Chord Lens
AI Drum Stem Splitter
AI Drum Stem Splitter: the drums on their own
Isolate the drums in any song: solo them to learn the groove and every fill, or mute them for a drumless track and be the drummer, with a click on the song’s own beat. On a YouTube video with the Chrome extension, or by uploading your own audio in the Studio. Free to try: Free splits a 2-minute part.
Last updated
The short version
At a
glance.
hear it, then play it
Chord Lens splits a song into six stems, one of them the drums, so you can listen to the kit alone or take it out and play the part yourself. Everything else on this page is the detail.
- The drum stemone of six from every split
- Solo itthe groove and the fills, alone
- Mute ita drumless track to play over
- A click on the beatthe song’s own tempo, with a fader
- Slow it downthe pitch stays put
- Loop the filluntil your hands have it
- Sections in timesee the chorus coming
- YouTube or your own filesextension on YouTube, upload in the Studio
- Free to trya 2-minute part on Free
01 / 10 · What it is
The drums.
On their own.
A drum part is easy to feel and hard to copy: the bass sits on the kick, the guitars cover the hi-hat, and a fill is gone before you’ve heard what it was. Hearing the kit alone is the fastest way to learn it.
Chord Lens splits the song into six stems, vocals, drums, bass, piano, guitar and the rest, and the drums get their own fader, solo and mute, with the song’s sections running in time on screen.
Mute the drums and you have a drumless track of the song you were listening to, with a metronome on its own beat so you never lose the tempo. Use the Chrome extension on the YouTube video, or upload your own audio in the Studio.
Have the song as a file? The Studio splits MP3, WAV and M4A the same way.
Upload-a-file splitters
Want the song as a file first, then hand back a drumless track as a file to load somewhere else.
Split where you play
Splits the song you’re watching and keeps the drums, the click and the loop in one place.
02 / 10 · How to
Make a drumless track
in four steps.
a few presses
Open the song
Add Chord Lens to Chrome and open the YouTube video, or upload your own MP3, WAV or M4A in the Studio.
Split the song
Press Split. On Free, pick the 2 minutes you want.
Solo the drums
Press S on Drums to hear the kit alone.
Or mute them and play
Press M for a drumless track, turn the metronome up, and play the part.
On a Mac? The Chord Lens app runs the same Studio, with the split on your own computer.
Get the Mac app03 / 10 · The six stems
Six stems.
The drums are one.
Every split gives you the same six stems. The whole kit is one of them, so you can solo it, mute it or set it under the rest.
- Drums
- Vocals
- Bass
- Piano
- Guitar
- Other
Solo it
Hear the groove and every fill alone.
Mute it
A drumless track to play your own part over.
Turn it down
Keep a little as a guide while you play.
A metronome sits under the six stems with a fader of its own. It clicks on the song’s own beat, so a drumless track still keeps time, and you can count yourself in. Rhythm only, one of the mixer’s five mixes, plays the drums and bass together.
04 / 10 · Practise it
Loop it.
Slow it. Move it.
the drums follow
- Loop
- A–B
- Loop the fill and play it until it sits.
- Speed
- 0.75×
- Slow the kit down to hear a fast fill stroke by stroke; the pitch stays put.
- Click
- On the beat
- A metronome on the song’s own tempo, with its own fader.
The song’s sections run along the top while you play, so you can see the chorus coming and the bridge where the groove changes. Loop a section and drill the turn into it until it’s yours.
To slow a whole song down without the split, see slow down songs.
05 / 10 · On your computer
Split on your
own computer.
The split runs in your browser on your own computer, not in a queue somewhere. The first time, the Studio sets the splitting engine up: it downloads once, about 140 MB. After that a song splits while you watch the progress, and the engine stays ready for the next one.
Splitting needs a computer, in Chrome or Edge. Phones and tablets don’t give a web page enough memory to split a song, so on a phone you still get the chords, the words and the sections, but not the split.
06 / 10 · How clean
Usually the cleanest stem.
Honest about the rest.
Drums are usually the cleanest of the six: a kick, a snare and a hi-hat sound like nothing else in the band, so the split can tell them apart.
Cymbal wash can leave a trace in Other, and shakers, tambourines and electronic percussion can split between Drums and Other. The whole kit is one stem, so you can’t solo the snare on its own. It’s a practice tool, not a studio stem.
We don’t print a quality score, because no single number is true of every song. The honest test is your own: split a verse, mute the drums and play.
Still hear a bit of the drums?
- Pull Other down a little: cymbal wash often hides there.
- Play louder than it. You’re practising over it, not mixing a record.
- Turn the metronome up to lock to the beat.
- Try a studio version: live takes split less cleanly.
07 / 10 · Compared
Chord Lens vs
other drumless tracks.
Three ways to get a drumless track, or the drums alone, of a song you heard on YouTube.
| Upload-a-file splitters | Drumless track uploads | By ear | Chord Lens | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works on the YouTube video you watch | No, a file | Only songs uploaded | Yes | Yes |
| The original recording | Yes | Sometimes re-played | Yes | Yes |
| A click on the song’s beat | No | Rarely | — | Built in |
| Loop and slow | Another app | The player | — | Built in |
| Works on phones | No | Yes | Yes | Chords yes, split no |
| Cost | Per file | Free | Your time | Free to try |
A drumless upload is fine when the song you want has one. Chord Lens is for every other song: the one you just heard, split from the recording, with the drums alone to learn from and a click to play over.
