Muse Sounds -> Muse Strings contain too much portamento

[adavismusic89]

Your idea

The Muse Sounds fonts for the string instruments utilizes too much portamento in the sound. While a composer may want portamento to be a part of the sound, string performers work extremely hard to eliminate portamento from their playing. The use of portamento is supposed to be an occasional effect used for emphasis, not a consistently used technique. The sound is not consistent to real-life applications.

Problem to be solved

The extreme use of portamento makes the string sound font unusable in nearly all works and styles. Only pieces that require the use of a "string pad" sound may be able to use this. The sound is not indicative of how string performers would perform on their instrument. The only alternative is to use the MS Basic sound or download fonts from other developers.

Prior art

No response

Additional context

No response

[Fristover]

Duplicate of #14464 (kinda).

[DaddyLudwig]

Also related to #13878

[scorster]

Related to https://musescore.org/en/node/358910

[bkunda]

This is a known issue and has received considerable discussion in other tickets and on the forum.
The short answer is that the current portamento effects are by design, and are a part of how the instrument has been sampled. As such, we can't expect any changes to the existing libraries.

[adavismusic89]

If this is a problem for other users and the sound is not indicative of how the instruments are played, then how can this be marked as not planned or will not be fixed?

[scorster]

@adavismusic89>> If this is a problem for other users and the sound is not indicative of how the instruments are played, then how can this be marked as not planned or will not be fixed?

Right. To paraphrase: The portamento flaw is baked into the samples. Therefore development doesn't plan to update the existing libraries.

The part not mentioned—that we'd hoped to hear—is if MuseSounds plans to learn from the Solo Violin mistakes and create a new Solo Violin library: one that eliminates the preponderance of portamento, and adheres to normal and appropriate articulations, while making various articulations governable via sound flags—or whatever the plan is for articulation properties. Ideally any new string library achieve both flexibility and realism, especially for common singing articulations like legato and detaché.

Portamento is great as a spice. Scorists can add it occasionally by measured amounts to create realism.

The Solo Violin library is a HUGE step in the right direction, but it boggles the mind that it got out the door so hobbled with portamento.

[scorster]

Another frustrated Solo Violin comment on .org's forum

https://musescore.org/en/node/338161

[marczellm]

The short answer is that the current portamento effects are by design, and are a part of how the instrument has been sampled.

I think that design is wrong.

[Tritono]

I actually love the portamenti. True, they are not always automatically placed in the best places one might choose. But to me, they give expression and life to the mockups