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SONGFRAME ® SONGWRITER'S TOOLKIT SOFTWARE

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W HAT IS S ONGFRAM E?

SongFrame is the song development toolkit designed to provide songw riters and recording musicians an integrated and comprehensive

set of tools for w riting and refining songs. In addition to serving as an overall notebook for a songw riter's ideas, SongFrame allow s the

user to construct songs using drag & drop icons representing song structure elements and then fully develop every aspect of the song

w ithin these. SongFrame is used before the songw riter ever f ires up his or her Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) recording or

sequencing softw are. As the name implies - SongFrame creates the framew ork, foundation and superstructure of a song prior to the

recording, arrangement and production process. Think of SongFrame as a "pre-DAW" or a songw riting front-end to your existing

recording or sequencing setup.

The inspiration for a great song can come from a great idea for a title, a catchy chord progression, a melody line, an interesting rhythmic

idea , or even some lyric ideas scribbled on a napkin. SongFrame allow s the songw riting process to begin w ith any of these starting

points, and completely integrates all aspects of song development in one pow erful and intuitive environment. Simply put, SongFrame is a

professional application that focuses on the complete songw riting process and lets the user utilize their favorite instruments and

recording environment to take the "framew ork" of the song to completion. Like any DAW application, SongFrame includes an audio

engine, recording capability and a transport to control playback and recording. Unlike a DAW, its focus is on the song itself; structure,

chord progressions, melodies, lyrics and rhythm.

SongFrame exports MIDI and Audio f iles for easy import into any DAW application capable of importing audio and MIDI data. Exported

DAW Audio/MIDI f iles contain all song structure and chord markers, Audio and MIDI data, tempo map and key information, providing a

head-start to the production process. In addition, SongFrame prints simple lead sheets for musicians to use in studio production and

recording. The tool is 100% focused on the songw riting process and the elements that make up a song - the chord progressions, the

melody and the rhythm, the overall structure and the lyrics. It is the perfect companion product to a DAW recording application for

songw riters and recording musicians.

The SongFrame songw riting process can begin in any one of several places - chord progressions, melody development, song title, lyric

development or beat/rhythm development. The songw riting process is about inspiration and development of ideas; SongFrame provides

a one-click menu bar enabling the user to w ork rapidly and naturally. Songw riters can hop back and forth betw een all aspects of the

song development freely. Structural elements of a song, such as Verse, Chorus or Intro, are represented in SongFrame by "SongBits."

A SongBit contains all audio, MIDI, chord changes, lyrics and rhythm for that section. SongBits may be freely rearranged by dragging,

edited, or copied individually from your ow n personal notebook. In addition to the eight standard song structural elements SongFrame

provides, a "Custom" SongBit serves as a container for any snippet of a song idea - an inspiring melody idea, a nice chord progression

or a great lyric that might not be immediately categorized. You've decided that this Chorus is really better as an Ending? Right-click and

its changed.

S ONGFRAM E FEAT URES AND QUICK S P ECIFICAT IONS

Develop complete songs, including chords, chord progressions, melodies, lyrics, rhythms and song structures.

Import all Guide Tracks and Markers show ing every song section and chord change into any Digital Audio Workstation recording

or sequencing tool.

Audible Chord Library w ith 70 Chords per Key, f ind chord substitutes by shared notes and get suggestions based on

surrounding chords and desired mood.

Thousands of real chord progressions in every key to boost your inspiration - f ilter by musical genre, era, complexity and root

movement. Just drag and drop right onto the chord track!

Choose from over 500 drum patterns for each song section, or have SongFrame build the entire drum track for you w ith one

click.

Quickly record ideas using audio or MIDI.

Highlight vocal or instrument ranges directly on the MIDI track or display the scale tones of almost 150 musical scales.

Store SongBits in a dynamic Notebook - drop any past idea into your current song, or share ideas w ith collaborators.

Compatible w ith Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion and Window s 8.

