A free stem separator that hands you a ready-to-play Ableton Live 12 set
Drop in a song and Quota Stems doesn't just spit out loose WAVs — it builds you a Live 12 set with every stem warped on its own track, cue-point scenes, and follow actions. Open it and start flipping.
Load the track
Point it at a file on your drive, a YouTube URL, or a whole playlist for a batch. Everything runs offline with Demucs on your own machine — nothing gets uploaded and you don't make an account.
Pick your split
4 or 6 stems, or go all the way to a full drum-kit split — kick, snare, toms, and cymbals broken out — for up to about 10 tracks to chop and rearrange.
Open the .als and go
You get a real Ableton Live 12 set: each stem on its own warped track, scenes dropped on the song’s cue points, and follow actions already wired. Hit play and start building instead of importing and warping by hand.
Live’s built-in split costs $749 and stops at four stems.
Ableton added stem separation in Live 12.3 — but only in Suite, the $749 edition. Intro and Standard owners get nothing. And when it does run, it splits exactly four ways: vocals, drums, bass, other. That’s the ceiling.
The drums? One lump. No kick, no snare, no toms, no cymbals on their own channels — so the moment you want to re-sequence a groove, you’re back to chopping by hand. And there’s no link import: the audio already has to live in your set.
Quota Stems is free, splits up to ~10 stems with the full drum-kit break-out included, pulls straight from a YouTube link or playlist, and still hands you the finished Live 12 set — warped, scened, follow-actioned. On Live Intro, Standard, 11, or no Live at all: it doesn’t care what license you own.
Quota Stems vs the tools producers actually compare it to
| Tool | Price | Runs offline | Max stems | Drum-kit split | Builds your session | YouTube import |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quota Stems | Free | Yes — runs on your machine | Up to ~10 | Yes — kick / snare / toms / cymbals | Yes — Ableton Live set + Force/MPC project | Yes — single link or whole playlist |
| Ableton built-in (Live 12.3+) | Requires Live Suite — $749 | Yes — local processing | 4 | No — drums stay one stem | Yes — inside your open Live set | No |
| Lalal.ai | Free preview only; $9.99–$19.99/mo | Cloud by default; offline needs Pro | 10 types (cloud) | No — drums are one stem | No — audio files only | No — file upload only |
| Moises | Free: 5 songs/mo; Pro $29.99/mo | No — cloud processing | Basic 4 free; more on paid plans | Pro plan only | No — audio files only | No — YouTube links blocked |
| Fadr | Free (MP3 only); WAV needs Plus $10/mo | No — cloud web app | 4 free / 16 with Plus | Plus only | No — stems + MIDI files | Not offered — file upload only |
| UVR5 | Free (open source) | Yes — local | 6 per pass | Community model + multi-pass setup | No — audio files only | No — local files only |
Competitor pricing and features verified July 2026 from each tool’s official pricing and documentation pages (and attributed reviews where noted). Their terms can change — check their sites for current details.
What lands in Ableton when the split finishes
- ✓A native Live 12 set (.als) — not a folder of loose files you have to drag in and line up yourself
- ✓Every stem on its own track, already warped to the grid so it stays locked when you change tempo
- ✓Scenes placed on the track’s cue points — verse, chorus, drop — so you can launch straight into any section
- ✓Follow actions already set up on the scenes, so the arrangement moves on its own while you play over it
- ✓Up to ~10 tracks when you use the full drum-kit split — kick, snare, toms, and cymbals each on their own channel to re-sequence
Every tool in that table ends at audio files. Stems is a front door.
Splitting the song is step one. Quota Stems feeds a suite that turns those stems into instruments, sessions, and a studio you can run with your voice — all local, all one-time pricing, no accounts anywhere.
Quota Kits
Turn your stems into Ableton Drum Racks — plus MPC, Force, SP-404, Koala, and Maschine kits — auto-built from one folder of samples. $39 one-time.
Check it outQuota Voice
Run the whole thing hands-free. One-sentence voice commands drive Stems, DS, SongKit and Kits — local Whisper dictation, no cloud, no account. Free 30-day trial.
Check it outQuota DS
Sample speech like it’s vinyl. Transcribe any video or audio locally, highlight the words you want, and drop them straight onto pads. $39 one-time.
Check it outThe Collection
DS + FX + Kits + Voice together for $99 one-time — and Stems stays free forever. No subscription, no account.
Check it outGrab it and flip your first track
Free for macOS and Windows. Download Quota Stems, split a song, and open the Live 12 set it builds — no account, nothing leaves your machine.
Download Quota Stems — Free