Hookpad

[Lorn]

Anyone have experience with this software or something related? Useful or just a lazy man's tool? https://www.hooktheory.com/hookpad

[Ambient Mechanics]

I haven't used HookPad, so I can't comment on it..other than to say anything that follows is totally based on the video I watched on their site.

That said, I have to be honest and tell ya I never really thought much of programs like this..the word "lazy" always seemed to pop into my mind whenever I heard somebody speaking about them or talking about programs like this..I guess you could say I thought they were a cop-out of sorts. Then last year somebody introduced me to a similar programs...one called "Odesi" from MixedInKey..the folks who made..well..Mixed In Key

Fast forward a year and I know view programs like these in a totally different light, having bought Odesi myself and put it through its paces I can tell you it serves as a very solid tool to have when it comes to composing. It can seriously help you cut down on the time you spend during the composition phase of a given project..and is suited to all genres of music composition.

Like I said, I haven't used HookPad, but Odesi seems to offer the same tools and it costs about the same, too..the big difference being with Odesi you get all the same tools as offered in HookPad Pro..but for a once-off fee that is (I think) the same as they are charging for one year of HookPad.

One thing Odesi is NOT is some kind of wonder tool that will bang out a hit for you at the touch of a button..I don't think it was ever conceived as being something like that, though I can see some folks out there using it as such. Based on my own experiences, I can tell you it's like most things in life..the results you get are really based on the efforts you put into it yourself..the more YOU do, the better the result will be..and tools like Odesi and HookPad can and will help you improve your skills, but they won't do things for you.

Long story short: I've never used HookPad, so I can't tell you anything about it..but I have and do use Odesi and that works really well at doing what it does. It won't write any hits for you by itself..but it will help you improve your compositional skills. Well worth the $50 odd bucks they charge for it, too.

Hope this helps in some way. :thumbsup:

[synkrotron]

I've had a think about this...

One could say, yes, it's a "lazy man's tool."

And I am certain that some (not all) purists will argue that peeps should put the required time in to learn all the theory from scratch.

Personally, I would not be averse to using such software, even though music theory is something I have been learning, on and off for the last thirty years or so.

I think that peeps who are just picking up music composition will find this tool not just something to crank out tunes, but also will gradually begin to understand how chords are made and how they sound when put together in a progression.

I may have a look at this myself. I reckon the way I would use it would be to take the output as an idea and then tweak to make it more "personal."

Cheers

andy

[Lorn]

Thanks for the great replies. As I use Ableton Push, its scale mode has been an unbelievable help to me, a total novice. So from that perspective I thought a separate software would only add juice to my learning curve. I use Mixed In Key so I'll research odesi.