The songwriting canvas, inside your DAW.
Chord palette, lyric editor, word panel, and a beat‑grid timeline. Chord and melody MIDI streams to your own instruments in sync with host transport.
Drop in. Write. Hear it through your own instruments.
Here's how it'll work once it ships. The full Song Cage editor inside your DAW, with MIDI streaming to whatever instruments you've loaded on the track.
Drop it on a MIDI track
Add Song Cage to a MIDI track in Logic, Ableton, FL Studio, Cubase, Reaper, Studio One, or GarageBand. The plugin loads with a blank "Untitled" song.
Write your song
Chord palette, lyric blocks, syllable-aware melody pitches, rhyme and synonym panels. The same canvas as the desktop web app, with playhead and tempo following your DAW transport.
Hear it through your instruments
Chord notes route to MIDI channel 1, melody to channel 2. Set the "Output Role" parameter to Chords or Melody on each plugin instance so two tracks can each play a different voice through different instruments.
The full canvas, not a chord library.
- Chord palette In-key, borrowed, and secondary dominant chords for whatever key you're in. Suggestions rank against melody and surrounding chords.
- Beat-grid timeline DAW-style chord and lyric blocks on a beat grid. Tempo and time signature follow the host.
- Lyric editor with syllable splits Each syllable carries its own pitch. Drag dividers and the melody re-snaps to the grid.
- Offline word panel Rhymes, slant rhymes, synonyms, and word associations. No network call. Works on stage with no Wi-Fi.
- Auto Chords Rule-based scorer that harmonizes a melody you've tapped in. Deterministic, not AI.
- Optional cloud library Sign in and import songs from your Song Cage web library. Edits stay in the DAW project until you explicitly push them back.
Tested in the DAWs you already use.
v1 ships AU and VST3. Pro Tools (AAX) is on the v1.2 roadmap if demand calls for it.
One price. No subscription.
$79 one-time after the trial
Free at launch from your existing subscription
Common questions.
Is this a sample library?
No. The Song Cage plugin generates MIDI. You choose the instruments inside your DAW. Same chord palette, lyric editor, and word panel as the desktop web app, with MIDI streaming to whatever you have loaded on the track.
What DAWs does it work in?
Logic Pro, GarageBand, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase, Reaper, Studio One on macOS and Windows. The plugin ships as AU and VST3. Pro Tools (AAX) is on the v1.2 roadmap.
Does it need an internet connection?
No. Rhymes, synonyms, similar-meaning, and associations all ship inside the plugin. The full word panel runs offline. Sign-in is optional and only required if you want to import songs from your Song Cage cloud library.
Do I lose my song if I close the DAW project?
No. Songs save inside the DAW project. Open the project a week later and the chord palette, lyric blocks, and melody all come back exactly as you left them. Multiple plugin instances in one project each remember their own song.
I already pay for Song Cage Pro. Do I pay again?
No. Current Pro and Band subscribers get the plugin at no extra cost. When it launches, sign in inside the plugin and the license activates from your subscription.
How is chord and melody routed?
The plugin emits chord notes on MIDI channel 1 and melody notes on channel 2. Each plugin instance has an Output Role parameter you can set to Off, Chords, or Melody. Typical workflow: drop the plugin on two MIDI tracks, set one to Chords routed to a piano, set the other to Melody routed to a lead synth.
What about Apple Silicon and Intel Macs?
The installer ships a universal binary that runs natively on both Apple Silicon (M1 and later) and Intel Macs.
Does it use AI?
No. Chord suggestions come from music theory rules: voice leading, melody-chord-tone scoring, and progression patterns. Rhymes and synonyms come from dictionary lookups. Auto Chords is a deterministic rule-based scorer. Same melody and key produce the same progression every time.
Coming soon to your DAW
The AU and VST3 plugin is on the way. Start writing in the web app today, and we’ll email you the moment the plugin ships.