RiffwerkTry it free

Practice app for musicians · free beta for Mac, iPad and Windows

Drop in a song: Riffwerk shows you the chords, chord shapes and melody, and splits every instrument into its own stem so you can play along. For bands, deps and teachers.

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Riffwerk playing “Kaltes Wasser” by GANG: chords G, Am, C, F flowing across the top, below them the vocal notes with their deviation in cents over a pitch spectrogram, and at the bottom the fretboard and a mixer with six stems. The app is shown in German.
“Kaltes Wasser” by GANG in the chord flow: chords, vocals down to the cent, fretboard, six stems.

How it works.

  1. Drop in a song

    MP3, WAV or whatever you’ve got: open it or drag it into the window. Riffwerk listens to the song on your own device, with no upload.

    Riffwerk’s start screen with the two options “practice a song” and “repertoire & gigs” (app in German).

  2. Everything plays along

    Chords with their shapes, the vocal melody and the drums move with the song. You can hear every instrument on its own: vocals out, bass up, guitar solo.

    Close-up of Riffwerk: chords at the top, the vocal melody in notation below, then the drums.

  3. Play along and practice

    Slow it down without changing the key. Loop the tricky bit, trade phrases with call and response, add the metronome. With an audio interface you can record your own part over the song.

    Riffwerk’s transport bar: loop, saved loops, call and response, a red record button, and below it tempo, pitch and capo (app in German).

Riffwerk keeps learning. On the Mac and iPad, updates arrive on their own, and you can send feedback straight from the app.

Two things no other app does.

We compared 17 practice and notation apps as of October 2026. These two you’ll only find in Riffwerk.

The shape that’s actually on the record.

Other apps show you the textbook chord. Riffwerk listens to the guitar stem and shows the notes that are really being played, as a chord diagram with the path to the next chord.

Riffwerk shows Am as A2 and E3: only the open A string and the second fret on the D string, the other strings muted. Rings already mark the next shape, D.
Riffwerk shows Am as A2 and E3.Fretboard: only the open A string and the second fret on the D string, the other strings muted.
x02210 Textbookx02xxx How GANG plays the Am in “Kaltes Wasser”

Call and response with your own song.

Riffwerk plays four bars, then leaves four bars of space. The metronome keeps counting and you play it back. Same phrase again or on to the next one, a little faster each time if you like.

Try it now

All in one app. All on your device. Other apps cover parts of this, often by uploading your song to the cloud first. Riffwerk does all of it on your computer, without an account.

  • Six stems
  • Chords
  • Chord shapes
  • Melody in cents
  • Lead sheet
  • Tabs
  • MusicXML
  • MIDI
  • Loops
  • Tempo
  • Key
  • Call and response

The band plays. Your part is missing.

The chorus of “Kaltes Wasser” by GANG, split into stems by Riffwerk. Pick your instrument and play along, right here in your browser.

  • Chord shapes taken from how the part is played on the record.
  • Tabs that stay in one position, with the capo already factored in.
  • Loop the solo at half speed, same pitch.
NowF

24 seconds, 1.7 MB. Only loads when you press play.

  • Vocals
  • Guitar
  • Bass
  • Pianobarely
  • Drums
  • Other

There’s hardly any piano in this song. Riffwerk notices and greys out the stem, just like here. Used with kind permission of GANG.

The next chord shows up before you need it.

Riffwerk’s chord flow playing “Die Eine” by 10 Gang: chords F, G/B, C, Am at the top, below them two lanes with the vocal melody and its deviation in cents and the drum notation, and at the bottom the fretboard and mixer. The app is shown in German.

Intro, verse, chorus. Found for you.

Riffwerk finds where each section of a song starts and gives it its name: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, solo, interlude and outro. Repeats are numbered, and every boundary lands on beat one of a bar.

Riffwerk playing “Kaltes Wasser” by GANG: the song map shows the detected sections intro, verse 1, chorus 1, chorus 2, interlude, verse 2, verse 3 and more choruses. Below it the section bar with rename, move start and end, split here and merge, then the chord flow: the verse 1 marker on the left, the boundary to chorus 1 at bar 33. At the top, next to the tempo, the ½× and 2× buttons. The app is shown in German.
“Kaltes Wasser” by GANG, with the sections exactly as Riffwerk detects them, and the bar for editing them below.
  • Rename, move, split, mergeIf a boundary is off, nudge it a bar earlier or later. Every action has its own button, in the chord flow and in the lead sheet alike.
  • The same names everywhereSong map, chord flow, chord chart, lead sheet and PDF all show the same sections. One click jumps there, a double-click in the song map loops the whole section.
  • A metronome that knows where one isA trained model finds the beats and beat one. If the metronome counts in double or half time compared to the band, the ½× and 2× buttons next to the tempo fix it in one click.

Plenty of apps upload your song to the cloud first. Riffwerk leaves it where it is.

Riffwerk splits the stems, finds chords and melody and writes out the sheet music right on your Mac or iPad. You don’t need an account or a connection, so it works in a rehearsal room with no signal too.

  • Works offline
  • No upload
  • No account

From the recording to the music stand.

Riffwerk writes out vocals, guitar and bass as notation and tabs. Print-ready as PDF, and editable in your notation software.

Every note on string and fret, in one position, with the capo factored in.

