Here we go with more exciting stem separation news. This latest announcement comes from leading separators of the stem LALAL.AI as they unveil two major new features. The first is a dedicated VST plugin that can be run in a DAW and the second is the inclusion of local processing that doesn’t impact your monthly minutes allowance. Lets take a closer look at these two major updates

Six-Stem VST Plugin

Having stem separation built directly into your DAW, right where you need it, can significantly improve creative workflows. No more splitting audio externally, downloading the files, and re-importing them into your session. While some DAWs have started to introduce native stem separation, LALAL.AI now provides a streamlined way to bring this functionality into your setup via a new dedicated plugin.

Although certain DAWs, such as Ableton, offer basic four-stem separation (vocals, drums, bass, and other), the LALAL.AI plugin expands upon this delivering six degrees of separation: vocals, drums, piano, bass, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar.

Using the plugin is straightforward. You simply drag it onto the track you want to process, which opens the interface. From there, select the element or elements you’d like to isolate. You can choose between outputting only the selected stem or the rest of the mix. There’s also a latency slider: increasing latency reduces CPU strain, while lowering it improves responsiveness. Importantly, this setting affects performance only with the audio quality remaining unchanged.

Talking of quality, LALAL.AI has introduced a new separation model called Lyra. Unlike their previous cloud-based models, Lyra runs locally on your computer. While it doesn’t quite match the high quality of their flagship Andromeda model, the move to local processing addresses concerns around privacy and security, especially when working with unreleased material.

At the moment, the LALAL.AI plugin supports VST3, with AU support currently in beta. This means you can already use it in DAWs like Ableton Live, Reaper, and FL Studio, as well as any other VST3-compatible software.

Local Processing power

LALAL.AI have put their new lyra model to good use on their second update of the week. With version 2.14.1 of the desktop app, you can now perform stem separation locally, removing the need to upload your source audio to the cloud.

One of the biggest advantage here is speed, especially if you’ve already chewed through your 250 minutes of fast queue processing. Local Lyra separation doesn’t consume any of your included minutes and keeps everything on your machine, so your files never leave your device. For anyone concerned about data security or hesitant to send unreleased material to third-party servers, this will be a reassuring upgrade.

That said, there is a slight trade-off in quality when processing locally using the Lyra model. If maximum fidelity is your priority, it’s still recommended to use the flagship browser-based Andromeda model.

Both the VST plugin and Local processing features are only available as part of the Pro plan which comes in at £15.99 a month or the equivalent of £12 a month if billed annually.

For more information and to sign up visit LALAL.AI