HarmonyBuilder vs Roland Chord Director

HarmonyBuilder is music notation and composition software for writing and hearing four-part harmony. Its editions range from score creation and MIDI export to harmony instruction, composition tools, and teacher-student collaboration. Basic supports moving notes and experimenting with harmony and rhythm. Educational checks voice-leading errors, color-codes chord notes, and identifies and names chords. Professional adds a Chord Selector wheel, a Voicing Generator, and tools for harmonizing melodies or bass lines. Institutional provides a dedicated database for sharing assignments, homework, and compositions; its score accounts are password-protected. Compositions can be saved to a computer or public web archive, or in MIDI format, and a private link can open a score in a browser. HarmonyBuilder runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and requires Java 6 or higher. The trial lasts up to 28 days and includes Basic, Educational, and Professional functionality. Basic costs $14 a month; Educational costs $49 a month.

Roland Chord Director is a free companion app for Roland’s GO:KEYS 3 and GO:KEYS 5 keyboards. It supplies additional ready-made chord patterns that can be loaded into a connected keyboard with a touch. The touch interface also lets users change keys and edit chord patterns, or create new patterns from their own chord progressions. The app links to the keyboard through Bluetooth and is listed for iOS and Android through the App Store and Google Play. Roland describes it as a way to use chord patterns for favorite songs and new compositions with a full-band sound. A free Roland Account is required to access pre-made patterns. Roland says GO:KEYS 3 and GO:KEYS 5 added support in system program version 1.11. Product questions go to Roland’s Knowledge Base, with product support handled through BACKSTAGE. Google Play reports possible collection of personal information, app activity, and device or other IDs; it also reports encryption in transit and deletion requests.