Music Chat (AI Assistant)
Music Chat is an AI assistant built into Homecrate that understands your project’s musical context — key, BPM, time signature, existing MIDI clips — and can generate MIDI patterns, answer music theory questions, and help you develop your song.
Music Chat requires Apple Intelligence to be enabled on your device (available on iPhone 15 Pro and later, and iPad with M-series chip, running iOS 26 or later).
Opening Music Chat
Tap ⋯ (more menu) in the header, then tap Chat.
[SCREENSHOT: Chat panel open — conversation view with suggested starter questions at the top]
What Music Chat Can Do
Answer Music Theory Questions
Ask about your project’s key, scales, chord progressions, modes, and more. Music Chat knows the key and BPM of your project and gives answers in that context.
Example questions:
- “What are the diatonic chords in A minor?”
- “What borrowed chords would work in this key?”
- “How do I make this chord progression sound more tense?”
- “What scale notes are in E Dorian?”
Generate MIDI Clips
Ask Music Chat to generate a musical pattern. It creates a MIDI clip that appears inline in the chat for you to preview, and you can add it directly to your project.
[SCREENSHOT: Generated MIDI clip shown inline in the chat — with play button and "Add to Track" button]
Things you can ask for:
- “Give me a 4-bar Am chord progression with a laid-back feel”
- “Write a melodic bassline for a C major verse”
- “Create an arpeggio pattern in G minor for 8 bars”
- “Generate a driving chord loop for the chorus”
Generate Drum Patterns
Ask for a beat and Music Chat generates a drum pattern compatible with Homecrate Drum (and any GM drum machine):
- “Give me a boom-bap beat for 2 bars”
- “Make a trap pattern with busy hi-hats and a sparse kick”
- “Create a funky 16th-note hi-hat groove”
Drum patterns appear as a separate inline clip type and route through the drum step sequencer.
Suggest Follow-Up Ideas
Every response includes follow-up questions you can tap to continue the conversation. These are context-aware — they’ll suggest things like “How does that progression relate to the mixolydian mode?” or “Want a variation with the IV chord instead?”
Starter Questions
When you first open the chat, Homecrate automatically generates three contextual starter questions based on your project’s key, BPM, and any existing MIDI clips.
[SCREENSHOT: Three suggested starter questions shown as tappable chips]
Tap any of them to send immediately, or type your own question in the text field.
Adding a Generated Clip to Your Project
When Music Chat generates a MIDI clip, it appears inline with:
- A mini piano roll or step sequencer preview
- A ▶ play button to preview the pattern
- An Add to Track button
[SCREENSHOT: Inline MIDI clip with Add to Track button highlighted]
Tap Add to Track to place the clip on the least-populated MIDI track at the current playhead position. You can then move it, edit it in the piano roll, or route it to an instrument plugin.
How Music Chat Knows Your Project
Music Chat has access to:
| Data | How it’s used |
|---|---|
| Key and scale | Generates patterns that fit your harmonic context; answers theory questions in your key |
| BPM | All generated clips use your project tempo |
| Time signature | Clips are formatted in your time signature |
| Existing MIDI tracks | Chat can see what clips you already have and suggest complementary parts |
| Live pitch (if monitoring) | If a track is in Monitor mode, the current detected pitch is available for context-aware tuning/theory answers |
Music Chat does not have access to your audio recordings, personal data, or anything outside the project’s musical parameters.
Conversation History
Music Chat maintains a conversation history within a session. You can refer back to earlier ideas:
- “Use the chord progression you just made but shift it up a fifth”
- “Make that melody more sparse”
- “Give me a variation on the last bassline”
The session resets when you close the chat panel or switch to a different project.
Tips for Better Results
Be specific about feel: “Give me a 4-bar chord loop in Am with a melancholic, sparse feel” will give better results than “Give me chords in Am.”
Name the clip type: Say “melody,” “chord progression,” “bassline,” or “arpeggio” so the AI generates the right kind of pattern.
Specify bars: “2 bars” or “8 bars” prevents the default clip length, which may not match what you need.
Use follow-up questions: The suggested follow-ups are designed to develop your idea progressively. They’re often better than starting from scratch with a new question.
Ask theory first: If you’re not sure what chords fit your key, ask “What chords are in [key]?” before asking for a clip. Music Chat will explain the options and you can then ask for a specific progression.
Availability
Music Chat requires:
- iPhone 15 Pro / iPhone 16 or later, OR iPad with M1 chip or later
- iOS 26 or later
- Apple Intelligence enabled in Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri
- An active internet connection is not required — the model runs entirely on-device
If your device is not eligible, the Chat option will not appear in the ⋯ menu.