Quick Update, To Do List
over 4 years ago – Sat, Dec 21, 2019 at 10:07:37 PM

Pledge Manager coming soon!

I'm in the final stages of setting up our Pledge Manager Backerkit. I want to release it shortly after Christmas, so please keep an eye out. In a survey, you will need to provide your shipping address and make selections for language etc so we can ship you your decks here. This is a mandatory step if you want to receive your decks in time. You will have until the end of March to fill out your survey. 

The To Do List

I'm just gonna send these out every week from now on for you guys so you know what I'm currently working on. 

1. Color Correction Cards DONE

You can see these changes in Update #23. 

2. Small changes to all 3 decks STARTED

Here's a list of the changes I have made so far:

• Redesigned the Chord Builder Tool to work more reliably
• Went through all 486 words on the Lyric Deck again and changed the words that didn't do well in playtesting
• Went through the Harmony Deck Prompts and improved wording for some exercises, exchanged some exercises for better ones
• For the Harmony Decks, the degrees and chords have been exchanged (meaning that the chords are bigger now and the degrees are printed smaller underneath).

3. Design Section Deck STARTED

4. Design Rhythm Deck STARTED

5. QC every single card front and back

6. German translation STARTED

Here's all the material that needs to be translated:

• Lyrics Front DONE
• Lyrics Back
• Harmony Front DONE
• Harmony Back
• Melody Front DONE
• Melody Back
• Structure Front DONE
• Structure Back
• Rhythm Front
• Rhythm Back
• Rule Book
• Box

7. Write & design rule book

8. Get files ready for print STARTED

9. Send files off to Panda

Late Pledges, Color Corrections
over 4 years ago – Tue, Dec 17, 2019 at 02:04:20 AM

Late Pledges

Yes, it will be possible to late pledge for this project, so if you're only learning about the campaign now, you will still be able to get a copy of the Songwriting Decks. I hope to have the Pledge Manager up tomorrow. 

Color Corrections

I have rebalanced the colors of the cards slightly so they look better together. As you can see, the biggest changes have been made to the Lyrics Deck, which is now more salmon-colored and the Melody Deck is a little greener than before. And you can also see the colors for the new Rhythm and Structure Decks.

Where does that put us on the to-do list?

1. Color Correction Cards DONE

2. Small changes to all 3 decks STARTED

3. Design Section Deck STARTED

4. Design Rhythm Deck STARTED

5. QC every single card front and back

6. German translation STARTED

7. Write & design rule book

8. Get files ready for print

9. Send files off to Panda

Stay gefährlich,

Friedemann

THANK YOU!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 12:34:49 AM

THANK YOU!

Guys, we did it! We reached 236% of our funding goal today. And that's all because of you. 

If it weren't for each and every one of you, the Songwriting Decks would be just a normal box with some cards. But because you pledged and supported this campaign, now we have unlocked all of these goodies:

UNLOCKED: Magnetic Box

We technically didn't quite reach this Stretch Goal, but of course I'm more than happy to pitch in the missing couple bucks. 

Let's turn this puppy magnetic. Great for storing and retrieving your cards, not so great for carrying with your credit cards.

UNLOCKED: 27 Rhythm Cards!

More cards! All copies will contain an additional 27 cards, designed from the ground up by Friedemann. But these will not just be your typical cards - there's something special about these! Check Update #20.

UNLOCKED: German Version

We’re making a German version that will have all the cards translated by the author! You will be able to add or convert your pledge into these in our Pledge Manager after the campaign has ended.

UNLOCKED: The App

Learn more in Update #12. TL;DR: You're getting lifetime access to the digital version of the Songwriting Decks (comes out in March) + 3 months of Songcraft Pro.

UNLOCKED: Add 27 "Structure" Cards

I will design 27 new cards that give you all the information you need for each section of your song. More in Update #10 and #13.

Also Unlocked:

Upgraded Card Stock to 310gsm Ivorycore!

All Boxes will have Spot UV!

All Boxes upgraded to 2mm thick!

All Rule Books will have Linen Finish!

All Cards will have Linen Finish!

All Sets will now have Linen Finish Boxes!

