Polyphonic Chord Generator

Chord.ca is a note pad in the literal sense. Click notes from the twelve semitones, press play, and hear them together. The tool names whatever you have selected and draws it on a staff, so a shape you found by ear gets a label.

What it does

• Select any combination of the twelve notes and play them together
• See the detected chord name and the notes in standard notation
• Build common shapes directly: major, minor, and diminished, plus augmented, the sevenths, add9, sus2, and sus4
• Loop the selection at a set tempo and note length
• Trim the output gain, because stacked oscillators add up quickly

Nothing to install and no account. It runs entirely in the browser on Tone.js.

Why it exists

Music theory sticks better when you can hear it immediately. Opening a DAW to answer “what does that actually sound like” is more ceremony than the question deserves, and a piano only helps if you are sitting at one.

See also

• Music hobby page — more about my musical interests
• Hootenanny Barbershop Quartet — the fake barbershop quartet project