Tutorial PDF

MUSESCORE 0.9.6.
3 Tutorial
HOW TO LOAD INSTRUMENT AND SOUNDFONT FILES
Created December 19, 2010
By Mike Schorsch
michael.schorsch@gmail.com
This tutorial is intended as a supplement to the documentation located at http://www.musescore.org
The “instrumentswithDL.xml” file and “TimGM6withDL.sf2” files shown in this tutorial are available for
download at “http://sites.google.com/site/mhsbulldogdrumline/composition/
This tutorial is not restricted by copyright. Please distribute or modify as required. Use at your own risk.
MUSESCORE 0.9.6.3 Tutorial
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 1 – BASIC NAVIGATION
PAGE 1 OF 9
SECTION 1
BASIC NAVIGATION
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with basic windows navigation (copy, paste, open folders). It
also assume that you have downloaded an installed Musescore Version 0.9.6.3. If you have not, please
obtain Version 0.9.6.3 from http://www.musescore.org
First, open the “Computer” folder and navigate to the “Musescore” folder. The path should be
something like:
C:/Progam Files(X86)/Musescore
The musescore folder should look like this:
“sound” Folder
“templates” Folder
Take note of the “Templates” folder and the “Sound” folder.

By Mike Schorsch
PAGE 2 OF 9
Open the “Templates” folder: it should look something like this:
This is where the instruments files are stored. Instrument files have an .xml extension. If you wish to
add an instruments file, be sure to copy it to this folder. In this tutorial, we have copied a file entitled
“instrumentswithDL.xml” to this folder.
By Mike Schorsch
PAGE 3 OF 9
Next, navigate back to the Musescore folder, and open the “Sound” folder. It should look something like
this:
This is where the soundfont files are stored. Soundfont files have a .sf2 extension. If you wish to add a
soundfont file, be sure to copy it to this folder. In this tutorial, we have copied a file entitled
“TimGM6withDL.sf2” to this folder.
Next, open Musescore. In order to make an instrument file and a soundfont file work, they must be
loaded into Musecscore. We will load the instrument file in SECTION 2.
END OF SECTION 1
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 2 – LOAD AN INSTRUMENT FILE
PAGE 4 OF 9
SECTION 2
LOAD AN INSTRUMENT FILE
When musescore opens, you should see the demo score. Go to the “edit” drop down menu and select
edit -> preferences. Then select a new instrument file as shown in the following steps.
Click “Edit”, then select

preferences. The “Preferences”
window will open.
Click this “Folder” icon to navigate to a

new “Instruments” file. A search
window will open, and it should default
to the C:/Progam Files
(X86)/Musescore/Templates path.
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 2 – LOAD AN INSTRUMENT FILE
PAGE 5 OF 9
Selected which “Instruments” file you

wish to use. This tutorial selected the
new file “instrumentswithDL.xml”
Once selected, click the “Open” button.
Then, click “Apply” and “Okay” in the

preferences window. Close and restart
Musescore.
Once you have selected an instruments file. Press the “apply” and “okay” buttons in the preferences
window. Then close and restart Musescore. The instruments file has now been loaded.
END OF SECTION 2
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 3 – LOAD SOUNDFONT FILE
PAGE 6 OF 9
SECTION 3
LOAD A SOUNDFONT FILE
Next, we will load the soundfont file.
When musescore opens, you should see the demo score. Go to the “display” dropdown menu and
select display -> synthesizer. Then select a new soundfont file as shown in the following steps.
Click “Display”, then select

“Synthesizer”. The
“Synthesizer” window will open.
Click this “Folder” icon to navigate to a

new “Soundfont” file. A search window
will open, and it should default to the
C:/Progam Files (X86)/Musescore/sound
path.
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 3 – LOAD SOUNDFONT FILE
PAGE 7 OF 9
Select which “Soundfont” file you wish

to use. This tutorial selected the new
file “TimGM6withDL.sf2”
Once selected, click the “Open” button.
Then, close the synthesizer window.

Close and restart Musescore.
Once you have selected a soundfont file, close and restart Musescore. The soundfont file has now been
loaded.
END OF SECTION 3
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 4 – SUMMARY
PAGE 8 OF 9
SECTION 4
SUMMARY
The next time you open Musescore, both the instrument file and the soundfont file will be loaded. In
this example, an instrument file called instrumentswithDl.xml was loaded, and a soundfont called
TimGM6withDL.sf2 was loaded. These files are variations on the standard instruments.xml, and
TimGM6.sf2 files: they have been modified to include marching percussion. Therefore, when you create
a new score, the instrumentswithDL.xml file will cause additional instruments to appear in the
instrument list:
The instrumentswithDL.xml file

tells Musescore to display the
marching percussion
instruments.
Since the soundfont file is compatible with the instrument list, then this will result in the synthesizer
processing a MIDI command that corresponds with the correct sound. In this example, selecting a tenor
drum note will play the correct tenor drum sound. If the two files are not compatible, then the
synthesizer will not play the correct sound, if it plays any sound at all!
By Mike Schorsch
SECTION 4 – SUMMARY
PAGE 9 OF 9
The instrumentswithDL.xml file also tells

musescore to load these notes, and which
sounds these note correspond to. The
TimGM6withDL.sf2 file makes those sounds
available to synthesizer, so you can hear the
correct sounds during playback!
END OF SECTION 4
END OF TUTORIAL

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MUSESCORE 0.9.6.

This tutorial is intended as a supplement to the documentation located at http://www.musescore.org

The musescore folder should look like this:

Take note of the “Templates” folder and the “Sound” folder.

Open the “Templates” folder: it should look something like this:

Click “Edit”, then select

Click this “Folder” icon to navigate to a

Selected which “Instruments” file you

Once selected, click the “Open” button.

Then, click “Apply” and “Okay” in the

Next, we will load the soundfont file.

Click “Display”, then select

Click this “Folder” icon to navigate to a

Select which “Soundfont” file you wish

Once selected, click the “Open” button.

Then, close the synthesizer window.

The instrumentswithDL.xml file

The instrumentswithDL.xml file also tells

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