Do you use songwriting software?

[magicfingers99]

Wow, my memory sucks. I wouldn't remember good lyrics I'd come up with 10 minutes after I thought of them.

what were we talking about again???

 

[magicfingers99]

here's something for you sinclair spectrum owners...

 

[Beachbum]

All I can't write is what I've lived and I don't seem to remember any computers at my side during all those times of love, heartbreak, elation, depression, highs and hangovers that have defined my life. No thanks technology I think I'll just manage this one on my own.

 

[chulaivet1966]

So, do any of you use software as an assistant or crutch for your songwriting.

No....I haven't.....and wouldn't.
It just doesn't feel right to me.

I just use my pen, yellow legal pad, the same 40 year old clip board and my (sometimes, too slow moving) imagination.
Yes...the process can be frustrating and agonizingly slow to put a song all together to our personal satisfaction.
Oh well....even song writing has it's cost.

I'm old....and feel doing it the old way is more creatively rewarding/enjoyable and sense it as more of my product....however unknown to the masses it will be.

To each their own.

 

[Dukex]

I didn't know that kind of software existed...yet, but about 20 years ago I envisioned that it would.

No, I write in my head...and with pen and paper. I love writing songs, and I can't not do it. It is a joyful process for me.

 

[jvin248]

.


About 3:40min in this video the story of capturing lyrics for Aerosmith's Toys In the Attic "A hooker would ask you a question and that became a lyric"






.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

After I'm done with all the pen-and-paper scribbling and crossing-out and chucking and rewriting and so on, I type them out using the Pages program that comes standard on Macs. And if I'm going to email a song to someone, I use Adobe Acrobat to make a PDF.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I didn't know that kind of software existed...yet, but about 20 years ago I envisioned that it would.

No, I write in my head...and with pen and paper. I love writing songs, and I can't not do it. It is a joyful process for me.

Exactly the same here. Joyful, relaxing, and engrossing, all at once.

Even when I'm not sitting down to write one (which I haven't had much time for lately), there's something snowballing around in my head.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Wow, my memory sucks. I wouldn't remember good lyrics I'd come up with 10 minutes after I thought of them.

Ditto. They fly around my head and out my ears and nostrils. To catch 'em, I have to be sitting down with pen, paper, and instrument.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

what were we talking about again???

Software. In my case, the software in my mushy brain.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

No - I do have a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus. Can’t remember using either.

I hate those things. They just slow you down.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I may be old fashioned, but to me the idea of using software to create lyrics or music (or both) to write a song seems wrong. I don't even have a rhyming dictionary.

I can envisage someone winning a songwriting competition with a song that has been written by software. I can also envisage (if it hasn't already happened) the population singing along to popular songs written by software. . . .

I work in a national chain store. All the piped-in music sounds like it was written by a computer. It makes my head explode, so I offered to bring in some CDs once. The manager said no, the company picks music calibrated to inspire people to spend.

But it might be backfiring. We're closing a lot of stores these says, so I think the music is really just inspiring people to go home and shop Amazon.

 

[soundchaser59]

No - I do have a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus. Can’t remember using either.

I've only recently realized that the thesaurus is a lyric writer's best friend.

I have a friend I do online collabs with. He said one time two different people from two different countries each sent him a music bed so he could put vocals to it. The two people don't know each other and have no connection to each other whatsoever. The two music tracks were identical. They each coincidentally used the same music creation software, and each claimed to have written the tune of their own volition as an original composition.

 

[Digital Larry]

It's not quite the same thing, but all of the included content/loops that come with programs like Ableton Live are so built up that I imagine whole categories of songs different people wrote using the exact same thing. Somewhat fun and self defeating all at the same time.

 

[teletimetx]

It's enough just trying to keep up with the music in my head. the search for lyrics is the mystery for me. I don't think software of some kind would make sense to me. The lyrics mean something. That search is part of the deal. The real mystery is then making the meaning work for other people, so they can feel like the song is talking to them.

That's the theory for me, anyway.

I don't see anything wrong at all with using a dictionary or a thesaurus or a rhyming dictionary. I have them around; don't use them much, but I like having them around.

Everybody gots to find their own way.

 

[fretWalkr]

For me, songwriting software would end up being fritter-ware. Fritter-ware fools you by giving you the ability to tweak endlessly until you finally realize how much time you've wasted without producing anything of value.

Keef said, "every song is a gift and a puzzle." You really just have to do it... develop ideas (the gift), and figure out how to take an idea to a completed song (the puzzle). Instead of having an app walk you thru the process, I think time is better spent learning the craft: song forms (verse/chorus/bridge and their variations), lyric forms (couplets, meter, rhyme schemes), shaping melodies and chord progressions.

I have used an online thesaurus a few times to make a rhyme but I don't think I actually used anything I found. Really, the only software I've found useful is one that replaces the notebooks, journals, and sticky notes I used to fill with song ideas. I've dropped that approach to using a note pad app called Evernote. It lets me do the same thing using my phone, tablet, or pc. When I get an idea or hear a line I like, I can jot it down where ever I am. Then I edit until I'm satisfied. I also use a simple recorder on my phone to capture snippets of music when I play something that catches my ear. Also DAW and notation software but that comes into play after the writing is done.

 

[kbold]

Also DAW and notation software but that comes into play after the writing is done.

yes .... I consider these a part of the production process rather than the creative process of songwriting. I think there are many useful software and hardware tools to help in the production stage.

 

[johnnylaw]

No.
A soft cushion in the chaircan help though.

 

[popthree]

Microsoft had some wacky concept SW a dozen or so years ago...there are some amusing videos on youtube where prople have done funny things with it using popular songs. I will try to find it.

 

[popthree]

Ah yes....