Chords Explorer
Spark your chord progression
Free · In-App Purchases
Spark your next chord progression.
Select a chord or roll the dice → build and refine → export to MIDI, WAV or TXT.
Chords Explorer is a chord progression builder designed for musicians, producers and songwriters who want to quickly find and explore new ideas.
Features
Piano keyboard and guitar fretboard views
Random chord generator to break creative blocks
Real-time audio playback with adjustable tempo and sustain
Smart chord suggestions based on music theory
Drag and reorder chords in the timeline
Inversions and voicing options
Custom Chord Builder — define your own chord types with any interval combination
Export to MIDI, WAV or TXT
Community progressions — vote and discover
Sharp / flat / auto notation that follows the detected key
Available in English, Français, Español, Русский, 日本語
ABC and solfège notation
Export, custom chords and real-time MIDI output are a one-time unlock — no subscription.
more • Opening a shared progression link no longer replaces your other saved sequences. It loads into the one you are on, and Undo brings back what was there before.
• The keyboard holds still and keeps following the chords for the whole loop. Its range used to be recomputed around each chord, so the keys resized and slid under your fingers, and the centring gave up after the first time through.
• The dice work again when you have hidden the major and minor columns. They roll from whichever chord types you left on screen.
• Changing your name no longer rewrites the author shown on progressions other people shared.
• Restoring a purchase no longer times out. It looks your order up directly instead of reading through every order ever placed.
• The inversion label no longer disappears behind the button next to it, in any language.
• The announcement banner puts its button under the text instead of beside it, as a full-width tap target rather than a 22px sliver.
• The tour has a step for playback, so it no longer ends without mentioning that the app plays anything.
2.7.19 12 Sept
• The arpeggio shapes are a list you pick from instead of a button you tap through, grouped into shapes and grooves.
• Block mode has figures now, so a chord can have a rhythm instead of being held. Five of them alternate the bass with the rest of the chord: boom-chick, a waltz, a 3+3+2 and two more. The plain held chord stays the default.
• A block chord is held for twice its written value, which is what gives those figures room to breathe. The note symbol on the chip still means what it says.
• Exported MIDI and WAV play the block figures too, instead of flat held chords.
2.7.16 2 Sept
• The app keeps playing when you leave it. A sequence that is running carries on driving whatever is receiving its MIDI, so you can switch to the app hosting your synth without the notes stopping. It still suspends the moment you leave it while nothing is playing, so it costs nothing at rest.
• MIDI notes now carry the time they are meant to sound, and the system delivers them at that time instead of the app pushing each one out by hand. Timing holds up when the app is busy or in the background.
2.7.15 1 Sept
• The "What's New" window no longer opens by itself after a small update. It now appears only for a bigger release, and you can open it any time from the help menu.
• Small updates are listed in it again. They used to be filtered out, so some changes never showed up there at all.
2.7.13 29 Aug
• The add-one dice button now cycles in place. Tapping it again replaces the chord it just added with another suggestion instead of stacking a new one, so you can run through options for the same slot. Clicking anywhere else starts a fresh add.
• If you had already bought the exports and reinstalled the app, tapping unlock showed an error instead of restoring what you own. It now recovers your purchase. This affected every device not set to English.
2.7.10 15 Aug
• The "chord columns" panel now scrolls properly on touch devices (the list was stuck on some phones).
• Your hidden/shown columns are now remembered between sessions instead of resetting on each launch.
2.7.7 14 Jul
• The screen now stays awake while a progression is playing, so it can't sleep mid-session and cut the sound.
• The rating prompt no longer pops up during playback (it was interrupting the music); it waits for a later moment.
2.7.5 1 Jul
• The app now tells you in-app when a new version is available on the App Store, with a one-tap link to update.
2.7.2 21 Jun
• Onboarding tour: corrected the add-a-chord step wording and fixed the spotlight and card alignment so steps no longer drift off screen.
2.7.1 20 Jun
• Rhythmic arpeggio patterns: choose from several arpeggio contours and grooves. They carry through playback, the visual highlight, live MIDI out, and MIDI and WAV export.
• Multiple chord sequences: keep 2 to 4 sequences side by side and switch between them, with the on screen buttons or the keyboard keys 1 to 4 on desktop. During playback the switch lands cleanly at the loop boundary, and sessions with several sequences are saved to history.
• Duplicate a sequence: when you add another sequence, copy the current timeline into it instead of starting empty.
• Sound settings now persist between sessions: instrument, tempo, play mode, sustain, and the chosen arpeggio.
• Arpeggios now let the last note ring out when nothing follows, such as a single chord or the final chord of a progression that is not looping.
