6EN CHORDS User Guide
MIDI Chord Progression Generator · by GDP Audio · macOS & Windows
Download the PDF · 6EN CHORDS product page · Release notes
Overview · Controls · Factory Presets · Support
Overview
6EN CHORDS writes chord progressions and sends them as MIDI to your own keys, pad or synth — it makes no sound of its own. Pick a style and a key, and it plays a progression in sync with your host: nine style engines from Trap and Drill to Neo-Soul Rap and Fusion Funk, chord colour from plain triads to 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, and an OUTSIDE control for half-step slides and other moves out of the key. Shape the voicing and the rhythm, click any chord to change it, add one of 16 turnarounds, generate variations and step back through them, start from 27 presets, and drag the result into your project as a MIDI clip. It is part of the 6EN series: 6EN BASS and 6EN MELODY can follow its chords.
System Requirements
| macOS | macOS 12 Monterey or later — Intel & Apple Silicon |
| Windows | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit |
| Formats | macOS: VST3, Audio Unit (AU) Windows: VST3 |
| DAW | Any VST3 or AU host that supports instrument plugins (Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, REAPER, Cubase, Bitwig Studio, Studio One, etc.). How the MIDI output is routed to other tracks depends on the host. |
Installation
macOS
Run the 6EN CHORDS macOS installer (the .pkg file you downloaded) and follow the on-screen steps. The installer places files at:
| VST3 | /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/MIDI6EN_CHORDS.vst3 |
| AU | /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/MIDI6EN_CHORDS.component |
| Docs | /Library/Application Support/GDP Audio/MIDI6EN_CHORDS/ |
Windows
Run the 6EN CHORDS Windows installer (the .exe file you downloaded) and follow the on-screen steps. The installer places files at:
| VST3 | C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\MIDI6EN_CHORDS.vst3 |
| Docs | C:\Program Files\GDP Audio\6EN CHORDS\ |
Most DAWs find 6EN CHORDS automatically on their next plugin scan. If it doesn't appear, rescan plugins from your DAW's plugin manager.
Licensing
6EN CHORDS runs in demo mode until a license is activated. In demo mode the plugin's audio output plays a brief noise burst approximately every 45 seconds, the MIDI output occasionally drops a bar, and EXPORT MIDI and COPY are disabled. Everything else remains fully functional.
To purchase a license visit gdpaudio.com.
To activate:
- Click the UNLICENSED - CLICK TO ACTIVATE pill in the plugin footer.
- Paste the full contents of your license file into the text box.
- Click Activate. The pill will change to LICENSED TO followed by the name on your license.
Your license file carries the name it was issued to, and the pill shows it (shortened if it is long). A license that carries no personal name simply shows LICENSED. Either way it unlocks the plugin in full.
Your license is stored at:
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/GDP Audio/MIDI6EN_CHORDS/license.settings |
| Windows | %APPDATA%\GDP Audio\MIDI6EN_CHORDS\license.settings |
Using another computer — activate 6EN CHORDS there with the same license file. No internet connection is required.
Uninstalling
macOS — open MIDI6EN_CHORDS Uninstaller.app from your Applications folder and follow the prompts.
Windows — go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find 6EN CHORDS by GDP Audio, and choose Uninstall.
Both remove the plugin files and the documentation. Your license file is kept, so reinstalling 6EN CHORDS later doesn't require re-activation.
Controls
PRESETS — The preset box in the header. A preset is a starting point: a style with its key, scale, loop length, voicing, rhythm, feel and a progression. Click the name for the list, grouped by style family, or step through with the arrows (or scroll over the box). Any change afterwards adds a * to the name. The presets have the same names, keys and loop lengths as 6EN BASS's, so loading the same preset in both gives you a matched pair. 6EN CHORDS opens on 01 Night Ride.
MIDI OUT — The light flashes whenever notes are sent. CH sets the MIDI channel (1–16). TEST plays the current chord on your instrument, to check the connection. ROUTE shows the steps for sending the chords to your keys or synth in the host you're using.