08 / 10 · How players use it
Four ways
players use it.
Learn a fill
Solo the drums, loop the bar, slow it to 0.75×.
Copy the groove
Hear the kit alone to catch the hi-hat pattern.
Be the drummer
Mute the drums, turn on the click, and play over the band.
Lock with the bass
Pick Rhythm only to hear the drums and bass together.
Drummers use it to learn a set before rehearsal, one drumless track at a time. Teachers use it to show a student what the kick is doing under a chorus, with the bars looped and slowed.
09 / 10 · What it won’t do
What it
won’t do.
so you know before you split
Not for sharing or publishing
On Free the stems play in Chord Lens. Premium downloads them as MP3 and Pro adds WAV, for your own personal study and practice, not to share or publish.
No split on phones
Splitting needs a computer. On a phone you still get the chords and the sections.
No drum notation
It gives you the drum audio and the song’s sections, not drum charts or sheet music.
One stem for the kit
The kit is one stem: you can’t solo the snare or the hi-hat on its own.
Chord Lens is for practising and studying a song yourself: learning it, working out a part, playing along. That kind of personal use is broadly considered fair use under US copyright law, with similar rules elsewhere. Stem downloads on Premium and Pro are for that same personal study, not to share, sell or publish. To publish a cover, use the original audio under YouTube’s licensing, or get a sync license.
10 / 10 · Plans
Free to try.
Free splits a 2-minute part of a song, the part you choose, a few times a day. Premium splits up to 8 minutes of a song and Pro up to 12, which is the whole of most songs, and both download the stems for your own study: MP3 on Premium, WAV on Pro. Chords and the lyrics a song already has stay free on every plan, with no ads. Key and speed are free in Chrome and, once you sign in, in the Studio, for the whole song up to your plan’s song-length limit.
See plans and prices01How do I make a drumless track of a YouTube song?
Open the video with the Chord Lens extension in Chrome, or upload your own audio in the Studio, press Split, then M on the Drums stem. The band plays on without the drums, and the metronome keeps the song’s beat.
02Can I hear just the drums?
Yes. Press S on Drums and the kit plays alone. Pick Rhythm only to hear the drums and bass together.
03How clean is the drum stem?
Drums are usually the cleanest of the six stems. Cymbal wash can leave a trace in Other, and some percussion can split between Drums and Other.
04Can I solo the snare or the kick?
No. The whole kit is one stem. Slow it down and loop the bar to pick out each part by ear.
05Can I slow the drums down?
Yes. Play from half speed to double with the pitch left where it is, and loop the bars you’re learning. Every stem follows the speed.
06Is there a click to play along with?
Yes. A metronome sits under the stems with its own fader and clicks on the song’s own beat, so a drumless track still keeps time.
07Why do I still hear a little of the drums?
Some of the cymbals can bleed into Other. Pull Other down a little too, or play louder than it: you’re practising over it, not mixing a record.
08Is it free?
Yes, to try. Free splits a 2-minute part of a song, the part you choose, a few times a day. Chords are free on every plan. Key and speed are free in Chrome and, once you sign in, in the Studio, for the whole song up to your plan’s song-length limit.
09How much of a song can I split on Free?
Free splits 2 minutes of a song, placed where you want it. Premium splits up to 8 minutes and Pro up to 12, which is the whole of most songs.
10Can I do it on my phone?
No. Splitting needs a computer, in Chrome or Edge, because phones don’t give a web page enough memory. On a phone you still get the chords and the sections.
11Can I download the drumless track?
On Premium you can download the stems as MP3 from the Studio, and Pro adds WAV. Downloads are for your own personal study, not to share or publish; to publish a cover, use YouTube’s licensing or get a sync license. On Free the stems play in Chord Lens.
12Can I use Chord Lens on my own files, or only YouTube?
Both. The Chrome extension works right on the YouTube video you’re watching, listening to the song as it plays. To split stems, upload your own audio in the Studio (MP3, WAV or M4A, up to 50 MB). Premium exports stems as MP3 and Pro adds WAV, for your own study and practice.
13Does it give me drum notation?
No. It gives you the drum audio on its own and the song’s sections in time, not drum charts or sheet music.
14Can I change the tempo?
Yes. Play the song from half speed to double with the pitch left where it is, so you can learn a fast part slowly and build back up to tempo.
15Is this different from the stem splitter?
It’s the same split. The YouTube stem splitter page is about all six stems; this page is about the drums. Both open in the same Studio.
In short
The whole page
in four lines.
The drum stem.
One of six from every split.
Solo or mute.
Hear the kit alone, or play it yourself.
A click on the beat.
Loop, slow, keep time.
Free to try.
A 2-minute part on Free; the whole of most songs on Premium and Pro.
Keep going
More from Chord Lens.
All toolsYouTube Stem Splitter
All six stems from your own audio.
YouTube to Chords
The chords of a song, in time.
All Chord Lens tools
Chords, stems, practice and singing.
Learning another part? The same split has a page for each: the guitar stem splitter, bass stem splitter or piano stem splitter.