
I don't know whether most users even know the demo scores exist. In 1.3 there were more than twenty included; in 2.0 and 2.0.1, there are three. But those three are simply the 1.3 versions, saved in 2.0's format. As we all know, scores created with 1.3 will not necessarily look the same in 2.0. There's really not much work needed, but it should be done.
In Triumph, for example, the coda at the measure before "Interlude" seems to be an unknown character, the first and second endings in the fourth line don't have their horizontal bar, and repeat texts clash with chords. In Reunion, almost every manually positioned thing is in the wrong place, or is shaped wrong, in the case of slurs—and for some reason the quarter note in the tempo text is placed wrong, too.
Just putting it out there that this is an issue.
Comments
Thanks for bringing this up! I plan to look at the ones I provided originally, and maybe add a couple more using some of the ensemble templates.
Since the issue is raised... To me, it's questionable whether or not we should have demo files. As noted, they are currently not exposed so it's more or less equal to not having them. On the other hand, nobody complained so far and MuseScore.com has a lot of "demo" files. So maybe we should just get rid of them in the MuseScore packages.
From a development perspective, it does make sense to have some reference files that are not just a couple measures long though.
I would agree there is not much point of the demos if they are as invisible as they currently are now. I could see them being exposed in the Start Center - perhaps a single "Demos" icon in the list of recent files. Or an item in the File or Help menus. But if it's decide to skip the demos, that's fine too. Then I might recommend instead a little more focus on the online portion of the Start Center - it's nice to be able to access *something* right off the bat.
Would the "little more focus on the online portion of the Start Center" mean being able to search for and/or open files, as in the old MuseScore Connect? Because that would probably be enormously well received.
That's what I was suggesting, yes. Or perhaps just a curated page of demos, not unlike the old featured scores but maybe provided in part by us. Not sure what's feasible.
Cool ideas. On a related note: https://musescore.org/en/node/52626#comment-245566
I do like the idea of demo scores, and could see exposing them via the Start Center or directly in the File menu. But only if some effort is spent making some really good ones - a representative handful of different styles, like maybe one piano score, one choral, one lead sheet, one instrument ensemble, etc.
I redid Reunion in 2.0.3. In addition to fixing the layout and font issues, I was able to take advantage of the crescendo text line, and in a couple of spots went with the new default beam direction. For style settings, some things I changed to the MuseScore 2 defaults, like ledger line thickness; others I kept, such as note spacing. I also changed the voice 3 arpeggio at the end to voice 2. Marc, it's your call what to do with this; perhaps update https://musescore.com/marcsabatella/reunion, perhaps a PR to the demos directory, perhaps nothing. But here it is:
Nice job - thanks for doing this! I'll live with this a while and see if I think of anything else, then when we do another release I can revisit it - there might be other things that want changing by then.
You're welcome! What do you mean by "live with this a while"?
I mean, Ill spend more time with this file, looking to see if there are any further tweaks worth making, before updating the repo.
Ah, I see. The other thing that I thought of was a different style of pedal line that MuseScore 1 didn't support.
Also, there's the online version, which may be more significant—while the demos included with the package are very well hidden, the right side of the Start Center more directly features "demos" from the website, and I for one would like to see Reunion back up there in the spotlight. ;-)