ChordCraft LabSongwriting & theoryA songwriter's quiet companion.
A live music theory and songwriting workspace. Free to start — no card required. Built for the notebook stage of a song, the moment before it's a demo.
What ChordCraft Lab is
ChordCraft Lab is a real, published app — not a concept deck. It gives songwriters a place to explore chords and scales, test progressions against genre patterns, and build their ears through daily puzzles and guided paths. The interface is deliberately restrained: the tools are there when you want them, silent when you don't.
Free forever: Discover Chords & Scales, Genre Matcher, Daily Puzzle, and Test Knowledge — plus the full playable keyboard. No trial clock on any of it.
Pro unlocks Chord Detective, Ear Training Path, Focus Mode, the Star Shop, and the real leaderboard — $7/month, 14-day free trial, cancel anytime.
Practice mode gives you visual feedback while you work: the notes you press highlight on the keyboard as you build a chord or scale, so a half-right answer is visible instead of invisible. When your chances are used up — or when the app shows you the correct placement — those notes stay lit and playable, so you can hear and practice the right shape before moving on.
Preview
2:18 walkthrough of ChordCraft Lab Module 01 · Producer starter kit — click any line to jump to it.
Simplex DAW Assistant is the front door to ChordCraft Lab
Simplex is the free production companion for Cubase, FL Studio, and Ableton Live. It walks a song from empty session to mastered file. ChordCraft Lab is the theory and ear-training room next door: better chords, smarter scales, and daily practice that makes the music you build in Simplex stronger.
Most people arrive at ChordCraft through Simplex. Use Simplex to get the idea down, then open ChordCraft Lab to choose the right progression, train your ear on the intervals you just wrote, and bring that knowledge back into the DAW.
Simplex Plus is a one-time $19 upgrade for the free app — start in Simplex, then upgrade your theory and ear training with ChordCraft Lab Pro.
Why they pair
- Make in Simplex. Build the session, arrangement, and mix in your DAW with step-by-step guidance.
- Decide in ChordCraft Lab. Pick chords, scales, and progressions that match the genre and mood.
- Train your ear. Use the Lab's ear-training path and daily puzzles to recognize what you hear in the DAW.
- Finish in Simplex. Return with stronger harmonic choices and export a platform-ready master.
Free and Pro features
Free, Always
- Discover Chords & Scales — every diatonic triad and scale in any key, hear it and see the roman numerals
- Genre Matcher — build a progression and see which genres use it, or start from a genre
- Daily Puzzle — one puzzle a day, real streak tracking
- Test Knowledge — a 10-question adaptive quiz that finds your weak spots
- Playable Keyboard — 2 to 88 keys, 7+ synthesized instruments, fingering hints
- Live Note Highlighting — every key you press lights up as you build a chord or scale, so you can see a partial answer taking shape
- Progression Builder — stack the seven diatonic chords into four bars, hear them back in any key, and see the songs that already live there
- Rhythm Trainer — straight quarters, the backbeat, eighths and the waltz, scored to the millisecond up to 120 bpm
Pro ($7/mo)
- Chord Detective — an investigative puzzle mode, deduce the mystery chord or scale from clues
- Ear Training Path — a structured, progressively harder ear-training curriculum
- Focus Mode — endless puzzles weighted to your weak spots
- Playable Reveals — when your attempts run out, the correct chord or scale lights up on the keyboard and stays playable so you can practice the shape
- Star Shop — unlock themes and instruments with stars earned through play
- Real Leaderboard — actual aggregated stats from real users, no invented numbers
- Borrowed chords & eight bars — ♭VII, ♭VI, the minor iv, V7 and the secondary dominants in the Progression Builder
- Syncopation, triplets & odd meters — offbeats, son clave, shuffle and 7/8 in the Rhythm Trainer, up to 200 bpm
Made for Songwriters
- A quiet workspace built around the notebook stage of a song
- Theory that stays out of the way until you need it
- Designed for the moment before a demo exists
Pricing
Discover Chords & Scales, Genre Matcher, Daily Puzzle, Test Knowledge, and the full playable keyboard. No card required.
Start freeOn free Simplex? Upgrade first — unlimited guided sessions, all DAW templates and mix playbooks, then bring your ideas into the Lab. Already included with Pro.
Chord Detective, Ear Training Path, Focus Mode, Star Shop, and the real leaderboard — Simplex Plus included. 14-day free trial, cancel anytime.
Pro is billed through our secure checkout. You'll be asked to sign in first so your subscription is tied to your account.
New to theory? Read our music theory guide for songwriters.