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Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

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Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#1

Post by gabergg »

Hi HN!

I'm Gabe, the creator of Songcraft (https://songcraft.io/home). I recently dove headfirst into songwriting, and I quickly grew frustrated with my process. I found songwriting difficult enough without having to wrangle a mess of different tools, and there's no great solution to build chord sheets and tabs (unless you love pure text input).

So, I built Songcraft - an online songwriting platform and tab builder. The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to jump from chords to lyrics to melodies. I added a chord progression generator and chord recommendation engine to ensure the ideas keep flowing. The integrated tuner, rhyming dictionary, metronome, and audio recorder allow you to stay focused without distraction.

A few months ago I shared the beta on Hacker News and got some incredibly helpful feedback and some amazing beta users. Since then, I've revamped the product and made a ton of improvements and additions. Today is launch day, and I wouldn't be here without Hacker News!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you may have. Drop a line here or at gabe@songcraft.io.

Re: Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#3

Post by gabergg »

shams93 wrote: post #2

Wow nice work, I haven't seen anything quite as well laid out for typical songwriter use. There are some good web apps for handling notation and composition but I haven't found anything as nice as what you just created for songwriters.

Thanks so much! Yeah, there are some great tools for composing, and some good stuff for individual features (RhymeZone, Hookpad, etc). I was surprised that I couldn't find anything quite in this category.

Re: Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#4

Post by JamCult »

This is a huge unmet need in the market. I have over 300 guitar parts recorded into iOS Music Memos, which does a decent job of automating the break out of chords played but provides no way to build lyrics on top, note the tabs (which is HUGE, because the next day I always get foggy on how to play what I recorded and a month later have no idea...)

Excited to give this a red hot go!

Re: Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#5

Post by maximp »

This is super cool, and the number of tools you've packed into a single app (metronome, tuner, recording, rhyming dictionary, chord prediction) is really impressive. Great job aiming to be a one-stop shop for songwriters - best of luck with the app! I'll definitely check it out the next time I'm writing a song.

This is a small thing, but hearing chords/music sounds in your demo video (not just the voice-over) would be great. Also... your demo really should be a song.

Re: Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#7

Post by gabergg »

JamCult wrote: post #4

This is a huge unmet need in the market. I have over 300 guitar parts recorded into iOS Music Memos, which does a decent job of automating the break out of chords played but provides no way to build lyrics on top, note the tabs (which is HUGE, because the next day I always get foggy on how to play what I recorded and a month later have no idea...) Excited to give this a red hot go!

I would love for Songcraft to fit into that space to take those ideas to fruition. I've been there with the pile of riffs and parts - I feel your pain!

Thanks for checking it out!

Re: Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#9

Post by rfrey »

schaefer wrote: post #8

Why aren't applications like this native anymore? I'm personally experiencing a major case of web-app burnout.

Is your question rhetorical? In case it's not:

1) Web applications make it easy to require monthly subscriptions, which many people don't like but is great for companies

2) Web applications can be more easily monetized through ads

3) Web applications can be updated for everyone more easily than a bunch of native installs, potentially reducing support costs

4) Web apps are a solution (not the only solution, but probably the easiest solution) to cross-platform development

Re: Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

#10

Post by gabergg »

maximp wrote: post #5

This is super cool, and the number of tools you've packed into a single app (metronome, tuner, recording, rhyming dictionary, chord prediction) is really impressive. Great job aiming to be a one-stop shop for songwriters - best of luck with the app! I'll definitely check it out the next time I'm writing a song. This is a small thing, but hearing chords/music sounds in your demo video (not just the voice-over) would b…

Thanks for the kind words!

That's a great point about the demo. I'm hoping to put up a more polished demo in the near future (with the help of more a talented video editor than I), and I'll definitely include the audio.

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