How To Use Chord Voyage
The harmony of most pop music that you'll hear today is predominantly diatonic, and predominantly triads. The chords generally belong in either major key or minor. I've designed this app because I felt that there is a lack of good tools out there that aid in improving one's ability to recognize these chords by ear. Using this app has helped me a lot. I hope it helps you too.
The app is very customizable, and based on your current ability you can tailor the settings to focus in on what you want to improve. If you don't know where to start, stick with the default settings at first. The default settings focus on major key tonality, all in root position, with the root in the bass, one chord at a time.
Getting Started
The process is simple: Tap the Play Cadence button, and four chords will play that "tonicize" your ear. In other words, they put your ear in a specific key: C ionian (major), by default. Then tap "New Chord", and try to identify it with the 1-7 buttons below. If you're already proficient in hearing particular chords (for example, the 1 chord is easy even for beginners to identify), you can remove that chord from the list of available options in the settings page.
Progressing Your Skills
Keep guessing until you feel like you're getting it. It may take a few days. Then, in settings, in addition to the root position, add in the first inversion, then the second inversion.
To increase the difficulty some more, start turning down the loudness of the bass with the "Root Bass Velocity Offset" slider, and eventually turn it all the way off.
As you progress, increase the difficulty by turning on the "Random Tonal Center" setting. With it on, every time you tap the "New Cadence" button, the app will randomly switch keys, which makes things more difficult.
Once you feel comfortable with this, turn on the "Voice Leading" setting, which makes things even more difficult, as all the chords will then be played in roughly the same range.
Advanced Training
When you feel somewhat comfortable hearing chords in major keys, switch to Aeolian (natural minor), and repeat the whole process in that mode. Then engage both Ionian and Aelolian, and the app will randomly switch between those modes with each tap of "New Cadence".
If at any point you're struggling with a specific chord, for example, you tend to confuse the 4 and the 6 chord, focus in on just those chords by turning off other possibilities in the Scale Degree Selection settings section.
Eventually, you'll want to start guessing not just one chord at a time, but groups of chords together. You can do that by changing the "Progression Length". Correctly identifying two, three, and four chords in a row can be a real challenge!
When you master the major and natural minor modes, explore other modes too.
Final Thoughts
There is no wrong way to set up this app. Experiment and enjoy!