Chordio+ vs Mode Circle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chordio+
This music creation and learning tool offers an interactive way to explore chords and scales. It helps users compose songs, store progressions, and connect MIDI controllers for real-time feedback. Ideal for musicians, composers, and educators seeking to enhance their music theory knowledge and creative output.
- Build chord progressions with a sequencer
- Chord and scale exploration modes
- MIDI controller integration
- Custom chord creation and editing
- Export MIDI to DAWs
- Learn songs with adjustable speed and pitch
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Looking for a spark for your upcoming song or unsure about the names of chords to communicate with fellow musicians? Introducing Chordio+, a powerful tool for composition and music theory that offers an enjoyable and interactive experience. This app allows you to explore chords and scales in a fun and engaging way. It also provides a convenient platform for storing all your distinctive musical chord progressions in a single location. As a result, Chordio becomes an indispensable resource for contemporary music producers, composers, and educators. Take your music theory knowledge to the next level and create innovative chord progressions for your latest composition. With a range of internal sounds included, you can explore the tool's features without needing any other external equipment. Connect your MIDI controller to Chordio+ and see chord names appear on the Grand Staff in real-time as you play. Solo over chord progressions using the built-in sounds, and quickly rearrange or transpose chord progressions on the fly for added flexibility. Chordio+ empowers you to unleash your creativity and take your music to another level. The main features are divided into four workspaces: Composition • Build-in sequencer to create chord progressions. • Build-in Chord progression generator. • Create custom chords, edit existing chords, get chord inversions, and extended chords. • Drag & Drop to change the song structure. • Transpose the entire chord progression with a single tap. • Create a playlist of custom chord progressions. • A Chord Types & Voicings panel helps you generate new chords. • Play-along with a backing rhythm track. • Save/load songs, export it as MIDl to your favourite DAW. • Download chord progressions from a growing collection of Chord Packs. • Features a chord transformer that allows you to easily substitute a selected chord with a suggested alternative. Modes • Interactive way to learn what scales are associated with each mode. • Practice modes in Chordio+. • Change tonic, mode, and layout to discover the relationship between musical notes, chords, and scales. Scales • Practice scales with a metronome in all keys. • Contains more than 40 scales you can work with. • Staff view for chords and scales. • Tap on scale notes to show their corresponding intervals. Lessons • Learn to play songs at your own pace. • Download music from a growing collection of Lesson Packs. • Lessons can be slowed down or pitch changed. KEY FEATURES: • MIDI keyboard support. • Build progressions using the chord generators. • Export MIDI to your DAW or sequencer. • Custom chords, edit existing chords, get extended chords. • Play internal sounds. • Arpeggio, strum and performance modes. • Mac version include a detachable resizable Grand Staff, Chord Display, and Keyboard Views. • Customise the Keyboard highlight color. • Select chord, to display a range of related scales and chords. • Tap a note on the Grand Staff to highlight it with a color. • Choose from selection of backing rhythms that fit specific genres. • Chord Pattern playback Always backup your chord progressions!
Mode Circle
Explore all 12x7 diatonic scales interactively. This app displays and plays selected scales, offering various arrangements and views based on scale tones, fundamentals, brightness, or relationships. It allows for highlighting specific modes or freely selecting any scale.
- Interactive diatonic scale exploration
- Scale playback functionality
- Multiple arrangement and view options
- Grouping by scale tones or fundamentals
- Arrangement by scale degree or brightness
- Displaying single diatonic modes
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The Mode Circle is a generalized circle of fifths that can be experienced interactively. It shows all 12x7 diatonic scales that result from the major scale by shifting the root and by choosing the initial note. The selected scale is displayed and can be played back. The Mode Circle offers different arrangements and views of the 84 scales: * Vertical grouping by same scale tones or same fundamentals. * Vertical arrangement by scale degree or brightness. * Horizontal arrangement according to fifth or semitone relationship. * Display or highlight only one diatonic mode (equivalent to major or minor circle of fifths) * or freely select any scale.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mode Circle at 4.6 against Chordio+'s 2.3. Mode Circle also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 33%) and in-app purchases (none vs 11). Chordio+'s advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 9 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Chordio+ sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Mode Circle asks for nothing beyond the download.
Mode Circle holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of Chordio+'s written reviews are positive against 75% of Mode Circle's.
Chordio+ ships an update monthly, Mode Circle every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on June 11, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chordio+ | Mode Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (6 ratings) | 4.6 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 98 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anthony Briscoe | Dr. Garbers Softwareentwicklung |
Customer experience
Chordio+
Mode Circle
In-app purchases
Chordio+
- Free Chord PackFree
- Arabesque No.1$0.99
- RnB Chords No.1$1.99
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- Neo-Soul Tunes 1$4.99
- Neo-Soul Progressions 1$4.99
- II-V-I Progressions$4.99
- Jazz Progressions 1$4.99
- RnB Progressions 1$4.99
- Chord Progressions 251 No.1$4.99
- Classical Progressions 1$4.99
- Unlock App$6.99
Mode Circle
No in-app purchases









