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Stems: classify and export Beta

Sixty files from a client, half of them called Audio 1_07.wav? The Media Manager listens to a folder of stems and sorts them into groups — drums, bass, guitars, vocals and more — even when they're badly named. Then put them in the order you want and export them to a tidy folder, or send them straight to Pro Tools as tracks. It all happens on your Mac.

Requires StudioTools 2.5.0 or later. Coming soon to the Mac App Store — beta testers have it now. Sending to Pro Tools requires Pro Tools 2025.06 or later.

The Media Manager file list with a Group column: color dots and group names, a question mark on one file and its tooltip — Every file in its group — and a "?" where StudioTools isn't sure.

What it's for

Get your bearings fast in a session you didn't record — mixing, mastering or Dolby Atmos prep — before you import a single file.
Deliver tidy stems: a numbered folder per group, files named and numbered in your order.
Start the mix session with the tracks already in order, grouped in folder tracks and colored.
Find files by group: search for "Vocals" and you see the vocals.

Classify and group

Open the folder with the stems in the Media Manager.
Select the files to classify — or none, to classify all listed files.
Choose Actions › Stems › Classify and Group, or right-click the files and choose it there.

The status bar shows the progress; Cancel stops it. Each file goes into one of these groups:

Drums · Percussion · Bass · Guitars · Keys · Synths · Vocals · Backing Vocals · Strings · Brass & Winds · FX · Other

You can rename, recolor and reorder them, and add your own — see Make the groups your own.

How StudioTools decides

A Finder tag named like a group. If a file is tagged Drums, it goes into Drums. That's how your own tagging — or an earlier Tag Files with Their Group — is kept.
The file name. Studio shorthand is understood: kick, snr, gtr, vox, bv and many more.
The sound. Apple's built-in sound recognition, which knows over 300 sounds, listens to the parts of the file that have sound — so a long track with a short guitar part is still recognized. Name and sound together make StudioTools surer.

Files that are silent from start to end show as Silent. Files that fit no group go to Other.

Nothing leaves your Mac Classifying runs entirely on your Mac, with the sound recognition built into macOS. No file is uploaded and no account is needed. Classifying doesn't change your files — Finder tags are only written if you ask for them.

The Group column

After classifying, the Group column shows a color dot and the group's name for each file. A – means the file hasn't been classified yet.

A "?" after the name means StudioTools isn't sure. Hold the pointer over it: the tooltip says how sure it is, why — from the file name, the sound, or both — and what else it might be, for example Also possible: Keys 31 %.
Sort by the column to see the files group by group.
Search also finds files by group name.

Change a group

StudioTools got one wrong, or you know better? Select the files and choose Set Group › and the group — in Actions › Stems or by right-clicking. A group you set by hand is marked as set by you and never shows a "?".

Clear Groups removes the group from the selected files (or all files) in the Media Manager. It doesn't touch Finder tags.

Finder tags

Want the groups in the Finder too — or in a Finder search, or for the next time you classify?

Tag Files with Their Group gives each file a Finder tag named like its group, in the nearest Finder color.
Remove Group Tags removes only those tags. Your other tags stay.
To do it automatically, turn on Tag files with their group in Finder in Settings › Groups (off by default). Then a file gets its tag whenever it's classified or you set its group.

A tagged file goes straight into that group the next time you classify — so a tag is also a way to fix a group for good.

Make the groups your own

Click the gear button in the Media Manager toolbar and open the Groups tab. The list on the left shows the groups in their order; select one to edit it on the right.

Rename and recolor a group — choose from 16 colors.
Reorder the groups by dragging — Arrange and Export starts with this order.
Add your own group with +, and delete one with −. Other can't be deleted — files that fit no group go there. Files already in a deleted group show as Other.
Choose the sounds that point to a group: click Add Sound… and pick from Apple's list — search it, or browse Instruments & voices and Other sounds. A sound belongs to one group; adding it moves it from the other group. For example, make a Foley group with water and door sounds. Everyday sounds can also appear in music, so a file only goes to such a group when the sound is clearly there.

