| name | claude-music-cover |
| description | Creates cover versions and style transfers of existing songs using ACE-Step 1.5. Takes a reference audio file and generates a new version with different style, genre, or vocal characteristics while preserving musical structure.
|
| when_to_use | Use when the user asks to cover, remake, reimagine, style-transfer, or produce a different version of an existing audio file.
|
| allowed-tools | ["Bash","Read"] |
claude-music-cover — Cover/Style Transfer
Worked example (input → command → output)
User: "Turn this pop song into a jazz cover" (hands over ~/Music/my_song.flac)
Command:
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/music_engine.sh \
--quality standard \
cover \
--src-audio "$HOME/Music/my_song.flac" \
--caption "smooth jazz, saxophone, piano trio, warm, live recording feel" \
--cover-strength 0.5
Expected JSON on stdout:
{
"success": true,
"task_type": "cover",
"model": "acestep-v15-turbo",
"outputs": [
{"path": "/home/$USER/Music/claude-music-output/cover_20260416_121040_01.flac",
"seed": 4921, "size_mb": 2.47, "index": 1},
{"path": "/home/$USER/Music/claude-music-output/cover_20260416_121040_02.flac",
"seed": 81244, "size_mb": 2.52, "index": 2}
],
"params": {
"src_audio": "/home/$USER/Music/my_song.flac",
"cover_strength": 0.5,
"caption": "smooth jazz, saxophone, piano trio, warm, live recording feel"
},
"timing": {"generation_sec": 29.4},
"count": 2
}
Note: --cover-strength maps to ACE-Step's cover_noise_strength (0.0 = fully reimagine source, 1.0 = stay close to source). The code passes src_audio + cover_noise_strength — the older reference_audio/audio_cover_strength field names are wrong and guarded by a regression test.
Pre-Flight
- Verify source audio exists:
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/preflight.sh "$SRC_AUDIO" "$OUTPUT"
- Check GPU:
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/detect_gpu.sh
Usage
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/music_engine.sh cover \
--src-audio /path/to/original.mp3 \
--caption "smooth jazz, saxophone, piano trio" \
--cover-strength 0.5
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/music_engine.sh cover \
--src-audio song.flac \
--caption "acoustic version, stripped back, intimate" \
--cover-strength 0.7
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/music_engine.sh cover \
--src-audio track.wav \
--caption "electronic, synthwave, 80s retro" \
--cover-strength 0.2
bash ~/.claude/skills/claude-music/scripts/music_engine.sh cover \
--src-audio original.mp3 \
--caption "rock, electric guitar, powerful male vocal" \
--lyrics "[Verse] New lyrics here..." \
--cover-strength 0.5
Cover Strength Guide
--cover-strength controls cover_noise_strength (how much of the source audio's latent is preserved):
| Value | Effect | Use When |
|---|
| 0.0 | Pure noise — complete reimagination, only caption guides output | Major genre transformation |
| 0.2-0.3 | Loose inspiration — new arrangement, some structural similarity | Different genre/mood |
| 0.4-0.5 | Moderate transfer — recognizable structure, new details | Balanced cover (default) |
| 0.6-0.7 | Faithful adaptation — preserves melody/rhythm, changes timbre | Same genre, different voice |
| 0.8-1.0 | Close to source — minimal changes, mostly regeneration | Voice swap, subtle tweaks |
Parameters
| Parameter | Flag | Default | Description |
|---|
| Source audio | --src-audio | required | Path to reference audio file |
| Caption | --caption / -c | "" | New style description |
| Lyrics | --lyrics / -l | "" | New lyrics (optional) |
| Cover strength | --cover-strength | 0.5 | Noise preservation (0.0=pure noise/reimagine, 1.0=closest to source) |
| Quality | --quality | standard | draft/standard/high/max |
| Format | --format | flac | Output audio format |
Reference Audio Tips
- Supported formats: MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC, M4A
- Optimal length: Match your target duration (model uses the full reference)
- Quality matters: Higher quality reference = better style extraction
- Loudness: Normalize reference to ~-14 LUFS for consistency
