[SUGGESTION] Add MP3 playback for transcription

[lthoerner]

Hey, I had another idea. I've been having a lot of trouble getting the correct timings when transcribing pieces with variable tempos. Because Musescore playback is often not instant after clicking/pressing the play button - except, for some reason, at the start of a score - I have had to resort to playing an audio file in another window, and trying to click the play button at the perfect moment. This wastes a lot of time, as I have to start from the very beginning of the track to make sure everything is lined up correctly (due to the aforementioned playback issue).

So, is it possible to add a feature where I can add in a track that simply can be played along with the other parts (much like just another instrument)? This would save hours of my time and I feel like it's one of those things that people would love but wouldn't realize that they needed initially. I'd be happy to hear what you guys have to say. Thanks!

[GabeS573]

A feature like this could also be extended to include playback of audio samples in a score — for example, in marching band field shows, which often include audio samples.

[jsm222]

If you are on Apple you can have a look here, https://github.com/jsm222/MuseScore/releases/tag/v0.0.1-em for a simple implementation... The code is here master...jsm222:external-media..

[lthoerner]

I'm not on Apple, but did you literally just implement the feature I asked for? If so you're an absolute chad

[jsm222]

Thanks, yes more or less some things are missing though. If you do a loop, boundaries are not adhered to by the external media, and the volume should probably be adjustable.. And probably some other missing features. But it is a proof of concept/starting point.. Just note that on Linux the first playback of the external media starts late, but stop rewind and play, the sound starts timely.

[cbjeukendrup]

Nice experiment! I don't expect though that your branch will be merged 'as is'. Mainly because we don't want to add another Qt module as a dependency. But also because this feature should be implemented in a much higher layer of the playback engine. See mu::audio::SoundTrack in src/framework/audio/internal/worker/track.h. It looks like a lot of groundwork for this feature is already in place.

[jsm222]

It sure does, it seems AudioStream::loadFille could do some tricks, and that would probably put the external media track into the mixer as well. I will have a look at it..

[jsm222]

master...jsm222:external-wav is a stub that starts implementing for wav only. Place a file in your home called mscoretest.wav and it playes a long with the other instruments. loop and seek supported. Playback starts right away, and I have not found a way to stop or mute it.. I do not really understand the event system yet, or the in and output params fully, but it is a starting point. To convert from mp3 do for instance
ffmpeg -i test.mp3 -f wav -acodec pcm_f32le -ar 48000 -ac 2 ~/mscoretest.wav

[lunabunn]

bump. Ideally this would come with two features:

• Volume adjustment, as mentioned above
• Playback offset in case the audio file isn't "on beat"