Show HN: A tool for creating chord charts on the go

by tiniuclx • 2 years ago

150 39 2 years ago

Author here - one of the most notable facts about the app is that it's made entirely in Godot Game Engine! I think it's great for apps like this because it makes it especialy easy to iterate on GUI designs such as this one.

Feel free to ask me anything about Chord Chart Memo, or my experience with Godot.

maroonblazer• 2 years ago

Congrats on shipping!

I enjoyed your write up, and was surprised to read that it was built in Godot, which I'd only ever considered for games, but of course it makes sense that games are simply a kind of app.

Love that you employ the circle of 5ths in the keyboard, whereas a more naive approach might've been to just ascend stepwise from C.

Any plans for an iOS version? Does Godot make it easy to port to other platforms?

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Thanks a lot! Yeah, when I had the idea for the circle of fifths keyboard, I knew I just had to build it because it has so many benefits compared to the naive approach, especially when thinking "harmonically".

Yes, there are plans for an iOS version! Godot has native support for iOS, so it should be pretty much plug-and-play. I haven't done it yet because of the developer fee that Apple charges, and because I am mainly an Android user myself. If there is enough interest though, I'm sure my partner would let me borrow her Macbook & iPad in order to bring this out though :)

aanet• 2 years ago

Yes please! Plus one for an iOS version !!

App looks lovely

bobbles• 2 years ago

please do ios! would be happy to pay

kvakkefly• 2 years ago

Yes, would love this on my iPhone. Reach out on andershaf@gmail.com if you want help on shipping in the Apple app store, I have a few apps there myself.

bejd• 2 years ago

was surprised to read that it was built in Godot, which I'd only ever considered for games

The Godot editor is built in Godot [0]

[0] https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.5/getting_started/introduc...

cdawzrd• 2 years ago

Congrats! Looks like a very clean app.

Because it isn't clear from the launch page: can it play sounds? I'm wondering if it can "audition" chords so that I can get a double-check on whether I'm picking the right one. I'm a musician who mostly plays by ear and improvisation, and I sometimes have to spend an annoying amount of time figuring out the correct name of a chord if I want to write it down for another musician to play. (a feature that showed which notes made up each chord, maybe behind a long press or something, would also be handy for this)

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

No sounds just yet - but that is a planned feature. The sounds of the chords will play every time a chord is input, and upon tapping any given chord, for feedbock.

Interesting suggestion about showing the note names that make up each chord! The data will definitely be in the app when sounds are added, I'll have to think about adding that.

jonrosner• 2 years ago

Nice tool, congrats. Looks reasonable for the target audience. Is there a chord library for common songs? Or even sharing my chords with others?

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

A share button is pretty high on the priority list, as that's what musicians in bands would need the most.

As for libraries of charts, there are many other apps that do that very well already! I wanted to focus on fast editing of charts for musicians writing original songs, who are not really served that well by other apps at the moment.

gstrike• 2 years ago

Seems like NFC may be a nice way to share since musicians would most likely be physically close to each other. Congrats on shipping!

jpc0• 2 years ago

Looks really cool.

Would you concider addinf support for numbers only. Generally for my use case I actually only use numbers and not specific chords... I IV V vii etc

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Yes I have considered support for roman numeral notation! It would not be too hard to put the keyboard into a mode where roman numerals are displayed for the note keys & chart itself.

pimlottc• 2 years ago

What advantages does this have over existing apps, like iReal Pro?

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Chord Chart Memo is much cheaper than iReal Pro, and it is laser-focused on making it as easy as possible to enter your own charts. Most apps on the market are designed for playing charts made by other people - Chord Chart Memo aims to serve musicians and songwriters working on original music which might not have a widely available chart online.

Chord Chart Memo is also specifically designed with the stage in mind: charts load quickly & work entirely offline.

johnnythunder2• 2 years ago

Before I spend the dollars for this, does it play/preview the chord for you when you tap it or long press it?

