| --- |
| model_name: JAY_2 |
| license: cc0-1.0 |
| base_model: |
| - ACE-Step/acestep-v15-xl-turbo |
| base_model_relation: adapter |
| library_name: peft |
| pipeline_tag: text-to-audio |
| tags: |
| - lora |
| - music |
| - text2audio |
| - acestep |
| - acestep-v1.5 |
| - acestep-xl |
| - male-vocals |
| - song-structure |
| - vocal-separation |
| - retro |
| --- |
| |
| # JAY 2 — Male Vocal, Lyrical Structure & Storytelling LoRA |
|
|
| Trained from scratch on a retro-focused dataset for **ACE-Step 1.5 XL Turbo**. |
|
|
| JAY-2 is a full retrain, not a port of JAY-1. It targets a different architecture, a |
| different dataset, and a wider set of vocal behaviours — most notably two-track voice |
| separation and lyric-aware phrasing. |
|
|
| **Built for `acestep-v15-xl-turbo` (4B DiT).** Not compatible with `acestep-v15-turbo` |
| (2B) or any non-XL variant. The layer count and hidden size differ, so the adapter does |
| not bind — this is a structural mismatch, not a version warning. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## ⚠️ Prefix token — it goes first |
|
|
| **`jay_singing_runs` must be the first token in the prompt.** |
|
|
| This is a prefix token, not an inline keyword. It modifies how the whole prompt is |
| conditioned, so its position matters: |
|
|
| ``` |
| ✅ jay_singing_runs, melodic British rock, raw emotional male vocalist |
| ❌ melodic British rock, raw emotional male vocalist, jay_singing_runs |
| ``` |
|
|
| Put it anywhere but the front and the effect is substantially reduced. Do not put it in |
| the lyrics block — it belongs at the very start of the caption/tags field. |
|
|
| You are not obliged to use it. JAY-2 works without the token — at `1.0` the adapter |
| carries its effect either way. The token is an amplifier, not a switch: including it |
| drives the behaviors described below harder than they sit at baseline. |
|
|
| So: `1.0` is required, the token is optional, and the token amplifies on top of that. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## What it does |
|
|
| | Effect | Description | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | **Male vocal presence** | **+50%** toward a male vocal read, with substantially less female-vocal bleed underneath. | |
| | **Lyrical structure** | **+80%** to lyric structure legibility — the strongest single change from JAY-1. Tighter sections, more predictable phrasing. | |
| | **Vocal layering & separation** | Clearer lead and backing vocals as distinct tracks instead of one blended voice. | |
| | **Ad-libs over chorus** | Lead-singer ad-libs sit properly *above* the chorus rather than being buried inside it. | |
| | **Emotional delivery** | The vocal reads as more emotional and human rather than synthetic. | |
| | **Lyric-aware phrasing** | The singer appears responsive to the *meaning* of the words while delivering them — phrasing that tracks the narrative rather than reciting the syllable count. | |
| | **Flow & transitions** | **+60%** handling of flow patterns and transitions, specifically movement into and out of a bridge, into a chorus, and into an ending. | |
| | **Instrumentals** | A substantial lift on instrumental cues as well — strongest on retro video game music captions. See [Instrumentals](#instrumentals). | |
|
|
| > **On the percentages:** these are the author's desk characterizations from A/B listening, |
| > not benchmark measurements. There is no objective "percent more male" to measure. Read |
| > them as an indication of direction and rough magnitude. |
|
|
| ### Compared to JAY-1 |
|
|
| | | JAY-1 | JAY-2 | |
| | --- | --- | --- | |
| | Base | `acestep-v15-turbo` (2B) | `acestep-v15-xl-turbo` (4B) | |
| | Male vocal | +10% | **+50%** | |
| | Lyrical structure | +20% | **+80%** | |
| | Female bleed | reduced | **much more reduced** | |
| | Flow / transitions | not addressed | **+60%** | |
| | Voice separation | no | **yes** | |
