Type it.Hear it. Done.
A chord progression plugin for Ableton Live, designed for convenience and exploration. Create chord progressions through lightning-fast workflows, discover intelligent suggestions, automatically sync to MIDI clips, and hear everything in context instantly.
A new way to work with chords
Work like a musician, not a MIDI surgeon. Just type in chord notation or add, modify & rearrange chords with fast, context-based menus that only show what's actually useful. Every change to your progression is instantly synced to a MIDI clip.
One-click inspiration
Not familiar with music theory, or just want to quickly explore ideas first? Instantly generate production-ready progressions using 3 genre-based algorithms, then use the Chord Wheel for polish and further experimentation.
Your personal co-writer
Cut through the noise with intelligent, context-aware chord suggestions from a data model based on decades of real music, or jazz it up with advanced substitutions & passing chords. Then tweak with a palette of extensions and alterations.
Voice it like a pro
Give your chords more clarity and character. Choose from half a dozen voicing styles and apply them to multiple chords at once, use automatic voice leading for smooth & professional transitions, and create per-chord gestures for humanized strums & variations.
Small touches, big payoff
All the time savers you ever wanted. Drop bass notes an octave or sync them to a companion clip on another track, choose from over 40 rhythm presets or create your own, lock chords in place when generating and more.
Let MIDI take control
Trigger chords with or without rhythm patterns and cycle suggestions or voicings with a keyboard or another MIDI instrument – thanks to a fully configurable MIDI mapping including CC support.
Everything else
- Session & Arrangement View support
- Progression log
- Automatic key detection
- 3 visual themes
- Highly customizable settings
- Free updates for life
Get Harmonybeam
Free updates for life included.
Important Compatibility Information
Requires Ableton Live 10 or higher (Suite, or Standard with Max for Live add-on) · macOS or Windows · Clip Sync in Arrangement View requires Live 11 or higher
Frequently asked questions
What makes Harmonybeam different from other chord plugins?
Harmonybeam was born out of our frustration with many existing chord plugins that naively dump scales, chord variants and preset progressions on you in endless menus and convoluted arrays of buttons, with zero consideration for good UX or musical context, making it a challenge to actually stay inspired while you work.
Simply put, Harmonybeam is faster and more fun to use, because it takes into account how musicians and producers actually think while writing music. Plus, our custom data models used in the progression generators, chord suggestions and automatic voice leading deliver unique value that you won't find anywhere else.
Do I need to know music theory to use Harmonybeam?
No. The beauty of Harmonybeam is that it offers the best of both worlds: You can create instantly usable progressions for three different genre umbrellas (Classical / Pop + EDM / Jazz + Neo Soul) in a single click and then use the context-aware Smart suggestions for further tweaking. Meanwhile, experienced musicians can dive deeper and use the fully-featured chord notation parser and advanced Chord Wheel features to get exactly what they want.
Do progression generation and chord suggestions use online AI or require a subscription?
No. Both the genre-based progression generators and the Smart chord suggestions utilize bundled proprietary data models and can be used offline. Any updates and extensions of these features will also be free for existing Harmonybeam owners.
Which DAWs is Harmonybeam compatible with?
At the moment, Harmonybeam is only available for Ableton Live (Standard with Max for Live addon or Suite, version 10 and higher), taking advantage of the unique Max for Live API capabilities that enable MIDI Clip Sync and other features for a truly native workflow. A VST version with a smaller feature set is currently being considered.