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Not yet! That's a planned feature - chords will sound out when entered and when tapped within the chart.

johnnythunder2• 2 years ago

Amazing - you've got my money! and a feature request to maybe add variations to each of the chords (inversions, arps, etc) when you edit them, and maybe a player/looper to preview the sketched ideas!

itslennysfault• 2 years ago

Awesome! I've been brain storming an app for a while and have been debating between Flutter and Godot. I've done a couple small games in Godot and really enjoyed it, but I was hesitant to do a non-game with it.

moefh• 2 years ago

Small nitpick:

For example, the I - IV - VIIm - V7 progression below uses the same motions in A as it would in C, where the chords would be C F Am G7.

Shouldn't that be "I - IV - VIm - V7" instead? (The transposition from A to C looks right, it's just the roman numeral for the 3rd chord in the text that is wrong).

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Yes you are right! I'll fix it straight away.

The transposition is correct because I used the app for it ;)

recursive• 2 years ago

This is exactly what I need. Thanks. Just bought it. Is there a way to indicate major chords with "M" instead of "maj"? I find that easier to read.

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Many thanks for your purchase!

Not at the moment, but a "Preferences" menu is in the works. This would be a great addition to that, alongside an option jazz notation and the like.

unkoman• 2 years ago

Looks great! Anyone have a good app for remembering chords or notes? Guitar or any other instruments.

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

My go-to for figuring out chords I don't know on guitar is Oolimo - I hope that suits your usecase.

pglevy• 2 years ago

Very cool! Sharing with my wife, a high school music tech teacher. I could see this being helpful for her students both preparing for shows and learning about composition.

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Thanks a lot, definitely! Education would be a great usecase for this, as it is so easy to create charts on the go for students to play or practice.

inkognito• 2 years ago

Congrats! Reminds me of sequencer which I use often:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a8KYHfCKr8

RALaBarge• 2 years ago

This looks really cool.

How long have you played the Stick? I’ve played a few stringed instruments, but I’ve never even seen one irl. I’m curious as to how you would compare playing that vs. a traditional guitar?

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Hah, I did not expect _this_ question! I've been playing the Stick since 2020. Most of my technique is self-taught, or based on the book that comes with the instrument, but I did take lessons with the late Greg Howard for a while

It doesn't play anything like a traditional guitar! Some of the shapes are the same on the melody side, but you're now tapping them with your right hand instead of fretting them with your left. In a lot of ways it's more like playing the piano than any other fretboard instrument.

Lately I've been performing in a band, where the Stick slots into the traditional 'bass guitar' slot. There the technique is quite similar, a lot of the time I am playing it exactly like a bass. However it has a much bigger pallette of sounds available to you: tapping the strings (instead of plucking) creates a much more aggressive & throaty bass tone. And at the same time you can very easily play broad, airy chords, or harmony & melody.

My only wish is that it came with a sustain pedal like the piano ;)

naiquevin• 2 years ago

Looks really good. I've felt the need for such an app on more than one occasions. But I'll have to wait for the iOS version I guess (based on the other comment).

Aside: Following your github link led me to discover another one of your music related projects, harmony-explorer which seems quite similar to something I've wanted to build for myself.

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Thanks - it's good to know there really is demand for iOS!

Parts of Harmony Explorer are kind of still in the app to this very day, namely the modulo-12 arithmetic for notes. And once support for sounding chords is added, that will also be heavily based on how things were done in Harmony Explorer.

joshdavham• 2 years ago

It always takes longer than you think

Thanks for sharing this! Honestly makes me feel better about some of my projects

ehnto• 2 years ago

Interesting! How was Godot for a UI intensive application like this?

I have been using it for games and am totally enamoured by the speed, pragmatism and simplicity of the engine. I would totally use it for non-game projects.

A small aside, this reminds me of one of my first attempts at a digital side hustle, a website called "What fucking chord is this" that let you enter the notes, and get back all the different chord names.

tiniuclx15• 2 years ago

Godot is great for UI, mostly thanks to the editor itself being made in Godot.

I've written another blog post about this very topic: https://tiniuc.com/godot-for-apps/

mrdevlar• 2 years ago

Glad to hear that people are finally realizing that Godot is an excellent app development framework.

Show HN: A tool for creating chord charts on the go

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