Steinberg SpectraLayers 10 pro (plugin and stand alone)
I just found the Stenberg SpectraLayers plugin for extracting stems directly in the DAW (I am testing it in StudioOne)
Very handy to have it directly in the DAW and to be able to drag and drop the stems into the tracks as needed. But quite expensive. I currently playing along with the 30 days trail full pro version. It seems that one need the pro version to extract all stems (vocal, drums, guitar, piano, bass, other) the elements version seems to be limited to vocals only.
First impression is that the quality is higher than the other stem extractors I have tried.
Very fun to play around with, but it have to wait for now, a bit too expensive at the moment.
Yes, that might be so. I really like SongMaster pro. I use it a lot, it is my favourite so far (very simple).
I only did a very quick test and comparision between the stems produced by SongMaster pro and SpectraLayers pro. They are very similar, maybe SpectraLayers is a tiny bit clearer when listening to both and comparing them, but it is very hard to tell. The audio forms of the stems are also almost identical but they differ a bit in places. I only compared stems for drums and bass. Anyway when I dropped the 2 versions of the bass stems into EZBass Audiotracker they produced the same midi (even though the audio files have minor differences). The thing I found attractive with SpectraLayers is that one can have it as plugin in to the DAW just to drag over the stems into the tracks. But it is not a big issue it is very easy to export the stems to files and drag them into the DAW as well.
SongMaster pro has such a clean interface and is so easy to use.
BIAB 2026, Studio Pro 8, Song Master Pro, Win11 Home. i7-9700K CPU, 32GB, ESI MAYA44eX, ZOOM UAC-2, Guitar Pro 8, Transcribe, (EZKeys2, EZD3, SD3, EZBass, EZMix3) Amateur: fiddle, guitar, vocal, beginner on bass.
While I do like and have used SongMaster Pro, can't beat the price of Moises (Free) which does essentially the same thing, though with fewer whistles and bells as seen in either SongMasterPro ($100) or SpectraLyaers 10 ($300). I actually spoke with the developer of SongMaster Pro but he assured me there would be no sale price. So I will keep my eyes on SongMaster Pro but for now also keep my money in my pocket. Moises does the job sweet and easy.
I wonder if these tree "stem splitters" are using the same AI engine or if they have developed their own AI engines. If they are using the same engine the quality ought to be the same. But if they have developed their own engines the quality may differ. I don't know the technology used but if they using some level of AI analysis and deep learning I would have thought it to be quite a major work to collect all the data needed. But I don't have a clue how these engines work and how much work is involved to get one working.
BIAB 2026, Studio Pro 8, Song Master Pro, Win11 Home. i7-9700K CPU, 32GB, ESI MAYA44eX, ZOOM UAC-2, Guitar Pro 8, Transcribe, (EZKeys2, EZD3, SD3, EZBass, EZMix3) Amateur: fiddle, guitar, vocal, beginner on bass.
If you are not using the spectral editing features of SpectraLayers, then you for sure don't need to spend the money. There are a couple of good alternatives already listed. I use Song Master Pro, myself. If you are using its spectral editing features, I highly recommend that you check out Acoustica Premium Edition by Acon Digital before spending the money on SpectraLayers. I switched from SpectraLayers v6 to Acoustica v7 years ago. Acoustica v7 has added several major new features since then, but is still in v7. All of those updates were free. SpectraLayers is now in v10. Everyone of those upgrades cost money. Once Steinberg gets their dirty mitts on your wallet, they keep on taking. Oh, and Acoustica Premium includes a boatload of very useful restoration, mastering plugins and ARA2 support, if you have a DAW like Studio One that supports it. One more thing. Acoustica's UI is, IMO, far superior to SpectraLayers, and it loads lightning fast.
Thanks, I was not aware of Acoustica. I will check it out. I am not using any spectral editing features at all I am only interesting in extracting the stems with high quality.
I also use SongMaster Pro it is my fravourite so far.
