Trance Chord Lab
Build a four-chord loop, hear it as a supersaw trancegate over a rolling bass, then export every part as MIDI.
Supersaw chords
Click steps to shape the trancegate. One row is one bar of 16ths.
Bassline
Offbeat is the classic 2000s pump. Rolling fills every 16th the kick leaves free.
Arpeggio
16th-note arp across the chord and the octave above.
Kick and tone
Sounds to load your MIDI into
Supersaw Essentials: 25 free trance presets for Vital, the free synth. Leads, plucks, pads and gated stabs, voiced for every tool on this site.
How to use the Chord Lab
Pick a key and scale. Most uplifting trance sits in a minor key; A minor, F minor and G minor are favourites. Major keys give a brighter, Balearic feel.
Choose a starting point or press Generate. The presets are progressions you'll hear across two decades of trance, such as i–VI–III–VII. Generate writes a new four-chord loop using the moves trance producers actually use.
Shape the sound. Swap any chord from its card, add colour with sus2, add9 or sevenths, and draw a gate pattern. Smooth voice leading keeps each chord close to the last, the way a session keyboard player would play it.
Export. The zip holds a MIDI file for each part (gated chords, sustained pad, bass, arp), a combined full-loop file with a kick track, and a text sheet of the chords. Drag them into Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Cubase or Bitwig.
Questions
What is a trancegate?
A trancegate chops a sustained chord into a rhythmic pattern, usually in 16th notes. It's the stuttering pad sound behind countless trance breakdowns. Here you draw the pattern on the 16 steps, and the export keeps it as separate MIDI notes so you can use any synth.
Why does the progression sound different in my DAW?
The browser plays a simple supersaw so you can judge the idea. In your DAW, load the MIDI into a synth like Vital, Serum or Sylenth1 with a wide unison patch, add reverb and a dotted-8th delay, and sidechain it to the kick.
What does the raised V chord do?
In a minor key, the fifth chord is normally minor. Raising its third makes it major, which pulls strongly back to the home chord. It's the lift you hear right before a big drop. Look for "V" in the chord menus.
Can I use these chords in released music?
Yes. Chord progressions aren't owned by anyone, and the MIDI files you export are yours to use however you like.