Song Book Software - Mac

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Permalink Reply by Mark Thomas Wolf on June 15, 2012 at 4:08pm

On that note is there a freeware or at least inexpensive software for chord recognition?  In other words, you place the chord shape on a chord chart and the program tells you the name of the chord (if it exists of course)

Permalink Reply by Lee Copp on June 15, 2012 at 6:20pm

Hey Mr. Wolf,

Actually I was interested in building a library of song sheets (lyrics and chords) that would be accessible on and off line (pdfs / paper). Reviews for music - chords recognition software seems mostly negative.

Permalink Reply by Denny Baer on June 20, 2012 at 9:10am

Check out this web site: http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
It does exactly what you want and then some. Lower right corner are links to save the chords and also to view inversions of the chord. You place markers on the fret/ string you want, even move a capo, then click search and the name of the chord will display. There is a "strum" button to hear what the chord sounds like.

Permalink Reply by Terry Angelli on October 16, 2012 at 4:49am

Mark there are "reverse" chord finders on the web where you place the dots on the fretboard and it tells you what the chord is. Here's one I found after a google search: http://www.gootar.com/guitar/

Permalink Reply by Lee Copp on June 15, 2012 at 6:28pm

Ok, I spent several hours today tracking down the alternatives for the Mac universe, and here is my solution. This is probably the 3rd time I have researched this issue and it is nice to bring it to ground.

Goals:
  1.  Be able to store chord / lyric files in a non-proprietary Format (ChordPro)
  2. Allow input in 2-line format
  3.  Be able to transpose to new key.
  4.  Display in a 2 column Format
  5.  View Files in 2 line format (chords above words)
  6.  Create PDF / HTML /RTF output  (note in Mac environment, if you can print, you can save to pdf)
  7.  Software must run in Mac environment
  8. Be able to store results in Evernote for quick / easy reference


Honorable Mentions - Self contained software
 ChordPro Buddy - Apple Store - $10
   * Pros
      * In active Development
      * Great looking, tunable single column output
      * Great Printing capability
      * Can display scrolling screen view
      * Can import ChordPro format
   * Cons
      * Saves in a proprietary format.
      * Single Column
      * Only simple editing of ChordPro source.
      * Does not accept 2 line format files

Songsheet Generator - a program for easily printing and displaying song sheets,
http://tenbyten.com/software/songsgen/     Donation-ware

   * Pros
      * In active Development
      * Great looking, tunable single column output
      * Great Printing capability
      * Can display scrolling screen view
      * Can import ChordPro format
   * Cons
      * No built in editor, can use textedit. I couldnt use external java editor
      * Song books not really suited for my needs (would be great for worship service)
      * Songbooks are in proprietary format


The Winning Solution - It takes Two


1. Chordsmith 2.6 - http://www.statistics101.net/chordsmith/   - under active development. Giftware. Java application

   * Transpose to any key (nicely implemented)
   * Convert Song Sheets to/from ChordPro
   * Saves file in 2-line or ChordPro

>>This is needed to capture 2 line format (like from Ultimate Guitar Archives) and convert it to the ChordPro Format.

Basic editing is possible in 2-line or ChordPro Format. No fancy printing or displaying, but that is ok it does the conversion job required.


2. Chord 4 Beta 2 - http://sourceforge.net/projects/chord4/files/chord4/beta2/
This is legacy software 12/2002 . Postcard-ware
Developed by a couple of Sun Microsystem programers in the late 90's.

   * ChordPro input / output format
   * Prints multi-column
   * Well implemented  ChordPro directives and editing
   * Geared toward "simple" paper style songbooks which may be saved as PDF files (includes index)
   * Can include chord grids.
   * Can also do transposition, but not quite as slick as Chordsmith.

3. Browse, view PDFs from your file manager of choice.  Save and view them directly in Evernote

Let me know if you have any questions

Lee

Permalink Reply by Terry Angelli on October 18, 2012 at 6:03am

WOW! That took some effort on your behalf. Thanks for being so thorough with links, etc.