SongFrame ® Songwriter's Toolkit Software Videos

These training videos are designed to help you get the most out of SongFrame. If you are starting out as a Trial Version user, please

review each video to make the most of your experience.

S ONGFRAM E S ONGW RIT ER' S T OOL KIT S OFT W ARE OV ERV IEW V IDEO - P ART 1

(To watch this video in high quality, press the Play button and then click the settings control in the lower right of the video display.

Choose 720p.)

HOME PRODUCTS DOWNLOADS SUPPORT TRAINING COMMUNITY CONTACT ABOUT US STORE

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S ONGFRAM E S ONGW RIT ERS T OOL KIT S OFT W ARE OV ERV IEW V IDEO - P ART 2

(To watch this video in high quality, press the Play button and then click the settings control in the lower right of the video display.

Choose 720p.)

Basic Training Videos

GET T ING S T ART ED W IT H S ONGFRAM E

(View this as a f irst step after installation!)

(To watch this video in high quality, press the Play button and then click the settings control in the lower right of the video display.

Choose 720p.)

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S ONGFRAM E CHORD AND CHORD P ROGRES S ION T OOL S

(To watch this video in high quality, press the Play button and then click the settings control in the lower right of the video display.

Choose 720p.)

S ONGFRAM E DRUM T OOL S AND DRUM T RACK OV ERV IEW

(To watch this video in high quality, press the Play button and then click the settings control in the lower right of the video display.

Choose 720p.)

S ONGFRAM E M EL ODY T OOL S OV ERV IEW

(To watch this video in high quality, press the Play button and then click the settings control in the lower right of the video display.

Choose 720p.)

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S ONGFRAM E P RODUCT OV ERV IEW INFORM AT ION

These documents provide a general overview of the SongFrame product and its capabilities.

SongFrame Overview Brochure

SongFrame Users Manual

Getting the Most From SongFrame

SongFrame Example Screen Shots

SongFrame Export Screen Shots to Popular DAW Applications

SongFrame Audio Interface and Driver Support

SongFrame Build 9.0 "What's New" Overview

S ONGFRAM E FOR W INDOW S

For Window s users, these documents provide installation and setup help along w ith troubleshooting advice in case of an issue.

SongFrame Installation Guide

Quick Setup Guide for SongFrame Windows

SongFrame Windows Troubleshooting Guide

Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth Issues

Windows MIDI Port Limits - SongFrame and Chirp

S ONGFRAM E FOR M AC

For Mac users, these documents provide installation and setup help along w ith troubleshooting advice in case of an issue.

SongFrame Installation Guide

Quick Setup Guide for SongFrame Mac

SongFrame Mac Troubleshooting Guide

Deleting the Settings File in SongFrame for Mac

AP P L ICAT ION NOT ES

This section contains a variety of useful applications notes to help you understand specif ic aspects of SongFrame.

Keyboard Chord Diagrams with SongFrame using the Chirp Virtual MIDI Keyboard

EX AM P L E FIL ES

Dow nload these example song f iles to get a feel for SongFrame in action. These examples may or may not use all the program's

capabilities (such as MIDI and Audio tracks.)

Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)

Wait (Beatles) - good example of 8th note chord placement

OT HER S UP P ORT DOCUM ENT AT ION

Other useful support-oriented documentation.

SongFrame VST Instruments Compatibility Guide

Audio Interface and Driver Compatibility w ith SongFrame

Known Issues List

SongFrame Downloads

SongFrame w ill run in Trial Mode for 30 days before you need to buy a license key to unlock it. The trial version is exactly the same as

the full product - nothing is restricted. We encourage you to take it for a test drive before you purchase it to be sure it f its your needs.

Please refer to the Documentation tab for installation and getting started guides, as w ell as detailed operational information.

For existing SongFrame users, w e have eliminated the Pace Interlok-based anti-piracy protection requiring a Challenge/Response step

and embedded our ow n simpler licensing capability. Your old SongFrame serial number w ill not w ork any longer - but if you EMAIL us at

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support@tanageraudioworks.com w e'll provide you w ith a new license key that you can use moving forw ard. As alw ays,

SongFrame users get future releases for free.

