Cat. SMPL.24 · Polyphonic editor · VST3/AU

Edit notes
inside any
audio.

Samplab is an AI plugin that lets you edit individual notes inside polyphonic audio — like Melodyne, but on a free tier. Audio-to-MIDI conversion, chord detection, stem separation, tempo and key matching. Available as VST3 / AU plugin or standalone desktop app for macOS and Windows.

Get the plugin How it works
Polyphonic note editing VST3 · AU · standalone Free tier Cloud AI
How it works

Drop, detect, edit.

Drop an audio file into Samplab (in your DAW or the standalone app). Cloud AI analyses the sample and returns notes on a piano-roll grid — move them, retune them, restretch them, export them. The audio re-renders in key.

— 01 / Drop

Load the sample

Drag a WAV or MP3 into Samplab's window — works as a VST3 / AU plugin inside Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, Cubase, or as a standalone desktop app. Free tier accepts files up to 10 seconds, mono. Premium opens any length with stereo.

— 02 / Detect

AI reads the notes

Cloud analysis runs the polyphonic detector. Individual notes appear on a piano-roll grid alongside chord symbols and detected key. Stem separation isolates vocals and instruments if you want layered editing.

— 03 / Edit

Tweak & export

Move, split, stretch, or retune notes — the audio rerenders in-key. Drag MIDI out to another track to drive a synth, export WAV with your edits baked in, or split into stems. Tempo and key sync automatically to your DAW session.

Polyphonic note editing

The thing other tools can't do.

Most audio editors let you slice and pitch-shift entire samples. Samplab lets you reach inside polyphonic audio and move a single note — a wrong chord tone, a flat lead, a stuck root — and the rest of the sample stays musical. The closest comparable tool is Melodyne 5 at $400+ from Celemony. Samplab ships a free tier with up to 10-second mono samples; Premium opens any length stereo for a fraction of Melodyne's price. KSHMR called the result "pure magic" — and the social proof is on the front page of samplab.com for a reason.

  • Tweak one note in polyphonic audioMove the third up, drop the fifth, retune the held high note — the chord around it stays musical because the AI preserves the harmonic context.
  • Audio-to-MIDI on any sampleDrag the detected MIDI to a new track and play it back through any soft-synth. Same melody, different timbre — instant re-voicing of any recording.
  • Chord detection + retuneIdentifies chord progression automatically. Move the whole progression up a semitone, swap a minor chord for major — all while staying in key.
  • Stem split + AI mastering inside the DAWVocals, instruments, drums separated in-plugin. No round-trip to a separate stem-splitter web app. Works in Ableton, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Cubase.
Sampleloop_142.wav
Length3.2 s
Detected keyCmin
Tempo124 BPM
Polyphonic notes14
Chord progressionCm — A♭ — E♭ — B♭
Stemsvocal · inst · drum
MIDI exportready
DAW synclinked
Analysis confidence92%
Cloud AI · Plugin v3 VERIFIED
Who it's for

Built for the people who live in the DAW.

Producers & beatmakers

Working with sample-pack loops that nearly fit but have one note in the wrong key. Move that note, keep the rest of the loop musical, drop it into the beat without re-recording.

Sound designers

Re-voice a vocal sample into a different instrument by routing its detected MIDI through a synth. Same melody, completely different timbre — patch-design as composition.

Composers & arrangers

Quick ear-to-score pipeline. Hum a phrase into the mic, get the MIDI inside Logic or Cubase in seconds. Stops ideas from dying in your head because you can't notate fast enough.

Music educators

Teaching harmony or arrangement from real-world audio. Pull a recording in, expose the chord progression and stems, edit out individual notes for ear-training drills — the AI as a teaching assistant.

Features

The full channel strip.

Samplab is positioned as a polyphonic note editor first — but the suite covers MIDI conversion, stem split, chord detection, audio warping, and (on Complete) the Resynthesizer plugin. Below: the headline tools.

Signature

Polyphonic note editing on a free tier

The thing only Melodyne 5 used to do, now on a free Basic plan. Edit individual notes inside polyphonic audio — move them, split them, retune them — and the audio rerenders in-key. Free tier handles 10-second mono samples; Premium opens any length and stereo processing.

Free Basic · 10 s mono · Premium any length stereo
Audio-to-MIDI

Any sample → MIDI

Drag any sample in, drag MIDI out. Route the detected notes through a soft-synth for instant re-voicing, or build a new arrangement on the same chord skeleton.

Chord detection

Auto progressions

Identifies chord progression and key. Retune chord-by-chord while staying in-key, or use the detected key as the foundation for new material in the same session.

Stem separation

Vocal · instrument · drums

In-plugin stem split. No round-trip to a separate web tool — isolated stems appear in the editor for note-level work.

