Changelog

Version 1.3.0

Released: August 15, 2026

Major new features in Harmonybeam v1.3

New: Full editor for Rhythm presets. You can now create presets from scratch or edit existing factory presets and save them. Chord parts can be placed individually or together on three separate lanes, enabling advanced multi-layered patterns (like the “Split” factory presets), with separate velocity accents. Also includes randomization features. See the Pattern Editor for details.
New: Per-chord gestures. You can now create organic attack envelopes, alternating strums, randomized round-robin plucks, or even elaborate arpeggios with custom-ordered notes. In combination with the pattern editor, this now allows for very complex sequences. Gestures can be applied to one or several chords at once and can be copied & pasted. Also includes preset and MIDI keyswitch support. See the Chord Gestures for details.
New: External window popout: You can now pop out Harmonybeam into an external floating window that can be freely scaled, and it can also be horizontally extended to lengthen the visible strip of chord blocks.

Minor new features

New: Swing 8/16 toggle & slider in the Rhythm menu for applying global swing to patterns.
New: Bass Split now contains an additional toggle for whether the bass notes should be migrated out of the main clip or duplicated.
New: Settings toggle “MIDI Triggers Use Rhythm”, enabled by default, to control rhythm playback for MIDI trigger notes.
New: Settings dropdown “Chord Block Subsection” now has a third option, “Gesture Values”, to display the active Gesture values of a chord block in the lower section of a chord block instead of notes or intervals.
New: MIDI Config has a new section, “Gesture Keyswitch Octave”
New: Settings dropdown “Chord Label Priority”, to swap chord symbols and Roman notation wherever they are displayed, depending on preference.
New: Settings slider “Default Velocity” to determine the default velocity for chord blocks wherever not overridden.

Other fixes, changes & improvements

Improved: Reduced amount of background work for clip syncing and clip ownership management
Improved: Clip Sync recovery after Live Undo and after synced clips are deleted or recreated.
Changed: Removing a rhythm preset is now done by clicking the X on the dropdown instead of choosing preset entry “Hold”, as this was effectively already equivalent and is semantically clearer.
Changed: Phase in the Rhythm menu is now adjustable in 16th note steps (0.25b).
Fixed: A few remaining scaling issues with non-standard resolutions and Live zoom levels on macOS and Windows.
Fixed: Issues with detection of hovered mouse gestures on the chord strip.
Fixed: Stuck notes when triggering chord blocks via overlapping MIDI notes in some cases.
Fixed: Spelling issues when generating progressions while using Circle of 5ths spelling.
Fixed: Focus issues with shortcuts like Cmd/Ctrl+A in the chord strip.
Fixed: Some issues with tooltips.
Fixed: MIDI notes in the MIDI Configuration dialog were incorrectly displayed according to Spelling Preference and now use sharps exclusively.
Fixed: When a device was created via track duplication while synced it could sometimes erroneously write to the clip of the original device.

Version 1.2.2

Released: July 20, 2026

Updated license flow for direct code copy and paste
Fixed: Issues with scrolling in rhythm dropdown

Version 1.2.1

Released: July 13, 2026

Fixed: Device scaling issues on macOS under certain circumstances
Fixed: MIDI triggering blocks sometimes loses velocity
Fixed: MIDI-based cycling of chord wheel would sometimes immediately update chord block instead of only on wheel close

Version 1.2.0

Released: July 1, 2026

This version incorporates several feature requests and suggestions from users.

New: Expanded Rhythm menu: Pattern Flow, Legato, and Phase (pattern shift).
New: Rest blocks for pauses between chords that are independent of rhythm patterns.
New: Shape Lock and Full Lock chord block states. Shape locks retain their length but can be overwritten; fully locked chords are never overwritten, but can still have their voicing adjusted.
New: Synced clips are now labeled with the chords they contain, e.g. HB [Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Am7]; bass clips are labeled with the notes they contain.
New: Keyboard shortcuts Cmd/Ctrl+A (Select all), Cmd/Ctrl+C (Copy), Cmd/Ctrl+V (Paste), Cmd/Ctrl+X (Cut), Cmd/Ctrl+D (Duplicate), and Backspace (Delete) are now also supported inside the chord strip, not just in the input text bar.
Improved: Roman spelling semantics for non-diatonic chords in some suggestion contexts.
Improved: Slash bass placement in some voicing style contexts.
Improved: Added spelling aliases for some altered-suspended and suspended-dominant chords: sus4b9 (sus4(b9)), 7sus4b9 (7b9sus4, 7susb9, 7sus(b9)).
Improved: Short-form Roman notation now denotes dominant 7th chords.
Fixed: Inversions inadvertently removing required pitch classes in some voicing styles like Anthem.
Fixed: Stuck mode button in Chord Wheel that was previously not toggleable beyond “Nm” in some contexts.
Fixed: Plain triads sometimes not merged by “Merge Variants”.
Fixed: Live clip update on chord block resize.
Fixed: Top row Generation mode layout/rendering issues.
Fixed: Sixth chord color classification.
Fixed: Default rhythm pattern “Hold” separate from “Whole Notes”.
Fixed: Issue with mixed accidental spelling in some slash bass scenarios.
Fixed: Wrong coloring for several chord classes like half-diminished and dominant-suspended chords.
Fixed: Voicing style button sometimes not clickable in Live 10.

Version 1.1.1

Released: June 7, 2026

A number of small font rendering and layout fixes including for non-standard viewport scaling on Windows.
Fixed Roman notation and coloring for certain augmented chord subsets.
Fixed desync incorrectly triggering when a synced clip was moved.
Minor performance improvements.

Version 1.1.0

Released: March 1, 2026

Initial public release.