DRS Software for Mandolin & Guitar

DRS Digital Image & Sound, Inc., is a South Dakota company specializing in music software for mandolin and guitar.

Here are some sample web pages I've prepared using these programs:

Texas Swing Chords for mandolin
Texas Swing Chords for guitar

In late October (1998), DRS released a new version of ChordBook and now includes their ChordNamer software with each product. A great deal for the price if you ask us.

Mando! Usage Notes

Mando! v1.6 provides chord look up for Mandolin in standard tuning, and additional chord processing for 4 other mandolin tunings and the Mandola. In the standard tuning library, 17 chord types are supported with 3 or 4 different fingerings each, depending upon the chord. To plot a chord diagram, select the root of the chord from the Root menu, and the type of the chord from the Type menu. Then, diagram it with the Form 0,1,2,3 buttons from the tool bar. Non-standard tunings do not contain these built-in chords, but full use of the Neck Window functions are supported (see below).

In standard tuning, Form 0 chords are available for Major, Minor, and Dominant 7th chord forms and are generally the open or common forms of the chord. Form 1 chords generally have the root on the 4th string. Form 2 chords generally have the root on the 3th string, and Form 3 chords generally have the root on the 2nd string.

The Neck Window view provides additional chord look up functions. This window allows the browsing of chord fingerings over the neck and has a Name-that-Chord function which recognizes 40 different chords in standard and non-standard tunings. These user-created chord voicings may then be diagramed in the chord editor window.

Printing of chord diagrams is now supported. Furthermore, the chord editor is now a scrolling window, and will hold 20 diagrams (version 1 held 12). To print, use the commands in the FILE menu for PAGE SETUP and PRINT... (Printing was new to version 1.2).