DAW integration

VST3 · AU · standalone

Plugs into Ableton, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Cubase, Reaper, Pro Tools — every modern DAW. Standalone desktop app for sessions without a host.

Honest disclosure

Cloud AI · Resynthesizer hit-or-miss

Worth being upfront. Analysis runs in the cloud — internet required for note detection, which can be a privacy or workflow concern. Free tier is genuinely free but capped at 10 seconds mono. The newer Resynthesizer plugin (Complete subscription) blends sampling with synth recreation; one industry reviewer called it "very poor resynthesis" with too few harmonics for full fidelity. Treat Resynthesizer as a sound-design happy-accident tool, not a 1:1 sample reconstruction.

Cloud-dependent · Resynth: happy-accident, not 1:1
Honest comparison

Samplab vs Melodyne vs Hit'n'Mix
vs iZotope RX vs Ableton Audio-to-MIDI.

Melodyne is the legendary $400+ polyphonic editor — Samplab's direct competitor. Hit'n'Mix Infinity is the other dedicated polyphonic alternative at ~$249. iZotope RX is the broader audio-repair industry standard. Ableton 11+ ships its own audio-to-MIDI converter built into the DAW. Samplab's slot is "polyphonic note editing on a free tier" plus cloud AI accuracy.

What you want to doSamplabMelodyne 5Hit'n'Mix InfinityiZotope RXAbleton 11+
Edit individual notes in polyphonic audio✓ Yes✓ Yes (Editor+)✓ Yes— NoLimited
Free tier available✓ Basic · forever— Trial only— Trial only— Trial onlyWith Suite
Entry price✓ Free / ~$8/mo$399 (Editor)~$249$399+ (Standard)Suite license
Audio-to-MIDI export✓ Yes✓ Yes✓ Yes— No✓ Built-in
Chord detection✓ AutoEditor+ only✓ Yes— No— No
Stem separation in-plugin✓ Yes— Not yet✓ YesMusic Rebalance— No
VST3 + AU plugin format✓ Both✓ Both✓ Both✓ Both— DAW only
Vocal pitch fidelitySolid✓ Industry-leading✓ Strong✓ Audio repair goldDecent
Offline / on-device processing— Cloud required✓ Local✓ Local✓ Local✓ Local

// If you need industry-leading vocal pitch fidelity and have $400+ — Melodyne 5 Editor or Studio. If you want comparable polyphonic editing with offline processing — Hit'n'Mix Infinity. If audio repair is the use case — iZotope RX. If you already own Ableton Suite, the built-in tool covers basics. If you want polyphonic note editing on a free tier — Samplab, with the cloud-dependency trade.

Studio notes

What real producers actually said.

★★★★★

"Samplab is pure magic — no other program lets you tweak the notes of polyphonic audio while actually sounding good. For sample-pack workflows where the loop is close but the chord tone is wrong, this fixes it instantly."

K
KSHMR
DJ / Producer · billboard top 100
★★★★★

"Nice tool to edit individual notes in samples to make them unique. Also gives you chords and MIDI of your audio — instant re-voicing through any synth. Free tier is genuinely usable for short loop work."

M
Marcus T.
KVR Audio review
★★★★☆

"Honest take: the core note editor is excellent — Melodyne-tier for fast polyphonic work without a Melodyne budget. The newer Resynthesizer plugin is hit-or-miss; sometimes recreates a sample spot-on, sometimes goes its own direction. Treat it as a sound-design tool, not a 1:1 reconstruction engine."

A
Alex R.
KVR Resynth reviewer
The story

Polyphonic editing, democratized.

Samplab is built around one premise: the kind of polyphonic note editing that Celemony's Melodyne 5 popularized at $400+ should be available to producers who don't have studio-business budgets. The free Basic plan ships note-level polyphonic editing on samples up to 10 seconds, mono — which sounds small until you realize 10 seconds covers most sample-pack loops, vocal hooks, and one-bar phrases producers actually work with. Premium opens any length plus stereo for roughly $8/month; the Complete bundle adds the newer Resynthesizer plugin for €9.99/month or a €77.99 perpetual license.

The killer endorsement is from KSHMR, who appears on the samplab.com front page calling it "pure magic — no other program lets you tweak the notes of polyphonic audio while actually sounding good." This isn't a paid placement in a sidebar; it's the headline social proof. KSHMR's catalogue and production credits speak for themselves at the tier where this kind of validation matters.

The honest version: vocal pitch fidelity is solid but not industry-leading the way Melodyne 5's flagship polyphonic editor is — Melodyne remains the gold standard if vocal pitch correction is your entire job. Hit'n'Mix Infinity at ~$249 offers comparable polyphonic editing with offline processing, which matters if cloud-dependency is a workflow concern. The newer Resynthesizer plugin received mixed reviews — one industry expert flagged "very poor resynthesis" with too few harmonics for full fidelity, though others find it a useful sound-design tool when treated as a happy-accident engine rather than a 1:1 sample reconstruction.

