musescore / musescore/MuseScore

'Audio device -> System default' should update sample rate appropriately when system audio device changes

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@RomanPudashkin is already working on this.

Since Apr 24, 2026.

P1 playback regression MS3
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Description

Issue type

General playback bug

Description with steps to reproduce
  1. Connect two devices with a different sampleRate to your Windows computer (e.g. default built-in speaker and bluetooth headphones set to Headset)
  2. Open MuseScore 4
  3. Edit -> Preferences -> Audio & MIDI -> make sure Audio device is set to System default -> OK
  4. Play some notes
  5. Change the output audio device in Windows (in the Windows taskbar, click on the speaker icon and change the speaker, e.g. from built-in speaker to headset)
  6. Play the same notes again

Actual result

The notes are played at a different pitch (approximately semi-tone difference between 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz; a huuuge difference between 48 kHz and 16000 Hz). It appears the duration of notes also gets changed.

Expected result

Changing the output device within Windows should not affect the playback pitch and speed.

Supporting files, videos and screenshots

sampleRate.mscz.zip

The MuseScore4 audio settings in question look like the following screenshot (there is no "Audio API" option).
Image

It appears the MuseScore-Studio-Nightly-260424045-4.7-a2af04c-x86_64 adds the Audio API option. In Nightly, I still had "System default" selected. It appears switching between 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz is fixed in Nightly, but not switching to 16 kHz (Headset) – this one plays an octave lower.

In which versions of MuseScore Studio is this issue present?

OS: Windows 10 Version 22H2 or later, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore Studio version (64-bit): 4.6.5-253511702, revision: github-musescore-musescore-653f38d

Regression

Yes, this used to work in MuseScore 3.x and now is broken

Operating system

Windows 10

Additional context

Note: MuseScore3 has a different behaviour: changing the output device does not automatically change it. You have to Reset the audio devices for changes to take effect. Then there's no pitch issue. Switching between Headphones and Headset (same device, different profile) can be performed without restting and works without affecting the pitch.

Checking the sample rate

Windows 10: Settings -> System -> Sound -> Device properties -> Related Settings: Additional Device Properties -> Advanced -> Default Format

Checklist
  • This report follows the guidelines for reporting bugs and issues
  • I have verified that this issue has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar issues
  • I have attached all requested files and information to this report
  • I have attempted to identify the root problem as concisely as possible, and have used minimal reproducible examples where possible

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Open the contributing guide

First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Assessment

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