BPM — Tempo for the play button while the host is stopped. When the host reports a tempo, 6EN CHORDS follows it.
PLAY / STOP — Runs the chords while the host is stopped, for auditioning. Whenever the host transport plays, 6EN CHORDS follows the host's position instead.
RESET — The circular arrow in the header: back to the current style's base progression. You can go back from it with < (see VARIATION).
STYLE ENGINE — Pick a style from the list, grouped by family — TRAP & DRILL: Trap, Drill; HIP-HOP & R&B: Boom Bap, R&B; HOUSE & GARAGE: House, UK Garage; SOUL & FUNK: Neo-Soul Rap, Half-Step Funk, Fusion Funk — or step with PREV and NEXT. Choosing a style loads its base progression and its COLOR, OUTSIDE, voicing, rhythm and feel (locked chords stay). Below it you'll find the style's character, typical tempo and the chord types it uses. See Styles below.
KEY & SCALE — KEY transposes everything without changing the progression. SCALE (Minor, Major, Harmonic Minor, Phrygian, Dorian, Minor Pentatonic, Major Pentatonic) sets which chords belong to the key, so changing it writes a new progression (locked chords stay). 6EN BASS and 6EN MELODY have the same keys and scales.
BASS NOTE — Adds each chord's root (or the bass note of a slash chord) an octave below the voicing. Turn it off when 6EN BASS or your own bass line plays the low end.
SHARE: LINK — 6EN LINK sends the chords that play to 6EN BASS and 6EN MELODY on the same computer, live, with no cables or copy and paste. Pick a LINK letter (A–D) here; a 6EN BASS or 6EN MELODY set to the same letter follows these chords. Use different letters for separate songs or sections.
SHARE: COPY — Copies the key, scale and chords as a short block of text, for 6EN BASS or 6EN MELODY on another computer or in a host that LINK can't reach (sandboxed hosts such as GarageBand). Paste it there. Files from EXPORT MIDI carry the same block.
BARS — Loop length: 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars. Switching never changes the chords — a longer loop plays more of the same progression.
CHANGES / BAR — How often the chord changes: ½ (one chord every 2 bars), 1 (every bar) or 2 (every half bar). Changing it writes a new progression.
VARIATION — < SEED >. SEED shows the number the progression was made from: the same settings and seed always give the same chords. Click SEED (or GENERATE VARIATION) for a new one. < goes back to the previous variation and > forward again — your last 64, with chord edits and locks included. If you changed the style-shaping settings since (SCALE, CHANGES / BAR, COLOR, OUTSIDE), going back rebuilds that variation with today's settings. Loading a preset or a style starts the history over; it isn't saved with your project.
OCTAVE — Moves the voicings an octave down or up (1–5).
CHORD LANE — The row of chord names above the notes, each with its Roman numeral (its place in the key). The playing chord is lit; chords outside the key are drawn in pale blue. Click a chord to pick another: chords in the key at the current colour, OUTSIDE moves (half-step slides, bII7, borrowed and secondary chords), or any root, chord type or bass note — and to lock, revoice (next inversion) or delete it. Click the lock icon to lock or unlock a chord: a locked chord stays when you generate a variation, change the style, SCALE, CHANGES or COLOR. Drag a chord's right edge to change its length; click an empty spot to add a chord there. Right-click a chord for the same options.
PIANO ROLL — Shows the notes that actually play, after voicing and rhythm, with the BASS lane underneath. Click a key name to hear that note.
TURNAROUND — Rewrites the end of the loop so it leads back into the first chord, like a drummer's fill. The button turns the turnaround shown next to it on or off. Click the picker for the list of 16 in four groups and the length — the last beat, the last 2 beats or the whole last bar — or scroll over it to step through. See Turnarounds below.