Cloud-based analysis is the meaningful trade-off. Samplab uploads samples to its cloud AI for the polyphonic detection pass; daily use of already-analyzed samples works offline, but every fresh sample needs an internet connection. Melodyne, Hit'n'Mix, iZotope RX all run locally — pick Samplab if you're comfortable with cloud-routing, pick the others if your privacy / studio-network setup needs full offline. Full feature list, free download, and pricing at samplab.com.

FAQ

The good questions.

What does Samplab actually let me do that other tools can't?

Edit individual notes inside polyphonic audio. Most audio editors let you pitch-shift or time-stretch entire samples; Samplab uses AI to detect every note inside a sample (even when multiple instruments are playing at once) and lets you move, retune, split, or stretch each note independently — and the rest of the sample stays musical. The closest historical comparison is Celemony's Melodyne 5 Editor, which costs around $400. Samplab ships this on a free tier with 10-second mono samples.

Is the free tier really free?

Yes — Basic is free forever with a 10-second per-file limit and mono processing. For producers working with one-bar loops, vocal hooks, or short sample-pack snippets, that's enough for real work. Premium (~$7.99/month) lifts the limit and adds stereo. Complete (€9.99/month or €77.99 perpetual for the Resynthesizer plugin alone) bundles the newer Resynthesizer that turns samples into synth-recreated, playable patches.

How does it compare to Melodyne, Hit'n'Mix, iZotope RX, and Ableton's built-in audio-to-MIDI?

Melodyne 5 Editor ($399+) is the industry gold standard for polyphonic pitch editing — Samplab's direct competitor. Hit'n'Mix Infinity (~$249) offers similar polyphonic note editing with offline processing. iZotope RX is the audio-repair leader, not really comparable for note editing. Ableton 11+ ships its own audio-to-MIDI for monophonic and drum sources but is more limited on polyphonic material. Samplab's slot is "polyphonic note editing on a free tier" — accuracy is solid, vocal pitch fidelity is below Melodyne's, but the price-to-feature curve is far better.

Does Samplab need an internet connection?

Yes for the analysis pass — Samplab's AI runs in the cloud, so every fresh sample uploads for note detection. Once a sample is analyzed, you can edit and re-export offline. Activation and updates also require internet. If your studio setup demands fully offline processing (privacy concerns, no-internet sessions, NDA-protected material), Melodyne, Hit'n'Mix Infinity, and iZotope RX all process locally and may be better fits despite higher cost.

Which DAWs does the plugin work in?

Any DAW that supports VST3 or Audio Units: Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Cubase, Reaper, Pro Tools, Studio One, Bitwig, GarageBand. Samplab also runs as a standalone desktop app for macOS 12+ and Windows 10+ — useful for sessions where you're not inside a DAW yet, or for quick one-off sample edits.

What is the Resynthesizer plugin?

Resynthesizer is Samplab's newer plugin that takes a one-shot sample, analyzes it with on-device AI, breaks it into harmonic and percussive components, and recreates it as a playable synthesizer patch you can play chromatically. Available standalone (€77.99 intro, normally €129.99) or as part of the Complete subscription (€9.99/month). Honest caveat: reviewer feedback is mixed — sometimes the recreation nails the original sample's vibe, sometimes it veers into a happy-accident direction. Industry reviewers have called the resynthesis "very poor" with too few harmonics for full fidelity. Treat it as a sound-design tool, not a 1:1 sample reconstructor.

Can I export to MIDI and use it with my own synths?

Yes — every analyzed sample exposes a MIDI representation. Drag MIDI out of Samplab into any track in your DAW and route it through a soft-synth or hardware synth. The most common workflow is detecting the chord progression from a vocal or instrument loop, then re-voicing it through Serum, Diva, or any sampler. This is one of the strongest workflows in the toolkit and works on the free tier.

Is the polyphonic detection accurate on complex audio?

It's solid on most sources — chord-driven instrumental loops, piano, guitar, simple polyphonic material. It gets harder as the source becomes more complex: very dense mixes with distorted instruments, heavy reverb tails, or unusual production are harder for any polyphonic detector (including Melodyne). For surgical work on a final master, layer the AI output with manual cleanup; for fast loop editing in a beat session, the detection accuracy is more than enough to ship tracks.

Drop a sample

Edit the note. Keep the song.

Polyphonic note editing on a free tier — no Melodyne budget required. Install the plugin in your DAW, drop a sample, tweak what needs tweaking.

Get the plugin Try free tier