Modes for macOS

A hands-on music theory lab for macOS. Whether you're writing a song, preparing for a lesson, or exploring new harmonic territory, Modes gives you instant access to scales, chords, voicings, and modulation paths — all in one clean, sidebar-navigated app that sits alongside your DAW.

Scale & Chord Finder with MIDI + on-screen keyboard
61 scales · 21 chord types · 8 voicing families
Shared Notes, Shared Chords, Borrowed Chords
Interactive Circle of Fifths + Circle of Thirds

Coming Soon

Screenshots

Includes light and dark screenshots that follow the website theme.

Detect chords instantly. Play or click notes and see results in real time.

Scale and Chord Finder on macOS — Detect chords instantly. Play or click notes and see results in real time.

Dive into any chord. See notes, intervals, and voicing on the keyboard.

Chord detail view on macOS — Dive into any chord. See notes, intervals, and voicing on the keyboard.

See every note in any key. Scales highlighted on an interactive keyboard.

Scale Notes screen on macOS — See every note in any key. Scales highlighted on an interactive keyboard.

Build diatonic harmony. Roman numerals, functions, and voiced chords at a glance.

Scale Chords screen on macOS — Build diatonic harmony. Roman numerals, functions, and voiced chords at a glance.

Compare two keys side by side. Find shared notes for smooth modulation.

Shared Notes screen on macOS — Compare two keys side by side. Find shared notes for smooth modulation.

Find shared chords between two keys for smooth modulation.

Shared Chords screen on macOS — Find shared chords between two keys for smooth modulation.

Borrow chords from parallel modes. Add colour without leaving your key.

Borrowed Chords screen on macOS — Borrow chords from parallel modes. Add colour without leaving your key.

Navigate the Circle of Fifths. Click to explore keys, relatives, and modulation paths.

Circle of Fifths screen on macOS — Navigate the Circle of Fifths. Click to explore keys, relatives, and modulation paths.

Explore chromatic mediants. Diminished-cycle diagram for cinematic harmony.

Circle of Thirds screen on macOS — Explore chromatic mediants. Diminished-cycle diagram for cinematic harmony.

Customise your experience. Enharmonic spelling, octave range, and display options.

Settings screen on macOS — Customise your experience. Enharmonic spelling, octave range, and display options.

Features

Scale & Chord Finder: Play notes on the interactive multi-octave keyboard or connect a MIDI controller. Modes identifies the chord you're playing in real time: major, minor, diminished, augmented, extended, suspended, and more. It ranks every matching scale by note coverage. Filter results by scale category (diatonic, melodic minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic, bebop, symmetric, world, and more) to zero in on the sound you're after.
61 Scales & Modes: From the seven diatonic modes through melodic minor, harmonic minor, double harmonic, Neapolitan, bebop, pentatonic, blues, whole tone, diminished, augmented, and world scales like Hirajōshi, Kumoi, In Sen, Persian, and Enigmatic. Every scale is spelled out with interval tokens and highlighted on the keyboard.
Notes in Key: Pick any root and scale to see every in-key note highlighted across two octaves. Instantly visualise which notes belong and where the root sits.
Scale Chords: Generate diatonic triads or sevenths for every degree of your chosen scale. View roman numerals, chord names, harmonic function badges (tonic, subdominant, dominant, and 30+ detailed labels), and voiced keyboard renderings, all aligned for easy comparison.
8 Voicing Types: Build chords in tertian, sus2, sus4, sixth, add, quartal, quintal, and power voicings. Choose from triads up to thirteenths, with every extension automatically labelled.
Shared Notes & Shared Chords: Compare any two keys side by side. See which notes overlap, which are unique, and which chords both keys share. Essential for smooth modulation and reharmonisation.
Borrowed Chords: Analyse your key for native diatonic chords alongside every borrowed option from parallel modes, grouped by source mode. Discover fresh harmonic colour without leaving your tonal centre.
Circle of Fifths: Interactive dual-ring circle (major outside, natural minor inside). Click a sector to retune the key. See dominant, subdominant, relative, parallel, and nearby key relationships at a glance, with modulation difficulty badges and key-signature details.
Circle of Thirds: Explore chromatic mediant relationships on a diminished-cycle diagram. Major and minor buttons for every pitch class reveal mediant, relative, and parallel connections. Perfect for cinematic and neo-Riemannian modulation planning.
MIDI Support: Connect any class-compliant MIDI keyboard or controller. Played notes merge with on-screen clicks for seamless detection.

