Comparison

Jam Lab vs Chord Progression Lab

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Jam Lab

This music creation tool helps musicians generate chord progressions, build song structures, and train their ear. It offers modes for quick idea generation or in-depth song writing, with features for practicing grooves and exporting musical ideas.

Highlights
  • Generate chord progressions
  • Build song structures
  • Practice grooves
  • Ear training exercises
  • Export to MIDI/MusicXML/Audio
  • Explore scales and modes
  • Generate lyric ideas
Features
Read full description

Jam Lab helps musicians create chord progressions, build song ideas, practise grooves, train their ear, and get inspired before the next jam. Whether you are practising at home, writing a song, preparing a rehearsal, or starting a jam session with friends, Jam Lab gives you musical ideas to play with in seconds. EASY MODE Start quickly with a simple 4-chord progression. Tap the Jam button and let the wheel suggest creative constraints for your jam: genre, rhythm, tempo range, playing idea, and more. You can also loop the generated progression over a simple groove to practise at home. ADVANCED MODE Unlock deeper tools for writing, practising, and experimenting: * Generate chord progressions in any key, scale, or mode * Explore more than 100 scales and modes * See the available chords in the selected scale * Create sections such as Verse, Chorus, Bridge, A, B, and more * Build full song structures and timelines to generate chords on * Choose the harmonic richness of generated chords * Lock the bars you like and regenerate the rest * Replace individual chords manually * Try modal substitutions * Jam along with more than 50 grooves, including odd time signatures * Set your tempo and add shuffle for a swing feel CADENCES Explore a collection of common and less common chord progressions, or create and save your own. Use the same groove and tempo tools to practise cadences, turnarounds, and harmonic movements in different contexts. SONGS Create songs from start to finish. Build sections, organize your structure, add custom drum backing tracks with the Groove Machine, and prepare set lists for your gigs or rehearsals. EAR TRAINING Improve your musical ear by practising interval and chord recognition. Train yourself to recognize sounds more quickly, so you can react better when improvising, composing, or jamming with other musicians. VOICE Generate creative suggestions for lyrics and vocal improvisation. Get words to include, themes to write or sing about, techniques to try, and rhythm or onomatopoeia ideas for improvised solos. EXPORT Export chord progressions to MIDI, MusicXML, and audio, so you can create backing tracks, continue working in your DAW, or share ideas with other musicians. Jam Lab is designed as a creative laboratory for musicians: generate, experiment, practise, save your best ideas, and jam on. Jam Lab offers a one-time unlock. No subscription is required.

About

Chord Progression Lab

Features
Read full description

Chord Progression Lab turns music theory into a sandbox. Pick a key. Pick a style. Listen. Tweak. Export. That's the whole loop — and it's surprisingly addictive whether you're a songwriter looking for your next progression, a producer hunting for a starting MIDI, a music student studying voice leading, or just a curious listener who wants to know what a Phrygian dominant actually sounds like. 25+ music-theory approaches, from familiar to far-out: • Pop, Doo-Wop, Pachelbel's Canon, Circle of Fifths • 12-Bar Blues and Jazz • Rock and Punk power-chord progressions • Epic Minor and Andalusian cadences • Indian Raga (Bhairav), Arabic Maqam (Hijaz), East Asian Gōng pentatonic • Japanese Hirajōshi, Indonesian Gamelan (Slendro) • Klezmer Freygish, Flamenco Phrygian, Celtic Mixolydian, Slavic minor • Bulgarian 7/8 Balkan, West African Highlife • Bossa Nova, Reggae, Hawaiian slack key • Avant-Garde quartal stacks and tone clusters All 12 keys. Transpose any progression — instantly. Dissonance dial. Great for ear-training, jazz studies, or just hearing how a vanilla I–V–vi–IV mutates when you add tension. Tempo control. Drag from a slow 40 BPM crawl to a 200 BPM sprint. Each style starts at a tempo that fits the genre. See it as you hear it. A piano keyboard lights up with the active chord tones in real time, and the chord sequence scrolls along showing Roman numerals and the actual chord name in the current key. Export MIDI. One tap saves a standard MIDI file you can drop into any DAW — and the share sheet sends it anywhere: AirDrop, Files, email, Messages. No accounts. No ads. No tracking. No internet required. Everything runs on-device with a built-in synthesizer. Whether you're studying theory, writing a song, prototyping a beat, or just curious what a Bulgarian 7/8 progression sounds like — Chord Progression Lab gets you from idea to audio in two taps.

Screenshots

Jam Lab4 screens
Chord Progression Lab2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Jam Lab at Free against Chord Progression Lab's $0.99. Jam Lab also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.5). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Jam Lab is free to download; Chord Progression Lab costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Jam Lab versus Chord Progression Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJam LabChord Progression Lab
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size402 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJulien MaroccoDavid Mickey

In-app purchases

None

Jam Lab

No in-app purchases

None

Chord Progression Lab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Jam Lab free?
Jam Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chord Progression Lab free?
Chord Progression Lab costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Jam Lab or Chord Progression Lab have ads?
Neither Jam Lab nor Chord Progression Lab shows ads.

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