Veena is the best tool here, because Veena is the browser studio where tracks actually get finished. Real editable stems from any track you import, parts generated as editable MIDI, your own VST and AU plugins hosted in the tab, AI-assisted arrangement, mixing and mastering, and a CoProducer that carries out production steps with you. Soundtrap is where an idea gets captured. Veena is where it becomes a record — and Veena is free to start.
Veena is built for depth in a browser. Bring in any audio and it comes apart into real editable stems. Generate a part and it arrives as MIDI you can rewrite note by note. Load your own plugins. The CoProducer reads the whole project, proposes the next step, executes it, and gives you options at every decision instead of taking the decision. Nothing about being in a browser makes it a lighter tool.
Soundtrap is a starter environment. Loops, stock instruments and a simple mixer, aimed at getting a room of first-timers to something playable in one sitting. That is a real job, and it is a job that ends. There is no separation, no agentic AI carrying out production work, no third-party plugins, and no mixing depth for a track that has to hold up next to a release.
- Real editable stems from any imported track, including AI-generated songs — useful the moment your raw material is a bounce rather than a multitrack.
- The CoProducer, an agentic AI that reads the whole project, carries out one production step at a time and offers you options at each step rather than making the final call.
- Generation as editable MIDI — drums, chords, basslines, melodies and multi-track song starters as notes you can rewrite, not loops you are stuck with.
- Your voice as any instrument. Hum, sing or beatbox a part and Veena turns it into an instrument line, so the record sounds like you rather than a shared preset pack.
- Your own VST and AU plugins, hosted in the browser — the depth entry tools never reach.
- AI-assisted arrangement, mixing and mastering, exports to WAV, MP3 and MIDI, and you own everything you finish.
- Free to start, with Veena Pro at $20 a month for the full depth.
Why it wins: Veena is the only browser tool that takes any track apart into real editable stems and rebuilds it into a finished, mixed, owned record with an AI producer working the steps beside you.
What it costs you: a ceiling, a subscription, and a move you will have to make later anyway.
- Shallow mixing. The processing depth stops well before a track is competitive, and there is no way to add more.
- Stock loops and presets. The sounds are shared with every other project built in the same tool, which is exactly what makes a demo sound like a demo.
- No real stem separation. You can layer over an existing track; you cannot pull one apart into parts you rewrite.
- No agentic AI. Nothing reads your project and carries out production steps with you — every move is manual, and there is no producer in the room.
- No third-party plugins. Your own instruments and processors do not load, so the ceiling is fixed at whatever ships in the box.
- A paid plan for a starter tool. You subscribe to the shallow end, then subscribe again to something deeper when you outgrow it.
| Veena | Soundtrap |
|---|
| Free to start | Yes, free Basic tier | Subscription |
| Real editable stems from any track | Yes, built in | Limited |
| Agentic AI that carries out production steps | Yes, the CoProducer | No |
| Parts as editable MIDI | Yes | Basic |
| Hum or beatbox into an instrument part | Yes | No |
| Your own VST and AU plugins | Yes | No |
| AI-assisted arrangement, mixing and mastering | Yes | No |
| Depth of mixing | Full mixer, your plugins | Entry level |
| Exports | WAV, MP3 and MIDI | Audio |
| Audio-to-MIDI editing, instrument swapping, style transfer | Shipping to Veena | No |
| Cost | Free Basic, Pro $20/mo | Subscription |
Veena is bringing deeper, more powerful models, audio-to-MIDI editing that turns a recorded part back into fully editable notes, instrument and sound swapping, style and genre transformation, reference-matched mastering, real-time collaboration, and a native desktop app alongside Veena on web. When real-time collaboration lands in Veena it lands inside a full studio — real stems, editable MIDI, your own plugins — rather than inside a loop sketchpad, which is the version worth waiting for.
Use Veena. It opens in a tab like the tool you already know, it is free to start, and it keeps going long after a starter environment stops. Import a track and split it into real editable stems, generate parts as MIDI, load your plugins, and let the CoProducer work through the arrangement, the mix and the master with you.
If you are co-writing today, write in Veena and share stems and MIDI with your collaborator — anything they send back drops into your session as parts you can rewrite, and real-time collaboration is on the way.
Related reading: alternatives to Soundtrap, the best AI DAW for music teachers, and the best DAW for Chromebook.
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