Customer Reviews

Masterwriter Songwriting Software

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 for default writer(s) and publisher(s), and perhaps default Style and Status.

Workaround: It's possible to use "Duplicate" feature (see next comment) but I simply adjust these settings for each song.

- "Duplicate" feature seems wasteful and bloating, similar to "versioning" feature in Word. Is it necessary to create a whole second database record for a new version of the same song? Surely some more space-efficient method can be determined. Moreover, because there are no global preferences for default writers (I co-write 99% of my songs with the same partner and would prefer to have both our names appear as the default writers), it's tempting to use "Duplicate" feature to carry over settings from one song to another song with similar properties. But if you're not using "Duplicate" to create a new version of the same song, the un-editable "Duplicate Of" field (under Song Info > Song Notes) is irritating.

Workaround: Either live with the erroneous information in the "Duplicate Of" field or create a new song every time, even if it means extra steps to set up similar properties.

- Groups, Style, and Status listings are difficult to revise once populated. Need some organizational controls in the Edit window such as Move Up, Move Down, etc.

Workaround: Try to plan them out in advance. I listed mine in a spreadsheet and thought them through carefully before entering them.

- No global search. If you want to search your songs, you have to do a fielded search, such as for a term within the Song Title field. Would be much faster and more foolproof to be able to search across all text fields at once, or optionally limit to one or more fields.

Workaround: None.

Other comments and enhancement ideas:

- It would be so valuable to be able to sort the Song List by something other than title. And to be able to filter by something other than group.

- Along those lines, a search that doesn't require first selecting a field would be a vast improvement. If I'm happy and I'm looking for an existing idea to work on, let me search for the word "happy" wherever it occurs: lyrics, sketches, style, etc.

- "Song Flags" section could stand to be reorganized and renamed to something more intuitive. Basics? General? Not sure what else to suggest, but even as a semi-geeky person, "Song Flags" seems way geeky to me.

- Key, BPM, and 00:00 (running time) all seem to belong somewhere other than "Song Info" > "Song Flags," as each of these could change from one recording to another. These should probably be grouped with the "Audio" tab or under the "Recordings" section of the "Song Info" tab.

- Integrate with an address book? Either tie into an external address list or offer a full-featured contact manager. This would perfectly expand the Writer/Publisher tracking feature, and would address my earlier comment about being able to track who's seen/heard a song; who's holding it, etc. For many years, I used Act! as my primary contact manager because of the sales-oriented nature of the application. I would love to see a much lighter-weight version of Act! designed for songwriters and publishers.

- Offer an Export to Palm OS option? I used to keep all my songs in the default Memo application in my Palm, which meant they were always accessible to me. It would be great to export even just the title and lyrics to a PDB file so they could be read by Palm OS.

It's A Keeper

All in all, this product is indispensible to me, and I think its quirks are worth working around. But if even a few of my issues were addressed, this would be a five-star review.

I found a coupon code online. You'll have to order from the site www.MasterWriter.com, but if you use coupon code "2001" (without the quotations), you'll get something like $70 off retail.

I have to concur with the other reviews, in that this is an excellent program for what it can do. I agree with what's already been stated thus far, so I'll add the following...

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.

I wish I had waited for the next version. The working screen size is limited to a fixed size and for me cuts off some of the working area, very frustrating. Slider bars on the right side are very hard to get to almost non existant. You would think for $289 you could at least get a toll free tech number to call. Like most of the unbiased reviewers have said here this thing needs a number of tweaks. By the way, you only get two installs with this program. The concept is great, the product, well........

Great product but it is not keeping up with its own promises. No dictionary updates in years, software is clunky and needs many improvements. I feel like the developers have already jumped ship years ago and are no longer interested in what they have sold. It is not a cheap program and once you have 100s of songs in their database you are kind of stuck. Beware!!!

As songwriters, we have all experienced the initial burst of inspiration. But, where do we go from here? For 99.999999% of us songwriting is a process...Birth and Inspiration and Re-Writing.

The 10 minute Demo narrated by Barry DeVorzon is worth listening to many times. This outstanding Demo will help you maximize the outstanding songwriting resources bundled into this one extensive package. This feature will get you off and running from the start. It will also serve as an invaluable refresher during your progress in the creative applications of your songwriting experience.

While I have not utilized the recording components, I believe they are probably equally effective in the production process.

MasterWriter(Rhymes, Rhymed Phrases, Pop Culture, Dictionary, Thesaurus etc) has been most helpful for me in turning vague emotional generalities into lyrics that are colorful and specific! Lyrics that have their own special visual qualities or rhythmic impact. Lyrics that are ALIVE!

I highly recommend MasterWriter as a software package that can help you step up to the next level of your professional songwriting focus!

Max G. Bunyan, "Follow Your Heart" Music Singer/Songwriter/Recording Artist (BMI)

I bought Masterwriter at the Taxi Road Rally in November 2006. The first thing I noticed as I was trying to maneuver around in the program was that I could not use the right click on the mouse. Me being a Windows user, I am very accustomed to using the right click and I was finding myself getting frustrated everytime I was cutting and pasting my lyrics. A simple thing like using my scroll wheel on the mouse was also not available.

After I had the program do a search for rhymes, I was wanting to print out the results so I could take them with me on a road trip. This feature is also not available in Masterwriter.

Supposedly Masterwriter lists "All Sound-Alikes". However, it was not listing what I considered to be words that sound alike. I had the word "bed" in one of my tunes but I was only getting words from Masterwriter that ended with the letter "d". Some words that, to me, sound alike enough to consider placing in a tune, are "get", "mess", "death", etc. None of these words were listed. I ended up using the word "brunette" which was not in Masterwriter's list. (when using "bed" as the search word)

I previously critiqued this product with a misspoken remark about Masterwriter's customer support sounding like it was outsourced to the other side of the world. I apologize for that and can say that I did reach them on the phone, the first time I called. They did help me with my confusion on how to import one of my songs into the program. I guess my mind is so programmed to expect outsourced, funny talking, customer support, that I failed to recognize my fellow brethren.

Anyway, Matt DeVorzon, a family member of this family owned business, contacted me and assured me that Version 2 is in the making. He said that they are hoping for a delivery time of six months from now which will make it September 2007.

My vote on this product is currently 3. Hopefully I can give it a better vote when Version 2 comes out.

Overall, I think this product is great! But the only downfall to it is that it's only good for 2 installations and you HAVE TO HAVE Internet when you install it. If you don't have Internet, then you can't register your copy of MasterWriter, which means you can't install it onto your computer. Plus, if you're like me, who has to re-format your computer everytime it gets corrupted by spyware and such, then this product might not be the way to go, because again, you can only install it 2 times. After that, you have to order more installations and who knows how much that'll cost. MasterWriter is nice, but I don't think it's worth $289.00. (But if you can afford it, then more power to you!)

As a matter of fact I was a little unfair in my first review here and I feel I need to rectact it. This seems to be an excelent software and the support is fast and available. I sent an e-mail and the issue was promptly solved.
KG

My songwriting partner and I have been using Masterwriter for over a year now and like it for its features and its ability for us to send updated songs back and forth via email using the import / export features. My biggest complaint is their authorization system. So far 3 or 4 times now our computers have "lost" their "activation" either just by going through Masterwriter's own update prompts or, worse yet, for no apparent reason at all. It apparently loses track of whatever system, or kernel of information they use to recognize your computer. Going through their re-activation prompts just leads to a frustrating "catch-22" game and we ,once again, go crawling back to tech support begging them to release the old activation numbers and issue new ones.