CadenzaMP3 to chord chart
Drop in an MP3. Get the chord chart — offline.
Cadenza’s Transcribe reads an audio file on your own computer and writes the chords as a chart you can play from: the beat, the bar lines, the key, the sections — intro, verse, chorus — and the chords, bar by bar. Nothing is uploaded, and it works without an internet connection.
| Cadenza Transcribe | Online chord services | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | A Mac or Windows app. The analysis runs on your computer. | In a browser or a phone app; the audio is analysed on their servers. |
| What you give it | Audio files you already have: MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, Opus — up to 15 minutes. | Usually a YouTube link or a search in their catalogue; some also take uploads. |
| Paying | One payment — Everything, €69 — no subscription. 3 days free first. | Typically a free tier with ads or limits, and a monthly or yearly subscription for the rest. |
| Your files | Never uploaded. Charts are saved on your disk. | Processed on their service. |
| When it is wrong | You correct a chord and it re-reads the song around your correction. | Depends on the service. |
| What you get out | PDF chart, ChordPro, plain text, MusicXML chord symbols — or a lead sheet in the Recorder. | Chords played along with the song; printing and exports vary by service and plan. |
| On a phone | No — Mac and Windows only. | Yes. |
From a file to a chart in four steps
Drop a file. MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG or Opus, up to fifteen minutes. The analysis runs locally.
Read the draft. Beat, bar lines, meter, key, tempo and sections, and the chords bar by bar. Anything it is unsure of carries a ? and waits in the review list.
Fix what is wrong. Enter, type the chord, Enter — or press 1–9 for one of the readings it considered. Split a bar, merge two, move a bar line.
Let it listen again. “Re-analyse with my edits” reads the song a second time with your corrections held fixed.
Take it anywhere
Print it as a PDF chart, save it as ChordPro for the apps that read it, as plain text, or as MusicXML chord symbols for MuseScore, Sibelius or Dorico. Or open it in the Recorder, where the chart becomes a lead sheet with the song’s own bar lines and you play the melody into it.
Honest limits
It writes chords, not notes. It writes a first draft: clear recordings come out mostly right, dense mixes and songs that change chord every beat leave more for you to correct. It reads files you already have — there is no YouTube box — and it runs on Mac and Windows only. If you need chords on a phone from a link, an online service such as Chordify is the better tool; see the comparison.
Try it on your own songs.
Everything is unlocked for the first three days — drop in the songs you actually want to play and judge the drafts yourself. After that Basic stays free; Transcribe comes with Everything, one payment of €69.