I built a free AI vocal separator for macOS that runs 100% offline. No subscription, no uploads
Hey guys,
I've been working on VocalSeparator as a side project — a free macOS app that splits any song into clean vocals and instrumental tracks using Meta's Demucs v4 AI.
The problem I was solving: Every vocal separation tool I tried either:
- Uploads your audio to a server (privacy concern)
- Has a file size or usage limit
- Locks good quality behind a subscription
So I built one that runs entirely on your Mac.
What I built:
- Drag and drop interface for MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A
- 3 model options (best quality / balanced / fast)
- In-app stem preview before downloading
- WAV lossless or MP3 320kbps export
- GPU accelerated on Apple Silicon (30-60 sec for a typical song)
- Works offline after first model download (~320MB, one time)
Tech stack: Python, PySide6, Meta's Demucs v4, PyInstaller for packaging
What I learned: Bundling PyTorch + Demucs into a standalone macOS app with PyInstaller was genuinely painful. Spent a lot of time debugging native library issues, torchaudio conflicts, and SSL certificate problems in frozen apps. Happy to share details if anyone's doing something similar.
Download: https://github.com/RedSun18/VocalSeparator/releases/latest
Completely free and open source. Would love feedback from the community, especially on things I should improve or add!
This project is MIT licensed — LICENSE file is in the repo.