Hookpad (Unbiased) Review: Best Songwriting Tool Or Bust?
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Written by Ramsey Brown.
Musical composition was once a skill that took many years of training and practice to master. Back in the day, one would have to acquire a great deal of music theory knowledge to even be considered a serious composer or songwriter. Now with the emergence of music composition software and technology, what was once an uncommon expertise has now become a craft that anyone with the proper tools and dedication can learn.
Tasks such as writing lyrics, creating chord progressions, analyzing tempo, perfecting tonality, arranging instruments, and putting it all together to make a beautiful song are now within close reach thanks to an advanced and sophisticated program — Hookpad.
Hookpad is songwriting software made by Hook Theory, a company that provides interactive learning materials to help musicians create amazing music and gain a deep understanding and intuition for how music works. Hookpad was developed to improve the quality and accessibility of track editing and music composition. With the program’s built-in music theory feature, users can easily write melodies and chord progressions for songs and create music like never before.
This type of music technology has been a blessing for those wanting to break into such a previously closed-off and complex segment of the music industry. Hookpad has opened up new doors for aspiring musicians, songwriters, and composers by facilitating opportunities to learn and expand their talents.
If you are someone who dreams of creating your own beautiful music compositions or someone who is just interested in learning more about music theory and the songwriting process, Hookpad has now made it easier than ever to begin achieving these goals. In this article, we are going to discuss everything you need to know about this amazing music software from it’s features, uses, installation, pricing, and more. Continue reading if you want to know more about how Hookpad can help you advance your music skills and career today:
What is Hookpad?
Hookpad is an intuitive digital music notepad with built-in music theory that helps users compose songs, develop melodies, create beats, arrange chord progressions, and much more. All music composers know that the most complicated part of writing a song is finding the right chord progression for the melody — but with the interactive help offered by this music software, you will be able to find the most suitable chords for your song along with the key that best suits it quickly and efficiently.
To do this, all you have to do is enter the notes of your composition in the program and wait for it’s smart chord analyzation software to do the work for you. Hookpad’s chord palettes will then highlight the chords that work well together in a particular key, showing you the notes that create either a stable or a more dissonant sound.
In simpler terms, it chooses the chord progressions that work and sound best instead of trying to compose everything blindly according to our personal criteria. This allows users to create better melodies in the correct key and tempo.
Hookpad lets you instantly export the chords and melodies you have written to sheet music, lead sheet, and guitar tab. This is easily the fastest way to create a score and perfect for those producers who are required to crank out compositions in a short window of time. Along with this, the software also comes with many other features and benefits which make it such an amazing music creation and songwriting tool.
Key Features of Hookpad
Having explained in a brief summary what this program actually is, we are going to dive deeper into the main features of Hookpad and discuss the advantages it has over the other more traditional music composition systems you will find on the market:
Chord Hook Palette
This is the main function of the program with which you will be able to write chord progressions at a higher speed and with twice the effectiveness. The program provides groups of chords that work well together depending on the key of the music track that is being worked on.
Writing Melodies Intuitively
Once you've chosen your chord progression, the next step is to compose the melody which is done with Hookpad’s very effective and fun to use note detection tool. When the chords are entered, the software will highlight the most stable notes with which you should compose the melody, all organized in different colors. On the other hand, it will also mark those notes that will create a less pleasant sound and that you should discard.
Drag & Drop MIDI Compatibility
With the MIDI drag-and-drop function, users can work between Hookpad and their prefered DAW software. This feature saves time and avoids the frustration of editing MIDI notes by letting Hookpad do that work for you. It is compatible with all major DAW softwares such as GarageBand, FL Studios, Ableton, ProTools, and more, so you can easily move your MIDI chord progressions, melodies, basslines, or drum tracks from your DAW to Hookpad or vice versa. You can also choose from various rhythm patterns for each kind of instrument.
Quick Export
With Hookpad you can create your sheet music, lead sheets and guitar tablature at lightning speed with one single click thanks to its instant export tool. incorporating Hookpad into your workflow will save you time and make you more efficient — there is no application that makes it easier and faster.
Professionally Tuned Virtual Instruments
In Hookpad you can not only compose your songs quickly and efficiently with the help of its chord guides, but you can also hear the result in the most realistic way possible. Using the long list of virtual instruments that the program is equipped with, you can play your creations as you like, as if you had actual musicians in front of you reading your score in real time.
Chord Library
Hookpad includes a searchable library of chords and melody from over 25,000 hit songs written out in Hookpad. In seconds, copy and paste any clip from the library into your project, transposed to the correct key and tempo. Hookpad’s AI gives you easy access to the most used chords, ordered and scored by popularity in real music.
Instructional Videos
The Hookpad software comes equipped with multiple different tutorials and educational videos, so when you are getting started with the program you can learn exactly how to use it’s many different features. There are also videos about topics such as interpreting chord progressions on a piano, songwriting, harmonizing, drum arranging, and more general topics if you are interested in boosting your overall music theory knowledge.
Pricing & Plans
Hookpad can be purchased at a one time cost of $149 and is included with all of the amazing features discussed above. They also have an additional plan for a one time fee of $183.98, which comes with all of the features mentioned plus the Hooktheory Book Series.
The book series plan is a good choice for those who are looking to really enhance their knowledge about crafting melodies, chord progressions, and songwriting in general. The books are equipped with interactive learning exercises to give the user a deeper understanding and intuition for how music really works.
Hookpad also offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, that way if you are not happy with the program, you are able to receive a full refund with no questions asked. Also to mention, there is no installation necessary. The software works instantly in both desktop and mobile browsers, so you don’t have to worry about it taking up any valuable space on your computer.
Wrapping Up
Hookpad is the most complete program for music composition that you can find online today. The creators at Hook Theory made an effort to fill it with a wide variety of advanced music editing features that make it different from any other similar program. If you don’t take our word for it, you can find many different reviews and user testimonials on the web about how great the program works. One user even reviewed the program saying that they’ve “properly grasped more about music composition in a week of using Hooktheory than in 8 years of classical training.” Another user said it completely changed his “songwriting life”.
So, if you want to take your computer music mixing and composing experience to the next level, you need to start enjoying this magnificent program. Hookpad is everything it promises to be, plus more. Whether you are an experienced songwriter and music composer or you are just getting started, Hookpad has been proven to dramatically improve the songwriting process and can assist you tremendously when creating your next big hit.
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2 replies to "Hookpad (Unbiased) Review: Best Songwriting Tool Or Bust?"
I’d go on their forum and ask your question.
I plan to use their forum to learn about the program before I purchase it.
How many rhythm options are in the program? I see only a few in the sample version. I do not see blues, country or old time rock and roll.