Song writing software?

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  • #22076
    lisadmh
    Participant

    Is there any good software out there to help with song writing? Free or cheap?

    My writing is terrible chicken scratch of tabs. I could figure out how to write the notes on a staff with great effort, but the big issue is that I can’t figure out the time signature of my new song and I’m wondering if software could help. I suspect I have some timing errors that I may or may not want to fix. Or maybe I’ve got syncopation in there? I dunno, but the metronome doesn’t like my new song very much.

    That aside, with for original songs under my belt, maybe it’s time to take it to the next level and figure out how to write them up.

    Any suggestions?

    #22077
    lisadmh
    Participant

    I should add that I’m hardware challenged at the moment and ideally on Android.

    #22079
    robinboyd
    Participant

    I use Power Tab Editor for Windows. You need to fiddle with the settings to make it work for ukulele, though. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it is free.

    #22081
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    I use Guitar Pro 7.5. It’s great and worth the $.

    #22082
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Another note: In the past I’ve used Sibelius – but it’s for much more serious composing (think multi-instrument). And it was very nice. Other peers have used Finale – which has a very steep learning curve.

    I’d go for GP7 if I were you.

    #22087
    lisadmh
    Participant

    Thanks guys. I’m check out guitar pro. There are lots of negative reviews for the last Android version but I don’t see other Android options. It’s gotta work. 🎶

    #22090
    lisadmh
    Participant

    I downloaded it and it’s a hoot! I was worried that I didn’t have a challenge this month as I was already good with my song but this is a whole new level.

    I can’t seem to change the time signature part way through on Android, which is a problem because I’m pretty sure I switch from 34 to 44 and back a couple of times. At least I can get the notes down. Thanks!

    #22092
    lisadmh
    Participant

    Update for anyone who’s interested in the guitar pro Android app, it’s cheap and had limited functionality but it works well. The biggest limitation at this point is that you can’t export to PDF. You need to send the gp file to desktop guitar pro to get a PDF, which i won’t be able to do. I can still use it in the software though.

    The standard notation also comes out an octave high. Not sure if I can change that at this point.

    You also can’t change time signatures part way through.

    However, it let me play around with note values and I managed to figure out that I am legitimately in 4/4 time all the way through. I had dotted quarters that were throwing me off. Who’d of thought I could write a song with dotted quarters??

    Even though I’m just messing around with almost no theoretical knowledge, it helped me understand my song and is helping me refine it. And I now have an on screen tab viewer for my very own song! A morning well spent.

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