ipsum2
9 hours ago
This is just a wrapper of htdemucs, if anyone's wondering if it was a new/better model.
StemDeck, a free, open-source and local AI stem separator
144 pointsposted 12 hours ago
by thclpr32 Comments
tomduncalf
2 hours ago
It still blows my mind that this is possible, as someone who spent a lot of time as a kid trying and failing to get “acapellas” by EQing or subtracting instrumentals from vocal versions haha
nubinetwork
11 hours ago
Stream deck Steam deck Stem deck
We really suck at naming things...
ryanhecht
10 hours ago
I can't wait to run Stemdeck on my Steam Deck and trigger it with a button on my Stream Deck!
VladVladikoff
10 hours ago
Continue the trend and launch stm deck — open source microcontrollers
Hackbraten
2 hours ago
A pirate ship amusement ride called Scream Deck.
spiffytech
3 hours ago
We'll get a sewing machine named SeamDeck.
MadnessASAP
10 hours ago
StimDeck, for autism on the go.
djmips
6 hours ago
Neuromancer had stims and cyberdecks... I guess you've brought it full circle.
john-titor
an hour ago
about time people started replacing Deck with something similar-but-not-quite-the-same for their project names
davidwritesbugs
3 hours ago
Someone must be fishing for C&D letters
thclpr
22 minutes ago
concern from my side as well at some point, But The name comes from audio “stems” and the multitrack “deck” interface, but I understand that it can be confused with Steam Deck or Stream Deck. There is no affiliation with Valve or Elgato, and I’ll take any legitimate trademark concern seriously. Naming things really is the hardest problem in software. :)
For overall reference:
"In audio production, a stem is a discrete or grouped collection of audio sources mixed together, usually by one person, to be dealt with downstream as one unit. A single stem may be delivered in mono, stereo, or in multiple tracks for surround sound."
tlahtinen
11 hours ago
Good use of AI!
Audacity can also do this through the OpenVINO plugins and I've been happy with its results (https://github.com/intel/openvino-plugins-ai-audacity).
newsomix9xl
12 hours ago
I got excited about an open source steamdeck...
eloisant
5 hours ago
Good news, the Steam Deck mostly runs on open source software!
hn0tdqaek4
41 minutes ago
Appreciate you writing it up
bsimpson
11 hours ago
Funny - Stage Tour (a Rock Band revival game) announced this week. There was a big chat in their Discord about AI, and stem separation was one of the use cases that came up.
As a side, it's a bummer how many similar names there are. I keep seeing stuff about Stream Deck too. Apparently it's a custom keyboard for videographers, but it gets confused with Valve's Steam Deck gaming hardware when I see it in my feed.
magicmicah85
12 hours ago
This is incredibly cool. I tried a few songs and it was pretty accurate. Really useful.
momokli
4 hours ago
very nice, excited to try it
How does it compare to nuo-stems ?
thclpr
12 hours ago
I built StemDeck, a free and open source desktop application that separates songs into vocals, drums, bass, guitar, piano, and other stems. It started as a small project for my kid, who was learning bass and drums. Finding suitable backing tracks was surprisingly inconvenient. Most tools required an account, uploaded the audio to a remote server, imposed usage limits, or required a subscription. I wanted something simple that could process music locally.
StemDeck now includes:
- Local six-stem separation using Demucs - NVIDIA CUDA, Apple Silicon MPS, and CPU processing - Native releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux - Local file support for MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, MP4, OGG, and Opus - YouTube and SoundCloud imports - Direct search for YouTube songs, playlists, and SoundCloud tracks - Search-result previews before processing - Playlist imports and a persistent, reorderable job queue - A browser-based multitrack mixer with volume, mute, solo, and VU meters - Waveform navigation, zooming, and loop regions - Playback-speed and pitch-transposition controls - Automatic BPM, key, scale, LUFS, and peak analysis - A generated click track that follows the song - Custom mix, loop-region, individual-stem, ZIP, and video exports - A persistent local library with folders and search - A mobile-friendly interface accessible over the local network through a QR code - Docker and Unraid support - An in-app updater and nine interface languages
The backend uses Python, FastAPI, Demucs, FFmpeg, yt-dlp, librosa, and Web Audio. The desktop shell is built with Tauri. Processing happens on the user’s machine, and audio is never uploaded to a StemDeck service. There are no accounts, advertisements, subscriptions, credits, quotas, or telemetry. StemDeck is licensed under Apache 2.0, and I intend to keep it free and open source. It is still alpha software. Separation quality depends on the source material, CPU processing can be slow, and there are undoubtedly edge cases I have not encountered. Feedback, bug reports, architectural criticism, and contributions are all welcome.
ascorbic
7 hours ago
> YouTube support is a convenience for content you have the right to process
Seems like a great way to have your project taken down
999900000999
6 hours ago
Agreed, this is a very silly thing to include in an otherwise perfectly legitimate project.
iamsaitam
5 hours ago
Why do you rely on ffmpeg and web audio? For this use case, Rust provides everything you need. It seems to me that this project is mostly vibe coded.
thclpr
35 minutes ago
Rust could certainly handle much of the audio pipeline, but using Rust everywhere would not automatically make the application simpler or more reliable.
