Your hearing is fine! When you export from MuseScore, are you exporting MIDI or audio ? I assume.MIDI, but since your audio samples are different tempos, i thought i would ask.
I am exporting both the audio and MIDI, the audio is the first file, and the MIDI is imported in Ardour and is the second file, and for the tempos part that you just edited right now, they are different because it didn’t import the tempo, which is because of this:
Here it is in the Vital synth (ear rape warning):
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ry7byo9csymza08edlfyb/Vital.wav?rlkey=ny1x5txryfsru39p6wgqm28br&dl=0
@seablade , I listened to those again and they felt the same, the Ardour and the Logic one. Strange?
This is likely what @Majik was referring to. Our brain loves to screw with us. I was discussing this thread on IRC, and covered this so I will just copy and paste here(Slightly edited):
Everyone has this happen to them, and is one of the lessons I teach my students. It is also a nice thing built into Mixbus that I don’t often see that the moment you adjust a control it enables the EQ, or compressor, so that you don’t fall victim to this as often.
For more proof of this, see this video (Particularly the first 10 minutes)
Also something I require my students to watch:)
Seablade
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And for the record I just ran a quick test in Logic, two different exports, exact same material, exact same settings, do not null, but with some sample nudging I can at least hear that there is destructive interference happening. As I suspected there is a degree of randomness in the synth output from what I see that means this isn’t going to happen.
I tested this as well with two different instances of Odin2 on two different tracks with the same MIDI file and was even less able to null the outputs, I will let people draw their own conclusions on that one:)
Seablade
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@seablade Great Video! This and the Monty Montgomery ‘Digital Show and Tell’ one should be mandatory viewing before people are allowed to Download Ardour… 
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And strangely enough, both are required viewing in my classes:)
Seablade
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Before or after the students download Ardour?
Can’t it be both?
Actually no, I teach them on Mixbus, starting this year 32c. The course is an introductory course that is focused on teaching the basics, ear training, basic tools for mixing (Pan, EQ, Dynamics, Reverb/effects, etc.) and things like signal flow and gain staging. But this is getting off topic a bit, so I am going to warn myself that if it needs to continue I need to make a new thread:)
Seablade
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Have you tried to change to other instruments ? The Rhodes EP has a very soft timbre to it. Using ‘Harpsichord’ within MuseScore2, it was very dissonant and unpleasant to listen to, similar to your examples for Vital and Odin.
I imported your MIDI file into MuseScore2, exported the Audio into Ardour, imported your MIDI into Ardour, and played them side by side, literally one panned slight left, the other panned slight right. I could hear no tuning issues, but the dissonances that I hear that you may be hearing were emphasized with different instruments used on both channels of the MIDI file.
In Odin, try the PADS - Forever Young patch and see what you think.
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I also want to include this link about consonant and dissonant note selection, as I think this is what is really standing out when using the other instruments. I didn’t check them all, but there are some minor and major 2nds between and bass and treble. In the second note of the first measure, you have C#3 on the bass, and D5 on the treble. That is a minor second interval, which is dissonant by nature. As the intervals are spread apart by octave, they are slightly less dissonant sounding. For example, a C#3 and D3 played together will sound very dissonant and unpleasant. A C#3 and a D4 played together will not sound as unpleasant, but still dissonant.
Try this is MuseScore2 and take a listen:
A very good explanation is here :
https://www.earmaster.com/music-theory-online/ch05/chapter-5-3.html
Yeah it does sound a bit better but in a different way, but I don’t use these presets, as they are not for my type of music, I user real sounding instruments more or my own presets, I mainly do melody, which requires more pure instruments. I think some of the Odin2’s difference is from using the Unison at 6, setting the detune to higher made it better but not the same as the MuseScore one, I used MuseScore 4, not 2 with the Electric Piano with 100% reverb.
I don’t think dissonant is the problem, the MuseScore one sounds good, the bass is supposed to be just background, the whole Electric Piano is the background the main instruments are Saxophones in it. I only gave a small piece to focus on. It may still be useful for other purposes. Edit: I can use my ears for this and I do
OK, then have you tried using the different instruments and the level faders in Ardour for the bass clef and treble clef that are exported ?
I’ve not thoroughly read this whole thread and I’ve also not listened to the audio examples but a quick scan through has really made me chuckle - I can’t believe how much time people have put into this.
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What I find remarkable, is that, thus far, I see not one single mention
of pitch bend. I had a similar problem, months ago, until I discovered
that my pitch bends were exactly twice what I intended them to be.
Now, if we have no pitch bends at all, then MIDI implies that the tuning
shall be 12EDO, which has a host of problems, most of which will sound
differently depending on the timbre.
flyx says he mainly does melody, with “pure”(?) instruments,
and I commend him for that, but that’s where you’d expect
to maximize the subtler differences between tunings.
By pure I mean that, it doesn’t do any fancy more time dependent stuff, and keeps the pitch pure to what it’s given as in synths, you can have crazy envelopes and unions, which can affect pitch, or the envelope is too slow, or have sequences. Think of 8 bit music.
Lowering the volume for the bass, which is what I think you mean by level faders still makes it sound bad, it’s mostly off pitch not combination of notes, I don’t think different instruments will work if it still sounds like that but if I try to change the instruments it refuses, and changes back, as it also says Rhodes Piano after importing it. I don’t know how to change that.
Except the measurements done by @seablade show that the pitches were identical on different DAWs…
Cheers,
Keith
Pitch check: very impressive!
We’re talking 12EDO, right?