Looking for a Demucs alternative? SAM-Audio is Meta's newest audio separation AI. While Demucs pioneered 4-stem separation, SAM-Audio isolates any sound you can describe. The next generation is here.
Both from Meta AI. Here's how they differ.
| Feature | SAM-Audio (2024) | Demucs / HT-Demucs |
|---|---|---|
| Separation Categories | Unlimited (any sound) | 4 fixed stems only |
| Control Method | Text, visual, or temporal prompts | Fixed output only |
| Specific Instruments | Yes (type "piano") | No (stuck in "other") |
| Background vs Lead Vocals | Yes | No |
| Sound Effects Isolation | Yes | No |
| Video Support | Yes | No |
| Architecture | Flow-matching diffusion transformer | Hybrid Transformer + U-Net |
| Speech/Dialogue | Yes | Music only |
| Developer | Meta AI | Meta AI |
Both are excellent tools from Meta AI. SAM-Audio is the newer, more flexible approach.
SAM-Audio builds on Demucs' foundation with next-generation capabilities.
Demucs gives you vocals, drums, bass, and "other". With SAM-Audio, the "other" category opens up - isolate individual instruments by name.
"electric guitar solo"
Demucs is audio-only. SAM-Audio understands video context - click on a person to isolate their voice, or on an instrument to separate it.
Demucs is trained for music separation. SAM-Audio handles speech, podcasts, sound effects, field recordings - any audio content.
"remove background noise"
Both tools have their place. Here's a quick guide.
You just need the standard 4-stem split (vocals, drums, bass, other) and want very fast processing. Great for quick DJ prep or basic stems.
You need to isolate specific sounds beyond the 4 categories, work with non-music audio, use visual prompts, or need more precise control over what gets separated.
How SAM-Audio advances beyond Demucs architecturally.
Common questions about SAM-Audio vs Demucs.
SAM-Audio is more flexible than Demucs. While Demucs excels at its specific task (4-stem music separation), SAM-Audio can isolate any sound using text prompts. If you need more than vocals/drums/bass/other, SAM-Audio is the better choice.
Yes! Both tools are developed by Meta AI (formerly Facebook AI Research). Demucs was released earlier and focuses on music stem separation. SAM-Audio is newer and uses foundation model technology for more flexible separation.
Yes. You can replicate Demucs' 4-stem separation by running SAM-Audio four times with prompts like "vocals", "drums", "bass", and "other instruments". Plus, SAM-Audio can go further with more specific separations.
Demucs is optimized for speed on its specific 4-stem task. SAM-Audio may take slightly longer per separation but offers much more flexibility. Both achieve near real-time processing on modern GPUs.
If you're happy with Demucs' 4-stem output, there's no urgent need to switch. But if you've ever wished you could isolate a specific instrument or sound that gets lumped into "other", SAM-Audio solves that problem.