• Exports: WAV and TXT are now free. MIDI file export and multiple sequences are part of the unlock.
• Exports now cover every sequence, not just the active one. MIDI and WAV save one file per sequence (delivered in a single share), and TXT writes one line per sequence.
• Grid: removed the small filter buttons above the columns. Show or hide chord types from the filter panel on the right instead.
• Undo no longer reaches across sequences. Before, it could pull a previous sequence's chords into a newly created one.
• Loading a saved or community progression now collapses back to a single timeline instead of leaving extra sequences behind.
2.7.0 17 Jun
• MIDI clock is now a continuous master — notes lock to its grid for tight sync at any tempo.
• Playback now runs at the exact tempo you set (it ran slightly slow before), matching MIDI/WAV/TXT exports.
• Loading indicator now shows for every sampled instrument, including the default, and clears when loading finishes.
2.6.3 10 Jun
• Real-time MIDI output (preview): play your progression into a DAW or hardware synth — over USB, or wirelessly to a Mac over WiFi. A paid feature; on the web it needs Chrome or Edge.
• Fine tempo control: − / + buttons next to the tempo slider (±1 bpm).
• In MIDI mode the wave selector greys out and the volume slider shows velocity.
2.6.0 7 Jun
Your work is saved automatically — reopen the app and your progression is right where you left off.
The welcome tour now appears only once, not on every launch.
Stability fixes and refinements.
2.5.5 4 Jun
Build your own chord types with the new Custom Chord Builder. Choose intervals, name your chord, and it appears across all keys in the grid. New in-app changelog so you never miss what's new. Sharp/flat spelling now follows the detected key automatically.
2.5.0 30 Apr
• New level filter (beginner / intermediate / advanced) replaces the old +more / less toggle
• Drag-and-drop reorder of chord-grid columns, with hide toggles and reset
• Eight new chord types: m11, mMaj7, dimMaj7, 6/9, 7b5, 7b9, 7#9, 7#11
• Dominant 11 chord intervals corrected (drops the 3 to match real-world voicings)
• Note shuffle and muted notes are now saved with your progressions and survive being voted to the tops
• Faster first-chord audio on mobile, smoother grid auto-scroll, blue chord tones during playback
• Crash fix when accessing the app over a local network
Thanks to everyone who reported bugs and dropped suggestions, several of these came directly from feedback.
2.4.0 28 Apr
Note muting per chord (fretboard & keyboard)
Community tops with instrument filter
Timeline drag reorder with ghost preview
Chord detail as bottom sheet on mobile
Keyboard shortcuts: arrow navigation, undo, delete
Long-press on chord grid to add to timeline
Instrument tab toggle in panel (piano / guitar)
Fixed audio crackling on Bluetooth speakers and headphones.
Fixed first chord playing as a block instead of arpeggio on cold start.
Faster first sound — instrument samples now load in the background at startup.
Fixed playback not resuming when loading a progression from the Top list while playing.
Fixed author name being overwritten by voters in the Top list.
Fixed support banner overlapping the home indicator on iPhone X and later.
2.3.11 20 Apr
Fix: timeline chord drag & reorder
Fix: horizontal swipe to scroll timeline restored
App Store & download links added in Settings (web)
2.3.4 8 Apr
Fixed infinite loop when removing all chords during playback
Instruments now bundled in the app — no loading on first use
Electric piano set as default instrument
Welcome screen shown on first launch
Analytics now tracked from the native app
2.3.3 3 Apr
Fixed audio not playing on iPhone when silent mode is on
Soundfonts now bundled in the app — no more loading on first launch
New default instrument: electric piano
Vibraphone replaces kalimba
Chord highlight in the grid when detecting notes by ear
2.3.2 31 Mar
• Opening a shared progression link no longer replaces your other saved sequences. It loads into the one you are on, and Undo brings back what was there before.
• The keyboard holds still and keeps following the chords for the whole loop. Its range used to be recomputed around each chord, so the keys resized and slid under your fingers, and the centring gave up after the first time through.
• The dice work again when you have hidden the major and minor columns. They roll from whichever chord types you left on screen.
• Changing your name no longer rewrites the author shown on progressions other people shared.
• Restoring a purchase no longer times out. It looks your order up directly instead of reading through every order ever placed.
• The inversion label no longer disappears behind the button next to it, in any language.
• The announcement banner puts its button under the text instead of beside it, as a full-width tap target rather than a 22px sliver.
• The tour has a step for playback, so it no longer ends without mentioning that the app plays anything.
more Version 2.7.19 12 Sept
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