- Product: PhraseLab
- Developer: Higher Plane
- Type: Intelligent MIDI Composition Tool
- Version: 1.0.1
- Format: Standalone, VST3, AU
- Requirements: Windows 10 or later, macOS 10.15 or later
Chords, melodies, basslines and arpeggios that belong together, written in one click across 32 genres. Hear them against a guide drum groove, shape the feel, and drag full arrangements into your DAW. Built on music theory, not AI.
Four lanes that play in harmony — chords, melody, bass and arp, generated together.
32 genres and 269 factory presets, from Eurodance and boom bap to dungeon synth and jazz.
Guide drums for every genre, so you hear how your parts sit in a track before you export.
The Idea
Writing a full musical idea shouldn’t take hours of drawing MIDI notes one by one. You hear the vibe in your head — you just need a starting point that actually sounds like music.
PhraseLab writes four parts at once: chords, melody, bass and arpeggio, every one of them following the chord that’s playing. Lock what you love, regenerate what you don’t, and build entire songs from scenes you can arrange and export as MIDI.
Every genre has been tuned by ear. Dance tracks keep out of the kick with offbeat stabs and rolling bass lines, hip hop and R&B sit in a laid-back pocket, and melodies are written as phrases with a hook that comes back. Notes only leave the key when it makes musical sense.
Version 1.0 is out now for Mac and Windows, and an iPad version is coming soon.
Features
- One-click generation of complete four-part compositions: chords, melody, bass and arpeggio.
- 32 genres, each with its own progressions, bass lines and phrasing — new in 1.0: Eurodance, Hip Hop, Progressive House, Dungeon Synth and Prog Rock.
- 269 factory presets with a full preset browser, favourites and shareable preset packs.
- Guide drums: a groove that fits each genre — four-on-the-floor, boom bap, one-drop, half-time, clave and more. They swing with the music and are never exported.
- Melodies with hooks — written as phrases that come back, with genre-specific phrasing and Chant, Fanfare, Hook, Solo and Chord Lead styles.
- Chord rhythms from held pads to Euro Piano, Boom Bap Stab, Skank, Strum and palm-muted guitar, plus Push, Slide In and Sus Resolve.
- One swing setting moves every lane together, and a per-lane Feel control lays parts behind the beat or pushes them ahead.
- Lock lanes you love and regenerate just the parts you want — and add or remove Melody, Bass and Arp per scene.
- Scenes for verse, chorus and bridge, arranged into a full song and exported as one MIDI file. Each scene keeps its own time signature, including 6/8, 12/8, 7/8 and 5/4.
- Import chords you’ve played on a keyboard or Push — PhraseLab reads the tempo and time signature, suggests matching genres, and writes the melody, bass and arp around them.
- Built-in plugin hosting — load any VST3 or AU instrument inside PhraseLab and hear ideas instantly.
- 31 scales, from the standard modes to Hirajoshi, Phrygian Dominant and Whole-Half Diminished.
- Drag-and-drop MIDI export to your DAW — per lane, per scene or the full arrangement.
- Seed-based generation — recreate any result exactly, every time.
Made For
- Songwriting and toplining — get harmonic and melodic ideas flowing fast
- Beat production — chord stabs, basslines and arps over a guide groove
- Dance music — offbeat stabs, pumping chords and rolling bass lines that keep out of the kick
- Video game and film music — looping progressions, fantasy atmospheres and full cue sketches
- Ambient and meditation music — slow-moving, atmospheric compositions
- Music education — hear how harmony, melody and bass work together across genres
What’s new
- Guide drums — a genre-matched groove to judge your progressions against, never exported
- Five new genres — Eurodance, Hip Hop, Progressive House, Dungeon Synth and Prog Rock (32 genres, 269 presets)
- Every genre reworked by ear, with its own bass lines, chord rhythms and phrasing
- Melodies with hooks, richer harmony, and notes that only leave the key when it makes musical sense
- Swing across every lane, a per-lane Feel control, and odd time signatures per scene
- Add and remove lanes per scene, smarter chord import, and undo/redo shortcuts