Cem Olcay has updated FretBud, available as a FREE download.
What’s new in version 2.0:
- Fully redesigned interface, rebuilt in SwiftUl
- New color themes to match your style –
- AUv3 plugin — load FretBud directly inside GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, and other DAWs
- Apple Watch companion for wrist-level key, scale, and tuning control
- Left-handed neck flip
- Expanded scale and chord library – MIDI output via virtual port
- Built-in sampler – tap the neck to hear notes
- Label modes: note name, pitch, degree
- interval, or finger number
- Color modes: by degree, root emphasis, or mono
FretBud is a fretboard reference and MIDI tool for guitarists, bassists, and stringed instrument players of all levels.
See any scale or chord visualized across the full neck, in any key and any tuning – instantly. Whether you’re learning your first pentatonic box or exploring modes across the entire fretboard, FretBud makes it visual, interactive, and musical.
Reference
Browse dozens of scales – Major, Minor, Pentatonic Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Harmonic Minor, and more – across anv root note. Switch to Chord mode to see triad, 7th, 9th, and extended shapes laid out across the neck. Change the key or mode in one tap and the neck updates instantly.
Customize what you see on every note dot: note name, pitch with octave, scale degree, interval, or finger number. Color notes by degree, emphasize the root, or keep it monochrome. Every combination teaches you something different.
Tunings
Switch between standard, Drop D, Eb, Open G, Open D, DADGAD, and many more tunings. The neck redraws immediately, so you can see exactly how your favorite scale or chord lays out before you pick up the guitar.
Playable surface
Tap any note on the neck to hear it. FretBud includes a built-in sampler so you can play and listen to scales and chord tones directly –
perfect for ear training alongside the visual reference
MIDI
FretBud outputs MIDI over a virtual port, so tapped notes can drive any Core MIDI-compatible app or your device. Route it into a synth, a looper, or a DAW session to play your fretboard like a touch instrument
AUv3 plugin
Load FretBud as an AUv3 MIDI plugin directly inside GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, and other compatible hosts. The full fretboard reference lives inside your DAW session – incomina MIDI from the host highlights notes on the neck in real time, so you alwavs know where you are tonally while vou record.
Apple Watch
The FretBud Apple Watch companion gives you quick access to key, scale, chord, and tuning controls right on your wrist. Change what’s displayed on your iPhone without putting down the guitar.
Customize
Choose from multiple color themes to match your style. Adjust the visible fret range, toggle fret numbers and string names, and flip the neck for left-handed playing.
For more information on FretBud, click here:
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