What am I doing wrong. Sound quality on Import Mid files is unpleasant.

• Oct 10, 2015 - 23:05

Forgive me if I can't see the obvious answer. I've been chasing this problem around for a couple of days.

I'm a new user of MuseScore 2.0.2. I have over a thousand midi files from an old Windows application (Midisoft 3.1). This old application will not run on Windows 10. The import of the midi files to MuseScore works great! The conversion gets me pretty much the exact notation that I want. Much better than the 3 other software packages that I downloaded to evaluate (Finale, Sibelius and Magic Score).

But the big issues is the playback sound in MuseScore. Very unpleasant and tinny. I just can't listen to it. If I play these same Midi files from within Sibelius or using Quick Time or Windows Media the sound is fine. FYI, I use mostly Piano and Organ.

I've read about SoundFonts and was using the default (FluidR3Mono_GM.sf3). As I said, very unpleasant. I then installed GeneralUser GS MuseScore v1.442.sf. This was even worse. Unpleasant and now distorted.

So I don't think the issue is the Soundfont. As I mentioned, the midis play fine with the sound quality I expect with Sibelius, Quick Time, and Windows Media player.

I've played around with the mixer (Pan, Rev, and Cho) but that didn't seem to have any effect at all.

On the MuseScore Preferences I/O, I have Windows Direct Sound and Primary Sound Driver.

I appreciate help from anyone out there. I have this great notation tool, but can't bear to hear the playback.

Thanks
Rich W.

Comments

• Oct 11, 2015 - 00:20

Thanks for reading around before asking for help.

If the MIDI file contains instruments that are very loud then the problem could be due to clipping. Try lowering the volume from the Play Panel and listening to hear if the distortion disappears. (You must lower the volume within MuseScore. Lowering your system volume or speaker volume will not get rid of clipping.)

Note: You should NEVER set the volume to 100% in the Play Panel for this reason! A setting of about 70% (or lower) in the Play Panel is ideal. You should then be able to set your system volume control and speaker volume controls to whatever level you desire to make that 70% Play Panel volume comfortable.

Let us know if this helps you.

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• Oct 12, 2015 - 01:42

Thanks for your reply shoogle. The play panel was set to only 40%.

I'm starting to think that everything is OK in MuseScore, but that I'm just so accustomed to the sound that I have been using for the last 16 years (using Midisoft). I did a blind A-B sound test for my 22 year-old son and he didn't hear one sound as bad and the other good, only that they were different.

I have customarily used the 'organ' to represent the sung parts in these vocal rehearsal files. But perhaps there is a better choice in this soundfont.

Thanks again.
Rich

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• Oct 11, 2015 - 00:23

Well, the sound *is* a fucntion of the soundfont. I find the defualt sound about 1000 times better than what is produced by Quicktime or Windows Media Player, and roughly about the same as Sibelius. But if you don't happen to like the sound for whatever reason, just keep trying other soundfonts until you find one you like better.

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