Jam 1.0: Free Text-based Chord Software

I love music software like Anvil Studio -- they give you so many capabilities, but they are often weighed down by their own power. You can do a lot, but it takes actually doing a lot. Entering chords is one of the most tedious tasks. Enter the notes, copy and paste them, do the next chord, and so on.

Pyva.net's Jam 1.0 free music composition software lets you enter chords in plain text. Instead of using notes on a cumbersome grand staff, Jam 1.0 uses chord diagrams like Fmaj7 and Am. Music composition doesn't get much easier than that!

The people bound to benefit most from Jam 1.0 include soloists who need hassle-free rhythm playing, melody players who don't play chord instruments, and singers who need to determine the best key for their voice.

To speed writing chord progressions, Jam 1.0 includes a number of shorthand symbols. Slashes can be used to repeat the last typed chord. Equals signs (C=) draw the chord out for one more beat; the software will automatically interpret triplets. A percentage symbol will repeat the entire measure before it.

So it can do basic chords, and basic rhythms, and that's it, right? Actually, Jam 1.0 is highly customizable. Meter length is written as [4/4], and can be changed at any time. Either number can be anything from one to 256, so math rock isn't excluded. Unique chords can be defined by typing [CHORD chordname = 0 3 7], then used as Cchordname, Ebchordname, and so on. The numbers represent the distance from the chord root in half-steps. Numbers can be written as negatives to place them below the root.

Your files can be saved as .jam projects or exported as MIDI, and other music composition software can be used to edit and build on the chords defined in Jam 1.0. Text documents can be opened in Jam 1.0 if the file uses the same chords and shorthand as the program, but Jam 1.0 cannot save .txt files, only .jam files or MIDI.

Jam 1.0 has very few flaws. One minor issue is the inability to play inversions of basic chords without defining them as special chords. Standard chords are functional but dull. It sounds like desperate nitpicking, but you cannot change tempos in a song.

Many music composition programs would kill for a list of flaws like that. Really, Jam 1.0 is one of the best free music programs I have come across -- it makes ease of use a priority without sacrificing detail and usefulness.