AudioTheory Grids
Music
Only for Mac
$6.99
AudioTheory Grids combines intuitive music theory tools with the power of a grid-based sequencer. Customise your grid, program in a composition and then play it back on the piano and fretboard diagrams.
more AudioTheory Grids 2.3.0 includes the following:
–A new dropdown in the application options that lets you manually configure the default values for sharps and flats
–Scale highlighting support for theoretical scales
–The note selector now references the sharp/ flat state of accidentals when indicating a scale match
–Fixed an issue with the scale type label not displaying correctly on certain scale sets
–Grid size is now automatically saved when a preset file is loaded
–Refactored startup logic to resolve various fringe-case bugs loading grid data
–Off-screen grid content now persists between application sessions
–Unity upgrade to fix security issue CVE-2025-59489
2.3.0 10/05/2025
Just a small update to fix a couple of minor display issues, including a situation where custom colours would inadvertently default to light blue for all notes apart from C.
2.2.1 04/01/2025
Revised keyboard design – the on-screen piano has been adjusted to match a real piano with greater accuracy.
New depth effect – black keys now look like they sit above the white keys (also to help match the look of a real piano). This can be turned off in the settings if you prefer a flat, more abstract look.
Custom colours for the black keys – It's now possible to set unique custom colours for the black keys. The default option is still for the black keys to automatically match the natural note colours, however this can be changed using a new dropdown in the settings. If the black keys display mode is changed over to use custom colours then you'll see an additional set of black key notes for which individual colours can be set.
2.2.0 02/28/2025
Features, features, features. Lots of new things arrive in AudioTheory Grids 2.1.0:
Extra Instrument Grids – The main view now includes an extra instrument grid, so you can add in a bass part, or layer in whatever additional sounds you desire.
The instrument itself is now set independently from the main piano, meaning that each grid can have a different instrument and then the main piano can use something else too. E.g. you could play bass, keys and drums using the grid and then overlay a synth part in real-time using the main piano.
Export as MIDI – Anything you create in AudioTheory Grids can now be exported as a MIDI file that can be imported into your DAW. These options can be found under the new MIDI item in the toolbar and they work as follows:
Export current grid as MIDI – this generates a MIDI file for the current on-screen view (either notes or drums depending on what's currently in focus).
Export all notes as MIDI – this cycles through all grid configurations on the number pad and exports them into one continuous MIDI file. A second file is then created for the second set of note grids.
Export all drums as MIDI – as above, this combines all configurations on the number pad into a single MIDI file. However it exports the drums grids, rather than the two sets of note grids.
Auto Save and Load – The full notes grid now automatically saves and loads between sessions. All input across all grids across all number pads remains in place.
Under the 'Grid' option in the toolbar there are additional options to clear the view. It's possible to clear the current grid using the 'Clear Current' option, or to clear everything by selecting 'Clear All Grids'.
Undo recent changes from the 'Edit' item in the toolbar, or by pressing Cmd+Z.
Stopwatch Synchronised Grid– Grid playback is now controlled using a new stopwatch mechanism. This ensures greater precision in playback time and accurate tempo speeds.
Bug fixes:
–Input handling has been updated to better support keyboard input when used alongside the instrument grids
–Fixed a couple of issues with grids not muting correctly
–Muted grids no longer highlight across the keyboard. This made sense when there was only one note grid, but across two it became confusing to see what was going on.
–Grids-specific hotkeys no longer work when the file name input field is active.
2.1.0 02/21/2025
A big new update for AudioTheory Grids. Includes the following:
Fretboard Builder – AudioTheory Grids now uses the fretboard component from AudioTheory Guitars, allowing for numerous customisations. It's now possible to set the number of strings, the number of notes and the start fret, as well as the per-string start note and octave.
Additional Minor Scales – Full sets of harmonic and melodic minor scales have made their way to the scale library.
Changes have also been made to the labels within the scale library, both to give clarity now that there's multiple minor scales to choose from, and also to better differentiate between the diminished scales that are also available.
Locked & Unlocked mode – Toggle the application between an unlocked 'edit' mode and a locked 'view' mode using the padlock icon in the top right. This consolidates the application options, with 'unlocked' mode providing the full set of display settings overlaid directly onto the main view, and locked mode allowing for them to be hidden at the press of a button.
New menu bar – The scale libraries, grid and fretboard settings can all be accessed using the dropdowns.
Light theme – A brand new look is here in the form of the light theme.
Colour Wheel – Now you can easily update the colours at runtime using the new selector. This includes the option to set the colour by hex value, and two additional note colour presets.
Relative note names – Numerous changes have been made to improve how the application handles relative note name formats (Degrees, Roman numerals and movable do). These now display relative to the last selected scale, rather than the current scale.
And the rest...
