The main alternatives to Unison's MIDI chord packs are curated subscription services (like FFUNK), sample marketplaces with MIDI sections, chord generator plugins like Scaler, free DAW scale tools, and writing your own progressions with basic theory. Which one fits depends on whether you want a one-time purchase or an ongoing supply of fresh, composer-written material.
What Unison gets right
Let's be fair first. Unison popularized the MIDI chord pack as a product, and buyers like it for real reasons: you pay once and own the files forever, the bundles are large, and everything arrives as editable MIDI rather than frozen audio. For a producer who wants a big library of chord options on the hard drive without a recurring bill, that model makes sense. If that describes you, a one-time pack purchase is a legitimate choice and you may not need an alternative at all.
Where buyers start looking elsewhere
The complaints we hear from producers who switched tend to cluster around three things:
- Quantity-first packaging. Big bundles sound great on a sales page, but a folder of hundreds of progressions still leaves you browsing instead of producing. Volume is not the same as curation.
- The one-shot problem. You buy once, and that is the catalog you have. Six months later you are still pulling from the same folder, and your tracks start sharing DNA.
- No workflow layer. Files are files. Transposing everything into your session key, auditioning before committing, filtering by genre: that is on you.
None of these make one-time packs bad. They make them a specific tool: a static library, not a supply line.
Alternative 1: FFUNK (curated subscription)
Full disclosure: this is us, so read this slot skeptically. FFUNK flips the model from quantity to curation. Every file is written by composers with Gold and Platinum records, 100% human-made, and new packs drop on a schedule so the well does not run dry. Two workflow features matter here: you can audition every file in the browser before downloading, and Key Sync means you set your working key once and every download arrives already transposed. The honest downside: it is a subscription, and our catalog is smaller than the big bundle sellers. If you want maximum files per dollar on day one, we lose that comparison. Browse the genre catalog or a specific pack like Neo-Soul and RnB Vol.1 to judge the quality bar yourself.
Alternative 2: marketplace MIDI sections
Splice and Cymatics carry MIDI alongside their audio catalogs. Huge selection, pay-as-you-go or one-time. The tradeoff is variance: uploads are not held to a single quality bar, so you filter a lot of filler to find keepers. Our Splice alternatives roundup covers this landscape in more depth.
Alternative 3: Scaler or another chord plugin
A chord plugin generates progressions from theory rules inside your DAW, in any key, forever. It is the most flexible option and doubles as a learning tool. The limit is musical: rule-based generation gives you correct progressions, not opinionated ones. You still supply the taste.
Alternative 4: your DAW's built-in tools
Scale highlighting, chord modes, and stock MIDI clips cost nothing extra. They are the right answer if your budget is zero. They are also the same tools every other producer with your DAW has, producing similar defaults.
Alternative 5: learn to write progressions
The unglamorous alternative. A few weeks with basic diatonic theory (which chords live in a key and why) reduces your dependence on any pack, from anyone, including us. Start with something applied like our neo-soul progressions guide or dark trap progressions: real voicings, spelled out.
The bottom line
Buy one-time packs when you want a static library you own; subscribe when you want a supply line that keeps up with your output. Producers who finish tracks every month tend to exhaust a fixed folder faster than they expect. A useful self-check: open the last chord pack you bought and count how many files you have actually used in finished tracks. If the answer is most of them, your appetite outpaces a static library and a subscription will feed it better. If the answer is three files out of hundreds, the problem was never supply, and no alternative on this list will fix it: pick the option that helps you finish, not the one that promises the biggest folder.
Test the subscription model on us
The cheapest way to know if curation beats quantity for your workflow is to hear the files. Start the 7-day free trial (card required, cancel anytime), or grab a free account with 5 credits a month and download real composer files without subscribing.