EXPORT MIDI — Drag the button onto a track in your host to drop in the loop as a MIDI clip, or click it to save a MIDI file (named 6en-chords-…mid). The file also carries the key signature and a marker with each chord's name.
GENERATE VARIATION — A new progression in the same style and settings; locked chords stay. Each variation changes the chord movement, not just the colour: it never repeats the changes of your last few variations.
VOICING — CLOSE keeps each chord within an octave; OPEN spreads it over about an octave and a half; SPREAD over about two octaves.
COLOR — From plain triads (0%) to 7ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. Changing it writes a new progression (locked chords stay).
OUTSIDE — How often the progression leaves the key: half-step slides of a whole chord, bII7 side-steps into the next chord, chords borrowed from the parallel key, secondary dominants. 0% keeps every chord in the key. Changing it never moves the chords that stay in the key.
NOTES — Voices per chord, 3 to 6 (plus the BASS NOTE).
VOICE LEADING — Each chord takes the inversion closest to the one before, so the top notes move as little as possible. Off, every chord is voiced from its root.
RHYTHM — HOLD plays each chord for its full length (struck again each bar). STABS plays short hits in the style's rhythm; DENSITY adds more. ARP plays the notes one at a time, upward — 16th notes when DENSITY is over 50%, else 8ths — over a held bass note.
SWING — Delays the off-beat 16th notes, up to a dotted 16th at 100%.
DENSITY — With STABS, how many hits the rhythm adds; with ARP, the speed.
STRUM — Spreads each chord's notes from the bottom up, in milliseconds (0–60 ms), like a strummed or rolled chord.
VELOCITY — Average note velocity. Downbeats and the top note of each chord are played a little harder.
MIDI Output
6EN CHORDS makes no sound itself: put your keys, pad or synth on a second track and route 6EN CHORDS' MIDI output to it — in most hosts, by setting that track's MIDI input to 6EN CHORDS and turning on its monitoring. The ROUTE button shows the steps for the host you're using. If your host can't route MIDI from plugins (Logic Pro, GarageBand), drag EXPORT MIDI onto a software instrument track instead.
Ableton Live: don't put Live's Scale device after 6EN CHORDS. It would pull the OUTSIDE chords — and the outside notes of 6EN BASS and 6EN MELODY — back into the scale. Live doesn't share its own key and scale with plugins, so set KEY and SCALE to match by hand; all seven 6EN scales exist in Live under the same names.
Transport and Sync
While the host is playing, 6EN CHORDS follows the host's tempo and position, so the chords stay locked to your project. While the host is stopped, PLAY runs them at the BPM box's tempo.
Styles
Trap — minor loops, long held chords. Drill — harmonic-minor tension. Boom Bap — jazzy loops, swung stabs. R&B — lush 9ths, smooth voice leading. House — off-beat stab chords. UK Garage — shuffled, bouncing stabs. Neo-Soul Rap — major 7ths and minor 9ths with chromatic side-steps (a dominant chord a half step above the next chord). Half-Step Funk — cluster stabs and whole chords slid a half step and back. Fusion Funk — lush, wide 70s voicings with a Dorian colour.
Turnarounds
CLASSIC — 01 V7 pull (the dominant 7th of the first chord), 02 ii – V, 03 IV – V, 04 Plagal (IV back home). OUTSIDE — 05 Tritone sub (bII7, a half step above, resolving down), 06 Backdoor (bVII7 into the first chord), 07 Half-step slide (the last chord slid up a half step and back), 08 Chromatic walk (chords walking down by half steps). COLOR — 09 Sus resolve, 10 Altered (#9, b9), 11 Minor plagal (iv6 back home), 12 Gospel run (I – I/3 – IV – #iv dim7). RHYTHM — 13 Stop (the end of the loop goes silent), 14 Push (the first chord an 8th early), 15 Stab roll (16th-note stabs on the last beat), 16 Strum climb (a slow upward strum, then an octave up).
