Chant Forge: Gregorian chant to MIDI, with a gym-genre preview

Paste chant in GABC (the text format used by Gregorio and GregoBase). You get a MIDI choir line with one Latin lyric per note, moved into a men's-voice range, optionally over drums, bass and chords in the chant's own mode. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Read the project plan and command-line tools

Press Convert.

What it does

  1. Reads GABC: clefs, pitches, flats and naturals, dotted notes, episema and the four bars. Neume shapes are treated as plain notes.
  2. Fits the voice: finds the finals that keep the whole chant in E2-E4, a comfortable unison range for men, or you choose one.
  3. Fits the bar: pads or stretches phrases so each starts on a downbeat over a drum grid.
  4. Arranges: deep house, EDM, hard rock or metal drums, bass and chords in the chant's mode.
  5. Exports: a MIDI file with lyrics, plus a plain synthesised WAV to hear tempo and range. The preview is not a release master and the "choir" is a synthesiser.

Questions

How do I turn Gregorian chant into MIDI?

Chant is published as GABC text. Paste it above, pick a tempo and a final note for your singers, and download the MIDI file. Each syllable becomes a lyric event on its note, so a DAW or notation program shows the Latin under the melody.

Is the chant free to use?

Melodies from editions published before 1929 are in the public domain in the United States, but a modern transcription or recording can carry its own rights. Check the licence of every source you paste. The tool does not decide that for you.

Does the preview sound like a real choir?

No. It is a plain synthesiser so you can judge the arrangement. For a real sound, take the MIDI and cue sheet to singers; the recording guide has a protocol.