PEEL STEMS

Real-time stem separation plugin for your DAW

Real-time stem separation plugin for splitting stems in your DAW

Isolate instruments or vocals – and remix, rebalance or remove stems in already mixed audio. All in real-time. All directly inside your DAW, right on the track you are working on.

PEEL STEMS is a plugin for real-time stem separation in any VST3, AU or AAX compatible DAW. Simply bring it up as an insert on a track, and get creative with mixed audio as if you had access to its separate tracks.

PEEL STEMS is based on zplane’s new STEMS EFFICIENT technology and highly optimized for real-time low-latency processing. Of course, PEEL STEMS still needs to 'read ahead' in order to separate audio inside a mixed track. But in most cases this latency is automatically compensated by the DAW.

Thanks to PEEL STEMS, removing vocals or bass in a loop is as simple as muting that stem while you are playing it back!

Uses for PEEL STEMS

Remove

You’d like to remove the vocals or bass in a mixed loop? Simply deactivate the stem by pressing its power switch and you’re ready to add your own. Of course, you can also use this feature to isolate and export stems for dedicated processing

Rebalance

PEEL STEMS can be a valuable tool to rebalance mixes and masters: The dedicated stem volume controls give you access like working with multiple tracks. And the Soundfield Display ensures that you see what’s going on: Each stem is indicated in its own color and shows its frequency range and stereo-field expansion in real-time. An invaluable mixing tool!

Remix

Pick JUST the drums, the vocals or other elements from a mixed track and add them to your beats and productions. Simply solo the stem you want, you won’t even have to stop playback or bounce anything. Or mute stems in order to create drops when performing with mixed tracks. PEEL STEMS does all of this in real-time!

Refine

PEEL STEMS incorporates the unique PEEL Focus EQ: Simply click & drag the mouse across the Soundfield Display to activate and set it. Using Invert, you can separate the audio inside the Focus Window from the rest outside. And in some DAWs (eg. Ableton LIVE), you can even use PEEL STEMS’ second plugin output to separate both for further processing. This way you can add reverb to just the snare, pump up the kick drum …and a lot more. Get creative with your audio!

Key Features

Real-time Audio Stem Separation
Separate stems in real-time, right within your DAW
Soundfield Display
Visually identify and isolate single stems within a mix
Mute, Solo or Rebalance stems
Drums, Bass, Vocals, Other
Includes all PEEL Features
Including the Focus EQ spectral isolation tool
Route Selected Audio to External Processing
Supported in Ableton Live, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Reason, Reaper
Available in VST3, AU and AAX Plugin Formats
Compatible with Intel and Silicone Macs

Videos About PEEL STEMS

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Introducing PEEL STEMS

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PEEL STEMS Overview

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PEEL STEMS Tutorial

PEEL STEMS News

Photo of mixing console depicting audio stems

What are Stems in Audio?



Curious about audio stems in music production? Learn the difference between stems and multitracks, how to extract stems from any song using PEEL STEMS, and how to use them for remixes, sampling, referencing, and more.

Screenshot showing five instances of zplane PEEL STEMS real time stem separation plugin

5 Innovative Uses for PEEL STEMS



Learn how to make the most of PEEL STEMS with these five innovative uses for our powerful real-time stem separation plugin.

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How to Beat Writer’s Block with zplane Plugins



Discover how to beat writer’s block with these six innovative ways to use zplane plugins.

PEEL STEMS Review by Beat.de and Sound on Sound

PEEL STEMS Reviewed by Beat.de and Sound on Sound



Music technology media giants, Beat.de and Sound on Sound, get their hands on zplane's real time stem separation plugin PEEL STEMS

Screenshot of zplane PEEL STEMS separating stems in Ableton Live DAW

How to Separate Stems in Your DAW – 5 of the Best Tools for the Job



Learn how to create acapellas, extract instrumentals or isolate a song’s individual elements within your DAW using these five stem separation methods

Image of PEEL STEMS nominated in 2024 Plugin Boutique awards

PEEL STEMS Nominated in the Innovation Category at the Plugin Boutique Awards 2024



PEEL STEMS, the real time stem separation plugin from zplane, has been nominated for the Innovation award in the 2024 Plugin Boutique awards

FAQs

More Answers

PEEL STEMS General Operation

Technical Specifications
  • CPU: Apple Silicon (M1 or higher) recommended
  • Plugin formats: VST3, AU and AAX
  • Supported Operating Systems:
    • Windows 10 & 11 | 64bit
    • macOS 13 or higher | Intel & Silicon

My DAW doesn`t support a secondary output. Can I simulate that?

Yes. Add PEEL STEMS to the track you want to work on. Adjust the Focus EQ settings to your liking, then duplicate the track and set the EQ in the duplicated track to inverse mode. Now you can treat each track separately.

How do I access the secondary output?

Not all DAWs support a secondary output for an insert plugin. Please check the list in the manual or contact the manufacturer of your DAW. For the DAWs we know that it works with we try to provide tutorial videos. Click the help icon in the plugin to get a list of tutorial videos.

What does "Isolation" do?

Isolation fine-tunes a stem’s separation. How audible this is, depends on your material. Even when all stems are active, you will hear subtle differences, if you bring the isolation values up. That’s why the default value is set to zero.

What is the difference between PEEL and PEEL STEMS?

PEEL STEMS has all of PEEL’s features and adds real-time stem separation. Other than that, PEEL STEMS has a larger processing latency of approx. 480 ms (vs. PEEL approx. 90 ms) and the Soundfield display in PEEL STEMS shows mixes in color and by stem.

Do I lose PEEL, when I crossgrade to PEEL STEMS?

No. In fact you are getting a second plugin and are keeping your PEEL license.

PEEL STEMS Troubleshooting

Pro Tools: I get latency when I insert PEEL STEMS

Pro Tools can’t make up the processing latency incurred by PEEL STEMS. Please make up the latency manually on the track (see Pro Tools documentation for this please)

Ableton: When I add PEEL STEMS on an audio track, I get extensive MIDI Input lag on MIDI tracks

Go to Options and activate “Reduced Latency when Monitoring”. By default it is off.

macOS: The plugin doesn't show up, although I installed it correctly.

Please note, that there are two different installation packages for Intel- and Silicon-based Macs, and you must install the correct one for your:

  1. “ARM64” – for native Apple Silicon computers
  2. “x86_64 – for Intel-based Macs

IMPORTANT: If you are on a Silicon-based Mac, but running your DAW in Rosetta Mode, you need the x86_64 version.