Chordsmith writes chord progressions and melodies for you. Pick a genre, smash GENERATE, and you get a fresh progression with a matching melody every single click. When you hear one you love, drag the MIDI straight into your DAW and it is yours.
Full tutorial · Every step, start to finish
▶ WITH SOUND
Generate, reroll one chord, loop a bar, switch modes, drag the MIDI out and add a vocal.
Get started in 3 steps
1. Put Chordsmith on a track. In your DAW, add Chordsmith as an instrument on a MIDI track.
2. Pick a genre and hit GENERATE. Every click writes a brand new progression and melody in that style. Flipping too fast? The little < and > arrows next to GENERATE walk you back and forward through everything you just heard, so a great one is never lost.
3. Drag the MIDI into your DAW. Grab the chords or the melody right out of Chordsmith and drop them onto any track. The clip even names itself with the actual chords and key, like C#m - C#m7 - G#madd9 (C# Dorian), so your session stays readable. Now play them with any sound you want.
See inside every chord
Chord spelling. Every chord card shows the exact notes inside it, in the order they are voiced. A C chord might be C E G, or E G C if it is inverted. You see the voicing before you drag it out, the way advanced players want it.
Write in any mode. A MODE dropdown next to KEY unlocks all seven modes: Major, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Minor and Locrian. Dorian for French-house glow. Lydian for melodic house at sunrise. Phrygian for dark techno. Every chord stays true to the mode you pick, and the mode's signature color chord always makes it in. Seven flavors, one dropdown.
Per-chord reroll. Love three chords but not the fourth? Hit the little reroll arrow on that card. Chordsmith spins that one chord through new inversions and smart substitute chords that fit the slot, while the rest of your progression stays put. Keep clicking until the whole thing sounds like yours.
Save the magic ones. Found a progression you love? Hit SAVE in the PROGRESSIONS bar and name it. It comes back exactly as you left it, rerolled chords and all, in every session, forever.
Change key without losing the song. Flip KEY and your song transposes. Flip MODE and the same song gets recolored. Flip METER for 4/4, waltz, shuffle and more. Only GENERATE writes a new song, everything else shapes the one you have.
Every control, explained
GENERATE. The big one. Every press writes a complete new progression and matching melody in your genre, key, mode and meter. Powered by the HITMAKER engine: 218 progressions researched from decades of actual hit songs, so every roll starts from harmony that is already proven to work.
NEW CHORDS and NEW MELODY dice. Two smaller dice next to GENERATE. NEW CHORDS rerolls just the harmony and never touches a note of your melody. NEW MELODY writes a fresh melody over the chords you kept. Mix and match until both halves are yours.
COMPLEXITY. How colorful the chords get. Low keeps it to clean triads and power chords. High invites 7ths, 9ths, sus2, sus4 and add9 colors in, weighted by genre, so Jazz at full tilt gets far spicier than Rock at full tilt.
RICHNESS. How tall the chords stack. Left leans to tight dyads and triads, center is the classic Chordsmith voicing, right reaches for 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. Drag it live while the loop plays: the same progression re-voices under your ears without rerolling anything. Right-click (two-finger tap) either knob for INIT and it snaps back to center.
MELODY editing. The melody strip is a real mini piano roll with its own keys down the side. Grab any note and drag it anywhere: up and down snaps to your key and scale, left and right snaps to the 16th grid, and the clip plays the change instantly. Double-click a note to delete it. Double-click empty space to drop a new note in - you hear it land. If a melody note rubs against a new chord behind it, the note glows amber so you can hear it, see it, and decide - your notes are never auto-corrected behind your back.
HOME BASE and INIT. Every GENERATE, dice roll and loaded progression sets a home base. Get lost in edits? Right-click (two-finger tap on a trackpad) a note for INIT NOTE, empty roll space for INIT MELODY, a chord card for INIT CHORD. Each one puts exactly that thing back the way the song was written - and nothing else. INIT only shows up when there is something to reset.
PLAY, PAUSE and the start line. PAUSE holds your place and goes quiet; RESUME picks up from the line. Click any empty spot in the piano roll and the start line jumps there, so you audition the bar you are working on instead of starting from the top every time.
BAR LOOP. The thin strip above the piano roll is one segment per bar. Tap a bar and it loops, glowing amber. Tap another and both loop. Tap it again to let it go. Tap bars 2 and 4 alone and Chordsmith plays 2, 4, 2, 4 while you hone the melody inside them. Nothing lit means the whole song plays.
KEY, MODE and METER. KEY transposes your song. MODE recolors it through all seven modes. METER moves between 4/4, 3/4 waltz and 6/8 shuffle, re-phrasing the melody so it feels like the meter while the chords stay put. Only GENERATE writes a new song.
UNDO, BACK and FORWARD. Everything you do - every generate, reroll, dice roll, note drag, add, delete, INIT and loaded progression - is a step you can walk back through, fifty steps deep. Cmd+Z and Cmd+Shift+Z work right inside the plugin (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y on Windows), and Chordsmith keeps those keys to itself so your DAW never undoes the plugin out from under you. Step back onto a saved progression and it comes back name and all.
SEED. The number behind the song. Type the same seed and you get the same song back, every time. Trade seeds with a friend like cheat codes.
PROGRESSIONS bar. SAVE names and keeps your current song forever, rerolls, melody edits and all. Load any saved progression from the dropdown in any session, in any project.
Each genre uses voicings the way that scene actually plays them: 7ths and 9ths where they belong, dark minor stacks for drill, extended church voicings for gospel.
Common questions
How does a chord generator plugin work? You pick a genre and a key, and Chordsmith writes chord progressions and melodies that actually fit together, using real music theory across all 7 modes. Reroll any chord you do not like, then drag the MIDI straight onto a track in your DAW. You keep full control, it just skips the theory homework.
How much is Chordsmith? $39, one-time. Instant download after checkout. Full version, no locked knobs, no subscription.
What DAWs does Chordsmith work in? Any macOS DAW that loads VST3 or AU plugins: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, GarageBand, Reaper, Studio One and more. Logic and GarageBand pick up the AU version automatically.
Is there a Windows version of Chordsmith? Yes. Chordsmith ships for macOS (VST3 + AU) and Windows (VST3), code-signed on both. One purchase covers both platforms.
How do I install Chordsmith? Run the installer and it puts the VST3 and AU files in the right folders for you. Restart your DAW, rescan plugins if needed, and it shows up like any other plugin.