The Main Interface

Harmonybeam’s interface is divided into three horizontal sections stacked vertically within the device.

Top Bar

Input Bar

The Input Bar and its Mode Toggle allow entering either chord notation or generating fresh local progressions from genre-specific rules:

• Notation mode (♫) — type chord symbols directly, e.g. Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7
• Generation Mode (⚡) — choose genre, length, and temperature, then click Generate

See Input Bar & Progression Generator for full details.

Auto Key toggle and Key dropdown

When activated, the Auto toggle automatically reanalyzes the key when the progression changes. In this mode, manual key selection is disabled. When the toggle is deactivated, you can choose the desired key from the Key dropdown. Note that this does not transpose existing chords to the new key automatically; it merely updates the Roman notation to reflect the new relationships to the key.

Tip

If you want to parallel transpose chords between Natural Minor and Major, hold Shift while clicking on the Major/Minor toggle.

Transpose controls

To actually transpose, use the transpose controls. The key will follow automatically, but can be changed afterwards, as per above. This way, both key and actual transposition can be controlled independently.

Tip

You can hold Shift while clicking on the Transpose arrows to shift by octaves instead of semitones.

Main chord strip

The middle section displays your chord progression as a horizontal strip of chord blocks. To add new chords, click the + that appears after the last chord in a progression or between chords. To add a pause instead, use the adjacent rest button; rests occupy time in the progression independently of the selected rhythm pattern.

Each block shows:

• The chord symbol (e.g. Cmaj7)
• The roman notation relative to the current key (e.g. I)
• Note names or intervals (configurable in Settings)
• The voicing style

Rest blocks show a rest label instead of chord information. They can be moved and resized like chord blocks, and clicking a rest turns it back into an editable chord block.

On each block, you can:

• Click on the chord symbol to open the Chord Picker to replace it
• Click on the lower grab handle to move chords and reorder them
• Drag the right edge of a chord block to resize its length
• Click on the X symbol to delete a chord
• Hover over the delete area and use the rest button to turn a chord into a rest block
• Click the lock icon in the top-left corner to cycle between Unlocked, Shape Lock, and Full Lock
• Click on the name of the voicing style (e.g. “Closed”) to open the Voicing Picker
• Click on the arrows on the left side of the voicing style to cycle through manual inversions

Clicking on any area on a chord block that is not one of the above elements will trigger its MIDI preview.

Shape Lock and Full Lock are explained in detail in Adding and Editing Chords.

Working with multiple chords

You can also click and drag to select multiple chords. When multiple chords are selected, the following operations will affect all selected chords:

• Clicking and dragging any one selected chord will move all selected chords
• Clicking on the X of any one selected chord will delete all selected chords
• Changing the length of any one selected chord will change the length of all selected chords
• Changing the voicing style of any one selected chord will change it for all selected chords

The chord strip also supports the standard editing shortcuts: Cmd/Ctrl+A selects all blocks, Cmd/Ctrl+C copies, Cmd/Ctrl+V pastes, Cmd/Ctrl+X cuts, Cmd/Ctrl+D duplicates, and Backspace deletes the selected blocks.

See Adding and Editing Chords for full details.

Triggering chord blocks and controlling the Chord Picker with MIDI

You can trigger the MIDI preview of chord blocks and even cycle through chords and voicings with MIDI input. By default, the white keys of octave C6 map to the chord blocks, e.g. C6 maps to the first block, D7 to the second and so on. The mapping is configurable in the plugin settings. See MIDI Configuration and Controls for more details.

Bottom Bar

Progression Log ()

Opens a history of recent chord progression text snapshots. Use it to quickly return to an earlier progression without stepping through Ableton’s global undo stack.

The log stores up to 50 non-empty progression entries. Entries are created from Input Bar edits, chord block edits, and Progression Generator results. Undo and Redo actions do not create new log entries, which keeps the menu from filling with back-and-forth restore states.

Auto Voice Leading

Toggles automatic voice leading to allow for smoother chord transitions. See Automatic Voice Leading for details.

Bass −12

Drops the bass in all chords by one octave.

Bass Split

Routes bass notes to a separate MIDI track. See MIDI Clip Sync - Bass Split for details.

Rhythm dropdown

Select a rhythm pattern among 40+ presets to apply to the whole progression. The expanded rhythm panel also includes Pattern Flow, Legato, and Phase controls. Pattern Flow chooses whether the pattern restarts on every block or keeps flowing continuously through the progression. Legato ties identical notes across adjacent blocks where the rhythm allows it. Phase shifts the pattern start in eighth-note steps, which is useful for quickly creating variations from the same preset. These rhythm settings also apply to synced MIDI clips.

Sync button

Enables MIDI Clip Sync, so that any changes to the progression are instantly reflected on a MIDI clip on the track. See MIDI Clip Sync for details.

Settings button ()

Opens the settings panel. If a new version of the plugin is available, will also show a small mark here to notify.

Related settings

On the Settings page, the following settings change how notes and chords are displayed:

Key Spelling

Determines how chromatic (non-diatonic) notes are spelled:

• Circle of Fifths (default) — sharp keys use sharps, flat keys use flats
• Sharps — chromatic notes prefer sharp spellings (C# over Db, F# over Gb)
• Flats — chromatic notes prefer flat spellings (Db over C#, Gb over F#)

Diatonic notes — the seven notes that belong to the current key — keep their correct scale-degree spelling before accidentals are simplified. For example, in C minor, the diatonic Ab, Bb, and Eb will be spelled with flats even when Sharps is selected. The preference mainly affects the chromatic notes outside the scale, where the enharmonic choice is genuinely ambiguous.

This setting also affects the Key Wheel in the Chord Picker: enharmonic key names are displayed according to the preference (e.g. C# vs Db).

Simplify Accidentals

Chooses readability over strict theoretical spelling:

• Double accidentals such as C##, Dbb, F##, or Bbb are shown as simpler enharmonic equivalents such as D, C, G, or A.
• Edge cases like B#, Cb, E#, and Fb are shown as C, B, F, and E.
• When off, theoretically correct but less common spellings are preserved, including diatonic double accidentals in remote keys such as F## as the leading tone of G# major.

With this setting on, Harmonybeam may intentionally show a simpler note name even when strict key spelling would use a different letter. Turn it off when you want fully theoretical spellings for remote keys.

Roman numerals remain functional labels relative to the current key. Spelling preferences and accidental simplification can change displayed note and chord names, but they do not change the harmonic function represented by the Roman label.