Chords for The ULTIMATE Songwriting Tool? - Ultimate Circle of Fifths

Over the past few weeks I've constantly been getting ads for an app called Ultimate Circle [F#] of Fifths.
Now the first 20 or so times that I got this ad I just skipped it.
I didn't pay too much [F] attention to it.
But then about a week or so ago I finally decided [Em] to go ahead and check it out and I must say that I'm actually pretty impressed.
I think the app is super useful and I thought a [F] few of you might be interested in checking it out as well.
So why don't we go ahead and pull up the app and see what it's all about.
So this is Ultimate Circle of [Em] Fifths.
Now this app's main function is to ease the process of developing chord progressions.
So [A] what they have done is they have taken the Circle of Fifths and [E] they've made it interactive.
And not only have they made it interactive but they've [F] done it a lot better than any other attempts that I've seen over the years.
So anyway back to the app.
We have the circle which [Am] consists of seven different chords.
So you can [D#] go ahead and touch any of these chords and it will play it [C] back for you.
Woo!
That sounds good.
Now let's say that I really like this chord.
I [N] can go ahead and use it to help create my chord progression.
All I have to do is touch where I want it to go out of these four bars.
We'll just go for the first bar for [C] now.
_ Just like [Am] that.
And now I like this chord so I'm going to go ahead and put it in the second bar.
[Em] That's already in there.
Yeah that's easy.
I'm going to put this E minor into [G] the third bar.
And this one here can be my last chord so I'm just going to go ahead and put that in the fourth bar.
Just like that.
So now I've got this little chord progression.
Let's go ahead [C] and play it.
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
[G] _ _ [F] Now that I have my chord progression I'm going to go ahead [G] and show you one of my favorite features of this app.
So I can actually touch this button [A] here and now I'm given the option to export the progression as a MIDI clip.
So I'm just going to export the progression and then I'm just going to send it over AirDrop. _
[Em] So now I can just go over to my laptop and I can just drag in the MIDI [A] clip.
Just like that.
[C] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [F] So that took me under 30 seconds to [Em] create the chord progression and then get it from my phone
to my laptop loaded into [A] Ableton.
That is pretty amazing.
Now let's go ahead and dive a little bit deeper into some of the app's other [C] features.
So let's say that I want to go ahead and change the key that I'm working in.
All I have to do [C] is just turn the wheel and choose whatever key I want.
[F] Now what if I want to change the wheel to minor mode or any other mode for that matter?
Well then I can just go down here and I can choose any mode that I want.
[Em] Just like that.
You can even change things like tempo or add extra bars [A] to the composition to create a rough song structure.
[B] You can also choose from a couple of other instrument sounds to match [F] the mood of the song that you are writing.
Now the [C] instrument choices are pretty limited and you aren't able to customize the sounds in any way.
But because [A] this app is a songwriting tool [C#] rather than a music production studio,
I don't have any problem with this at all.
[C] So that is pretty much all of the features of the app.
There [N] isn't really too much to it but I think that the simplicity works in the app's favor.
If I was given the option to customize things like synth sounds or add drum loops or anything like that,
I think I'd end up wasting too [F] much time.
I'd be getting too distracted.
I would much rather just use this [G#] app for a couple of [E] minutes a day just to create a new chord progression
which I could then export to Ableton Live.
I [B] honestly think I'm going to be using this app a whole lot in the future.
[F] I already know my way around chords but every single time that I go to pull up my MIDI [Em] keyboard to record in something,
I usually end up playing the exact same chord progression every single time or some sort of [E] variation.
So I think this app will really help me branch out by creating different [Am] chord progressions
and maybe [B] experimenting with things like key [Em] changes and all that kind of stuff.
Now do I think that you should go out and buy this app?
Well if you don't really [E] have any music theory knowledge [Am] or you're like me and you feel like you're stuck
reusing the same chord [F] progressions over and over,
then I definitely think that this app is [Em] worth it.
The price of the app is a little bit high for something that has so little features
but [Am] honestly the one feature that made it completely worth it for me
[Dm] is the ability to export your [F] chord progressions as MIDI [C] clips.
And not only to have them exported but to then have them imported into Ableton Live
in [Am] under five seconds thanks to the ability to airdrop.
If the app needed you to connect your phone to your computer just [F] to transfer the MIDI clips,
I definitely don't think that I would be [Em] as impressed as I am
and I kind of feel like my opinion would be different overall.
Now I [E] must say that my export import [F] process is a lot faster
because of the fact that my setup consists of an iPhone as well as a MacBook.
So your experience may [Em] differ a little bit if you're using something like Windows for example.
And [A] one last thing, I wouldn't really [F] recommend this app to anyone
who doesn't have any music production experience.
I don't think this app would be as useful for anyone who's not looking to [G] bring these
chord progressions into something like Ableton Live or FL [A] Studio.
Unless you are an [F] acoustic singer-songwriter artist
and just want to jot down a quick chord progression to write melodies for,
then that is perfectly fine.
So to wrap [C] things up, I better clarify that I've not been paid to make this video
and my [A] opinion has not been influenced in [C#m] any way by the creator of this app.
I know I didn't really highlight any negatives [Am] at all,
but that is honestly just because I haven't had any real issues with [Em] the app at all.
I'm really glad that I finally gave into this app's Instagram marketing [A] campaign
and decided to pick it [Am] up.
I'm sure it will help me out a whole lot in the future and help me create better music.
Anyway, that's going to be everything for this video.
Thanks for watching everybody.
[G] Bye!
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