Muse Sounds instruments playback range is too small - summary for developers

This is the summary of #13894, which has become an unwieldy discussion, digressing to not directly related topics.

(Read "must" and "should" as "someone said that … must/should …". Check out the linked "source" comments for relevant motivation (really useful info, sometimes).)

Describe the bug
For the following Muse Sounds instruments, their playable range is considered too small:

• Woodwinds:

  • Piccolo:
    • During note input, there are samples for A7-C8 concert pitch, but during playback, they do not play [source]
  • Flute 1 & 2: [source]
    • Bottom: B3 desired (standard these days)
    • Top: F-G7 (there is a handful of pieces using these notes but it's still a rare occurrence)
  • Clarinet in Bb stops at D6 (concert pitch)
    • Db3 (concert pitch) is missing, which is the bottom note for A clarinet, for which the Bb clarinet sound is often used as a replacement, because there is no A clarinet; some Bb clarinets have extensions to play notes that low [source]
    • At the top, someone wants C7 at least; has even seen G7 [source]
  • Clarinet in Eb stops at G6 but C7 should be fine [source]
  • Bass Clarinet stops at concert Bb4, but should go up to G5 [source]
  • Oboe stops at F6 (A6 would be more reasonable) [source]
  • English horn stops at concert G5, B5/C6 is the current "professional" standard, and getting to D6 is possible (you can go up to F6 but that's nowhere near usable) [source] [source 2]
  • Bassoon stops at A4 D5 nowadays [source]
    • Some people would like even higher though, up to Bb5 [source]
    • See also this comment: https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/13894#issuecomment-1895992967
  • Contrabassoon goes up to Eb4, while very good players can reach up to Eb5 [source]
  • #15458
  • Bass saxophone wanted [source 1] [source 2]
  • General comment: "I know for wind instruments at least, there is no hard limit to how high you can go, it just gets harder, so realistically, the best solution would just be to pitch the samples up." [source]

• Brass:

  • Trumpet stops at C6 (concert); jazz players regularly play up to F6 and sometimes beyond. [source]
    • And doesn't go below F3 [source]
    • Someone says 'classical' trumpet must definitely go above D [source]
  • French horn
    • Top: is concert F5, should be concert A5/Bb5 [source]
      • Other users say ideally even C6 [source]
    • Bottom: is concert C2, should be concert F1 (theoretically, the lowest possible note is B0, but no one known who can play below concert Eb1, and notes from concert F1 and below are too weak/difficult to use) [source]
  • Trombones: [source]
    • Bass trombone should be able to go down to Bb0
    • Tenor trombone should be able to go down to C1 (They're easily able to access pedal tones)
      • But now it goes all the way from C0 to C7, not sure if that's intentional?
    • Bass trombone & tenor trombone should share the same upper range, basically unlimited, but at least up to Eb5
  • Tuba:
    • stops at C4 but C5 is wanted [source]
    • at the bottom, it would be B♭0 for professional; E1 for amateur [source] [source 2]
  • Cimbasso: should also go below E1 [source] [source 2]
  • Euphonium proposed range: E1 to F6 [source]
  • Someone is requesting the ranges of Trumpet a4, Horn a6, & Trombone a3 to be expanded to match the corresponding solo instruments (Trumpet, Horn in F, & Trombone respectively)

• Voices:

  • The ranges for each of SATB are considered somewhat small [source]
  • In many scores, for example Soprano and Alto are notated on one staff and therefore share a mixer channel; Muse Sounds should ideally provide just "Women" and "Men" sounds that cover the whole range by mixing/layering Soprano and Alto or Tenor and Bass, and ideally also a full "Choir" sound that covers everything by mixing all four voices [source]
  • Problems for baritons: some notes too low for tenors, others too high for basses; this would be solved by a "Men" sound [source]
  • See also this comment

• Strings:

  • Violin 1 (solo) stops at B6

    • (also, as reported in #14080 (comment), the A6 sounds a bit flat, so sounds out of tune)

  • Violin 2 (solo) stops at C7

  • Viola stops at C6 (Both solo and section), some repertoire like barber's adagio for strings (and more) asks for a Db6

  • Cello (solo) stops at G5 F6; B6 is desired [source]

    • See also this comment about flageolets/harmonics: https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/19190#issuecomment-1695009616
    • Many of the col legno notes aren't playing back on the MuseSounds solo cello [source]

  • Cello (section) stops at F#5 F6; would be great if that could be extended at least to G5 to match the solo cello and preferably beyond

  • Contrabasses stop at concert G3, not sure about the standard range either but maybe getting to a C4 would be better. [source]

• Keyboards:

  • Harpsichord only goes from Bb1 to Bb5; G1 to F6 is required in some harpsichord music [source]
  • Vibraphone: is F3-F6, but C3-C7 is desired since 4-octave vibraphones are becoming more popular [source]
  • Timpani: should go up to C4 instead of A3 because 20-inch timpani can go this high [source]
  • Glockenspiel: should be C5-D8 because many extended glockenspiels do exist and are used [source]

• Guitars:

  • Top: G#7 desired, or at the very least E7 [[source]] https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/13894#issuecomment-1950920187
    • Currently at 20th fret (C7) while some guitars have 23 or even 24 frets (E7)
    • Also, harmonics can easily go beyond C7; for example natural harmonic on 1st string 5th fret = E7 and on 1st string 4th fret = G#7

• More special requests (maybe somewhat niche)

  • 108 key grand piano
  • Flute: low Bb (and maybe even a few notes below) [source]
  • For several double reed instruments, extensions exist: [source]
    • Oboe: models with built-in "Low A"
    • English horn: detachable extra piece of wood between the lower body and the bell that gives you a "Low Bb" by deleting the low B natural because it just extends the same mechanism
    • Bassoon: Built-in "Low A" models and extensions made of random materials [source 2]
      • People mention that the Low A replaces the low Bb, so perhaps the low Bb should be silenced in that case or MuseScore should inform the user about it, just like when using notes on Harp that can't be played using the current pedal configuration [source]
  • Vocal Fry and the Subharmonic range, making people's voices sound an octave+ lower than they truly are [source]

Users say unanimously that they would prefer anything like pitch-shifted, borrowed or inferior samples over no samples at all.

@ Users: got something to add or correct? Please comment at #13894 or create a new issue, and I will link it here. Conversation is locked here to keep the life of the developers easy :)