The Songwriting App Built for the Moment Inspiration Strikes

Song Cage is built for exactly this. Pick a key and the app shows every chord that fits (diatonic, borrowed, and secondary dominants) with guitar fretboard diagrams or piano voicings so you can actually play them. Tap any position on the timeline and the chord palette ranks suggestions based on the chord before it, the chord after it, and the melody notes at that beat, so you’re not guessing, you’re choosing from what actually works in context. Every chord is labeled by function, so you learn why it works as you use it. Start with a melody instead and the palette reshapes around what you’ve already written. No music theory knowledge required: you pick it up naturally just by writing.

That’s exactly what Song Cage does. Write lyrics in a familiar notepad-style sheet view with chords above the words, or switch to the DAW-style timeline where every syllable sits on the beat grid and carries its own melody note. Both views share the same data. Click any word to see rhymes, slant rhymes, and synonyms instantly, or open the Explore tab to break through writer’s block by following chains of semantically related words or generating unexpected pairings with the Word Collider. Change a chord and the melody guidance updates. Move a lyric block and its rhythm, syllable splits, and pitches move with it. Everything stays connected because it was never separate to begin with.

Song Cage is built for exactly that moment: guitar in hand, idea in your head. Open the app, pick a key, and you’re writing in seconds. Start anywhere (a chord progression, a melody, a line of lyrics) with no required order and no setup screen. Record audio directly in-app so the melody doesn’t disappear. Capture chords on the timeline with guitar or piano voicings, write lyrics in the sheet view, and sketch a melody with notes that snap to chord tones. Everything you put down is connected, so when you come back later the idea is still whole, not scattered across three different apps.

Not at all. Song Cage teaches you as you write. Hover over any suggested chord and the app explains why it works: “Classic ii-V-I cadence,” “borrowed from Aeolian,” or “part of the I-V-vi-IV pop progression,” along with voice leading smoothness and how many of your melody notes are chord tones. The modulation panel shows named routes between keys with pivot chords and cadential patterns. You’re not memorizing theory from a textbook, you’re seeing it applied to your own song in real time. Over time you’ll need the suggestions less. That’s not a problem. That’s the point.

Yes. Song Cage Desktop is a native app for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows. It lives in your dock or taskbar, opens in one click, and works fully offline: write on a plane or anywhere without Wi‑Fi. It costs $79 with a 14-day free trial, and the same licence covers the AU/VST3 plugin and the full web app. Get the desktop app →

Yes, and it’s free. The Song Cage idea-capture app is on the App Store and Google Play, and it works fully offline with no account: record a melody, sketch lyrics, or build a chord idea the moment it strikes. The full editor lives on the web and desktop, where you turn those sketches into finished songs. Buy the Song Cage licence and your captures land in the Ideas inbox of the web app. More about the mobile app →

Yes. The Song Cage Plugin puts the same chord palette, lyric editor, and word tools inside Logic Pro, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase, Reaper, GarageBand, and Studio One. It ships as AU and VST3 on macOS and VST3 on Windows, and it generates MIDI: chords and melody stream to your own instruments in sync with the host transport. Songs save inside your DAW project. It comes with the $79 Song Cage licence alongside the desktop app, with a 14-day free trial. Get the plugin →

No. Song Cage is a song maker with no AI. There’s no prompt-to-song, no AI-written lyrics, and no model-generated melodies. Every suggestion in the app comes from music theory: chord rankings score against harmonic context and voice leading, modulation routes walk a graph of pivot chords, and the word tools are dictionary lookups grouped by syllable count. Even Auto Chords, the one-click harmonize button, is a deterministic rule-based scorer rather than a generative model. The creativity stays with you. Read more about the no-AI philosophy →

The Song Cage licence is $79, paid once, and covers the desktop app for Mac and Windows, the AU/VST3 plugin and the full web app. The iPhone and Android capture apps are free, and so is the web app for one song. Prices are in US dollars, with tax added at checkout where it applies, and there are no other fees.

Yes. The iPhone and Android capture apps are free forever and work without an account. The web app is free for one song, with no card required, and you can export that song as a file or share a view-only link. PDF chord sheets, MIDI export and more songs come with the licence.

Yes, in the desktop app and the plugin. Install either one and sign in once, and you get 14 days of everything the licence includes, with no card required. There is no separate trial in the web app, which is free for one song.

No, Song Cage has no subscription, and the licence is a one-time purchase. That one purchase covers both the desktop app and the plugin, on macOS and Windows, so there is no separate plugin price.

Email us within 30 days and we refund it in full, no questions asked. The desktop app and plugin stop working once the refund goes through. Every song you wrote stays on your computer and stays yours.

No. Melody Rack is a separate plugin with its own window and its own installer, and it costs $59. If you already own the Song Cage licence it is $39, and the checkout works that out from your account with no code to enter.