ACE Studio 2.0

What Is ACE Studio 2.0?

ACE Studio is an AI-driven music workstation developed by Timedomain (Beijing) in collaboration with Accidental AI. Its core function is AI vocal synthesis: you provide MIDI note data and lyrics, choose an AI voice model, and ACE Studio renders an expressive, human-sounding sung performance. The result behaves more like a recorded take than a static sample — with natural vowels, consonants, breaths, vibrato, and emotional nuance shaped by the AI engine.

Version 2.0 expands from a vocal synth into an all-in-one AI music studio environment, adding AI instruments, voice cloning, generative AI kits, and a more DAW-like Canvas workflow. For The Neon Dawn, ACE Studio serves as the AI vocal layer — likely a female voice — fed by MIDI from Cubase 15 Pro via the ACE Bridge plugin.

What's New in 2.0

System Requirements

Interface Tour

The ACE Studio interface is organized around a central Canvas — the main timeline/arrangement area. Key areas:

Voice Library

The Voice Library is ACE Studio's collection of AI voice models. Access it three ways:

• Click the first icon in the Toolbar
• Double-click an empty track area on the Canvas
• Click the voice picture on the track panel

Once open, drag a voice onto the Canvas to create a track, or click it and then click the Canvas to place it.

Voice Library Tabs

Vocal Synth Models

The same AI voice can be available on multiple vocal synth model generations. Performance varies between generations — a Verse24 voice and a Verse25 version of the same voice may sound different.

Creating AI Vocals — Core Workflow

1. Open the Voice Library and drag an AI voice onto the Canvas to create a vocal track.
2. Draw a clip on the Canvas by clicking and dragging on the track timeline.
3. Double-click the clip to open the Piano Roll.
4. Draw or import MIDI notes defining the melody pitches and durations.
5. Enter lyrics — type directly onto notes, or paste full lyrics via the Lyrics Panel.
6. Close the Piano Roll — ACE Studio renders the AI vocal performance for that clip.
7. Open the clip again to refine: edit pitch, phonemes, vocal controls, or breath.

Editing Notes

In the Piano Roll, notes represent individual syllables. Standard tools: pencil (draw), pointer (select/move/resize), eraser. Notes can be split, merged, and resized. Note duration affects vowel length; very short notes may truncate consonants.

• Click + drag to draw a note
• Right-click to delete
• Drag left/right edge to resize
• Ctrl/Cmd+drag to move without accidentally resizing
• MIDI import: File → Import Files → select .mid or .musicxml

Editing Lyrics

Each note holds one syllable. Type a lyric directly on a selected note, then press Tab to advance to the next note. Pressing Space creates a rest/breath between words.

Lyrics Panel (paste full lyrics at once): open the Lyrics Panel, paste the entire lyric text, and ACE Studio distributes syllables across the existing notes. Review and correct any auto-split errors — especially with multi-syllable words.

Phoneme editing: Each lyric is automatically converted to phonemes (sounds). You can override individual phonemes if the AI mispronounces a word — useful for unusual names, slang, or poetic pronunciations. Refer to the Phoneme Dictionary in the Appendix for the phoneme set used per language.

Editing Pitch

The pitch editor shows the rendered pitch curve on top of your MIDI notes. The AI generates natural pitch deviations — vibrato, portamento, note transitions — automatically. You can:

• Draw custom pitch deviation curves in the pitch lane
• Right-click and drag to erase custom edits and return a region to "Auto" mode
• Use the Global Control Knob (left of the parameter lane) to apply a uniform pitch offset across the whole clip
• The final pitch = MIDI note + AI auto-pitch + your manual curve + global knob offset

Vocal Controls (Verse25)

Vocal Controls are the primary expression tool for Verse25 voices. They replace most of the older emotion controls. Each control can be automated as an envelope drawn in its parameter lane, or set globally with the track-level knob.

Basic Controls (all Verse25 voices)

Special Controls (voice-specific, Verse25+)

Breath

Breaths are inserted as dedicated note-like objects before vocal phrases. Add breath via the AI Parameters panel. Parameters: breath duration, breath volume. Breath is separate from the Breathy vocal control — Breath adds an audible inhale/exhale sound event; Breathy adds an airy quality to the singing itself.

Singing Languages

ACE Studio 2.0 supports 8 languages. Language is set per-track or per-clip:

Not all voices support all languages. Check the voice card for supported languages. When using a language, ACE Studio uses the appropriate phoneme set for that language (see Phoneme Dictionary in Appendix).

AI Choir

AI Choir layers multiple AI voices on a single track for choral or harmony arrangements. Click the + button in the AI Choir section on the track panel to add voices to the choir. Each voice in the choir can use a different AI voice model. The choir renders all voices simultaneously from the same MIDI/lyric clip. Use Voice Blending within the choir for additional timbral control.

Voice Blending

Voice Blending creates a hybrid AI voice by interpolating between two voices. The result is saved as a custom blended voice under your account. Blended voices appear in the Blended tab of the Voice Library and are accessible across devices. Use blending to create unique timbres that don't exist in the stock library — e.g., blending a breathy indie voice with a powerful belter to get a controlled middle-ground character.

