Songbrew: When something goes wrong

"This computer can't make songs yet"

Songbrew needs an Apple chip (M1 or later) or an NVIDIA RTX 30 series card or newer (on Linux, an RTX 20 series card works too). Macs with Intel chips, older NVIDIA cards on Windows and AMD cards aren't supported yet. The app says this before it downloads anything.

"Songbrew can't use this computer's NVIDIA card"

The card is there, but its driver is too old for the song engine. Update the NVIDIA driver to version 570 or later, then press Try again. On Windows, NVIDIA's app or Windows Update installs it; on Ubuntu, Software & Updates › Additional Drivers, or sudo ubuntu-drivers install.

The AppImage doesn't open (Linux)

Allow it to run as a program, in its Properties or with chmod +x Songbrew-*.AppImage, then open it again. If it still doesn't open, start it from a terminal to see why, and send us what it says.

"The download stopped"

Check the internet connection and press Try again: the download picks up where it left off. If the models' usual source can't be reached, Songbrew fetches them from another; a notice then says songs may sound a little different.

Songs take long

The first song after opening the app waits for the models to load, about a minute on an M3 Pro. Later songs are faster. Macs with less memory or fewer graphics cores take longer than the times on the website, and Songbrew says so in a notice when it sees such a computer.

Words missed, or sung twice

The music model sometimes skips a line or sings a part twice, especially in long lyrics. A few seconds after a song, Songbrew listens to it and marks each skipped line Not sung and each line sung twice ×2, with a note above the lyrics saying how many lines were skipped. What helps:

• Make another take: a new performance of the same words. Each take skips different lines, if any, so the marks tell you which take sang everything.
• Redo beside the part with the skipped line sings that part again and keeps the rest. It brings the line back about one time in four, and may drop another, so check the new take's marks too.
• With your own lyrics, keep them to what the length can hold: a 2-minute song holds roughly a verse, a chorus, a verse and a chorus. Let the song decide picks a length for the words.

The song ends abruptly, or sounds off

Press Make another take. Each take is a new performance; keep the one you like with Keep this take.

Songbrew doesn't update itself (Mac)

If you opened Songbrew from inside the downloaded disk image, it can't replace itself there. Drag it into Applications and open it from there; it offers to do this for you.

Songbrew doesn't update itself (Linux)

A copy installed from the .deb belongs to your system's package manager, so Songbrew tells you when a new version is out instead: download the new .deb and install it over this one. The AppImage updates itself when it's in a folder you can write to.

"Windows protected your PC"

Choose More info, then Run anyway. Windows warns about new apps until enough people have run them.

Send feedback

Open Settings › Send feedback, say what went wrong or what you'd like, and press Send. Details about the computer go along only if you tick the box, exactly as shown; never your songs, lyrics or descriptions. You can also write to music@hubnx.com.