Choose how to create your song

Choose a starting point for text, lyrics, melodies, audio, visuals, or sheet music.

Start with what you already have: an idea, lyrics, a melody, a recording, a song, an image, a video, or sheet music. Your input gives ACE Music a starting point for generating a new song.

Idea or Custom?

Idea develops a starting point into a complete song. You can describe what you want in a prompt or add reference material. Even a short audio clip can be a starting point: the model develops it into a full song rather than limiting the result to the material you supplied. Choose Idea when you have a fragment and want it developed further.

Custom focuses on reshaping the material you already have. If you provide a short audio clip, MIDI, or another musical reference, the model tends to reinterpret that material rather than extend it into a complete song. Choose Custom when you want to rework an existing passage. It also provides separate Lyrics and Style fields for lyrics and musical direction.

You do not need a reference file to generate from a prompt or from lyrics and a style description.

Choose a starting point

What you have	Where to start	What to do
A theme, story, or musical idea	Idea	Describe the song, including its subject, mood, genre, or instruments.
Your own lyrics	Custom → Lyrics	Paste your lyrics and describe the music in Style.
A melody you can hum or sing	Idea → Record your idea	Record the melody, listen back, and apply the recording.
A melody you want to play	Idea → Play with keyboard	Use the on-screen keyboard, computer keys, or a supported MIDI keyboard to capture it.
An audio file you recorded earlier	Idea → + → Audio file	Upload the recording and describe the song you want to make from it.
One existing song to reinterpret	Idea → Cover a song	Add a song reference and describe the new musical direction.
Two or three songs to combine as references	Idea → Make a mashup	Add 2–3 song references and describe how you want them combined.
An image or video	Idea → Sing a video/image	Add your visual material and describe the story or mood for the song.
A MusicXML or MIDI file	Idea → Sing sheet music	Upload the file so its musical content can be read as a reference.

These are starting points in the Create workspace. During first-time setup, you may see a smaller selection of starting options. You can continue to Create to access the workspace.

Using lyrics

Choose Custom when you want to supply the words for the song. Lyrics holds the words to sing; Style describes the music around them. For example, put your verses and chorus in Lyrics, and “gentle acoustic folk with fingerpicked guitar” in Style.

You can also use Write lyrics with AI to help draft or revise the text before generating. Review the lyrics before you submit them. Supplying lyrics does not guarantee that every word will be sung exactly as written.

Using a melody or recording

Record a melody if it is easier to sing than to write down. Use the keyboard option if you would rather play the notes. If you already have a recording, upload it as an audio file instead of recording it again.

An external MIDI keyboard requires browser support and permission to access the device. You can use the on-screen or computer keyboard without connecting an external keyboard.

For audio and sheet music, uploading and reading the musical content are separate steps. Generation may wait while a reference is prepared. If preparation fails, follow the error message before trying again.

Cover or Mashup?

Choose Cover to use one song as a reference for a new version. Choose Mashup to use 2–3 song references together. The Mashup reference count is the same across its entry points.

Both options generate new music from the references. They do not simply join the original audio files together, and they do not guarantee an exact copy of a melody, voice, or arrangement.

If the audio is already in your Library, use From library in the upload menu to select it instead of uploading it again.

Using images, videos, or sheet music

Images and videos provide visual context for a song. They do not open a video editor or produce a finished video with music precisely matched to each shot.

MusicXML and MIDI files provide musical reference material. Reading a file may take time, and complex sheet music may not be interpreted accurately in every detail.

What appears in Library?

Generated songs appear in Library as results you can return to and play.
Uploaded audio and microphone recordings also create Library entries as they are processed.
Sheet music, keyboard melodies, images, and videos are creation inputs rather than separate audio-song entries in Library.

To follow a complete first-song workflow, see Create your first song with ACE Music.

Choose a model for your input

Check the model picker in Create. ACE-Step supports text-based generation and working from a song’s audio without spending Credits. Melody and score inputs use ACE Music v1.1 Preview. In Idea, adding a song does not by itself always switch the model: describe whether you want to keep its melody or use its style as inspiration. When a workflow needs ACE Music v1.1 Preview, Create can switch models and show a notice. Review the selected model and generation cost. ACE-Step does not support Mashup or read melody and score references.

With ACE-Step and one song attached, Custom offers Cover for a new version or Edit for a selected audio section. Without a song, use Standard for text-based creation.

1. Open the model menu. 2. Select the model for this creation.

Supported sheet-music input formats

Sheet music accepts .musicxml, .xml, .mxl, .mid and .midi files. PDF files and scanned scores cannot be imported directly. Export MusicXML or MIDI from your notation software before uploading. You can still export a generated score as a PDF.