What is QuickCharts?

What QuickCharts Is

QuickCharts is simple marching band drill writing software for PC. It is simple enough that you can learn it extremely quickly, but powerful enough that you can use it to write amazing drill for your ensembles. QuickCharts currently supports up to 150 marchers on the field, and 100 sets per file. View your drill in action in 2D or 3D, print drill charts for your band members, and sync sound files with your animations. QuickCharts was designed for small programs with little or no budgets, for high school students who want to experiment with drill writing, and for college drill writing classes.

What QuickCharts Isn't

QuickCharts is not expensive. It is made and maintained by a former band director in his free time. There are not a lot of bells and whistles. You currently wont be able to easily do a "follow the leader" with the push of a button, or instantly insert a group of marchers evenly spaced on an arc. All movements are straight line. Set design is click and drag. The lack of tools does mean it is not as powerful as other software, but it also means it is a lot easier to learn and much more affordable for small programs.

QuickCharts' origins (and why it is so cheap)

Hi, this is Eric. I am the creater of QuickCharts. I was a middle school band director for 19 years in two Title 1 schools. During my time as a teacher, I spent a lot of time and effort sharing free materials with other programs world wide. I also established and funded an instrumental music program in the large IMI orphange in Honduras that houses 70+ orphans. I eventually was named the 2020 Illinois State Teacher of the Year.

Upon being named the State Teacher of the Year, I was gifted free education for life through the University of Illinois. I decided to persue a Masters Degree in Computer Science with a software engineering emphasis in order to create some of my Music Education software ideas.

In 2023, one of my professors gave an assignment to create any software that we wanted, as long as it had a user interface. My wife was a high school music teacher at the time, and has since then moved to the collegiate level. Her rural district could not afford expensive drill design software. I decided to write a drill design program for use by her band. That was when QuickCharts was born. I got an A+ on the project. It turns out I could have made something as simple as Tic-Tac-Toe and it would have sufficed. Sometimes I can be a moron like that.

That year I shared the original free version of the software with about 40 other directors. After years of sharing free materials, I finally decided it would be nice to make a small amount of profit off of the program. I added some features (particularly undo/redo), and bought a business license for Code Crafters, LLC. I am the only "employee" of the company. These days I am a corporate instructional designer for Hershey's (yes, the candy company). I code for fun of an evening and on weekends from a desk in my dining room. You can still download the original full free version from the download tab.

I want this software to be top quality, yet very affordable for small programs and students. I will be adding features to it for years to come. There will be yearly version updates available for a price. Mid year bug fixes and feature adds will remain free for download if you own that year's version. And I vow to continue to send 10% of all of the company's profits to the IMI orphange in Honduras to continue to pay their band teacher's salary. I have travelled there personally, met the kids and the teacher, jammed with them on my sax, and I am proud that this software will continue to help keep music in their lives.