The reason I got interested in Steinberg SpectraLayers is that I found it attractive to have it as a plugin to StudioOne. But it is not a big issue. I am very happy with SongMaster pro as it is. No big deal to save the stems to file and drag them into the DAW. Also for a while I thought the quality may differ between these solutions, but I am not so sure anymore. It would be interesting to know if anyone else have compared the quality of the extracted stems between these products.
BIAB 2026, Studio Pro 8, Song Master Pro, Win11 Home. i7-9700K CPU, 32GB, ESI MAYA44eX, ZOOM UAC-2, Guitar Pro 8, Transcribe, (EZKeys2, EZD3, SD3, EZBass, EZMix3) Amateur: fiddle, guitar, vocal, beginner on bass.
OK, I know this is a recent post and I really appreciate the tread, but can I ask for an update? Reason is I have an immediate high priority need. I first turned to Isotope RX11 since I have many other Isotope products and they are my go to, but I don't have this. Never needed it till now! But the price @$400 is a bit beyound my budget. So I have looked at acondigital Acoustica and ~$140 currently on sale the price is right.
But can I get one more push in the right direction?? I ahve a voice over project. I need de-breath, de-noice, de-hum, de-reverb and what ever other de- the track will need for post processing of the vocal narrative.
Well the 30 day demo (limited) was enough to convince me it could remove breaths and hum. So I bought the premium package since it includes tools primarily focused on dialog (which is my current project). It did a great job. However, the ARA integration with Reaper was a bust. I will have to see if I can send the developer this finding.
However, the ARA integration with Reaper was a bust. I will have to see if I can send the developer this finding.
Quick response back, "...ya we know, we are working on it". Otherwise, they did send me a free version of https://acondigital.com/products/remix This is a very different and interesting take on stem extraction. Seems like everyone is on the stem extraction bang wagon these days. This workflow would have been a good addition to BIAB instead of the way they implemented it. All the stems remain on the same track, you just mix what you want to here. No trouble aligning things up with this workflow.
If you’re going to do it in the box, be prepared for long wait times. The more powerful your computer, the better. I have SpectralLayers 10 Pro, RX11 Advanced and a few other AI tools.
I’m finding that AI rendering and exporting requires more horsepower than AV rendering and consider my M2 Mac Studio Ultra barely adequate for my current needs. I’ll probably hold off on upgrading till the next Mac Pro comes out.
By way of comparison, my 2012 MacBook Pro is more than fine for running BIAB.
BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac 24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5
Incredible if it can undertake stem extraction in real time
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Kinda sounds like it would be impossible! I will get around to testing it soon and let you know how it stacks up.
It surely needs some incredible horsepower under the hood...
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I tried it in Reaper and sure enough it is in Real Time. Wow! Fastest splitting I have ever heard. The real question will be, how good is the splitting. Like all these splitters there is differing quality. I could mute or solo the vocal likely as good as any of the rest. But Bass and Drums and Piano would need more testing. And of course nothing does guitar. Too bad BIAB will not load this VST3.
I wonder also about the 'separation quality' of the input music. Theoretically, some musical arrangements might be able to be separated a whole lot easier than others?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I know one of the reasons that Acon Digital Remix is so fast. It renders stems but does not export the audio like every other AI app I own.
It works differently in that you can either a) balance the stems in the stereo track or b) route each stem to an AUX that you send to your master. Pretty clever.
Although Digital Performer 11.1 (and later) is a compatible ARA2 host, it can do it with the AU on the Mac instead of the VST3. Most impressive as most such AUs only work this way in LogicPro x.
Add to that 5 band splitting that includes Piano instead of lumping it into Other... Here's my $33.90 NOW!
Is it as good as SpectraLayers 11? Oh heavens no but for a down'n'dirty rebalancing yesterday's choral anthem for the composer (recorded only to YouTube), it's well worth the money to me. Yeah, I'll use the VST3 next time but the AU let me get the audio done and reattached to the video in 15 minutes. I'm good.
BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac 24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5
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