Accented Chords
On the piano on musescore, if you have a chord, it accents it a lot louder than the rest of the notes which makes the piece not sound so great if you're writing a lot of chords. A pianist wouldn't necessarily accent chords like that so I don't know why musescore does it. How do I stop this?
For example, https://musescore.com/user/3701216/scores/1723271
Comments
Can you post an example score?
I assume you are referring to MIDI playback?
In reply to I assume you are referring to by xavierjazz
If by that you mean what plays on the website then yes.
In reply to If by that you mean what by Vaughan Ridsdale
Thanks, now I understand.
I don't quite udnerstand what you mean. I don't see any accented chords. Or are you saying you are surprised that playing more than one note a time sounds louder than single notes? That's completely normal and is indeed exactly how it happens on a real piano. Perhaps some pianists might *choose* to play the chord softer than the single notes to make the overall sound more even, but that wouldn't happen automatically.
In reply to I don't quite udnerstand what by Marc Sabatella
I understand what you're saying (I'm a pianist myself) but generally -and especially in a quiet piece- a pianist would adjust to make it dynamicly even, unless the chord was melodically/harmonically significant rather than accompaniment, and I just wished there was a way to even it out on the software. Also, more notes together isn't necessarily louder, unless you're just thumping around, playing chords on top of a melody doesn't make it louder by anything significant and not as much as how musescore does.
In reply to I understand what you're by Vaughan Ridsdale
You can adjust - using the Velocity settings in the Inspector. Just select the note or notes you wish to adjust and turn the velcoity up or down as appropriate.
But I think you are mistaken about what actually happens on a real piano. Adding more notes *does* make it louder if oyu don't deliberately go outof your way to compensate. That's an unavoidable rule of physics; I believe the scale ends up being logarithmic.
In reply to You can adjust - using the by Marc Sabatella
Simply confirming from an audio physics point of view that more notes at the same time at the same velocity results in a higher audible volume; both in measurable dBV dBu as in psychological sound pressure.
The dB scale an volume experiencing indeed happens on a logical scale in which a difference of 3dB roughly approximates a doubling/halving of volume level experience.
In reply to Simply confirming from an by jeetee
"at the same velocity" being the critical point.
In reply to You can adjust - using the by Marc Sabatella
But, the ammount of force applied to each key is reduced because it is spread between more keys.
I think I know what Vaughan means, as I have felt the same thing. My thoughts are as follows. Forgive me if this is quite obvious to the more experienced people here, or if I'm missing something.
Suppose the chord you play on a piano has 3 notes. Typically the sound energy will not be the same as the sum of the 3 notes when played separately. This is because you would have to push the keys in total (roughly) three times as hard, whereas the arm and hand tend in fact to push with less force -- somewhere between that used for one note, and 3 times that. This is partly a natural effect, and partly what the player consciously desires. All this applies a fortiori when you use both hands and play 8 notes at once, say.
This is the reason that many chords on the harpsichord are traditionally arpeggiated. Since all notes on that instrument have a fixed volume (the player can't control the way the notch in the quill pops off the string), a chord would be excessively loud. So players/composers would often arpeggiate a chord, to soften the chord.
If Musescore or the sound font (not sure how this is controlled) simply plays each note in a chord as if it were a stand-alone note, then that would explain the effect/problem. Perhaps there is a damping function that models normal human chord playing, and the damping factor could be increased...
Mike
In reply to I think I know what Vaughan by MikeN
Thanks
In reply to Thanks by Vaughan Ridsdale
The problem exist also in other instrumentations. Arranging unisonos seem to sound much softer than four part voiced sections of a tune. Almost they sound even louder in the real world. The trial to argue with Newton's mechanics concerning the piano seems to be logic, but the problem with samplers (or sound font players) is almost more that phase-thing. There is a difference between two fired up samples vs. two musicians playing at the same time in the same room. In the real room, the vibration of the one instrument influences the vibration of the other instrument very early. The two instrument phase parts of the "tone" out before their vibrations hit the first wall. (inside the piano the first wall is part of the piano, I do not mean the wall of YOUR room) The signal summing algorithms of digital Samplers and DAWs seem not capable to bring the "real thing" back to the ear via the digital domain.
...evidence? no way, just thinking about same experiences i made
Oli