Muse Sounds: solo strings play with portamento effect

[MarcSabatella]

Describe the bug
The solos strings seem to always play with a "portamento" effect, sliding from note to note rather than playing cleanly. Except Violin 2; it sounds normal.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Enter any passage involving leaps for solo strings (violin 1, viola, or cello)
2. Play using Muse Sounds
3. Hear error: many notes are played with a scoop or glissando or other portamento effect

Expected behavior
Each note should be played cleanly

Platform information

• OS: Windows, Linux

Here is a sample (made on Windows):

https://watch.screencastify.com/v/WCJ1bvsig8VP1n88Qk9i

[MarcSabatella]

@Tantacrul - this is the effect we heard on my "Music Master Class" theme music (https://musescore.com/user/2975/scores/6663686), but it's easily reproducible in any score.

[bobjp]

FWIW, I like this effect. But it isn't always appropriate. Perhaps a switch to toggle it off and on would be nice.

[wizofaus]

Is the idea of the MuseSounds library that it's "smart" enough to know when portamento would be appropriate though?
Actually I can't even really tell any difference between how it plays back if you explicitly add a gliss with playback style portamento between two notes in a rising sequence - falling there might be a slight difference? I will say it does sound like quite realistic and musical portamento playing in some cases, but my preference would be for it not to occur unless you've added a gliss marking (as I've noted elsewhere the "default" playback mode for glissandi for strings should be portamento anyway).
For fast passages (e.g. 4 string arpeggios etc.) it sounds quite nuts!

[MarcSabatella]

At first I thought maybe this was a deliberate effect - in some cases where two notes are played on a single string with a single bow, a slight portamento does happen. But if that's what is happening here, it's way overdone. I'm willing to be it's just somehow the wrong samples being played.

[wizofaus]

But it's not just a sample, because the portamento is relative to the previous note, and for any interval over an octave it doesn't happen.
(Hah, try a passage in 16th notes at MM 120 that jump octaves like

)

[MarcSabatella]

FWIW, for anyone wanting to just hear the strings. I am finding the most effective workaround to be, add an accent to everything. Tenuto lessens the effect somewhat but it still sounds wonky. Presumably the real string sound will be more legato than I get with the accents, but it's a heck of a lot closer to being reasonable.

[MarcSabatella]

@Tantacrul - this should definitely be on the release list. Or if it was omitted deliberately because it has been determined to be too difficult to fix by release, I would recommend these sounds be removed until they can be fixed.

[alago197]

FWIW, I like this effect. But it isn't always appropriate. Perhaps a switch to toggle it off and on would be nice.

Me too...for the section strings, and for slow tempos, this portamento really really sounds wonderful! it's very expressive :-D . It would be so nice if somehow a toggle could be added, yes.

[MarcSabatella]

This became very much improved a week or so ago, but it's not entirely there yet. See for example this score: https://musescore.com/user/2975/scores/8955661/s/f8Kbku?share=copy_link, and the violin 1 part in measure 15. The arpeggio in the first three notes is not articulated cleanly unless I add explicit articulations like staccato or sforzato, which of course I shouldn't need to do. Even if there was meant to be a little portamento to capture some human realism, I would note it wouldn't actually happen in real life here, because the A and E are both open strings.