Stem separation has long been a fascination in the audio world, the end goal being able to split a mixed track into separate parts without any noticeable glitches or audio artefacts. A few years ago, it felt like the stuff of science fiction, but more powerful computers and access to machine learning datasets have turned it into a reality that’s only getting better.

• READ MORE: The best DAWs for music producers in all genres, styles and workflows

Which is the best stem separation software?

To find out which stem separation software is best on vocals, we’re using the track Restless Mind by Steven Beddall.

In all cases, the highest-quality configurations were chosen on the software. These examples should give you a rough idea of the stemming quality, but the results can vary from track to track. It’s possible that one algorithm may perform slightly better than another when fed a certain audio, but the results could be reversed with a different track.

Here’s what to listen for when comparing the results:

• Do any other instruments leak into the vocal stem at any point?
• Are there any timbral changes? Does the algorithm get confused with other instruments and take some information away?
• Are natural reverb tails included?
• How does it handle backing vocals?
• Are there any additional artefacts like metallic whistles, glitches, hiss or phasing issues?

After carefully analysing the acapellas, and cross-referencing with a few other examples, we found the results from Gaudio Studio to be the cleanest overall — a surprise, given that it’s one of the cheapest.

Gaudio Studio provided an effective reduction of noise and instrument spill, a clean capture of backing vocals and reverbs, and the most consistent high-end frequency content.

If you’re willing to put the time into experimenting with the various models, then you can probably get similar results with the free Ultimate Vocal Remover 5. After that, Moises, Lalal.ai, AudioStrip and Logic Pro were all very impressive, with each offering variations on the amount of reverb and backing vocals captured.

Best stem separation software, ranked

1. Gaudio Studio
2. Ultimate Vocal Remover 5
3. Moises
4. AudioStrip
5. Logic Pro
6. Lalal.ai
7. Hit’n’Mix RipX
8. Akai MPC Stems
9. FL Studio
10. Serato Sample
11. iZotope RX11
12. Acon Digital REMIX

What do you think? Have a listen to the files and see which you think sounds best. Each option has different pros and cons including processing speed, price and workflow, so the final decision isn’t necessarily black and white. Different tracks could result in a different leaderboard. Whichever one you go for, we can all agree at least that the technology is mind-blowing — and it’s only going to get better.

Note that you should always respect the copyright of any original material you use these tools on. Also, some of these tools will process the audio using their own servers, so an internet connection is required and the waiting times can vary.

Stem separation software available in 2024

iZotope – RX11

Music Rebalance is a feature inside of RX11 that uses a tweaked version of Spleeter to split stereo audio into Vocals, Percussion, Bass and Other stems. You can then change the volume of each to rebalance a track, or solo an element and bounce it to a new audio file. You also get controls for each stem to edit the strength of the separation and three different quality settings.

It comes as part of RX11 Advanced, but you can get it cheaper inside of RX11 Standard, and both go on sale regularly. Music Rebalance has had an update for RX11 and features upgraded machine learning based on modern neural networks.

Price: £389 RX10 Standard, £1,149 RX10 Advanced
VST3, AU, AAX, AAX Audiosuite Plug-in
Separation options: Vocals, Percussion, Bass, Other
Library/Algorithm: Spleeter algorithms implemented in iZotope’s own code

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Acon Digital – Remix

Remix is the only option here that processes audio in real-time in your DAW. It runs as a plug-in (or inside of Acon Digital’s Acoustica Suite) and features a low-latency algorithm from HANCE.

You can split your audio into Vocals, Piano, Bass, Drums, and Other stems and then balance the volume or solo each. You also get sensitivity controls to fine-tune each stem, plus the ability to route the output of each channel to its own track.

It may not have the competitive quality as some of the offline options, but it might prove useful for quickly rebalancing stem volumes within your DAW.

