Hookpad vs SONGTAKE

Hookpad is browser-based songwriting software for composing chord progressions, melodies and songs with integrated music theory tools. Its chord suggestions draw on music theory and data from 75,000 songs. The free plan includes Smart Guides, transposition, tempo and looping, piano playback and cloud saving; advanced chord palettes and search are limited to one-minute previews. Standard adds more than 500 instruments, 11 band templates, up to four melody voices, lyrics, mixing, recording and MIDI input, along with MIDI and MP3 export. Users can also export sheet music, guitar tablature and lead sheets. MIDI exports can be imported into digital audio workstations such as GarageBand, Logic and Pro Tools. Audio import supports WAV and MP3; MIDI input requires a browser with Web MIDI API support. Optional Aria can suggest chords, melodies or both. Hookpad works in a browser and offers tablet touch mode, but is not suitable for smartphone editing. Standard costs $7.99 a month, billed monthly; the optional Aria add-on costs $14.99 a month, billed monthly.

SONGTAKE is an iOS and macOS app for capturing musical ideas, recording band takes and organizing demos with audio and video together. Ideas mode captures compressed video clips, while Demos mode starts recording on multiple phones and syncs those recordings automatically. Users can add video overdubs, build multitrack recordings over existing ideas, import audio and video, and let bandmates contribute or overdub remotely. AI stem splitting separates vocals, drums and bass. SONGTAKE says projects can be exported as AAF for opening in any DAW. The free plan includes offline recording, basic export, 250MB of storage and up to 16 tracks per song. Local data syncs to servers when internet is available. Studio Access costs $7.49 a month and includes 1TB storage, offline mode, band storage sharing, pro export templates and 4K video. Patrons costs $11.99 a month and adds 1.5TB storage, feature voting, Patron export templates, credits and custom app icons to Studio Access features. The privacy policy says data is encrypted with AES-256 in cold storage and SSL/TLS in transit.