Find compatible tracks around a reference

Here, "compatible" means worth auditioning next to the reference under the search question you choose. It does not mean guaranteed harmonic, rhythmic, or stylistic compatibility.

The useful result is a manageable list of alternatives and adjacent ideas. Export the list as a crate, reuse useful tracks as new seeds, or add the strongest candidates to the current set. Control names below are given in English, and UI language carries the on-screen string for each one.

Steps

1. Search the library for the reference track in panel 2, library and listening.
2. Press the magnifier icon on its row, titled Seed. The track appears as a chip above the tab strip in panel 3, search and listening.
3. Open the SIMILARITY tab, leave its Model select on MERT, and press Search for embedding-near candidates.
4. Open the SONARA tab and press SONARA search when you want more control over rhythm, timbre, dynamics, harmonic color, or tempo. Its Mode select opens on Custom mixer, where the sliders are active.
5. Raise Limit if you want to hear more lower-ranked candidates. It runs 1..500 and is shared between the SONARA, SIMILARITY, and PROMPT tabs.
6. Preview candidates before adding them to the current set.
7. Add good candidates with the plus icon titled Add to the set, then export or save them as a Rhythm Lab collection.

With no reference in mind, press Add Random Track in either tab. It pulls one eligible track from the library and seeds the search with it.

Compare model ears first

When one reference feels important and you do not know which family hears it well, open the LAB tab and press Compare models. It ranks candidates for the first seed with CLAP, MERT, MuQ, MuQ-MuLan, MAEST, and SONARA in six separate columns, at up to 100 candidates each. Use it to pick the family worth searching properly, then go back to SIMILARITY or SONARA.

When one seed is too narrow

Add a second or third seed that represents the intended direction. The query becomes the normalized mean of the seed rows, so unrelated seeds blur the target rather than widening it. The API accepts one to five seeds.

Tempo note

Tempo-aware search starts with current SONARA evidence. Below 0.45 confidence, it inspects ranked SONARA candidates and the Mutagen BPM tag. A tag BPM within 4 BPM of a SONARA option is promoted as tag-confirmed evidence. Grid stability can weaken the evidence. Low reliability moves the score toward neutral rather than creating a bonus or an automatic rejection. A missing BPM confidence yields zero reliability and the neutral score, so the tag BPM is not promoted then.

Output

Keep a small result in the current set while you compare by ear. For a reusable review list, export CSV. For a player or DJ app, export M3U and verify that the paths work on the target machine. Both buttons are inside the collapsible Set and export block.