Free · macOS · v0.1.0-alpha Cinder icon

Cinder♪(・ω・)

A fast, native techno-sketching workstation. Sketch the track — let the brain build it.

↓ Download for Mac What's in v0.1.0 →

Free for personal use · Apple Silicon & Intel · ~9 MB · works offline.

What it does

A real workstation, deliberately simple.

Deep enough to actually mix — per-track EQ, FX, automation, melody and vocals — without the weight of a full DAW. Built for sketching techno fast.

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▦

Arrange & warp

Clips on a timeline — trim (extend = loop), fades, crossfades, split, snap, merge. Warp any loop or stem to tempo without changing pitch; follow-tempo aligns off-grid Splice loops.

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♪

Melody → piano roll → synth

Pitch-track any clip into editable notes, detect the key, then voice it with a 303 / acid synth — acid, hoover, rubber, bass, pluck, with slide, accent & sub.

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◎

Vocal tools

Separate stems, find where the vocal sings, trim & split phrases, spread across lanes, and transcribe lyrics into labelled clips — all locally.

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✶

The Brain

An AI assistant that reads your whole arrangement and turns words into edits — preview-before-apply, multi-turn memory, and an on-grid review loop.

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⊟

Mixer · EQ · FX · automation

Per-track 3-band EQ, insert FX (filter, delay, reverb, comp), gain/pan, solo/mute, and breakpoint automation curves that export with your stems.

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⤓

Reference import & export

Pull a song from a file or URL, split to stems, auto-analyze BPM/key/role, build, then export labelled per-track stems for Ableton.

The loop

From samples to stems.

LoadDrop in samples, or import a reference track and split it into stems.
SketchLay clips, warp to tempo, draw automation, pull melodies into the synth.
Ask the brainDescribe the move; review its suggestions on the grid; apply the ones you like.
ExportBounce labelled, aligned stems — ready to finish in Ableton.

The assistant (・_・)

Tell it what you want.

Cinder ships with a Brain that understands your project — tracks, tempo, sections, mix. Say “open the low EQ across the build” or hit Suggest and it proposes targeted moves, highlighting the exact bars and lanes it wants to touch. You approve each one.

It runs on your own OpenAI key, entered once in the app and stored only on your Mac. No accounts, no servers, no tracking.

✓ apply   ✗ skip   (1 / 4)

Releases

v0.1.0 alpha · “First Light” 16 June 2026 · macOS · 8.8 MB

The first public build of Cinder. Everything below is in this release — the full sketch-to-stems loop, the Brain, and the local audio tools.

▦ Arrange & edit

  • Timeline with lanes, clips, playhead, section markers, snap, loop region, scrub.
  • Clip edits — trim (extend = loop), fades, crossfade on overlap, split at playhead, copy/cut/paste, duplicate, reverse, normalize, gain.
  • Merge clips — lossless join, or bounce to one clip.
  • Warp / pitch-lock to project tempo (signalsmith-stretch); re-pitch + transpose.
  • Follow-tempo per clip or row + follow-on-drop to align off-grid loops.

♪ Melody, piano roll & synth

  • Pitch-track any clip into notes + key detection (polyphonic via basic-pitch).
  • Editable piano roll — drag to move/resize, click to add, double-click to delete, 1/16 snap.
  • 303 / acid synth — acid, screamer, rubber, hoover, bass, dirty bass, pluck; slide, accent & sub; stack lead + sub.
  • Notes view — list of extracted melodies with audition + delete.

◎ Vocal tools

  • Stem separation (BS-Roformer) and vocal-energy detection.
  • Trim to vocal, split at phrases, spread across lanes.
  • Lyric transcription — local Whisper chops the vocal into clips labelled with the words.

✶ The Brain (AI)

  • Natural-language edits — words/moods → an undoable action plan over the whole command layer.
  • Reads full context (tracks, tempo, sections, mix, EQ/FX); preview-before-apply; multi-turn memory; streaming reasoning; token meter.
  • On-grid Suggest loop — highlights beat ranges + lanes, ✓ apply / ✗ skip, cycles until dry.
  • Techno arrange — one click lays a full role-aware structure across Intro → Peak → Outro.
  • Uses your own OpenAI key.

⊟ Mixer · EQ · FX · automation

  • Per-track gain, pan, 3-band EQ, mute/solo, master strip.
  • Insert FX — filter, delay, reverb, compressor; reorder, bypass, presets; master FX.
  • Automation lanes (gain, pan, EQ) — breakpoint curves; the Brain can draw them; exports honour them.

⤓ Import / export & app

  • Reference import — file or YouTube URL → rip → stems on labelled lanes, auto-analyzed.
  • Sample intelligence — BPM/key/energy/role on import; Ableton-style browser with buckets & filename parsing.
  • Export — labelled, aligned per-track stems + a rough mixdown WAV.
  • In-app settings for your OpenAI key, and a kaomoji loading screen ♪(・ω・).
Alpha notes: the build is unsigned — first launch, right-click → Open to get past Gatekeeper (once). The AI & analysis need Python 3 with pip install numpy scipy librosa openai. macOS only for now. Keep backups — it's early software.
↓ Download v0.1.0-alpha Full documentation (PDF)

Coming next

Signed & notarizedOpens with no Gatekeeper warning.
Bundled AI runtimeThe assistant working out-of-the-box, no Python setup.
Deeper clip editingMore warp modes, slicing, and groove.

Get it

Download Cinder (・◡・)

Free alpha for macOS. The app is the DAW; the AI and analysis are optional add-ons.

↓ Download for Mac — v0.1.0-alpha
macOS · Apple Silicon & Intel~9 MBFree, personal use