Masterwriter Songwriting Software
- Rhymes – The ultimate Rhyming Dictionary with over 100,000 entried, 36,000 Rhymed-Phrases, and the most comprehensive list of Close Rhymes ever created. Rhymes from our Pop-Culture Dictionary are also included.
- Word Families – A unique and revolutionary reference dictionary, that will open up a new world of possibilities for descriptive words and ideas.
- Parts of Speech – A comprehensive list of descriptive words, with various filters including alliterations, that allow you to be more specific.
- Synonym Finder – The only electronic version of the best thesaurus on the market.
- The American Heritage Dictionary – One of the most comprehensive dictionaries on the market.
MasterWriter 2.0 is the most powerful suite of songwriting tools ever assembled in one program. This revolutionary new software won Best of Show at MacWorld Expo and has received rave reviews in every major music magazine. MasterWriter is endorsed by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, NSAI and is currently used by some of the world’s leading songwriters including Gwen Stefani, Rob Thomas, David Foster, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Jimmy Webb, Kenny Loggins, Trent Reznor, and many more.
In addition to giving y
List Price: $ 228.90
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An ALMOST-perfect product, once you get used to its quirks,
At an ASCAP event two years ago, I heard Chris DuBois from SeaGayle Music rave about MasterWriter: how well it had helped organize him, how thrilled he was with how much it could do. I knew I had to check it out. Not only am I a songwriter, but until recently, my day job was designing software. I was, perhaps understandably, eager and enthusiastic to try out a songwriting application that promised so much.
MasterWriter lets you download a demo, so I did. After testing MasterWriter for several weeks, I came to the conclusion that it is almost a great product.
Unanswered Questions
I didn’t learn everything I wanted to about MasterWriter during the demo period, though. My lingering issues were:
– How scalable is the database, from a speed and size perspective? I entered 89 songs and noticed that the data file didn’t seem too much larger at 89 than it did at 26. But how about when I have hundreds or even thousands of songs? How much storage will I need to be able to backup the database once there are lots of songs?
– Couldn’t test the import and export song feature. I was curious to know how it behaved.
Positive Findings
There was definitely plenty to like about it.
– “Audio” tab with markers and integrated lyrics view is perhaps the best part of the program.
– Separate “Sketch” tab is a great idea.
– Groups, Style, and Status listings are generously designed. 20 user-definable fields each? That’s nearly overwhelming, but in a good way.
– Clearly very heavy emphasis on integrating tools such as rhyming dictionary.
– “Publishing” section (under “Song Info” tab) seems like it would be good for writers who co-write with lots of different people.
– “Songuard” tab is a good idea.
So… I Bit The $200 Bullet
I went ahead and purchased MasterWriter last year and have been using it heavily every day since. As for the questions I had from the demo, they’re looking more like non-issues: the database size, at over 500 songs, is not really significantly large, and the Import/Export Song feature rarely seems useful.
Remaining Issues & My Suggested Workarounds
I do have other negative findings, though:
– My single-biggest complaint: non-modifiable printed lyrics. It might have been OK not to be able to modify the template if the built-in template were a bit better thought-out. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to include contact information for the writers, and what writer wants to leave behind a lyric sheet with no contact information?
Workaround: I get around this by maintaining formal lyric sheets in a word processor template and just copy and paste from MasterWriter. Not exactly a streamlined process, but it works.
– My second-biggest complaint: not enough emphasis on the business side of songwriting. I want the ability to keep track of opportunities I’ve had with various songs; who’s heard which songs, etc — in a structured, searchable way.
Workaround: I get around this by maintaining a list in the Notes field for each song of the dates and people to whom I’ve pitched the song. I do the same in my Address Book application: everyone to whom I’ve pitched material has notes attached on what they’ve received and when. Again, it’s far from streamlined, but it works.
– The Song List view, even with Groups filter, seems a little simplistic for someone with hundreds of songs (or more).
Workaround: I make the best use of Groups I can, but sometimes I need to look through all songs at once, and it can be pretty overwhelming.
– With no visible cue to Save, it’s easy to forget. Disappointed that I was able to lose work by letting my computer go to sleep without having saved the changes. Either auto-save or prompt the user to save — at a minimum, include some visual cue like a button on the screen.
Workaround: I try to remember to save as often as possible.
– Very slow to load and to shut down.
Workaround: I leave it open almost all the time. On the plus side, it doesn’t consume an unreasonable amount of resources when it’s sitting idle.
– Fixed-width window is annoying. At 1024 x 768, a great deal of the horizontal screen real estate just sits empty to the right of the application window. At 1440 x 900 (which is how my 17″ Powerbook is set), the width of the application window appears pathetically small. I would really appreciate the ability to make better use of my screen real estate.
Workaround: None.
– No global preferences. Would like to be able to set a global preference for font in the lyrics, sketches, and other notes areas. Would still like to be able to change the font explicitly for each tab in each song, but also have the option in the global preference to override all fonts. Would like to be able to set a global preference…
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|An excellent program for lyricists that could use a few tweaks,
One of the more unique features of this program, is the ability to register the creation date of each song you write in an online database. This is not to be confused with registered copyright. To register a copyright, you still go through the copyright office, file your paperwork, pay your fees, etc. Where this registered date of creation has the potential to come in handy is in the event that you ever had a legal dispute regarding who created a given song. Cases are often won on who can reasonably “prove” who wrote the song “first,” usually a he said/she said scenario that can be a challenge. So, having the ability to list your ‘date of creation’ on a song in an independent database could prove useful. Every additional bit of evidence you have to back you up can come in handy if ever needed. Right? Maybe. The down side with this program’s date of creation system is that if you wrote a song in 2002, and don’t type it in to the program until 2007, the date of creation will appear as 2007. So, it’s a nice feature, but you have to take it with a grain of salt. If nothing else, it offers the lyricist a little more piece of mind.
My second observation regards the ‘default user’ that another reviewer mentioned (only for a different reason). I go by my first and middle name professionally in the entertainment business, not using my last name, i.e., I use what is known as a pseudonym. Well, when I got the software, I used my first and last name, as that is what is asked for (and so it will match my credit card), not realizing that my name would then appear on all works as my first and last, not my pseudonym, and there is no option to put in a pseudonym, or to change your name once it’s been entered. With a lot of professional artists, lyricists and songwriters using pseudonyms, it seems silly that this program does not give you the option to add one, and to choose which name(s) to use. When registering a copyright with the US copyright office, you have one of three options… legal name, legal name + pseudonym, or pseudonym only. It only makes sense for this software to have the same options for printing out lyrics.
Those are my additions to those comments already made. I hope they prove useful.
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|Wait for the next version!,
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