Is Stem Splitter Good Enough? Hear the Comparison

Stem Splitter lets you extract up to 4 stems from a single audio file for remixing, sampling and producing in Logic Pro. But how does Stem Splitter compare to the competition? Check out how Logic's Stem Splitter compares to RX 11 from Izotope and Acoustica from Acon Digital.

[darude]

Great video!

I understand we all want it better, or perfect, but it seems many people don’t understand that what’s possible now was pretty much strange alchemy, the holy grail of full mix stereo audio treatment just a few years ago. Coming from when nothing like this level of separation was possible, we just had EQ, mid/side processing and manual meticulous phase cancellation to work with, some artifacting is really not a big deal.

I also hope that people use these tools to learn, to study arrangements and sounds and mixing choices etc, and not just think of them as a better free-for-all access to clean(er) samples, as IMHO original works are where it’s at and copyright laws apply to stems the same as to full songs.

[AdamStachelek]

I’ve found stem splitter works great during mixing if there is bleed from the drums in the vocal mic. Removed the drums entirely from the vocals

[Gongtopia]

I am just amazed at the improvement in stem splitting in only a few years. This is such a great tool, especially for remixing older stereo and live 2-track recordings. Amazing.

[tonylunn]

I used it recently to recover the main vocal from a cassette recording of a piece from the 90’s. Sadly the singer has passed away. But to be able to get the main vocal out was amazing. Currently redoing the song and it’s just a so bitter sweet feeling.

Even though the source was from a cassette tape. LP did a really good job. Not perfect but good enough to start tweaking.
I used Flex Time to correct the timing and pitch correction to bring it back in key before splitting the stems.

[FLHofficial]

Thank you for the video, Chris.
My main problem with all these "stem splitters", with AI or not AI, is they work with pop/rock/modern music or other kind of very simple & formated music with "vocals/drums/bass".
AI or not, they can't cope with complex music. Or everything is put in the "other" category which is not a great help.
When these tools will be abble to demix a string quartet or a flute concerto things will be different, they will not a be a kinda fun novelty anymore.
On my side when I realy need this kind of tool, for instance to get rid of the music in a movie scene I would like to illustrate, I use "Ultimate Vocal Remover". Free, works on intels, no ""AI magic word"" and can isolate drums, vocals and harmonic music. I get the dialogs (=vocal), the sound FXs/foleys (=drums) and the rest of the music.

[UrbanGarden-rfop]

The artefacts reminds me of, digital guru,  
Bob Katz expression “Watch out for the space monkeys” 
concerning early digital processing and mp3’s.

I once tried to show a colleague that John Williams had “borrowed” 
the Star Wars music concept from Gustav Holsts suite The Planets.
Firing up the new craze, Spotify, I proceeded to play Mars…
…and was horrified by all the pitch and timing errors. 
The main theme contains a lot of fast runs in the basses. 
Their timing was all over the place. 
And some kind of random pitch modulation on everything. 
They sounded really amateurish. So much for new tech.
Fortunately we worked three floors up 
from one of the biggest record libraries in the world,  
so it was a minor nuisance, but still😉

As an early adopter of digital audio,  
it taught me a very valuable lesson.
“Watch out for the space monkeys”

Thanks for yet another really useful
and well produced video

[randmotu]

THX as always, clear and to the point! 
I did percieve that Stem Splitter waveforms looked and sounded having a lower level compared to the Original tracks... which helped the originals punch more.

[dafingaz]

For those who don't have anything else, Stem Splitter is great! LOL. I have RX and if I need a quick stem splitter thing to be done, I'll use LP. (RX is still great for audio cleaning, etc).

[maxyoshimoto]

Great comparison, LP quality was really good. I just wish it would also split out Piano. Thank you for the video.

[velanche]

Thanks for the comparisons. As a DJ, I've listened to stem separation with DJ software, and they are similar in quality - which is to say, they are improving, but in the end they are "good enough" to be usable in some context. No stem separation is perfect; in the end, it's up to the user to make the decisions on a stem's usability. Perhaps maybe adding effects could improve it, especially when the stem is added to the entire mix, possibly hiding the imperfections enough. I look forward to seeing the evolution of the technology, whether it's Logic Pro or RX or Serato Sample or the various DJ software, over time. Thanks for the video!

[petesmith]

The big difference is that RX11 runs on an Intel Mac and Logic’s Stem Splitter doesn’t. That is the problem with Apple producing both the hardware and the software…Apple does not support Intel Macs only a few years old and is trying to force users to buy a new “M” powered Mac!

[rafbass]

Awesome video Chris! Thanks! I was in need for that!

[Hammerman]

To be honest having stem splitter in house is a great bonus feature.

[guitar.knackshack]

Sounds like Rx kick drum stayed more consistent and LP's kick changed tone through out. LP is evolving sweetly, I use LP and some RX, That would be funny if RX and LP used the same AI....Killer vid Chris, Thank you Sir!

[SaS-Music]

I’m always wondering why so many people want stems. Isn’t it more satisfying to… Oh, no. It’s just easier to make music when someone else makes it for you…or am I missing something?

[jeffeitzen]

Can any of the programs split the Stereo drum track into separate tracks?

[Sam_Locke]

Sadly I don't have this feature on my Macbook (mine is a late 2021) I sent you an email recently of a vocal I'm trying to isolate. It has parts where you can only hear the vocal on it's own... maybe one day we can isolate full stack vocals from it... who knows!

[syjo]

My question would be, after splitting, can you edit/clean up and manipulate the separate splits?

[mattduncan]

anyone know why i cant find StemSplitter in my Logic? V10.8.1

[rcatawampus]

I see this as a good practice tool. If I was a drummer or bass player, this would be amazing. But everything I want to separate is in the "other" stem so not as useful.