AceForge

AceForge is a local-first AI music workstation for macOS Silicon powered by ACE-Step

Status: ALPHA

Features

• 100% Local (only needs to download models once)
• Music Generation with ACE-Step prompts
  • Use Stem separation to rebalance vocals vs instrumentals
  • Use existing Audio as reference (optional)
  • Train ACE-Step LoRAs from your own datasets
    • Mass-create _prompt.txt / _lyrics.txt files
    • Auto-tag datasets using MuFun-ACEStep (experimental)
• Stem Splitting using Demucs for high-quality audio separation
• Voice Cloning TTS using XTTS v2
• MIDI Generation using basic-pitch for audio-to-MIDI transcription
• Embedded Music Player to explore generation catalog
• Manage and reuse prompt presets

System requirements

Minimum

• macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or later
• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) or Intel Mac with AMD GPU
• 16 GB unified memory (for Apple Silicon) or 16 GB RAM
• ~10–12 GB VRAM/unified memory (more = more headroom)
• SSD with tens of GB free (models + audio + datasets)

Recommended

• Apple Silicon M1 Pro/Max/Ultra, M2 Pro/Max/Ultra, or M3 Pro/Max
• 32 GB+ unified memory
• Fast SSD
• Comfort reading terminal logs when something goes wrong

Install and run

Option 1: Download Pre-built Release for OSX

Download the latest App from the Releases page.

Installation:

1. Download AceForge-macOS.dmg from the latest release
2. Open the DMG file
3. Drag AceForge.app to your Applications folder (or any location on your Mac)

To Launch:

• Double-click AceForge.app

Note: On first launch, macOS may show a security warning because the app is not notarized by Apple. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. This is normal for apps downloaded from the internet that are not distributed through the Mac App Store.

Note: If macOS prevents the app from opening with a "damaged" error execute the following command:
sudo xattr -cr /Applications/AceForge.app

Note: The app bundle does NOT include the large model files. On first run, it will download the ACE-Step models (several GB) automatically. You can monitor the download progress in the Terminal window or in the Server Console panel in the web interface.

Using AceForge (high-level workflow)

1. Launch AceForge and wait for the UI
2. Go to Generate → create tracks from prompt (and lyrics if desired)
3. Browse/manage tracks in Music Player
4. (Optional) Use stem controls to adjust vocal/instrumental balance
5. (Optional) Stem Splitting: Separate any audio file into individual stems
6. (Optional) Voice Clone: TTS voice cloning using reference clips
7. (Optional) Build a dataset and train a LoRA in Training

Generation basics

• Prompt: your main ACE-Step tags / description (genre, instruments, mood, context)
• Instrumental mode:
  • Lyrics are not used
  • AceForge uses the [inst] token so ACE-Step focuses on backing tracks
• Vocal mode:
  • Provide lyrics using markers like [verse], [chorus], [solo], etc.
• Presets let you save/load a whole “knob bundle” (text + sliders)

Stem separation (vocals vs instrumentals)

AceForge can run audio-separator as a post-process step so you can rebalance:

• Vocals level (dB)
• Instrumental level (dB)

For fast iteration: generate with both gains at 0 dB, then only use stems once you like a track.

First use requires downloading a large stem model and adds a heavy processing step

Stem Splitting (Demucs)

The Stem Splitting tab uses Demucs for high-quality audio separation of any audio file.

Features:

• 2-stem mode: Separate vocals and instrumentals
• 4-stem mode: Separate vocals, drums, bass, and other instruments
• 6-stem mode: Even finer separation including piano and guitar

Upload any audio file (MP3, WAV, etc.) and AceForge will split it into individual stem tracks that appear in the Music Player.

First use requires downloading the Demucs model (~80MB). Processing time varies based on file length and your device (Apple Silicon MPS is faster than CPU)

Voice cloning (XTTS v2)

The Voice Clone uses XTTS v2 to synthesize speech in a cloned voice

• Upload a short reference (MP3, WAV), enter the text and generate.
• Output is converted to MP3 and displayed in the Music Player

ffmpeg must be installed (e.g. brew install ffmpeg) for non-WAV references.

First use requires downloading a large XTTS model (~1.9 GB) please be patient

MIDI Generation (basic-pitch)

The MIDI Generation tab uses basic-pitch (by Spotify) to convert audio files to MIDI format through automatic music transcription.

Features:

• Convert any audio file (MP3, WAV, etc.) to MIDI format
• Adjustable transcription parameters:
  • Onset threshold and frame threshold for note detection
  • Minimum note length and minimum frequency
  • Tempo estimation
  • Pitch bend detection
  • Melodia trick (improved pitch tracking)

The basic-pitch models are bundled with the app, so no download is required. Processing time varies based on file length and your device.

LoRA training

Switch to the Training tab to configure and start LoRA runs.

Dataset structure

Datasets must live under:

<AceForge root>\training_datasets

For each audio file (foo.mp3 or foo.wav), provide:

• foo_prompt.txt — ACE-Step prompt/tags for that track
• foo_lyrics.txt — lyrics, or [inst] for instrumentals

AceForge includes tools to bulk-create these files (and optionally auto-generate them with MuFun-ACEStep).

Training parameters (examples)

• Adapter name (experiment name)
• LoRA config preset (JSON from training_config)
• Epochs / max steps
• Learning rate (commonly 1e-4 to 1e-5)
• Max clip seconds (lower can reduce VRAM and speed up training)
• Optional SSL loss weighting (set to 0 for some instrumental datasets)
• Checkpoint/save cadence

Experimental: MuFun-ACEStep dataset analyzer

MuFun-ACEStep can auto-generate _prompt.txt and _lyrics.txt files from audio. It’s powerful but:

• The model is large (tens of GB)
• Outputs aren’t perfect—skim and correct weird tags/lyrics before training

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

• First launch takes forever: Check terminal for pip/model download errors; verify disk space and network
• No tracks found: Generate a track or run Voice Clone; confirm Output Directory matches the Music Player folder
• Memory issues:
  • Reduce target length during generation
  • Reduce max clip seconds during training
  • Lower batch/grad accumulation if you changed them

Building Releases

Pre-built macOS application bundles are automatically created via GitHub Actions. To build locally use the provided scripts.

Code Signing: The build includes automated code signing to prevent macOS security warnings that would otherwise require running sudo xattr -cr /Applications/AceForge.app. By default, the script uses ad-hoc signing (no Apple Developer certificate required). For distribution, you can provide a Developer ID certificate. See build/macos/README.md for detailed documentation on code signing options.

The build process creates a self-contained macOS application that includes:

• Python runtime and all dependencies
• Static files (HTML, CSS, JS)
• Configuration files
• Documentation

Note: The app bundle does NOT include the large AI model files (~several GB). These are downloaded automatically on first run.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. If you’re changing anything related to training, model setup, or packaging, please include:

• what GPU/driver you tested on
• exact steps to reproduce any bug you fixed

(Consider adding CONTRIBUTING.md once you have preferred norms.)

License

This project’s source code is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE.