Plans for the Play Panel

Revamp the Play Panel for MuseScore 4

No matter how I look at MS3's Play Panel it seems roughly cobbled together. I recommend a review of the design intent of MuseScore's Play Panel before reinstating it in MS4 and I recommend redesigning the Play Panel into a substantive and efficient Looping tool for composers, arrangers, and especially as a practice/educational tool for musicians and students.

Above all else—loops should play seamlessly from the loop-end back to the loop-start without any delay or timing issues ... AND without MuseSounds issues, like fade-in on the loops initial note. Smooth looping was "iffy" in MuseScore 3, but I've almost never had MuseScore 4 play loops smoothly without glitches and issues like fade in at each interaction, and this includes versions up thru MS 4.5.2.

Delays have been a longstanding issue in MS3 and MS4 and many users have reported timing issues when playing loops. Here's a recent disussion which I assume involves the most recent releases of MS4:

      https://musescore.org/en/node/375637

I've posted some ideas about improving the Play Panel features on .org's issue tracker and forum.

If others on Github express interest I'll gladly update the v3 Issue Tracker post and consolidate points made there, combining them with addition observations, suggestions and requests, and post the result here.

Problem to be solved

The MS3 Play Panel mainly houses instances of controls found elsewhere in the UI:

• Play/Pause
• Rewind to Start
• the Loop Playback toggle
• a Playback Position slider—doesn't seem like a great feature, AND it doesn't work well.
• Count-in click toggle
• Metronome toggle
• Master Volume
• Metronome volume field and slider (you'd think we'd get those by double-clicking the Transport's Metronome icon, or via a right click contextual menu. And possibly the only MS3 control was in the Play Panel. Nicely MS4's mixer has a Metronome channel.)

That's a nice collection but, as you'll see,I envision it becoming more robust and working much better

In all, MS4's Play Panel houses ONLY two features not found elsewhere in the app:

• Tempo Override
• the flag buttons—which are essentially superfluous because the user can more reliably define the selection by performing a range selection in the score.

So really v4's Play Panel ONLY offers the Tempo Override ... but this feature is only accessible by undocking the Playback from the tool bar, with the result of wasting screen real estate. (As mentioned, MS4 has Metronome volume control via a Mixer channel.)

I'd like to see the Play Panel made worthy of undocking (i.e. returned to its previous Panel status) and house more transport controls, like standard transport/locator options never implemented in MuseScore.

A new design intent specification would surely benefit from a review of some of the Play Panel issues and requests discussed on .org. Here's another search.

Requested enhancements: The addition of new Play Panel "Study Guide" features would aid students in practicing. It would also attract to MuseScore educators and students who wish to use such features.

Examples of existing study guide software

Transcribe (seventhstring.com) has strong looping features. I can provide a concise screencast that demonstrates

MakeMusic has made large efforts in the direction music practice, but having never used it, I can't report on its efficacy.

Study Guide Mockup

Here's a mockup of a Play Panel study guide. The example shows Measure 7 selected (and therefore looping during playback). The student can click to move to another section in the list. Or if the student selected an Automated Study Guide then the Play Panel serves up the loops as designated by the scorist or an instructor, playing them in a particular order, for a certain number of iterations, possibly with increase levels of tempo, followed by review regimes:

     

And when the tempo reaches three to four notes per second the "script" could overlay an opaque rectangle atop the looped notation, or make it otherwise not readable. This means that once the speed is sufficient to established the memorization in working (short term) memory the script requires the student to play by heart. And looping by heart at three to four notes per second produces long term memory. A system like this teaches memorization techniques, it can escort students through various approaches, and encourages students to adopt effective practice techniques due to rewards naturally and reliably garnered.

Another option: Toggle sound output every other time through the loop. This would test the players ability to maintain time, and allow them to hear their instrument "soloed."

scorster

The issue does not name files, tests, or entry points. Start by reviewing the existing MS4 Play Panel, its looping and playback behavior, and the linked forum and issue-tracker discussions. A contribution would need an agreed design scope and measurable completion criteria for seamless looping and any study-guide features.