SongFrame for Mac OS X

SongFrame for Windows (32 Bit)

SongFrame for Windows (64 Bit)

Mac Users - SongFrame Build 9.0 works w ith OS 10.7 Lion but at low audio volumes. The Mac volume issue is fine in OS

10.8 Mountain Lion.

Windows Users - We've seen some rare occurances where SongFrame won't load on a Windows PC - the launch

status bar gets to around the 75% complete point and hangs. PLEASE install the 30 day free evaluation before

purchasing and unlocking the product so you are sure it w ill run on your system!

Remember - once you load SongFrame, go to the Setup menu, then Audio Setup and choose an output. For Window s users, go next to

MIDI and VST Setup and choose the Microsoft GS Synth for the Chord, Drum and MIDI/Melody tracks to hear audio. Refer to the

SongFrame Mac or SongFrame Windows QuickStart Guides for help.

S ONGFRAM E EX AM P L E S CREENS

Examples of SongFrame screen shots can be found below .

CHORD L IBRARY GRID

Chord Library Grid

CHORD P ROGRES S ION S EL ECT ION GRID

Chord Progression Selector

CHORD P ROGRES S ION S EL ECT BY COM P L EX IT Y AND M OV EM ENT

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Chord Progession Color

S ONGFRAM E DET AIL ED INFORM AT ION

Chords and Chord Progressions

SongFrame provides a rich set of tools to help choose chords and develop interesting chord progressions. The Chords Tool contains a

audible chord library of 70 chord types in every key. Easily f ind substitutes for any chord based on a given number of shared notes.

Innovative "chord suggest" tools allow filtering by musical genre, harmonic context (w hat chord came before it and w hich w ill come

after it) and even chord color - a 2D graphical map allow ing the user to select chords based on a "happy-sad" axis as w ell as a "stable-

tense" axis. The perfect tools to get that chord out of your head and into your song.

SongFrame contains chord progression snippets from real songs - literally thousands of them. The user can start w ith these chords

and drag them verbatim or f ind substitutes that make musical sense and drag them into place to ensure originality. Choose how many

chords in the progression you'd like for the song section you are w orking on - every progression w ill appear in the key of the SongBit

you are w orking on. Filter by musical genre, era or the progressions "color" tool - a tool that helps select chord progressions containing

either simple or more complex chords, as w ell as amount of relative movement aw ay from the root note.

Audition chords and progressions, choose w hat inspires you and simply drag them dow n to the chord track. All previous w ork can be

saved and recalled as "takes" - just in case the perfect progression w as one you created 5 versions back!

Like the melody or drum track, chord progressions can be auditioned using some VST or AU softw are instrument plug-in/s available.

Once chords are selected, they are dragged to the Chord Track. Chords can be dragged and dropped anyw here on the timeline or

changed at any time. And if dragging isn't your thing just type chords into the track. Chords can be displayed as chord symbols or guitar

fretboard diagrams.

Melody Development

SongFrame's melody development tool provides unique tools for composition, providing a framew ork in w hich the user can develop their

ow n musical idea, w ithout being limited by the framew ork itself. SongFrame does no composition of its ow n that's left to the songw riter.

SongFrame does display melodic and harmonic ranges right on the MIDI track, that can be adhered to or not. We don't keep you from

coloring outside the box, in fact w e encourage it! Ranges may be selected for vocal ranges or any one of over 60 instruments. Right on

the MIDI track, so you know w here you are in terms of w hat is likely to sound good.

Need inspiration for your melody? Get out of the rut by experimenting w ith scales and modes. With one click any one of over 150 scales

and modes can be superimposed on your MIDI track, show ing you scale tones that just might inspire your melodic and harmonic

direction. We don't do the w riting for you, but w e can show you w hat directions are possible.

Need to edit? SongFrame utilizes a "Piano Roll" style track view , allow ing the user to edit pitch and note timing on the MIDI track by

draw ing, dragging and dropping. Easy.

