# HOT-Step CPP

> HOT-Step CPP is a browser-based desktop app built on acestep.cpp that runs three open song models (ACE-Step 1.5, MiniMax-Music3 and YuE2) and switches between them. It adds auto-generated songs, a lyrics studio, covers, repaint (ACE-Step only), stem separation, audio-to-MIDI and an experimental adapter trainer. Portable builds exist for Windows, Linux and macOS (Apple Silicon); the starter pack is about 9 GB. Code is MIT, but model licences differ: MiniMax-Music3 has its own community licence and YuE2 is non-commercial for companies. Under active development.

- Repository: https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP
- Official docs: https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP#readme
- Checked: 2026-10-15

## What it replaces
- Suno: Full songs with vocals from a prompt or lyrics, Covers and restyles of an uploaded song (Cover), Extending or regenerating part of a song (Extend, Splitting a song into vocal and instrument stems (Get Stems) (partial). Songs, covers, repaint and stems in one app; repaint works with ACE-Step 1.5 only.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | Yes, portable app served to your browser at localhost | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP#readme | 2026-10-15 |
| Code licence | Confirmed | MIT | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP/blob/master/LICENSE | 2026-10-15 |
| Model weights licence | Partial | Varies by model; ACE-Step 1.5 MIT, MiniMax-Music3 Community License, YuE2 CC BY-NC 4.0 | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP#credits | 2026-10-15 |
| Commercial use | Partial | Yes with ACE-Step 1.5 (MIT); MiniMax-Music3 requires attribution in commercial products, and YuE2 needs a licence for companies | https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-Music3/blob/main/LICENSE | 2026-10-15 |
| Paid services needed? | Partial | None required; the Lyric Studio can use outside LLM providers | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP#highlights | 2026-10-15 |
| Hardware | Confirmed | Model packs from about 3 GB (YuE2 compact) to 24 GB; XL quality pack needs about 12 GB VRAM; CPU works but is much slower | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP/blob/master/docs/user/getting-started.md | 2026-10-15 |
| Operating systems | Confirmed | Windows x64, Linux x64 and macOS (Apple Silicon) portable releases | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP#download | 2026-10-15 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Easy; extract a portable release, run it, then download a model pack in the app | https://github.com/scragnog/HOT-Step-CPP#quick-start | 2026-10-15 |

GitHub: 175 stars, 31 forks, last push 2026-10-16, archived: no.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/hot-step-cpp). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.