Beta applications open for macOS, Windows and Linux
Your whole library, searchable by feel.
ToneTrace listens to every file you own and tags it by instrument, mood and genre. Type what you're after, drag a point across a mood and energy pad, or pick a sound you like and ask for more like it.
Both models run on your machine. Nothing is uploaded in the current build.
Hears samples the way you do
Two open audio models listen to each file. One recognises instruments and sound events, the other describes mood, genre and production character. Every tag carries the model's own confidence, so you know when to trust it.
Find sounds by feel
Drag a point across a mood and energy pad and the library narrows to what matches the feeling. Or type it: search covers file names and every tag ToneTrace has heard. Or pick a sound you like and ask for more like it.
Take just the part you want
ToneTrace knows where each sound sits inside a file, so an old four-minute bounce becomes a source of one-shots. Drag any single moment out as its own WAV, straight into your DAW.
Search by feel
Explore by mood and energy.
Mood is not a list you pick from. A sound sits somewhere between dark and bright, and somewhere between still and driving, and the useful question is usually “near this, but calmer”.
- Drag the point and the library narrows to files that sit near it.
- Scroll to widen or tighten the match, double-click to clear it.
- Both axes come from the model listening to the audio, so they work on files nobody has ever named, sorted or tagged.
What changes
Your file names stop mattering
ToneTrace listens to the audio, so a file called Bounce_042 is a warm lo-fi bass guitar whether or not anyone ever named it that. Nothing is renamed, moved or copied; the tags sit alongside your folders exactly as they are.
Bounce_042.wavBass guitarwarmlo-fiUntitled_3_FINAL.wavSnare drumcrisptrapsession take 11.aiffGuitarbluesinstrumentalvoice memo 14.m4aSpeechdry vocal
Tags are words the models produce. The file names are made up, and deliberately as unhelpful as the ones in a real library.
Local by default
Your audio stays on your computer by default
ToneTrace is a desktop app. In the current build, analysis, search and playback all happen on your own machine and nothing is uploaded. Processing is local by default. An optional faster processing path may be offered at launch for machines that cannot keep up; it would be opt-in and announced together with pricing.
Models run on your CPU
Both models run locally through ONNX Runtime. Analysis takes about a second and a half per file on a laptop.
Library lives on your disk
Tags, waveforms and audio fingerprints are stored in a local database next to the app.
Analysis needs no connection
In the current build, ToneTrace makes no network requests. A studio with no Wi-Fi is not a problem.
Nothing to upload, nothing to meter
Early-access builds need no sign-in and send nothing. How licensing and any optional processing options work at launch will be announced with pricing.
How it works
Drop in a folder. Get a library that listens.
- 01
Import
Drag files or folders onto ToneTrace, or pick a folder. Every audio file inside is queued.
- 02
Listen
YAMNet picks out instruments and sound events. CLAP describes mood, genre and production character. When they disagree about similar instruments, both are weighed before the tag is chosen.
- 03
Tag
Each file gets its tags with a confidence figure, its duration, size and a real waveform. ToneTrace also records where in the file each sound occurs. Files are fingerprinted, so nothing is analysed twice.
- 04
Use
Search names and tags, dial in a mood, find similar sounds, audition, then drag a whole file or a single moment from inside it into your DAW.
Who it's for
Built for people who work from a library
Producers
Stop scrubbing through folders named by someone else. Find the kick you're hearing in your head.
Sound designers
Field recordings and textures get tags for what is actually in them, not the day you recorded them.
Bedroom producers
Growing collection, no time to organise it. Point ToneTrace at the folder and keep making music.
Educators
Shared sample libraries that students can search by sound, processed on the school's own machines by default.
Questions
Straight answers
Does my audio ever leave my computer?
Not in the current build. ToneTrace is a desktop app: both models run on your own CPU, the library database lives on your disk, and the app makes no network requests.
Local processing is the default and will stay the default. For launch we are evaluating an optional faster processing path for machines that cannot keep up, which would send audio for analysis. If it is offered, it will be opt-in, clearly labelled, and announced together with pricing.
Which audio formats are supported?
MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, AAC, OGG, WMA, AIFF. Decoding is handled by a bundled copy of FFmpeg.
Which DAWs does it work with?
Any of them, in two ways. Files drag out of ToneTrace as native operating-system file drags, which every DAW, sampler and file browser accepts. And ToneTrace can write its tags into the files themselves as standard metadata (ID3 for MP3, Broadcast Wave for WAV, a JSON sidecar otherwise), so browsers and sample managers that read that metadata will show the tags. No plugin is needed and none is planned to be required.
Can I take just one sound out of a longer file?
Yes. ToneTrace records where each sound occurs inside a file, so the detail view shows every occurrence along the waveform. Click one to audition it, or drag it straight into your DAW and it arrives as its own WAV: 24-bit from a lossless source, 16-bit from a lossy one. Your original file is never modified.
This is what makes old bounces, stems and field recordings useful again, rather than only the folders of one-shots you already bought.
Be among the first to try ToneTrace
The beta is free. Pricing will be announced at launch. Tell us your DAW and platform and we will let you know when a build is ready for you.