The optional Tanager Chirp Virtual MIDI Keyboard Controller can be used for input right from your computer keyboard, or use any

external MIDI keyboard or controller available for the task. And like the chord progression tool, any MIDI synth or available VST

compatible virtual instrument plug-in can be utilized to audition the melody lines created. "Take" information is stored w ith each

successive melody line created, allow ing the songw riter to go back and hear something already auditioned or w orked. So no excuses

for the one that got aw ay.

Lyrics

SongFrame integrates a rich set of lyric development tools as w ell. Once entered, lyrics appear in their ow n track for each SongBit in

the song. Several pow erful tools are available to the songw riter during lyric development, including fast access to your favorite w eb-

based rhyming dictionary site, plus a w eb-linked Wikipedia and Wiktionary can be accessed as w ell.

Need a scratch pad to w ork out your lyrics? Lyric ideas can be refined using the LyricPad, a w ord-processor like tool, and then one

you are satisf ied w ith your w ork, pasted into the appropriate SongBit Lyrics Track as the song message evolves. Save and load your

lyrics as separate f iles as w ell. SongFrame is designed to f it your w orkflow . Don't need the scratch pad? Just type your lyrics right into

the lyric track. (And hit save). Like audio, MIDI or chords, "Takes" of different lyrics can be saved in each SongBit allow ing the

songw riter to try out different lyrics w ithout losing versions.

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Drums/Rhythm

Very often a song idea begins w ith a drumbeat or an interesting rhythm. SongFrame includes hundreds of beats that can serve as a

foundation of your musical idea. Even better, our pattern names are inspired by the real songs they emulate (like "RingoRock - Jude

Verse 1" as opposed to the cryptic "BLU138" or "BA-F-133" so often found in drum loop libraries.) Audition patterns, search by genre,

meter, SongBit type, key w ords or even enter an actual kick, snare or hi-hat hit pattern and f ind those that match. Listen, and drag the

one you like on top of the SongBit's Drum Track. The selected pattern appears below the lyrics in the Document pane.

The songw riter can now quickly build a rhythm track for the song under development. This function does not replace full featured

loop/pattern composition tools, but aims to provide basic "drum track" creation capability during songw riting (and can serve as a much

more inspirational click track during DAW recording!) If the songw riter doesn't w ant to be bothered "building" a drum track, they can

choose to let SongFrame automatically generate a complete drum track for their song. SongFrame contains a library of drum patterns

that have been chosen to go w ell together - one click and you have a supporting drum track. Also, since the drum track uses fully GM

mapped MIDI drum patterns, any softw are-based drum sample player using GM note mapping can be utilized for hearing the Drum Track.

Upon completion of the song, a MIDI track representing the complete drum performance from Song Frame is can be exported for easy

inclusion in the production DAW Project f ile.

Notebook

Perhaps the most pow erful feature of SongFrame lies in its ability to allow you to recall any SongBit of any song you have stored on

your hard drive (or ones your songw riting collaborators have sent you) quickly and easily. Want to use that Intro you w orked on three

w eeks ago? Just drag it into your song, transpose it to the key you're w riting in, and all tracks from that songbit are instantly copied.

To brow se your previous musical ideas, click on the Notebook icon on the main toolbar and you'll be taken to the SongFrame Notebook.

A grid w hich show s song title, SongBit name, any notes you put in the SongBit notes section, the Music Composer, Lyricist, and SongBit

Type appears - for every SongBit you have stored in your default folder on your computer. If you keep all your song f iles there, every

SongBit you ever w orked on w ill appear in the list. Simply f ind the one you w ant to re-visit and drag it into your song - that's it.

You can Transpose it into the key you are currently w riting in as w ell. This is ideal for utilizing bits of lyrics, chord progressions or

melody ideas you came up w ith and set aside.