All the Exercises in one place

In case you already want to get excited about what will arrive at your doorstep next year, here's the playlist for all 14 exercises with the 3 original Songwriting Decks:

What's Next?

I will be working on getting the Pledge Manager up and running asap so we can collect Late Pledges.Then, I will start working on the Final Designs of the cards. Here's my to-do list:

1. Color Correction Cards

2. Small changes to all 3 decks

3. Design Section Deck

4. Design Rhythm Deck

5. QC every single card front and back

6. German translation

7. Write & design rule book

8. Get files ready for print

9. Send files off to Panda

Are we still on track?

We unlocked quite a bit more content than I thought we would, and specifically designing the new cards and translating everything will take some additional time. This will cause a delay in fulfillment, although the set the delivery dates (July) were set with a buffer in mind. At the end of the day, this is still just a deck of cards after all and Panda Manufacturing prints those every single day, so I expect the production part to go fairly smoothly. 

Again, thank you all so much, it really means the world to me and I'm so happy with how things turned out - we have created a really cool product together!

Stay gefährlich,

Friedemann

Rhythm Cards & Printed Lining UNLOCKED, The Chord Builder, Magnetic Box!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 01:21:00 PM

Kickstarter is closing!

Things are going to happen fast now, and I expect we will get in some late pledgers throughout the next few days. I know I've said it a million times already, but now is the time to post about the decks on Social Media or to tell a friend - every pledge counts!

UNLOCKED: Rhythm Cards

We did it! 27 cards will be added to every copy of the Songwriting Decks. Again, if you're new to Kickstarter, that's an automatic upgrade, you don't have to do anything or pay extra, it's basically a free add on you're getting.

You can read more about the new Rhythm Cards (and if you have ideas, share them) in Update #20.

UNLOCKED: Printed Lining

This will add some color to the inside of the box! This may not sound like a big deal as it's something you've probably never given much thought to, but this is a crucial step in "hiding" that we're dealing with printed paper and turning your box into a true eye-catcher.

New Exercise: The Chord Builder

The last exercise video for the Songwriting Decks just went online. This is a really cool tool for building chord progressions with a certain feel. The cards are designed in such a way, that you can choose to write either happy, sad or tense chord progressions, and either complex or simple. You decide. It's a really fun tool and one I'm proud to present... Here's The Chord Builder:

Next Stretch Goal: Magnetic Box (€22.700)

Let's turn this puppy magnetic. Great for storing and retrieving your cards, not so great for carrying with your credit cards.

Stay gefährlich,

Friedemann

48 Hours To Go, First Peek at Rhythm Decks, Ideas Welcome!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 02:30:33 AM

Only 48 hours left!

We've reached 200% of our funding goal today! We've already added 27 new cards, unlocked the German version, added linen finish to all cards, upgraded the cards to an ultra-premium card stock, unlocked a digital version and made the box thicker - with Spot UV.

Know someone who might enjoy this as a gift? Order more copies & save on shipping!

BUT, it's not quite time for popping corks yet, because we have two more days to go, and one more really, really cool Stretch Goal to unlock. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present...

The Rhythm Decks

Just to be clear here, this is still very much a work in progress, but you can already see how this deck works.

All 27 Rhythm Deck cards have been hole-punched in a unique pattern. When you put one card on top of the other, rhythmical ideas start to form (the light green boxes - so in the example above, the two cards on the left combine to notes on the 1, 1+, 3 and 4).

You can also use these cards to come up with entire drum grooves. In this case, the light green boxes become your kick drum. Then you can use the snare patterns on the cards to complete your drum groove (the blue boxes - in the example above, the card with the snare on the 3+ ends up on top).

Best of all, I will design these cards to work both ways, which gives you even more possible combinations. In other words, turn over the card that has a note on the 1 and you now have a card that has a note on the 4+.

We only need 10 more backers to unlock this stretch goal, so please tell a friend, share on Facebook and be awesome as always.

Ideas Welcome!

Let me know what you think and if you have ideas for the Rhythm Decks, I am currently working on a first proper design and all suggestions are welcome. 

Stay gefährlich,

Friedemann