#Melody assistant add lyrics to voic pro
#Melody assistant add lyrics to voic software

He then proceeded to play the song’s chord changes and the program placed each subsequent chord on beat 1 of the next bar. As we heard it, it appeared on beat 1 of the first bar. We had to re input our song title and other information again but once that was done, we were ready to start laying in the chords, on the type of lead sheet we had envisioned.ĭan selected “Whole Note” on the Keypad and pointed the selection arrow at the first bar, playing a D-major chord. Dan went to the “File” menu, selected “New” and highlighted “Voice & Keyboard” rather than the original “Lead Sheet” template we had chosen. However, we realized that we wanted an additional staff above the piano part on which to notate the song’s melody and lyrics. Since we chose the rhythmic value of “Whole Note” in the handy pop-up keypad which Sibelius shows adjacent to your on-screen manuscript page, each new chord was placed on Beat 1 of the next bar. What we saw on the screen as Dan played the chords was that Sibelius was reading the chords accurately. So he chose to input the chords manually, rather than play them in “real-time” which the program is also capable of doing. Dan wanted a simple piano part that relies mostly on single chords played on the first beat of each bar and sustaining until the next bar. Now it was time to start playing the song’s chord progression into the program.

Then we selected “Preferences” under the Sibelius 5 menu and highlighted the Kontrol 49 MIDI keyboard, which the computer recognized when we plugged it in via USB. Next, Dan typed in the information he wanted on the top of his first page of the chart including song name, composer, lyricist, and copyright information. It’s helpful but not absolutely necessary to understand the names of the lines and spaces on the staff, as well as basic rhythmic values for notes, e.g., whole note, half note, quarter note etc. We selected 4/4 time, 120 beats per minute (BPM) and the key of D-Major. We’d use it to input the chords and melody we wanted on the lead sheet.

#Melody assistant add lyrics to voic pro

We started by launching Sibelius Pro 5 on an iMac, which had a KORG Kontrol 49 keyboard controller attached. Being as this is my first attempt to use a notation program, I figured Dan and I might be in for an “all nighter.” However, I’m pleased to report that both programs are very user-friendly to the point that in about 1 ½ to 2 hours with each program, we were able to come up with a decent-looking lead sheet for Dan’s song. For our test, we chose one of Dan’s songs with a simple chord progression.

#Melody assistant add lyrics to voic software

With that in mind, I met up with a local songwriter and percussionist, Dan Faughnder, and we tried out two of the most popular software packages for creating lead sheets: Sibelius and Finale Songwriter. Rather than asking musicians to follow along by ear as you play your original song while they learn it, having lead sheets to pass out will speed up the process of getting the musicians familiar with your songs and help them to start to add their own enhancements much more quickly than simply working by ear. We compare two programs and give you our take on ease and performance.įor a songwriter getting ready to work with a back up band or go into the studio with session musicians, having an accurate lead sheet of your songs is a great way to save time and money. There’s some great software on the market that makes it easy to transcribe your music.