Lead Sheets

As mentioned earlier - w e fully expect the next step in the songw riting process to be recording a demo of the song in your favorite

DAW recording or sequencing application. SongFrame helps you do this in tw o w ays; f irst, by printing simple lead sheets for musicians

containing all chords (chord symbols or guitar fretboard diagrams) and lyrics, and second by exporting all the guide tracks and markers

for every song section and chord change to audio and MIDI f iles easily imported by any DAW application on the market. The Lead

Sheets provided are perfect for handing to your session players, or using yourself in the recording process.

Exporting for DAW Recording

When the song is completely developed, simply choose "Export" from the File menu. An Audio Track in WAV format as w ell as a set of

time-aligned MIDI tracks are created. The MIDI f ile contains the chord, MIDI/melody and drums on separate tracks, and the audio track is

in WAV file format. And - along w ith tempo, key and time signature information - timeline markers show ing every SongBit name as w ell

as every chord used in the song are created and imported to the DAW timeline - perfect for starting the arrangement and production

process and speeding the recording and overdubbing w orkflow .

Minimum Computer System Requirements for SongFrame

Windows - Intel Pentium III 1GHz or faster processor , Windows 7; Windows 8; Windows XP with Service Pack 2; Windows XP

Tablet PC Edition; or Windows Vista Home Basic, Premium, Business, Ultimate; Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4;

Windows 2003 Server , 512MB of RAM, and the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (or later) installed. SongFrame also installs the

required Adobe AIR framework during the installation process, as well as the LoopBe30 MIDI Loopback Driver. Audio interfaces must

have Wavedriver/MME drivers for SongFrame to utilize them. Minimum monitor resolution of 1024 by 768 is required.

Mac - PowerPC G4 1.8GHz or faster processor or Intel Core Duo 1.33GHz or faster processor, Mac OS X v.10.4.2 or later, 512MB of

RAM; 32MB of VRAM, 1024 by 768 resolution display - actually the bigger the display, the better experience you'll have with

SongFrame, Audio input/output device (SongFrame will work with an internal sound card or external audio interface), MIDI Input and

Output device OR AU Plug-in Instruments. Audio interfaces must have CoreAudio drivers for SongFrame to utilize them.

Running SongFrame on Multiple Machines

SongFrame comes w ith unlimited authorizations per License Key. This means that w hen you buy the product, you can install it on any

computers you ow n - Window s or Mac. Most people have a computer they use for recording, and many people have a separate laptop

for w ork or travel. We anticipate you'll w ant SongFrame on at least both of these machines.

GET T ING S ONGFRAM E

SongFrame sells for $99.99. We highly encourage you to take SongFrame for a spin before committing to purchasing just to be sure it

meets your needs and to be sure it runs OK on your system - see the notes below . The trial version is exactly the same as the full

product - nothing is restricted. We offer a free 30 day fully functional trial before you need to purchase SongFrame. This fully functional

trial license provides 30 days to evaluate the product w ithout restrictions, and if you decide you w ant to buy it - just purchase a license

key in our w ebstore and follow the instructions to register your product.

Mac Users - SongFrame Build 9.0 works w ith OS 10.7 Lion but at low audio volumes. The Mac volume issue is fine in OS

5/12/13 SongFrame Songwriter's Toolkit

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10.8 Mountain Lion.

Windows Users - We've seen some rare occurances where SongFrame won't load on a Windows PC - the launch

status bar gets to around the 75% complete point and hangs. PLEASE install the 30 day free evaluation before

purchasing and unlocking the product so you are sure it w ill run on your system!

If you're ready to buy, SongFrame Mac or Window s is available as an immediate dow nload from the Tanager AudioWorks

Webstore. Click on the Store icon on the top right to purchase the product. Dow nloads are platform specif ic - but the purchase of

either the Mac or Window s dow nload entitles you to the installer f ile for the other platform if you ask for it. Installer f ile dow nloads are

alw ays available on this site under the Downloads tab.

Educators - Tanager AudioWorks offers a mulit-unit SongFrame Educational Lab Pack available at a discount for qualif ied school

installations. Please contact us at sales@tanageraudioworks.com for more information.

Copyright © 2013, Tanager AudioWorks, Inc.

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