Other options may be available but for me FFmpeg provides mature, well-tested support for decoding, transcoding, resampling, mixing, and muxing across a wide range of formats. Web Audio handles synchronized multitrack playback, per-stem gain, mute and solo, metering, looping, speed control, and the browser-based mobile interface. Since the separation model already depends on Python and PyTorch, rewriting the surrounding audio stack in Rust would not remove the largest runtime dependency.
As for RUst itself its currently used for the Tauri desktop shell and process lifecycle. A native Rust audio engine may make sense later if it produces a measurable improvement in latency, memory use, or reliability, but replacing proven components purely for architectural consistency would add considerable complexity.
For the vibe coding part:
AI tools have assisted with development, and I am transparent about that. However, the architectural choices are deliberate, the code is reviewed, and the project has automated backend and browser testing. I would still welcome specific technical criticism or examples of places where the current design is causing real problems.
That's where my background kicks in, seasoned musician here with over 25+ year working on IT industry, so as i like to joke, im the maestro of the orchestra :)
On another words. i actually know how to cook , but to do it faster i need the assistances otherwise as a family man, I would never have the time to ship that and help my kid on a useful time.
SyneRyder
8 hours ago
I just want to say, kudos on your We Recommend section.
I was initially rolling my eyes at the "StemDeck... does not accept any money, sponsorship, or funding" line, here we go, another open source project that isn't thinking about practicalities... until I saw you were linking to others as pure recommendations. Just for the joy of what they do & how they've helped you and hoping they do the same for others.
The web used to have a lot more of that. It's a shame that doing so now often requires a disclaimer, and comes with the suspicion of being an influencer, or being done for SEO. And certainly many open source projects have done their part in corrupting the web too, accepting payment in return for SEO links on their pages. (Don't get me started on some of the things Mastodon accepted payment for...)
Thank you for bringing back that more hopeful, joyous part of the web and the music community.
thclpr
an hour ago
That's actually the whole point for me. As i have no itention to monetize anything. Most people that are there are people that i Personaly know and that have a positive impact on my life or companies like empress/ Thoman that im a fanboy and their support has been amazing towards any product that i bought with them.
potatoman22
11 hours ago
Adding this to my homelab, thanks for the web browser option. How does your son use the backing tracks? Does he mute bass/drum, or play along with them?
thclpr
an hour ago
Hello there, It depends actually, for what I hear from time to time when he is practicing, he sometimes plays with the original drums on default value or he loops into a section at lower speed and volume a bit down when he wants to learn an specific part. and when he feel confident he just mutes the drum completely :)
oidar
12 hours ago
Look pretty. Can we load alternative stem separators like Spleeter, MDX-Net, and RoFormer implementations? I'd like to be able to AB them for different stems types.
yeasin-arafat
8 hours ago
Shipping a Tauri desktop shell wrapping a Python/PyTorch inference backend is tricky to get right across platforms. A few thoughts and questions on the packaging and runtime side:
- Sidecar packaging vs portable runtime: Are you bundling a frozen Python environment with PyTorch/CUDA embedded in the native installer, or bootstrapping wheels on first launch? Bundling torch + CUDA binaries easily pushes installers past 2-3GB, whereas bootstrapping requires reliable network access on end-user machines.
- Peak memory on 6-stem Demucs: Running htdemucs_6s with default segment sizes and shifts can spike VRAM/RAM pretty heavily on longer tracks. Are you dynamically clamping the segment window or chunk overlap when falling back to CPU or 4GB/6GB consumer GPUs?
- Localhost port collisions: Using FastAPI over a fixed localhost port often runs into conflicts with other local dev tools or corporate firewall/VPN endpoint blockers. If you ever hit that, switching the Tauri-to-Python IPC to named pipes (Windows) / domain sockets (Unix) or dynamically negotiating an ephemeral loopback port saves a ton of support headaches.
Great work putting this together. Having zero-cloud, zero-telemetry local audio processing in a clean native UI is a huge win.