Price: £39.90 (also comes bundled with Acoustica Standard Edition for £49.90)
VST, VST3, AU, AAX plug-in
Separation options: Vocals, Piano, Bass, Drums, Other
Library/Algorithm: HANCE Realtime Stem Separation

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Hit’n’ Mix – RipX DAW

RipX DAW and RipX DAW Pro are based on the unique Rip Audio format, which deconstructs audio down to its individual elements and treats audio and MIDI as one. You can split audio into stems for voice, drums + percussion, bass, other sounds + instruments, and guitar + piano. The beauty of RipX is that you can further refine the detection to get the best results, and even edit the harmonic and unpitched elements separately.

Other features include Melodyne-style note editing, the ability to change and randomise the key or generate new harmonies, adding effects to individual notes, replacing any note with a different sampled instrument, advanced repair and cleanup, and more.

Price: £99 RipX DAW, £198 RipX DAW Pro
Standalone
Separation options: Voice, drums & percussion, bass, other sounds & instruments, and guitar and piano
Library/Algorithm: Ripper Engine + Modified Demucs

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Omnisale – Lalal.ai

Lalal comes as both a web-based and desktop/mobile app stem separator. You can try several files for free, or choose from a range of one-off fees that get you a set number of processing minutes. This is a great alternative to monthly payment plans if you think you’ll only occasionally want to use the service.

The latest version is based on a state-of-the-art, in-house developed neural network called Orion, which uses direct synthesis to recreate stems with exceptional quality. Currently, you can extract Vocals, Backing Tracks, Drums, Piano, Synthesizer, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Strings, and Wind, making Lalal one of the most versatile options in the list.

Price: £18 for 90 minutes, £70 for 500 minutes (other options also available)
Web-based, plus desktop iOS and Android apps
Stems: Vocal and instrumental, Voice and Noise, Drums, Bass, Piano, Synthesizer, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Strings, Wind
Library/Algorithm: Orion/Phoenix
www.lalal.ai

Serato – Serato Sample

Serato Sample is a refined sampler with a lightning-fast workflow. It features Serato’s renowned Pitch ’n Time algorithm for stretching audio, and the recent V2 update added built-in stem separation.

You simply load an audio file, and Serato Sample will automatically work out the bpm and key, and will then sync it to your host tempo. You then get access to four buttons for vocal, bass, drums, and music/other parts. These can then be switched on and off at will whilst you trigger samples in the normal manner.

The separation isn’t the best, but being able to import audio into a plug-in, and then instantly get to work chopping and composing is a bonus for workflow.

Price: $149 (or $9.99 pm subscription
VST, VST3, AU plug-in
Stems: Vocal, Drums, Bass, Other
Library/Algorithm: Serato’s proprietary machine-learning algorithm

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Image-Line – FL Studio 21.2

Image-Line added built-in stem separation in a recent update to FL Studio. Alongside the extensive production features of the program, you can now right-click on a piece of audio and select Extract Stems from Sample. You then get a dialogue box where you can select from Vocals, Drums, Bass and Other Instruments, and it gives an estimate of how long the processing will take.

FL Studio was the first DAW to include this feature and the fact it’s all built-in is a massive workflow boon. Logic Pro has recently followed suit, and hopefully, it won’t be long until Ableton Live and other DAWs jump onboard with their versions.

Price: £164 Producer Edition, £245 Signature Bundle, £409 All Plugins Edition
Standalone DAW
Stems: Vocals, Drums, Bass, Instruments
Library/Algorithm: Customised Demucs

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Gaudio Studio

Up until recently, Gaudio Studio was a completely free online splitter that used the Gaudio Source SEParation (GSEP) model to separate audio into Vocal, Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Piano, and Other Instruments. The website and services have recently refreshed, so you can now purchase bundles of minutes for a very reasonable price.

You can also try out 20 minutes of audio for free with an MP3 format output, or if you upgrade then you get the option of a fast-track service and WAV files.

As mentioned above, this is the most convincing option for separating vocal stems.