The loaded preset name is now an input field that can be edited directly
Fixed Do: Option to set Si or Ti as the 7th note in the scale
Movable Do: new option to set minor scale as 'La-based' or 'Do-based'
The 'clear highlighting' delay time for the 'high' setting has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds
Relative Roman numerals review to ensure consistent sharp/ flat information across all scales
Solfege standardisation – all notes now use Do Re Mi for fixed do
Standardisation of default sharp/ flat display across all scale types
B now displays as C flat when appropriate in scales (e.g. G flat major)
Hotkeys for swapping note language (buttons 1 – 4) now also work when viewing scale and chord sheets
Adjusted position of keyboard input overlay on black keys
Adjusted highlighting display when dragging lines on the grid
The note selector (bottom left) now has a highlight effect when you add in notes
Custom sharp and flat states now save between sessions (where as previously it was only the scale as a whole that would save)
A message has been added to the options popup to clarify that the buttons 1–4 can be used to swap the note display language from the main application view
A message also appears on the main display when swapping note language via hotkey, just to clarify what change has been made
Clicking on a sharp/ flat chord name in the main application view now adjusts the sharp/ flat display for that note globally
You can now click on the scale name in the bottom left to swap between the major and relative minor scales
Engine upgrade
Removal of the splash screen
Fixed some issues with grids not saving or loading correctly
Fixed an issue where out-of-range notes would still display on the grid
Fixed an issue with the audio latency value not displaying correctly on MacOS
A few corrections have been made to how notes display when using Solfege
Note selector scale label is now appended with an asterisk when modified. This is to support some changes made in the last update to how relative note names display, and makes it clear what scale these labels are in reference to when the scale is modified.
'Interval' label corrected to 'Degrees'
2.0.0 02/16/2025
AudioTheory Grids version 1.5.0 adds in the ability to change the application colours.
1.5.0 04/05/2024
Minor bug fixes and engine upgrade
1.4.2 10/05/2023
A small update to AudioTheory Grids arrives today. This includes the following changes:
–Sharp and flat notes for pentatonic and blues scales now correctly display relative to the corresponding major scale
–Fixed an issue with the drum grid when using ASIO for audio playback
–Fixed an issue shifting the note grid up or down when using ASIO for audio playback
–Engine upgrade
1.4.1 03/01/2023
Grids 1.4.0 –
Added
–Options to choose between 37, 49, 61, 76 and 88 keyboard sizes
–Additional sounds for the new lower and higher notes
–MIDI support for out of range notes
–Extended output octave range (this can now be set between -2 and +2)
Changed
–Relative intervals can now display as either numbers or roman numerals
–Engine upgrade
Fixed
–Fix for fullscreen size on new Macbook Pro laptops
–Relative note names for pentatonic and blues scales now reference the appropriate major scale
–Fix for scale intervals not displaying correctly
–Logo no longer vanishes on M1 Macs when fullscreen mode is active
–File browser support now working on M1 Macs
–Bug fix for modal scales not saving between sessions
1.4.0 05/08/2022
AudioTheory Grids version 1.3.0 includes a series of performance enhancements and optimisations.
1.3.0 10/29/2021
AudioTheory Grids version 1.2.0 adds in the following:
–Chromatic highlighting. Full flexibility on how sharp and flat notes highlight not only within a scale preset but also in chromatic mode (when using all notes).
–New and improved scale library.
–'More settings' popup with additional application configuration options.
–DSP settings to adjust application latency.
–Option to view a 24 fretboard diagram (as an alternative to the default 15 fret diagram)
Plus many more tweaks, improvements and bug fixes.
1.2.0 09/24/2021
Bug fix for an issue where the app could unexpectedly crash if all notes were removed from the selector.
1.1.4 04/25/2021
A new patch for AudioTheory Grids is here. This includes the following:
–Scale preset now updates if manually set
–Fixed mute button for playback grid
–The grey-out effect has been made uniform across the relative scale highlighting notes
–The sustain button state now correctly saves between sessions
1.1.3 01/29/2021
AudioTheory Grids 1.1.2 changes:
–Bug fix for scales not reloading correctly
–Save/ load retains file name and last saved location
–Engine upgrade
1.1.2 12/09/2020
Bug fixes for an issue where scales would not reload correctly.
1.1.1 12/07/2020
AudioTheory Grids version 1.1.0 introduces the following:
–Guitar fretboard highlighting relative to the selected scale preset
–An option to use Fixed Do solfège note labelling (Do Re Mi... instead of C E F...)
1.1.0 12/06/2020
Bug fix for mini scale-selector
1.0.2 12/01/2020
Engine upgrade and bug fixes.
1.0.1 11/29/2020
AudioTheory Grids 2.3.0 includes the following:
–A new dropdown in the application options that lets you manually configure the default values for sharps and flats
–Scale highlighting support for theoretical scales
–The note selector now references the sharp/ flat state of accidentals when indicating a scale match
–Fixed an issue with the scale type label not displaying correctly on certain scale sets
–Grid size is now automatically saved when a preset file is loaded
–Refactored startup logic to resolve various fringe-case bugs loading grid data
–Off-screen grid content now persists between application sessions
–Unity upgrade to fix security issue CVE-2025-59489
more Version 2.3.0 10/05/2025
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