---
title: ACE-Step 1.5 XL Music Generation (CPU)
emoji: 🎵
colorFrom: indigo
colorTo: yellow
sdk: docker
pinned: false
license: mit
tags:
  - music-generation
  - ace-step
  - gguf
  - lora
  - training
  - cpu
  - mcp-server
short_description: ACE-Step 1.5 XL - CPU music generation + LoRA training
models:
  - ACE-Step/Ace-Step1.5
startup_duration_timeout: 2h
---

# ACE-Step 1.5 XL Music Generation (CPU)

**GGUF inference + LoRA training** on free CPU Spaces. Powered by [acestep.cpp](https://github.com/ServeurpersoCom/acestep.cpp).

## Features

- **Music Generation** - Text/lyrics to stereo 48kHz MP3 via GGUF quantized models
- **LoRA Training** - Fine-tune on your own audio (Side-Step engine, Adafactor optimizer)
- **Multiple LM Sizes** - 0.6B / 1.7B / 4B language models (on-demand download)
- **CPU Only** - Runs on free HuggingFace Spaces (2 vCPU, 18GB RAM)

## Music Generation

1. Enter a music description (e.g. "upbeat electronic dance music")
2. Enter lyrics or check **Instrumental**
3. Adjust BPM, duration, steps, seed
4. Select LM model (1.7B default, fastest on CPU)
5. Select LoRA adapter if trained
6. Click **Generate Music**

**Timing:** ~270s for 10s audio with 1.7B LM, 8 steps.

## LoRA Training

1. Go to **Train LoRA** tab
2. Upload audio files (WAV/MP3, max 240s each)
3. Set LoRA name, epochs (1-10), rank (default 16)
4. Click **Train** - ace-server stops during training, restarts after
5. Use **Cancel** to stop early (saves checkpoint)
6. Trained adapter appears in the LoRA dropdown for inference

**Timing:** ~170s preprocessing + ~10s/epoch on CPU.

## Models

| Component | GGUF | Size |
|-----------|------|------|
| DiT (music) | acestep-v15-xl-turbo-Q4_K_M | 2.8 GB |
| LM (captions) | acestep-5Hz-lm-1.7B-Q8_0 | 1.7 GB |
| Text Encoder | Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-Q8_0 | 0.75 GB |
| VAE | vae-BF16 | 0.32 GB |

LM alternatives (on-demand download): 0.6B Q8_0 (slow), 4B Q5_K_M (best quality, ~515s).

---

## API

### Python Client - Generate Music

```python
from gradio_client import Client

client = Client("WeReCooking/ACE-Step-CPU")

result = client.predict(
    caption="upbeat electronic dance music",
    lyrics="[Instrumental]",
    instrumental=True,
    bpm=120,
    duration=10,
    seed=-1,                          # -1 = random
    steps=8,                          # 1-32, fewer = faster
    lora_select="None (no LoRA)",     # or trained adapter name
    lm_model_select="acestep-5Hz-lm-1.7B-Q8_0.gguf",
    api_name="/generate"
)
print(result)  # (audio_path, status_message)
```

### Python Client - Train LoRA

```python
from gradio_client import Client, handle_file

client = Client("WeReCooking/ACE-Step-CPU")

result = client.predict(
    audio_files=[handle_file("song.mp3")],
    lora_name="my-style",
    epochs=3,
    lr=0.0001,
    rank=16,
    api_name="/train_lora"
)
print(result)  # (log_text, train_btn, cancel_btn)
```

### Python Client - Server Status

```python
result = client.predict(api_name="/server_status")
print(result)  # JSON with model info
```

### MCP (Model Context Protocol)

This Space supports MCP for AI assistants (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code).

**MCP Config:**
```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ace-step": {"url": "https://werecooking-ace-step-cpu.hf.space/gradio_api/mcp/"}
  }
}
```

---

## CLI Usage

```bash
# Generate music
python app.py "upbeat electronic dance music" --duration 10 --steps 8 --format mp3

# With lyrics
python app.py "pop ballad" --lyrics "Hello world\nThis is a test" -d 30

# With LoRA adapter
python app.py "jazz piano" --adapter my-style --seed 42

# Custom server URL
python app.py "ambient" --server http://localhost:8085
```

---

## Architecture

```
ace-server (C++ GGUF)     Gradio UI (Python)
  /lm    -> LM generate     app.py
  /synth -> DiT + VAE       train_engine.py (Side-Step)
  /health                    |
  /props                     +-- preprocess_audio()
  /job                       +-- train_lora_generator()
```

- **Inference:** GGUF via [acestep.cpp](https://github.com/ServeurpersoCom/acestep.cpp) HTTP API
- **Training:** PyTorch via ported [Side-Step](https://github.com/koda-dernet/Side-Step) engine
- Training stops ace-server (free RAM), restarts after with new adapters

## Credits

- [ACE-Step 1.5](https://github.com/ace-step/ACE-Step-1.5) - Model architecture
- [acestep.cpp](https://github.com/ServeurpersoCom/acestep.cpp) - GGUF inference engine
- [Side-Step](https://github.com/koda-dernet/Side-Step) - Training engine (ported)
- [Serveurperso/ACE-Step-1.5-GGUF](https://huggingface.co/Serveurperso/ACE-Step-1.5-GGUF) - Quantized models