Working with 6EN BASS and 6EN MELODY
Put 6EN BASS or 6EN MELODY on the same LINK letter and they follow these chords as you change them: the bass line lands on each chord's bass note, the melody leans on its chord tones. Turn BASS NOTE off here when 6EN BASS plays the low end. On another computer, or in a host LINK can't reach, use COPY and paste, or drop a file from EXPORT MIDI on the other module. Loading the same preset name in each module gives a matched set (same key, scale and loop length). Tempo is never shared: every module follows the host.
Factory Presets
27 factory presets are included, three per style. Click the preset name in the plugin header to open the list and pick one, or step through them with the < and > arrow buttons.
| Preset | Description |
|---|---|
| 01 NIGHT RIDE | Trap, F minor, 2 bars — dark held minor 7ths |
| 02 LONG SLIDES | Trap, C# minor, 4 bars — wide voicings, tritone-sub turnaround |
| 03 BOUNCER | Trap, G Phrygian, 2 bars — two chords a bar, stabs |
| 04 SLIDE DRILL | Drill, F# minor, 4 bars — held, open voicings |
| 05 COLD STEPS | Drill, D# Phrygian, 2 bars — stabs with a sus resolve |
| 06 OCTAVE CHASE | Drill, A harmonic minor, 8 bars — spread, V7 pull at the end |
| 07 DUSTY FINGERS | Boom Bap, D Dorian, 2 bars — swung 9ths, two a bar |
| 08 HEAD NOD | Boom Bap, A minor, 4 bars — swung stabs into a ii – V |
| 09 BASEMENT LOOP | Boom Bap, E minor pentatonic, 1 bar — two chords, round and round |
| 10 LATE NIGHT | R&B, D# major, 4 bars — 11ths and 9ths, strummed |
| 11 SLOW WIND | R&B, A# Dorian, 8 bars — spread, slow strum, ii – V |
| 12 VELVET | R&B, G# minor, 4 bars — two chords a bar, gospel run |
| 13 OFF-BEAT | House, A minor, 2 bars — off-beat stabs |
| 14 WAREHOUSE | House, F Dorian, 4 bars — driving stabs, plagal ending |
| 15 DEEP ROOT | House, C minor, 8 bars — a chord every 2 bars, held |
| 16 TWO-STEP | UK Garage, G minor, 2 bars — shuffled stabs |
| 17 SKIPPY | UK Garage, D Dorian, 4 bars — two chords a bar, stab roll |
| 18 SHUFFLE SUB | UK Garage, B minor, 4 bars — chromatic walk at the end |
| 19 BEHIND THE BEAT | Neo-Soul Rap, E Dorian, 2 bars — 9ths with a bII7 side-step |
| 20 SUNDAY SEVENTH | Neo-Soul Rap, F# major, 4 bars — major 9ths, gospel run |
| 21 SOFT POCKET | Neo-Soul Rap, C# minor, 8 bars — spread 11ths, minor plagal |
| 22 SIDE STEP | Half-Step Funk, E minor, 2 bars — clusters slid a half step |
| 23 PUSH PULL | Half-Step Funk, G Dorian, 4 bars — slides, pushed downbeat |
| 24 PUNK FUNK | Half-Step Funk, A Phrygian, 4 bars — hard stabs, half-step slide |
| 25 UP THE NECK | Fusion Funk, E Dorian, 2 bars — wide 11ths and 6/9s |
| 26 COSMIC RUN | Fusion Funk, A minor, 4 bars — six-note voicings, backdoor ending |
| 27 SIX STRINGS | Fusion Funk, D Dorian, 8 bars — strummed arpeggios, gospel run |
Support
Support: support@gdpaudio.com · Release notes: gdpaudio.com/6en-chords-release-notes
GDP Audio and the names of our products are trademarks of GDP Audio LLC. All other product and company names mentioned in this guide are trademarks of their respective owners. They are used only to describe the character of a sound or for compatibility, and do not imply any affiliation with, or endorsement by, those companies.