Pellucine
Pellucine
Chords above your lyrics, syllables counted on every line, played back to you.
For songwriters who write the words and the chords together. Pellucine answers one question: in the key you are writing in, which chord is each Roman numeral, and how is it spelled? It works the answer out on your phone, prints each numeral over its chord name, and puts the chords above your lyrics, with no account and no connection needed.
- Not in the app stores yet
- Works offline
- No account
- Free song sheet, optional Pro
Chords over your lyrics.
The chord names sit in bold right above the words they fall on. Tap a line to type, and tap a chord to move it along its line. Each line shows its syllable count at the right margin.
Syllable counts come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, built into the app. When a word is not in it, the count is an estimate and is marked with a “~”, so a guess never passes for a fact.
There is no Save button to forget: every change is kept as you make it. An example song, “Late Train”, is there to open and play on the first day.
Tap numerals, hear chords.
Build each section’s chords by tapping Roman numerals: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°, and the borrowed bVII and iv. Choose any of the 15 major keys and any tempo from 40 to 240 bpm, then press play to hear the progression on a synthesized keys voice.
Chords are kept as degrees of the key, so changing the key moves each chord with it, and changing back brings each name back. The builder also nudges you toward the chords that usually come next.
Spelled from your key.
Pellucine computes each chord from the major-key pattern rather than looking it up, and spells its notes with the key’s own sharps or flats. A test checks all 135 key-and-chord pairs against the output of the open-source tonal music theory library.
The Keys tab shows each major key’s nine chords with their notes spelled, guitar shapes and piano voicings you can play, and marks the two borrowed chords.
Lay out the whole song.
Add, copy and repeat sections. Put verses and choruses in order, bring a chorus back without retyping it, and play the whole order from the top.
Choose how the chords are played.
Choose how the chords are played under your song, from held chords to patterns such as a campfire strum, in 4/4 or 3/4.
Also in the app.
Then sing. Tap Record, watch the count-in, and your take is recorded over the chords. The free version records on one vocal track: record again and, once you say so, the old take goes to the Trash. Pellucine Pro gives a song up to four tracks.
A song list with no cap on how many songs you keep, and search once it grows. Light, dark or your phone’s setting, and the lyric text at the size you choose. A 30-day Trash for deleted songs and replaced takes. Backup and restore: one file holds every song and every take, with a plain-text copy of each song’s words and chords you can read without Pellucine.
What it is not
Pellucine is not a chord lookup catalogue and not a song generator. It writes no lyrics and does not finish your song. It has major keys only, and the same nine Roman numerals in every key, on purpose. There are no sampled loops or recorded instruments; every sound is synthesized in code, and your own voice is the one thing it records.
There is no sync between devices, no recording in the background, and no effects or pitch correction. It sends no notifications and has no streaks or badges. Bluetooth headsets drop to call quality while the microphone is on; wired headphones sound better.
No account, no ads
There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to. Pellucine keeps your songs and recordings on your phone: no cloud and no crash reporting. No ads and no usage tracking. A song leaves only when you send it yourself, as a backup file or an export through your phone’s share sheet, or as backup text you copy. If you buy Pellucine Pro, Google Play and RevenueCat keep the purchase record, and the privacy policy says what it holds. If your phone’s own Android backup is on, Android may copy the app’s storage to your Google account; that is Android’s doing, not the app’s.
The microphone is used only when you tap Record or run the delay check, and only while it runs.
Pellucine Pro, through Google Play, adds more recording tracks with a mixer, export as audio, stems, MIDI and a chord sheet, preset progressions, a rhyme finder, and more instruments. The song sheet, the chord builder in every key, one recording track, the Keys tab and backup stay free.
Not in the app stores yet.