  • PDFchord chart, lead sheet and every part
  • MusicXMLfor MuseScore, Guitar Pro, Sibelius and Dorico, with tab staves
  • MIDIone track per part, with the tempo following the recording
  • WAV and M4Asingle stems or your own mix, slowed down or transposed too
Guitar part of “Kaltes Wasser” with staff and tablature, chord symbols and section marks (labels in German)
Lead sheet of “Kaltes Wasser”: the vocal melody in notation with the chords on top
Chord chart of “Kaltes Wasser”: the song form with intro, verse 1, chorus 1, chorus 2, interlude, verse 2 and more, then the intro with chords for every bar (labels in German)

From the rehearsal room to the stage.

Riffwerk isn’t just for practice. Your library, sheet music and gig folders live in the same app as your recordings.

  • Bring your PDFsSheets from forScore, OnSong and SongbookPro go straight into the library, next to your recordings.
  • Transpose chord chartsRiffwerk reads ChordPro and OnSong charts as text. One button and everything is in the new key, with capo shapes.
  • Gig foldersA setlist with date, band and notes, plus key and capo for every song. Pass it to the band as one small package.
  • iPad on the music standBig type, big chords, key and capo always in view.
Riffwerk on the Mac: the band’s original PDF of “Kaltes Wasser” by GANG open in the library, the bass part in notation and tablature.
The band GANG’s original PDF, opened in Riffwerk.
Riffwerk’s start screen asking what you’d like to do, with the options “practice a song” and “repertoire & gigs” (app in German).
Two ways in.“Practice a song” opens a recording with chords, stems and loops. “Repertoire & gigs” takes you to the library with sheet music and gig folders.

How often Riffwerk gets it right.

78.6 %

of chords correct, measured on 60 recordings from GuitarSet with real annotations.

madmom is the reference tool in music research.

98.7 %

correct bass note. That’s what turns chords into inversions like D/F# or C/E.

12 s

for six separated stems of a four-minute song on an M4 Pro.

14

chord types, from major and minor to m7b5 and dim7. Or just major and minor, if you prefer.

Chords and bass note scored as major and minor, compared every 10 ms. Bass note measured on twelve multitrack recordings with a real bass track, as a share of chord time. As of October 2026.

For everyone who has to be ready to play, fast.

Deps and fill-ins

Beer tent tomorrow, wedding on Saturday, three bands a month. The setlist arrives on WhatsApp, and Riffwerk turns it into chord charts and play-alongs without your part. Plus a gig folder with setlist, key and capo for every song, big enough on the iPad to read on stage.

Teachers and students

The song your student wants, as a tab in under a minute. The solo slowed down in a loop, the bass line on its own. Chord shapes that fit the song and the instrument in the lesson.

Bands

Send fixes, loops and section names as a small file without audio. Everyone in the band opens it with their own copy of the recording and is on the same page right away.

FAQ

How much does Riffwerk cost?

The price isn’t set yet. The beta is free, and the people testing now get a say in what Riffwerk learns next.

What do I need?

On the Mac: Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14 Sonoma or later. On the iPad: iPadOS 17 or later, ideally with an M-series chip, because the iPad analyzes songs itself. On Windows: Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Newer chips split stems faster.

Which files can I open?

Recordings: MP3, M4A and AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC and Apple Lossless. Just drag them into the window. Sheets: PDF, ChordPro and OnSong, including whole folders from forScore, OnSong or SongbookPro. Songs from streaming services are copy-protected and won’t open.

Which instruments does it know?

Guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo, mandolin and piano. Plus tunings like Drop D, DADGAD and Open G, and a left-handed view. The chord shapes follow the song.

Do I need an internet connection or an account?

You don’t need an account. All the models ship inside the app, so Riffwerk analyzes, splits and transcribes on your device, even in a rehearsal room with no signal. It only contacts riffwerk.com briefly to look for new versions.

What can Riffwerk do that other apps can’t?

Two things we haven’t found in any other app: chord shapes that show how a chord is actually played on the recording, and call and response with your own song. On top of that, Riffwerk does stems, chords, melody, sheet music and tabs in one app on your Mac or iPad, with no upload.

Can I fix wrong chords?

Yes, with a right-click. Riffwerk remembers fixes, loops and settings for every song. Send them to your band as a small .riffwerk file without any audio.

How do I tell you what’s wrong?

On the Mac under Help › Send Feedback, on the iPad in the ⋯ menu. You can attach a screenshot of the window. If Riffwerk ever crashes, it asks on the next launch whether it may send me the report. Or just message me on WhatsApp or by email.

Is there Riffwerk for iPad or Windows?

Yes, both in beta. The iPad version comes through Apple’s TestFlight app, with repertoire and gig folders for rehearsal and stage. Windows is a download with chords, the chord flow with fretboard, chord charts, tempo, pitch, loops and stem splitting. Vocal notation, tabs, drum notation and export are still to come. Just tick the devices you have when you sign up.

Is the app in English?

The app itself is still in German. The English version is next, so feel free to sign up now.

Tell me which devices you want to use Riffwerk on, and I’ll let you in by hand. For Mac and Windows you then get the download and a personal key by email, for the iPad an invite through Apple’s TestFlight.

Rather use email? Write to me directly.

Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14 or later · iPad with iPadOS 17 or later, via TestFlight · Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), in beta with chords and stems. Each beta runs for six weeks, new versions arrive on their own. The app itself is still in German for now.