cymfonic
degrees

cymfonic · degrees

chord progressions.
anywhere. any level.

build chord progressions on your phone. six substitution types, pivot-chord modulation, voice leading — when you want them. export to your daw, or keep your library in your pocket.

sign up for news →

free  ·  ios · android  ·  coming soon

34
chord qualities

triads through extensions — the full harmonic palette in your pocket.

6
substitution layers

including pivot-chord modulation. harmonic depth most chord apps don't reach.

84
keys × modes

every root in every classical mode. the roman numerals adapt instantly.

how it works
  • pick a key and a mode

    major, minor, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, locrian. choose one, the roman numerals adapt.

  • tap a chord, hear it play

    three real instruments — piano, synth strings, string ensemble. five playback styles. real audio, not midi previews.

  • build a region, then another

    songs are made of regions. each region has its own key, mode, length, and playback feel.

  • save, export, share

    .cymfonic for harmonyengine, .mid for any daw. your library lives on your phone, offline.

the harmonic depth
  • substitutions in six layers

    borrowed chords, secondary dominants, tritone subs, neapolitan, modulation pivots, plus the standard palette. all degree-aware, all key-aware.

  • pivot-chord modulation

    when you change key between regions, degrees finds the diatonic pivots, the approach chords (V7→, IV→, ♭VII→), and the chromatic options (♭VI→, iv→, II7→).

  • voice leading

    toggle it on per region. notes move to the nearest chord tone in a fixed c3–g4 range, with centroid correction to prevent drift. same algorithm as the harmonyengine vst.

  • tension shift

    one dial shifts the quality palette across every chord in the region. quick reharmonisation without rewriting.

substitutions

six layers. every chord.
full harmonic depth.

tap any chord and reach into a different layer. borrowed from a parallel mode. a secondary dominant pulling toward the next chord. a tritone sub for colour. a neapolitan for surprise. a modulation pivot to bridge keys. degrees gives you the harmonic vocabulary professional composers reach for — in a vertical picker that fits on a phone.

standard the default palette for each degree of the key
borrowed parallel mode chord — same degree, different quality
secondary dom V7 of another chord in the region
tritone tritone substitute of the slot's dominant
neapolitan the ♭II major chord
modulation pivot, approach, or chromatic chord into the next key

voice leading + audio

chord changes that sound right.

voice leading, three real instruments, five playback styles. when you tap play, it sounds like music — not midi previews.

pairs with harmonyengine

.cymfonic. straight into your daw.

every song you build in degrees can be exported as a .cymfonic file — and imported directly into harmonyengine. no conversion, no remapping. all your harmonic structure, all your substitutions, all your modulation pivots, intact. or export to standard midi for any other daw.

degrees is fully free on its own. the pro tier is for harmonyengine users who want their phone library and plugin library to stay in sync — not a gate on the core app.

questions

things people ask.

is degrees free?

yes. degrees is free on ios and android. some pro features will roll out later for users with a harmonyengine license — cloud sync between mobile and the plugin is the first. the core app stays free.

when do the ios and android apps launch?

soon. we're working on the bundles now. sign up for news to hear the date as we lock it in.

do i need harmonyengine to use degrees?

no. degrees is a complete chord-progression composer on its own — real instruments, real midi export, real harmonic depth. harmonyengine is the desktop daw plugin in the same family. they pair beautifully, but degrees works fully without it.

what makes the substitution system different?

six full layers, including pivot-chord modulation. the modulation layer is the unusual one: when you set up a key change between regions, degrees finds the diatonic pivot chords (the chords that work in both keys), plus the standard approach chords (V7→, IV→, ♭VII→) and chromatic options (♭VI→, iv→, II7→). most chord apps don't model modulation at all. degrees treats it as a first-class harmonic move.

what's voice leading?

when you play a chord progression, voice leading is what makes each chord move smoothly to the next instead of jumping around. degrees has an automatic voice-leading algorithm — toggle it on per region. notes stay within a c3–g4 range, each voice picks the smoothest move, and a centroid correction keeps long progressions from drifting up or down over time. same algorithm as the harmonyengine vst.

can i export to a daw?

yes — two formats. .cymfonic for harmonyengine, which carries everything (degrees, substitutions, modulation, voice leading settings). .mid for any daw — standard midi, format 0, 96 ticks per beat. the midi version loses harmonic metadata but the notes are accurate.

does degrees work offline?

yes. once installed, the app runs entirely on your device. the only thing that needs internet is the first load of the piano and string samples (cached after that) and pro-tier cloud sync.

how is degrees different from other chord progression apps?

three things. it's degree-based (i, iv, v rather than fixed pitches), so changing key transposes the whole song instantly. it has a complete substitution system, including pivot-chord modulation — most chord apps stop at simple progressions. and it bridges to a daw via .cymfonic and .mid, not just stays on the phone.

news

degrees launches on ios and android soon. sign up to hear when, and to get the first wave of pro features as they arrive.

sign up for news →