| | Ad-lib placement | no | **yes** | |
| | Lyric-aware phrasing | no | **yes** | |
| | Prefix token | `guy_singing_runs` | **`jay_singing_runs`** | |
| | Dataset | original | **retro-focused, trained from 0 steps** | |
|
|
| The two are not interchangeable. JAY-1 will not load into XL-turbo, and JAY-2 will not |
| load into 2B turbo. |
|
|
| > **Migrating from JAY-1? The prefix token changed.** `guy_singing_runs` is not the JAY-2 |
| > token and will not trigger it — it reads as an ordinary word and fails silently, with no |
| > error. Use `jay_singing_runs`. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Files |
|
|
| ``` |
| adapter_model.safetensors |
| adapter_config.json |
| ``` |
|
|
| Inference-only. No dataset, no preprocessed tensors, no training script — this is not a |
| post-training release. |
|
|
| ### ⚠️ Renaming on download |
|
|
| ACE-Step only loads a LoRA whose files are named **exactly** `adapter_model.safetensors` |
| and `adapter_config.json`. Rename either and the adapter will not be found and the run |
| will proceed without it, silently. |
|
|
| > **If the LoRA seems to do nothing,** check the filenames first. That is the cause far |
| > more often than strength. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Usage |
|
|
| 1. Download both files into one folder. |
| 2. Confirm the exact filenames above. |
| 3. Load the folder as the LoRA source. |
| 4. Set strength, put `jay_singing_runs` at the **front** of the prompt, generate. |
|
|
| ### Strength |
|
|
| **`1.0`. Not a starting point — the only working value.** |
|
|
| This adapter does not fade in gracefully. Below `1.0` it does not become "a subtler version |
| of itself," it degrades into static. That is measured across every JAY adapter, not a |
| conservative default. |
|
|
| The cause is in the config. `lora_alpha: 64` against `r: 32` gives PEFT a scaling factor of |
| **2.0**, so effective strength is double the slider number. At slider `1.0` you get an |
| effective `2.0`, which is roughly what it takes to override the base model's prior and |
| produce coherent audio. Turn it down and the signal never clears the base model's own |
| output — what you get is the base model, badly perturbed. |
|
|
| Consequence: **this cannot be used as a subtle blend.** If you want a whisper of JAY in |
| something, remove the prefix trigger token. Use `1.0`. |
|
|
| If you are loading it through a pipeline whose default scale is not `1.0`, set it |
| explicitly. A silent default of `0.8` is the single most likely reason someone reports this |
| LoRA "has noise." |
|
|
| ### Suggested settings |
|
|
| | Setting | Value | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | LoRA scale | `1.0` | |
| | Think | on, then compare both ways | |
| | LM temperature | default | |
| | LM CFG scale | default | |
|
|
| This is a distilled 8-step model with no CFG. The base model's own sampling controls |
| interact with the adapter, so they matter as much as the strength does. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Instrumentals |
|
|
| The retro dataset does not only carry vocal material. Instrumental cues take a |
| **substantial** lift from this adapter, and the largest gain is on **retro video game |
| music** captions — chiptune-adjacent cues, square and synth leads, era-appropriate |
| arpeggios. |
|
|
| If you are generating without vocals, this is not a wasted download. The same `1.0` |
| strength applies, and the same rule holds: there is no partial-strength setting. |
|
|
| ### Example instrumental caption |
|
|
| ``` |
| jay_singing_runs, retro video game music, 16-bit chiptune, square wave lead melody, |
| pulse bass, duty-cycle drums, era-authentic arpeggios, minor key, adventurous and |
| melancholic, no vocals, instrumental |
| ``` |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Prompting |
|
|
| The adapter responds to the caption and the lyrics separately. Structure the lyrics with |
