Give your MIDI melody a sung guide vocal in ACE Studio

A tune that sounds comfortable on a piano may give a singer too little room for its words. Making a guide vocal lets you hear that relationship while the melody and lyrics are still easy to change.

This exercise follows the documentation; we did not generate or assess audio. Bring a short, original MIDI melody with one note at a time, its intended tempo and English lyrics you wrote yourself. A single phrase is enough for the first attempt.

Install ACE Studio on Windows 10 or 11, version 22H2 or later, or macOS 13 or later. The desktop application requires an internet connection.[1]

You need paid access through an eligible subscription or perpetual licence. The current Artist and Artist Pro plans include AI voice use; check the account’s access before beginning.[2]

Let the notes choose the rhythm

Drag the MIDI file onto an empty track in ACE Studio. Keep this first input monophonic: ordinary import converts overlapping notes into sustained notes rather than preserving a chord as several simultaneous sung pitches.[3]

Open the voice icon on the bottom toolbar. In Voice Library, keep the default V2 engine, browse Pre-made Voices and choose a voice whose native language matches your lyrics. Drag the handle on its card onto the imported track’s header to load it.[4]

Check the chosen voice’s licence information. Most pre-made voices are royalty-free, but some require a separate provider licence for commercial use. The voice profile can generate a licence PDF for a royalty-free voice.[5]

Double-click the imported clip to open its piano roll. The notes are the melody that the words will follow.[8]

Check the project tempo in the transport controls. Double-click the tempo value to enter the intended beats per minute; press Enter to return playback to the beginning.[9]

Give each syllable somewhere to go

Click the text line beneath the notes, type the phrase and press Enter. ACE assigns syllables in sequence, one per note. A dash on a note continues the previous syllable. Double-click an individual note to correct its lyric; Tab moves to the next note.[6]

For an original practice line, try “Take the long way home” across five notes. A sixth note can carry a dash so that “home” travels across two pitches. This is a suggested exercise, not an audio result produced for the article.

Count the syllables after applying the text: surplus syllables can be discarded when there are too few notes. An unsupported syllable can sound as a default such as “da”; a language mismatch produces a red warning above the note.[6]

For a language mismatch, select the affected note and choose its language in the piano-roll toolbar. Changing that attribute does not translate the lyric: enter the intended words yourself.[7]

Use Note Mover, the V shortcut, if the melody needs a timing adjustment. Drag a note to move it or drag its edge to change its duration. Hold Ctrl on Windows or Command on Mac to suspend snapping for that edit.[10]

Place the marker before the phrase and press Space. Playback triggers rendering and continues when the vocal is ready.[8]

Listen for the word that carries the phrase’s meaning. Does its stressed syllable fall on the intended note? Does the final word finish before the next phrase begins? Change one lyric or note at a time, then listen again. A guide vocal earns its place by communicating your intended melody.

Keep a take and a revisable melody

Choose File → Save Project. ACE saves a project folder containing the .acep file, backups and generated audio. Keep that folder together so you can return to the notes and lyrics.[11]

Select the vocal track, then choose File → Export Audio. Set Rendered Track to Selected tracks and Export Range to Whole Project. Choose WAV, 44,100 Hz and 24-bit, then export. The selected-track option saves tracks separately; this exercise uses one.[12]

Open the WAV outside ACE and listen through the phrase, especially its first consonant and final held note. Reopen the saved project and confirm that the lyric is still attached to the intended notes. Keep both files: one lets someone hear the idea, and the other lets you improve it.

Report an error or suggest a correction