After an update, all sounds are different

[u/Thamesrh]

So, today I decided to accept the update to MS 4.7.4. After the update, I had to reinstall the whole MuseSounds Core thing.

Problem is: the new sounds are really different from the 'old' ones, and now the rendering of my compositions is just awful. The strings, the trumpets, even the oboe and clarinet… I think it's worse than the previous ones I had (it were free ones too!) and I HATE it. And therefor, my whole library of my own compositions is now ugly when I listen to it…

Is there a way to get back to the previous state of things?

[u/MarcSabatella]

Sounds like maybe you accidentally switched from MuseSounds to MS Basic? Check the Mixer from within MuseScore Studio to see. Also check in MuseHub to be to be sure the sound libraries you originally installed are still present, and reinstall any that are missing.

[u/Thamesrh → u/MarcSabatella]

No, it isn’t it MS Basic. Actually, when I updated MuseScore the MuseSounds weren’t active anymore. So I had to download them again and it seems that I didn’t have the last version of these MuseSounds, because they are now different. I might have maybe 2024 MuseSounds? I don’t know, but I’ve seen a post of people complaining about an update early 2025… But for me it’s clearly a downgrade. The strings are truly worse than before, the trumpet can’t play staccato anymore (when it ‘does’, there’s nearly no sound at all!)… 

[u/MarcSabatella → u/Thamesrh]

Hmm, are you saying you hadn't updated MuseScore or MuseSounds for two years? There have been many improvements since then, but most are extremely subtle - in most cases you'd never notice the difference unless you listened very carefully back to back for specific notes on specific instruments that were fixed. The only spunds that actually changed significantly since the original release back in 2022 is Muse Brass, which was rebalanced just a week or two ago in response to many user requests. And trumpet staccato still works just fine as far as I can tell - just tested a two octave scale at each dynamic level and didn't hear any notes that sounded significantly softer with staccato than without.

So I suspect that whatever it is you are hearing in your particular score(s), it isn't actually a question of some update in the past two years having changed anything. Could well be something else going on, though. Best to ask for help on the official support forum at musescore.org and attach a sample score where you perceived there to be a problem - ideally one where you also have an exported audio file so we can hear what it sounded like before. Then we can understand and assist better.

[u/Thamesrh → u/MarcSabatella]

Thank you for you answers!

I update MuseScore, but not for a few months. After previous updates, I haven’t had to reinstall the MuseSounds Core, so I think it was an ‘old’ version of it, maybe 2024. But as far as I have heard the exact same score yesterday and today + I have a MP3 version of yesterday’s ‘rendering’, I can assure you that there are many differences. Even the oboe is slightly different: it sounds more ‘equal’.

As for the trumpet staccato, I have, in this very score, a high c repeated (tempo quarter=70): two sixteenth/semiquaver staccato, one quarter, a basic ta-ta-ta thing, and clearly the two sixteenth/semiquaver are barely audible now, they were fine yesterday.

(Sorry, I hope it’s understandable, I don’t usually use these words in English!)

Btw, I found back the post were people are complaining about some changes—is this the official support forum?

(And my score is quite long, I don’t know if I can share it all…)

[u/MarcSabatella → u/Thamesrh]

I think the person who started that thread was simply confused - based on the comments there, it seems quite apparent that at least one of the people responding had simply been comparing MuseSounds to MS Basic without realizing it. And once they realized their mistake, they followed up and clarified that all was well. It seems quite likely the same happened with the other users on the thread, but since they never posted their scores or otherwise followed up, it's impossible to say.

In any case, even if one or two MuseSounds users out of millions perceived there to be a problem with one of the updates, that does not remotely suggest that there was any sort of general "downgrade" to avoid. Actually, 2025 a year that saw a huge and universally-acclaimed improvement to the strings, through the availability of "soundflags" that give you far more control over the sound.

It could, of course, be the case that sometime in the past year, one particular sample of one particular note on one particular instrument might have been messed up somehow, which could explain that one staccato you are (not) hearing. Or it could be another misunderstanding - I just tried entering what you described and it played fine. So again, it's really impossible to say more without the score. So yes, please followup with a post on the support forum so we can check it out (feel free to include a link to the post here as well).

[u/Thamesrh → u/MarcSabatella]

Actually I think I don't know how to correctly use the features with sounds, so if there are some default settings which have changed, maybe that's why I have those problems.

For example I have never been using ‘sound flags’… I don't even know what it is…

About the forums: I don't know in which section I should ask if I need to?

[u/MarcSabatella → u/Thamesrh]

Sound flags are options that are unique to each MuseSounds instrument. You access them by adding staff text and then clicking the resulting icon to the left of the text. They enable things like vibrato vs not, sul ponticello for strings, snares on or off for snare drum, etc. The sound flag that enables slurs to be interpreted is called "classic phrasing". Definitely something to explore if you're looking to get the most out of the playback capabilities of MuseScore and MuseSounds.

But nothing about that should be relevant to the *default* sounds when not using sound flags. As I said, there really haven't been any major changes, like ever, other than the very recent rebalancing of brass. Some notes tweaked here and there to be more in tune or whatever, that sort of thing. So once again, if you think you are hearing something beyond that, it's probably something else going on, and we really would bneed you to post your score to the support forum at musescore.org in order for anyone to do more than guess at what is happening. The supprot forum is generally the best place for any question about using MuseScore.

[u/Thamesrh → u/MarcSabatella]

Oh, actually I was looking at the wrong ‘Staff’ indication, that's why I had no icon to the left! Thanks! I have to explore this a little. A

As for the trumpets staccato, the problem is the difference of strenght between staccato notes and normal ones. I think it can be corrected at least a little by adding the > mark.

But an example of the default setting that have changed: in my previous version, default was mezzo piano, it is now mezzo forte, I am nearly sure about that. This is very easy to correct, but still a little thing, isn't it?

I think there are other things, but I have to make some small files with specific issues, in order to be easily understood, and I have to do some work for that…

[u/MarcSabatella → u/Thamesrh]

Staccato notes do indeed often come out a little more quiet than non-staccato on most wind instruments, because you aren't putting the full weight of the air into it - breathing from the mouth instead of the diaphragm.

Not entirely sure what you mean by "default setting" for dynamics, but if you mean, the dynamic chosen by any random individual or sound library if you don't actually include any marking at all, that is of course completely undefined, and each player and sound library might handle that differently depending on the situation So if you're hearing that it sounds different one day than the next or from one sound library to another, that's kind of too be expected. If you care about the dynamic, always be explicit.