Music And Songwriting Software Blog

For music and songwriting software posts and items related to songwriting - both craft and career - and updated page postings. From your friendly songwriter in residence, Robert Curtis.

Apr 10, 2008, Lyricist Now Works On Vista

Our number one selling lyric and lead sheet writing program Lyricist now works on the new Microsoft operating system Vista.

All new Microsoft based PCs now ship with Vista and of course currently in use PCs can be upgraded to Vista.

One cautionary note though; if you're considering buying a new computer and or upgrading check with your software vendors about whether all the programs you use will work in the Vista environment.

For a look at the Lyricist Vista instructional click on the link below.

Nov 8, 2007, Acoustica's Mixcraft Compared To Garage Band

More kudos for the Window's based Acoustica's Mixcraft music recording software - it was recently featured on the Windows to Apples blog as, in short, having the look, feel and much of the functionality of GarageBand. See more of the write up in the following quote.

"The primary application that I would find difficult to do without is GarageBand. Much to my relief, I have recently discovered an excellent Windows program with the look, feel and much of the functionality of GarageBand - it's Mixcraft.

Mixcraft, produced by Acoustica, ships with an impressive library of sounds, effects, loops as well as the ability to import and play my favorite import GarageBand AIF files.

The user interface and program design make it easy to transition from GarageBand. I am impressed.

Microsoft claims it is on an a mission to acquire technologies and companies. If they have not begun development of a competitor for GarageBand perhaps they should take a peek at Mixcraft.

Buy and bundle Mixcraft with Vista and throw in a dozen or so impressive effects and transitions to Windows Movie Maker."

Check out more about music recording software choices and further reference to Mixcraft on our Music Recording Software page linked below.

Jul 16, 2007, Band-in-a-Box 2007 Upgrade Now Here - It's So Big It's Been Renamed Band-in-a-Box 2007.5

Numerous upgrades have been made to the most recent version of Band-in-a-Box, the chord based program great for songwriters.

If you're not familiar, this program is great in creating full band arrangements from just the entering of the chords to your song - you simply just pick the style and it creates essentially a demo arrangement for you - just add your vocal.

To review all the main and new features I advise simply clicking to PG Music's main page (see link) and if you can take the time to watch the one hour demonstration video that walks you through the nuts and bolts of the program's primary features.

The biggest enhancement to the program is definitely the Real Drums feature. It utilizes actual recordings of pro players in all the styles of Band-in-a-Box and it's tempo sensitive too - to the tempo you set initially or may change it too - as you edit and fine-tune your song.

The Real Drums sound very impressive to my ears and I was taken right away on a quick listen, just through my laptop, from their online demo video.

You can elaborate on a Band-in-a-Box arrangement too by simply dumping the tracks into its sister sequencing program Power Tracks or your own sequencer.

Get all the nitty gritty details by clicking on the link.

May 31, 2007, Music Writing Program Workable On Macs And Windows For Under $100 US.

Our best selling music writing program is Play Music but it does not as yet work on Macs.

For those of you looking for a very good music writing program that's on the easier end of user operating and can work on a Mac as well as in Windows check out Ars Nova's Songworks II.

Also for a decent music writing program it's relatively cheap at under $100 - find a good buy on this at midiguy.com (see the link).

Apr 30, 2007, Guitar chord chart.

Guitar chord chart that is handier than any book or software program for guitar chords.

Mar 9, 2007, Robert Curtis, Songwriter In Residence and Your Personal Site Guide.

A brief introduction and biography of your site host and songwriter in residence Robert Curtis.

Jan 31, 2007, Band-in-a-Box 2007 Now Creates Chords For Your Melody

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: "Is there a program that will put chords to my melody?" And now I can say yes there is.

PG Music has created a feature in the latest release of their Band-in-a-Box program (2007) that does just that called the Reharmonist feature. Not only will it create a chord progression for you but if you don't like it you can re-create it or have it do or redo just part of your song, like your chorus, and keep the verse chord progression for example.

Also it can take an existing chord progression and enhance it - again it can be re-worked until you get the harmonic part (the chords) you like.

Check it out further at the PG Music site at the link below.

Nov 30, 2006, MasterWriter software to supercharge your songwriting.

MasterWriter songwriting software stimulates creativity lyrically and musically in your songwriting with supercharged songwriting tools.

Nov 2, 2006, Sell Your Songs Directly With SafeSell - Now Includes iPod Downloads

In the October issue of Songwriting Software Express I told you about a service that allows you to sell your songs as downloads directly from your site - via SafeSell.

At that time the files were Microsoft PC based and allowed iPod usage as well via a few hoops you had to jump through. However, SafeSell has just informed me that when a customer purchases a file they'll now be able to also get an iPod file as well of the purchased song beginning this month - November.

Essentially any songs that you may want to sell directly can now be played on most types of devices - mp3 players, PDAs, cell phones and the like and an iPod (see the SafeSell site link below for more specifics).

Oct 12, 2006, Proceed Cautiously With New Intel Macs - Re. Plugins

The new Intel chipped Macs may be great and the digital audio workstations (DAWs) like the commonly used Digital Performer and Logic have versions that work on the new Macs but there is one thing many may be overlooking - plugin adaptability to the new Macs.

Okay your DAW may work on the new Macs but what about your favorite plugins? For example a commonly used plugin is Atmosphere and as of this writing it can not work on the new Macs and when that will be is unclear.

The point is is that if you're considering upgrading to a new Intel based Mac make sure your favorite plugins will work or will have versions out shortly enough and affordably enough to your liking.

Happy recording.