Built for Your Desktop

Runs entirely offline — no account, no ads, no tracking
Native macOS app with sidebar navigation
Dark-mode aware interface that follows your system appearance
Enharmonic spelling: automatic, sharps, or flats
Resizable window — keep it open beside your DAW

Whether you're a producer sketching chord progressions, a guitarist learning modes, a pianist studying jazz harmony, or a student preparing for theory exams, Modes puts deep music theory on your desktop.

Music Theory Coverage

A complete reference of every scale, mode, chord, voicing, and interval available in the app.

61 Scales & Modes

21 Chord Types

8 Voicing Families

12 Chromatic Intervals

16 Harmonics

32 Chord Function Labels

Scales & Modes 61 Total

Major Modes (Diatonic)

Ionian (Major)
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian (Natural Minor)
Locrian

Melodic Minor (Jazz Minor) Modes

Melodic Minor (Jazz Minor)
Dorian ♭2 (Phrygian ♮6)
Lydian Augmented (Lydian ♯5)
Lydian Dominant (Lydian ♭7)
Mixolydian ♭6 (Aeolian Dominant)
Locrian ♯2 (Locrian ♮2)
Altered (Super-Locrian)

Harmonic Minor Modes

Harmonic Minor
Locrian ♮6
Ionian ♯5 (Augmented Major)
Dorian ♯4 (Ukrainian Dorian)
Phrygian Dominant
Lydian ♯2
Super Locrian ♭♭7 (Altered ♭♭7)

Double Harmonic Minor (Hungarian Minor) Modes

Hungarian Minor (Double Harmonic Minor)
Oriental
Ionian ♯2 ♯5
Locrian ♭♭3 ♭♭7
Double Harmonic Major
Lydian ♯2 ♯6
Ultraphrygian

Harmonic Major

Harmonic Major (Ionian ♭6)
Double Harmonic Major (Byzantine)

Neapolitan Minor Modes

Neapolitan Minor
Lydian ♯6
Mixolydian Augmented
Romani Minor (Aeolian ♯4)
Locrian Dominant
Ionian ♯2
Ultralocrian

Neapolitan Major Modes

Neapolitan Major
Leading Whole Tone (Lydian Augmented ♯6)
Lydian Augmented Dominant
Lydian Dominant ♭6
Major Locrian
Half-Diminished ♭4 (Altered Dominant ♯2)
Altered Dominant ♭♭3

Bebop

Bebop Dominant
Bebop Major

Pentatonic & Blues

Pentatonic Major
Pentatonic Minor
Blues
Blues (Major)

Symmetric & Synthetic

Whole Tone
Diminished (Half–Whole)
Diminished (Whole–Half)
Augmented (Hexatonic)
Prometheus (Mystic Hexatonic)

Japanese Pentatonics

Hirajōshi
Kumoi
In Sen
Iwato

World / Other

Persian
Enigmatic

Chords

Detected Chord Types 21

21 detected chord types with automatic extended-tension detection (9th, 11th, 13th shown as add9, add11, add13 when no 7th is present).

Major
Minor
Diminished
Augmented
sus2
sus4
Power (5)
Major 6th
Minor 6th
Dominant 7th
Major 7th
Minor 7th
Half-Diminished 7th
Diminished 7th
Minor-Major 7th
Augmented 7th
Augmented Major 7th
Major (♭5)
Diminished (♭♭3)
Dominant 7sus4
Dominant 7sus2

Chord Qualities (Builder) 6

Chord qualities available in the builder with Roman numeral analysis.

Major
Minor
Diminished
Augmented
Major (♭5)
Diminished (♭♭3)

Chord Voicings 8 Types

From stacked-thirds tertian voicings through quartal and quintal stacks, with triad through thirteenth sizes.

Tertian
sus2
sus4
6th / 6-9
Add (add9, add11)
Quartal
Quintal
Power

Intervals, Harmonic Series & Analysis

All 12 chromatic intervals with inversions, a 16-harmonic overtone series, full circle-of-fifths navigation across all keys (sharp and flat spellings with automatic/manual enharmonic spelling), and 32 harmonic-function labels spanning tonic, subdominant, and dominant families.