Muse Group has released MuseScore Studio 4.4.4, a maintenance update that addresses issues in the areas of engraving, usability, import and exporting, and stability. In addition, a built-in check for corrupt files has been implemented.
Here are the fixes in MuseScore Studio 4.4.4, as provided in an announcement on the MuseScore news site.
Engraving
- All combinations of dynamics and expression text are now properly centered between staves
- Offset applied to lyrics is now taken into account when positioning other elements around them
Usability
- Pressing an arrow key while nothing is selected in the score will select the note or rest nearest your previous selection instead of jumping to the beginning or end of the score
- After pressing Esc to exit fingering input, the fingering element stays selected, so that you can (for example) use the arrow keys to move it around if desired
- Scroll wheel & scroll gestures are now solely used for scrolling, i.e. not for changing the values of sliders and knobs (e.g. in the Mixer)
- Muse Sound libraries can have now have nested categories of sounds for easier navigation in the Mixer
Import & export
- MusicXML: Certain score titles are no longer incorrectly identified as subtitles
- MEI: Various fixes and minor improvements
User interface
- Incorrect size calculations, resulting in the undo/redo buttons falling off the screen, were fixed
- Toolbar buttons no longer cut off after relaunch with small window size
- Tab names (e.g. ‘Home’, ‘Score’, ‘Publish’, etc.) are no longer truncated when viewed in certain fonts
- Lilypond Lyrics plugin dialog is fixed
Miscellaneous
- Parts are now saved correctly for display on MuseScore.com
- Links to more sounds are displayed on the Home screen and Mixer
- Advanced users can now disable the creation of backup files when saving scores, via Preferences > Advanced
Keyboard shortcuts on macOS
The following shortcuts are now working, which were broken for some users in 4.4.3:
- T shortcut for ties
- Delete key
- Shortcuts involving multiple modifier keys, such as Shift+Option
Stability improvements
Crashes are fixed that used to occur when:
- Attempting to edit part scores immediately after creating a score from a custom template that contains part scores with measure numbers on every measure
- Interacting with corrupted measures in certain very old scores imported from MuseScore 1 and 2
- Navigating around vertical frames using the arrow keys in horizontal continuous mode (where vertical frames are of course not visible)
- Dragging a range selection containing guitar bends
- Pasting notes after replacing an unpitched percussion instrument with a different instrument
- Viewing a score after certain spanner elements have been added and then removed
- Opening a MusicXML file that contains a
measure-layouttag in the first measure - Changing the tempo of a score while the Pianoteq VST plugin was loaded
Mitigation for score file corruption
In the article, MuseScore community ambassador Peter Jonas said:
Over the years, we’ve received a handful of reports from Windows users about corrupted score files that contain only binary zeros, or are zero bytes in length. This could be caused by any combination of factors, including:
- MuseScore Studio’s code
- Qt or other software libraries
- Windows or its filesystem (usually NTFS or FAT)
- Specific hardware or drivers
- Other software on the computer (including viruses)
- User error (e.g. overwriting a file, or unplugging a flash drive without unmounting it first)
Unfortunately, we’ve never been able to reproduce the problem ourselves in order to understand and fix it.
While we can’t stop the problem happening, community member @krasko78 came up with a clever idea that will help to mitigate it if it does occur. According to his implementation, every time you save a file, MuseScore Studio will perform a quick check to see whether the saved file is valid. If not, a warning dialog will appear with the option to “Try again” at the same location, or “Save as…” at a new location. If this is unsuccessful then the dialog will pop up again and again until the score is successfully saved, or you choose to “Cancel”.
This means MuseScore Studio 4.4.4 does everything it possibly can to protect your data from corruption. However, corruption can still occur after the file is saved for reasons that are outside of MuseScore Studio’s control. As always, we recommend that you keep a backup copy of all important files in the cloud, for example via the Save to Cloud feature in MuseScore Studio.
MuseScore 4.4.4 is available, despite an earlier statement that 4.4.3 was the last planned update of MuseScore Studio in the 4.4 series. In the news about this update, Muse Group said that they would soon publish a blog post about their “progress on version 4.5 and beyond.”
MuseScore instruction now available from Notation Central
There are many MuseScore resources out there, but the best way to really learn the software is through customized instruction. Personal instruction sessions in MuseScore are now available from Notation Central.
Whether you’re just getting started with the software and need a general overview, a more experienced user looking to take your skills to the next level, or an advanced user in need of customized advice, look no further.
You’ll schedule an appointment with Steve Morell, an expert MuseScore instructor.
Steve is an expert MuseScore user, saxophonist, pianist, engraver and contributor to Scoring Notes, the authoritative web site about music notation software and related technology. Steve is a graduate of the famous Berklee College of Music and founded a sheet music startup called NiceChart that allowed music directors to customize arrangements automatically to any instrumentation and individual player proficiency.
Appropriate for beginner to advanced MuseScore users. Book 1 or 2 hours at a time now.
Learn more
For full coverage of MuseScore Studio 4, please read our comprehensive reviews of MuseScore 4, MuseScore 4.1, MuseScore 4.2., MuseScore Studio 4.3, and MuseScore Studio 4.4.
For the latest information about compatibility for Sibelius, Dorico, and MuseScore, as well as links to the latest news and reviews about product releases, please see the Scoring Notes Product Guide.
Sorry for leaving yet another post on the same subject, but I need to know if this will ever be fixed. I am a very active user (8 yrs now) with over 100 adapted songs offered on the website. I am still using MS 3.62 because it allows me to change the volume of the dynamics and hairpins manually. I use that feature routinely for every song I work on because all the songs I adapt to Musescore swell and lessen in volume very frequently, many times by only a few points rather than the 15 -20 pt velocities the pre-set dynamics offer. For example, a song may swell by only 5 pts, then lessen by 5 pts, all within 1-2 measures. MS 4 does not yet allow me to set that.
In past posts, you agreed to provide velocities for dynamics and hairpins to be manually set. Is that still coming, or have you decided against it? Please advise so I know if/when I can finally download MS 4. Thanks in advance.
Hi Frank, you probably won’t get a good answer here. Instead, visit the official MuseScore GitHub page to report and track bugs.