The file-name keywords (kick, gtr, vox…) are built in and stay with their groups. Changes apply the next time you use Classify and Group; new names and colors show in the file list right away. Reset to Defaults… brings back the standard groups and removes the ones you added.

Renamed a group? Files tagged in the Finder with the group's old name aren't recognized anymore. Tag them again with Tag Files with Their Group.

The Groups tab in the Media Manager settings with the list of groups and the sounds of a custom Foley group — Your groups, your colors — and which sounds point to each.

Arrange and export

When the groups look right, choose Actions › Stems › Arrange and Export…. A window shows the groups on the left and the files of the selected group on the right. Everything you change here is for this export only — the default groups stay as they are in Settings.

Order: drag groups and files into the order you want.
Leave out: untick a group or a file to skip it.
Groups: rename or recolor a group for this export.
File names: edit a file's new name. The original name is shown next to it; clear the field to go back to the generated name.
Move a file to another group: right-click it and choose Move to.
Show empty groups lists the groups without files, too.

The button at the bottom remembers what you did last — Export to Folder… or Send to Pro Tools…. Click the arrow next to it to switch.

The Arrange and Export window with the groups on the left, the files of the selected group on the right and the export options — Put the groups and files in order, check the names, then export.

Export to a folder

Export to Folder… asks for a folder — choose one or create a new one — and puts the files there, a subfolder per group:

01 Drums/01 Drums – Kick In.wav
01 Drums/02 Drums – Snr Top.wav
02 Bass/01 Bass – Bass DI.wav
03 Vocals/01 Vocals – Vox Lead.wav

Option	What it does
Rename files	Names the files with the pattern you choose under Names: Group – original name (as above), Group and number, or Original name.
Number the files (01, 02…)	Numbers the files in your order.
A subfolder per group	One folder per group — or all files in one folder.
Number the subfolders (01 Drums…)	Numbers the folders in your group order.
Tag files with their group in Finder	Tags the exported files with their group.
Files	Copy (the default) leaves the originals where they are. Move takes them out of the original folder — StudioTools asks first.

Existing files are never replaced: if a name is taken, the new file gets " 2". Your options are remembered for the next export. When it's done, Show in Finder takes you to the folder.

Send to Pro Tools

Building the mix session? Send to Pro Tools… adds the files to the session that's open in Pro Tools — as tracks, in your order, named like in the window (for example Vocals – Vox Lead), with the clips at the session start.

Before anything happens, a confirmation shows how many tracks will be added to which session, with two options:

A folder track per group — the tracks of each group go into a folder track.
Color the tracks like their group — needs Pro Tools 2025.10 or later.

Click Add … Tracks. The audio is copied into the session's Audio Files folder — and converted if its sample rate differs from the session's — so the session has everything it needs.

Mono and stereo only. Files with more than two channels aren't sent; the confirmation tells you how many.
If Pro Tools stops creating tracks — for example when Pro Tools Intro reaches its limit of 8 audio tracks — StudioTools stops, keeps the tracks it added and lists the files that weren't added, so you can export them to a folder instead.
Cancel stops the send; the tracks added before stay in the session.

Sending needs Pro Tools 2025.06 or later with a session open. StudioTools talks to Pro Tools through its scripting interface (PTSL) and connects automatically — see Pro Tools connection.

Tips

Lots of "?"s? Short or very processed files are hard to recognize. Set the group by hand — or tag the files once, and they stay put.
Your studio's own categories: add groups such as Room, Foley or Dialog in Settings › Groups and give them the sounds that fit.
Only part of the folder? Select files first: classifying and Arrange and Export work on the selection, or on all listed files when nothing is selected.
Send to Pro Tools… can't be used. Open a session in Pro Tools 2025.06 or later; the window says what's missing.