Price: $7 for 50 minutes, $16 for 200 Minutes, $50 for 1000 minutes
Online
Stems: Vocal, Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Piano, and Other Instruments
Library/Algorithm: GSEP (Gaudio source SEParation)
https://studio.gaudiolab.io

Moises.AI

Moises comes as a slick web application, plus a desktop and mobile app. The pro version lets you separate audio into vocals (with separate backing vocals), drums (including individual elements), bass, guitar, background vocals, piano, and strings, making this a versatile option. It also has the ability to separate multimedia tracks into dialogue, soundtrack and effects.

If you want to enhance your workflow, then there’s also a Stems plug-in available as part of the Pro Plan, with Voice Studio and Mastering plug-ins coming soon.

The free Starter plan will get you 5 audio separations per month, with the other plans offering unlimited separations, higher quality and a host of bonus features. Moises also updates its algorithms fairly regularly.

Price: Free, £4.99pm Musician Plan, £24.99pm Producer plan (discounts for paying annually)
Online, Desktop app, mobile app
Stems: Vocals, backing vocals, drums (with separates), bass, guitar, background vocals, piano, and strings
Library/Algorithm: Moises AI Proprietary Stem Separation Model
www.moises.ai

AudioStrip

AudioStrip is a high-quality online option that uses the results of both the MDX-Net and Demucs libraries. The company also notes on its website that the algorithms will be updated as and when new methods come out.

When you upload a file, you can choose from three different algorithms, and then separate out to vocals, instrumental, bass, drums, other, piano and guitar.

You can choose from a basic free option that includes 3 isolations, 3 masters, and 3 transcripts per month, with a slower isolation speed, limited file size and MP3 output format. Or alternatively, the Premium option gives you unlimited uploads, faster isolation, larger files, WAV, FLAC and MP3 formats and batch uploads.

Price: Free / £7.99pm Premium
Online
Stems: Vocals, Instrumental, Bass, Drums, Other, Piano and Guitar
Library/Algorithm: DemucsV4, VB-Splitz V3, VB-Splitz V4
https://audiostrip.co.uk

Apple Logic Pro 11

One of the front-running new features in Logic’s latest update is its built-in stem separation. You can right-click on any audio region and then choose whether to separate it into Vocals, Drums, Bass and Other instruments. It’s a feature that uses the grunt of the Apple Silicon chips, so it’s only available for more recent computers. However, the offshoot is that it’s incredibly fast to process.

As Apple is always incredibly tight-lipped about what goes on behind the scenes, it’s unlikely we’ll ever find out exactly what models and libraries they’ve been using. Suffice to say that the quality isn’t the best in show, but it is still impressive.

Price: $199 (Stem separation requires Apple Silicon chips)
Standalone DAW
Stems: Vocals, Drums, Bass, Instruments
Library/Algorithm: Unknown

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Akai MPC Stems

Akai MPC Stems can be purchased for £9.99 as an add on for the MPC 2 software. This is a feature-packed DAW that runs on your desktop, but it can also be used in Controller Mode to seamlessly sync to the full MPC hardware lineup. The ability to use MPC Stems without the need for a computer will be coming to certain hardware units at some point in the future.

Whether you’re using the interface on the software or the screen on the hardware, you simply select the audio, hit the Stems button and then select which of the vocals, bass, drums and other stems you’d like to create.

Price: £9.99 for MPC Stems, plus £199.99 for MPC2 software (comes free with hardware)
Standalone
Stems: Vocals, Bass, Drums, Other
Library/Algorithm: zplane STEMS PRO
www.akaipro.com

Ultimate Vocal Remover 5

If you want to delve deep into using a range of different models, then you might want to check out the free Ultimate Vocal Remover 5. With this standalone program, you can choose from a wide range of free algorithms, with more downloadable as they become available. You can even use an Ensemble mode to run your audio through two models to get improved results.

The only downside, is that it’s not very user friendly, and the processing can take quite a long time with certain settings. It’s also a little overwhelming as it’s not obvious which settings will yield the best results, although you can check mvsep.com for separation quality leaderboards of results from other users.

Price: Free
Standalone
Stems: Vocals, Bass, Drums, Other
Library/Algorithm: Multiple Demucs, MDX-Net and VR Architecture models
www.ultimatevocalremover.com

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