Harmonybeam: A new way to work with chords in Ableton Live
Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2026 7:10 am
Hi,
We recently released Harmonybeam, an Ableton chord device which presents a new approach to working with chords in Live that is faster, more creative and more fun than endless fiddling in the piano roll.
You can enter chord symbols as text, generate progressions with three algorithmic progression generators for different genres, or add and modify chords individually, including context-based chord suggestions based on your existing progression. You can also change voicing styles for one or multiple chords at the same time and enable automatic voice leading, which will automatically revoice chords to ensure musical and smooth transitions. Every change instantly updates a MIDI clip.
Full list of features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdfoigocarw
Or find out more on the website: https://devices.straycurrent.co/harmonybeam
We put in a lot of work over the past year to make this the most intuitive and most native-feeling chord device out there for Ableton, with a workflow focused on relevance + usefulness instead of endless buttons, and we created custom data models for the chord suggestions + progression generators based on decades of real music. Any further feature suggestions or questions welcome.
We recently released Harmonybeam, an Ableton chord device which presents a new approach to working with chords in Live that is faster, more creative and more fun than endless fiddling in the piano roll.
You can enter chord symbols as text, generate progressions with three algorithmic progression generators for different genres, or add and modify chords individually, including context-based chord suggestions based on your existing progression. You can also change voicing styles for one or multiple chords at the same time and enable automatic voice leading, which will automatically revoice chords to ensure musical and smooth transitions. Every change instantly updates a MIDI clip.
Full list of features:
Check out the walkthrough here:
- Type chord symbols as text and watch them sync live to a MIDI clip in Arrangement or Session View...
- ...or generate new, professional-sounding progressions from scratch under three genre umbrellas (Classical, Pop + EDM and Jazz + Neo Soul).
- Tweak progressions further with an intelligent Chord Wheel that shows you intelligent, context-aware suggestions from a data model based on decades of real music.
- Choose between several different voicing styles - from minimal to anthemic, multi-octave voicings - and activate Auto Voice Leading to let Harmonybeam find the smoothest and most musical transitions between chords, no piano roll fiddling required.
- Split bass notes to a separate MIDI clip on another track which will automatically be updated as well
- Apply over 40 rhythm patterns to the whole progression in one click.
- Use the MIDI mapping to trigger chord blocks and even add and modify chords all from your MIDI controller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdfoigocarw
Or find out more on the website: https://devices.straycurrent.co/harmonybeam
We put in a lot of work over the past year to make this the most intuitive and most native-feeling chord device out there for Ableton, with a workflow focused on relevance + usefulness instead of endless buttons, and we created custom data models for the chord suggestions + progression generators based on decades of real music. Any further feature suggestions or questions welcome.