Finale SongWriter is perfect for anyone who wants to create simple sheet music, including lyrics underneath the melody line and chords above the melody line.
| Firstly, you set up your page, indicating which instruments you want. There is a default template for “lead sheet”; otherwise, for vocals, go to “chorus” and select “voice”.You can enter your note and chords either by playing them on a MIDI keyboard or by manually drawing them with your mouse on the staff. Note that to enter chords via a MIDI keyboard, you need to select “MIDI input” in the “Chord menu”. |
The layout of the menus is a bit confusing at first, as the menu between “MIDI” and “Window” changes depending on which icon you have clicked. So to get the “chord” meny, you need to click on the “chord” icon first, same for the “measure” menu etc Once you get used to it, it’s easy to navigate your way around.
There is a playback facility, with a “human” function. It does sound pretty robotic and the sounds are GM standard, but i find it’s more than enough to hear and evaluate a song. I use this to check my melodies and my chord structures, and it does the job just fine.
In the “MIDI” menu, there is an option saying “play as recorded”. Unless you played it exactly as it should sound, it’s best to leave it unchecked, othewise the chords might sound like arpeggios for example, if you played them like them on the MIDI keyboard during the input phase.
Finally, you can export to a .wav soundfile, which makes this mid-entry level notation software from Finale a perfect companion for any songwriter.
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