AI Instruments

AI Instruments generate expressive instrument performances from MIDI — without traditional sample libraries. The instrument models use deep learning to add natural articulation, dynamics, and performance nuance based on the MIDI input.

Available Instruments (2.0)

Workflow is the same as AI Vocals: load an instrument from the Instrument Library onto a track, draw or import MIDI, and ACE Studio renders the performance. Expression parameters vary by instrument.

Arrangement in Canvas

The Canvas is ACE Studio's main timeline/arrangement view. It functions similarly to a DAW's arrangement window:

• Tracks run top-to-bottom; time runs left-to-right
• Clips are the individual regions on each track containing MIDI + lyrics
• Click and drag on a track to create a new clip
• Double-click a clip to open the Piano Roll editor
• Drag clip edges to resize; drag the clip body to move it in time
• Right-click for clip options: duplicate, delete, split, etc.
• Multiple tracks can be vocal, instrument, or generative

Transport

Standard DAW transport controls: Play, Stop, Record, loop region. BPM is set globally and applies to all tracks including arp/synth-style playback. ACE Studio can sync to external DAW transport via the ACE Bridge plugin.

Mixing

Basic per-track mixing within ACE Studio: Volume, Pan, Mute, Solo. For full mixing and effects, use the ACE Bridge to route audio into Cubase 15 Pro and mix there. ACE Studio's internal mixer is primarily for balance while composing.

File Management

AI Rendering — Cloud vs. Local

AI Tools — Inspire Me

Generates a complete track from a text description or from scratch. Produces MIDI, vocals, and instruments on the Canvas. Good as a starting point or for quick demo generation. Results are fully editable after generation.

AI Tools — Add a Layer

Adds a new element (vocal, instrument, bass, drums, etc.) to an existing Canvas arrangement. Define a clip length if you only want a few bars. As of v2.0.5, Add a Layer references existing Canvas content when generating — so new layers are contextually appropriate to your current arrangement.

AI Tools — Music Enhancer

Select a region of your Canvas and Music Enhancer "reimagines" it in a different musical style. Useful for arrangement experiments — try your verse in a different genre or texture without committing.

AI Tools — Voice Changer

Transforms an input vocal recording to sound like a selected AI voice. Useful for: quickly auditioning how a melody sounds in a different voice before committing to full synthesis, converting scratch vocals to a polished AI performance style, or applying a cloned voice to existing recordings.

AI Tools — Stem Splitter

Takes a mixed audio file and separates it into stems — vocals, instruments, etc. Useful for:

• Extracting a clean vocal stem for Voice Cloning training from a mixed recording
• Isolating a reference vocal to use with Vocal to MIDI
• Removing a vocal from a backing track

Load the file → click Split → choose stem type to extract → export. Quality is best on clean, non-effects-heavy recordings.

AI Tools — Vocal to MIDI

Analyzes an audio vocal recording and extracts pitch and lyrical content, generating a MIDI clip that can be used directly for AI vocal synthesis. Workflow:

1. Import the audio vocal (spoken or sung) into ACE Studio.
2. Apply Vocal to MIDI — ACE extracts pitch data and lyric content from the audio.
3. Review and correct the generated MIDI notes and lyrics (some editing expected, especially for fast passages).
4. Assign an AI voice to the track and render using the corrected MIDI.

AI Tools — Doubles

Generates doubled or harmonized vocal parts from an existing AI vocal track. Adds the thickened double-tracking effect typical of professional vocal production. The doubled voice uses a slightly varied performance to sound natural rather than a simple copy.

Voice Cloning

Voice Cloning trains a custom AI voice model from your own vocal recordings. The resulting cloned voice can then sing any melody with any lyrics — including entirely new songs.

For Vocal Synth cloning: upload vocal samples → ACE trains the model → cloned voice appears in My Voices tab → use it like any other AI voice on vocal synth tracks.

For Voice Changer cloning: separate clone trained specifically for the Voice Changer tool — transforms audio recordings to sound like you.

DAW Integration — ACE Bridge 2

ACE Bridge 2 is a plugin (VST / AU / AAX) that creates a live connection between ACE Studio and your DAW. Audio from ACE Studio feeds directly into the DAW's timeline without manual exporting or bouncing.

Setting Up ACE Bridge with Cubase 15 Pro

1. Download ACE Bridge 2 from acestudio.ai and install. Cubase will detect it on next launch.
2. In Cubase: create a new Instrument Track and load ACE Bridge 2 as the instrument.
3. Open ACE Studio (standalone). Both applications are now linked via the Bridge.
4. Build your vocal/instrument arrangement in ACE Studio's Canvas.
5. ACE Studio audio feeds into the Cubase Instrument Track in real-time. Record-enable the track to capture it to audio in Cubase.
6. Use Cubase's transport to control playback — ACE Studio syncs to Cubase's BPM and position.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Full shortcut list: docs.acestudio.ai/appendix/shortcuts

Creative Library