Riffd
The Problem
Musicians can’t easily learn from songs they actually listen to. Every theory resource teaches concepts in the abstract — scales, chords, intervals — but nothing connects that to the real music you care about. You can’t pull up a song and immediately see what it’s built on, or hear each instrument on its own.
I wanted a tool that did both: show you the theory behind any song, and let you hear each part in isolation. Nothing combined those two things in one place.
What I Set Out to Build
A platform where you search any song and get: the individual parts (vocals, bass, guitar, drums) split out and playable on their own, plus a full breakdown of the musical theory behind how it’s constructed — key, chords, and structure. It needed to work in any browser with no downloads, handle multiple users at once, and start showing results before processing finished.
How It Works
You search a song by name or paste a YouTube link. The platform separates the audio into up to six individual parts — vocals, bass, drums, guitar, piano, and other — using an AI model built by Meta. At the same time, it analyzes the audio to detect the key, tempo, and chord structure. Results start appearing before the full separation is done.
Once processed, you get an interactive mixer in your browser — mute the vocals, solo the bass, adjust volume on any part, and loop sections while you play along. The key analysis shows what chords belong in the song’s key, common progressions, and how it relates to neighboring keys. An AI layer (Claude) adds plain-English theory context.
The Result
Riffd is live at riffdlabs.com. Search any song and within minutes you have the individual parts isolated, a full picture of the harmony, and an interactive mixer to play around with — no plugins or installs required.