| explicit tags — the lyrical-structure push has nothing to organize otherwise. |
|
|
| ### Example |
|
|
| ``` |
| jay_singing_runs, melodic British rock, polished but organic. Clean articulate lead |
| guitar, radio-friendly mid-tempo groove, tight rhythm guitar, supportive bass, crisp |
| drums. Male singer, deep baritone, gravelly rough-edged texture, raw and understated, |
| conversational storytelling phrasing. |
| ``` |
|
|
| ### The 2-column chorus format |
|
|
| For two-track lead/backing vocals, the chorus has to be written as **two columns**. The |
| chorus line goes in parentheses on the left; the lead vocal track goes in the right |
| column on the same line. |
|
|
| ``` |
| [Chorus] |
| (Oh, Sundays feel like heaven, hearts are running free) hearts running free |
| (The world can wait a little, we've got our own parade) the world can wait |
| ``` |
|
|
| This is what activates the 2-track vocal behavior — a distinct lead and a distinct |
| backing vocal rather than one blended voice. A `[Chorus]` tag with a single column of |
| lyrics will not produce it, no matter what the caption says. The structure has to be in |
| the lyrics. |
|
|
| ### Lyrics |
|
|
| Full example, 2-column choruses: |
|
|
| ``` |
| [Intro] |
| |
| [Verse 1] |
| Sun is rising slowly, light upon the floor |
| Coffee's on the table, no alarms, no chores |
| Nothing on the schedule, nowhere we need to go |
| |
| [Pre-Chorus] |
| And I can feel it turning |
| Everything is changing |
| |
| [Chorus] |
| (Oh, Sundays feel like heaven, hearts are running free) hearts running free |
| (The world can wait a little, we've got our own parade) the world can wait |
| |
| [Verse 2] |
| Stories in the kitchen, songs drift through the air |
| The clock is just a number, the hours drift away |
| |
| [Bridge] |
| Hold that thought, I'll come back round |
| Some things only matter when they are found |
| |
| [Chorus] |
| (Oh, Sundays feel like heaven, hearts are running free) hearts running free |
| (The world can wait a little, we've got our own parade) the world can wait |
| |
| [Outro] |
| ``` |
|
|
| The `[Pre-Chorus]` and `[Bridge]` tags are where the flow/transition handling is most |
| visible. Tag them explicitly to get the benefit. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Limitations |
|
|
| - **XL-turbo only.** Will not load into `acestep-v15-turbo` (2B) or non-XL variants. |
| - **The prefix token must be first.** Mid-prompt placement substantially reduces the effect. |
| - The male-vocal shift is a bias, not a lock. It will not convert a prompt explicitly |
| asking for a female vocalist. |
| - Lyrical-structure gains depend on explicit `[Verse]` / `[Chorus]` / `[Bridge]` tagging. |
| Untagged freeform lyrics get much less. |
| - Voice separation is a lift, not a mix bus. It will not replace actual stem separation |
| if you need clean isolated tracks for production. |
| - Running below scale `1.0` produces static, not a weaker effect. No blending. |
| - Retro-leaning dataset: expect a vintage-leaning tilt. If you want contemporary timbres, |
| counter it in the prompt and expect to fight the adapter somewhat. |
| - Trained on a limited corpus by one person. Expect a narrower stylistic range than the |
| base model. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## License |
|
|
| **CC0-1.0** — public domain dedication. Use, modify, redistribute, commercial or not, no |
| attribution required. No warranty, no liability. |
|
|
| Base model: [`ACE-Step/acestep-v15-xl-turbo`](https://huggingface.co/ACE-Step/acestep-v15-xl-turbo) |
| — MIT, trained on legally compliant datasets. Generated music may be used commercially. |
| This adapter is an independent derivative and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the |
| ACE-Step authors. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Author |
|
|
| `str8bored@S-W-O-R-D` |
|
|
| ## README Author |
|
|
| `seven@S-W-O-R-D` |
|
|
