STRAIGHT TO THE MUSIC
A chord instrument
with a vintage sound library. Create full musical
arrangements in minutes.
VST3 · AU · Standalone for
EVERY SESSION STARTS HEREBefore the music there is setup. Sounds to find. Plugin chains to wire. Chords to build.MONOCHORD is for producers who don’t need help knowing what sounds good. They need a faster way to get there. One key plays a full chord of up to complex nine notes with sound and effects already in place. Everything goes to the DAW as MIDI or audio.
Click a preset row to hear the dry sound.
Click again for the FACTORY transformation.
Click again for the FACTORY transformation.
TimeSound PresetKey
00:00OrionG
00:00Pharaos Dream 2C
00:00Nippon 12 Poly SynthG#
00:00NY Grand PianoA
00:00D's Synthie 008C
00:00M1 Deep OrganE
00:00Synth BellsA#
00:00Synth 21C
00:00Hand ChimesA#
00:00J8 Tech SynthG
00:00EP73 Classic PianoC
00:00K3 Special HorrorF#
00:00K3 Spec SwooshF#
00:00VPO Section ViolaF#
00:00Wavstation K BrightE
00:00AX73 Clav IIIF#
00:00DW 8000 PianoC
Dynamic and effortlessThe chords heard on the records that shaped modern music now sit on single keys.Even the ones that are hard to reach by hand. MONOCHORD closes the gap between hearing and playing them. Always in key and at any tempo.
425 soundsrecorded fromvintage machines
MONOCHORD
WHAT IS MONOCHORD?
An instrument for musical ideas, not a chord generator. Made for the start of a track and for the moment it stalls.
FACTORY
FACTORY builds a complete sound in one click and reshapes all 15 effects. The same preset, a new character and starting point each time.
CHORDS, VOICED BY HAND
600 chords in 70 tonal sets, placed the way a pianist would play them and not calculated by rule. Each one can be adjusted or trimmed.
THE PROCESS
MONOCHORD makes no choices for you and holds no generative AI. Taste is not automated. It removes the effort, not your intention.
WHY MONOCHORD?
“Every session used to start with stolen time: chains to wire, presets to scroll, theory I never learned. I come from sampling, where chords were found on records rather than played. MONOCHORD gets me to an idea before the setup used to be done, often to one I would not have played by hand. It works anywhere, in the studio or far from it. It is an assistant without AI; the choices stay mine. I am the artist, not the computer.”
Damiano von Erckert (DJ, Producer)
Damiano von Erckert (DJ, Producer)
THE SOUND
Rooted in 1980s to 2000s analog and digital hardware, decades of studio sound in one instrument.The warmth of vintage machines in a library built for chords. Every sound was shaped to be played as a voicing and not only as a single note.
425 STUDIO QUALITY SOUNDS
The sound library and synth engines reach from the concert hall to the club, in the language of chords. All sounds are inspired by:
- E-MU Proteus
- Korg Wavestation
- Kawai K1–K5
- Kurzweil K-Series
- PPG Wave
- Jupiter-8
- Oberheim OB-X
- Yamaha DX7
- Korg M1
- D-50
- Moog Minimoog
- Moog Memorymoog
- Yamaha CP-10
- Yamaha CP-70
- Yamaha TG500
- Yamaha TS12
- Suzuki Omnichord
- SQNTL Prophet VS
- MKS-70
- SQNTL Prophet-5
- Fairlight CMI
- Korg DW-8000
- Korg Mono/Poly
- Fender Rhodes
- NY Grand Piano
- Juno-106
- Juno-60
- Real Instruments
- Casio CZ-101
- Akai AX73
- Akai AX80
- Casio V10
- Korg Poly-61
- Yamaha S80
- Bontempi B3
- Voyetra-8
- Ensoniq Mirage
- E-MU Emax
- Casio VL-1
- Siel Opera 6 Kiwi
EFFECTS & CHARACTER
15 effect engines with over 80 sub-modes, applied across the full signal path to shape character and sound, in any direction the music takes. The engines and their characters were chosen to work as one, drawn toward a warm, analog-leaning sound, captured and finished to today's standard.
All effects are inspired by
- Spatial Pan
- Reverbs
- Delays
- Flanger
- Phaser
- Glide
- Shimmer
- Tape Machines
- Sampler Engines
- Filter Effects
- Arpeggiator
- Atmosphere
- Inflater
- Brilliance
- Bass Mode
All effects are inspired by
- Juno-60 Chorus
- Boss CE-1
- Dimension D
- RE-201 Space Echo
- Boss DM-2
- EHX Memory Man
- MXR Phase 90
- Eventide H3000
- Lexicon 480L
- EMT 140 Plate
- Bricasti M7
- Akai S950
- Akai MPC60
- Akai MPC2000
- E-MU SP-1200
- Ensoniq Mirage
THE PLUGIN
€139 or 12 × €12 · 20‑day full version · 3 computers per licence
MIDI ROUTING TO HARDWARE AND DAWS
Everything MONOCHORD plays is sent as MIDI, not the chords alone but the full performance: the arpeggios, the strum, the humanisation, the timing. It routes to external hardware or to any instrument in the session, so other synths and plugins receive the complete part and play it note for note.
MULTISAMPLE - USER SOUNDS
The library is left open, so your own recordings can be placed into the sample zones and saved beside the original sounds. The instrument then voices your material as it voices its own, sounding your samples as a full chord.
AUDIO
- WAV
- AIFF
- FLAC
INSTRUMENTS
- SFZ
- Decent Sampler
- SoundFont
MIDI
- MID
MAPPING
- Auto key zones
- Root & loop detection
- From metadata
TECH SPECS
FORMATS
- Standalone · VST3 · AU
- macOS 10.13+ · Windows 10 / 11
- Universal · Apple Silicon + Intel
- 64-bit only
AUDIO
- 32-bit float internal
- 44.1–192 kHz
- 6 synthesis engines · FM · analog · wavetable · additive · granular · PCM
LIBRARY
- ~11.8 GB sample library · one-time first-launch download (streamed)
- 425 sounds · 70+ multisampled instruments
SYSTEM & I/O
- ~12 GB free disk space · SSD recommended
- 8 GB RAM minimum · 16 GB recommended
- Internet for activation + one-time sample download
- MIDI in / out · DAW automation
- Export: MIDI · audio (key · scale · tempo)
- Hosts: Logic Pro · GarageBand · MainStage · Ableton Live · Cubase / Nuendo · Studio One · Reaper · Bitwig · FL Studio
SPECIAL BUNDLE
BUNDLE · €139
MONOCHORD by the pool
Watch an uninterrupted improvisation, performed entirely by mouse. The audio is an iPhone field recording. No further signal or plugin was added.
“Every session begins with stolen time: plugin chains to wire, music theory to learn, static sound presets scrolled in search of a certain character. I never trained as a pianist, and the chord voicings of my favorite film scores, club records, ambient and jazz albums often stayed out of reach. MONOCHORD ends that argument. The final design is a chord instrument, with an on-screen keyboard drawn large enough to play by mouse or a single key press. The effort falls away, leaving the sound and feel of vintage studio hardware and sampling culture. It is here to assist, never to replace creative intention and choice.”
— orph
20-day demo · full version · macOS & Windows
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