Tonefold: compose editable MIDI with a local music workspace

Start with notes you can change

Tonefold is an open-source desktop music composer. You can describe a song through its chat composer, then edit the generated chords, melody, bass and drums as notes in a piano roll.

The app organizes parts into layers and song sections. A built-in General MIDI synthesizer lets you hear an arrangement before choosing other instruments. Exports include MIDI, a stereo WAV mix and individual layer stems, making the result useful beyond the app's own playback.

Choose the composition and model setup

The publisher describes a Producer mode that proposes a plan with key, tempo, structure and the layers each step will touch. The app requires approval before writing that planned work. Specialists then work on their assigned layers, and a producer checks the host's record of what actually changed.

Generation, playback, editing and export run on the user's machine. The optional chat uses either the user's Claude login through Claude Code or an Ollama model running locally or on the network. Those choices have different connectivity and account requirements; local music editing does not imply every possible chat configuration stays offline.

Tonefold offers macOS and Windows downloads. Optional CLAP and VST3 plugins bring the composer into a digital audio workstation, with FL Studio identified as the tested host. The captured demo predates the rename from FLVSTX, so its interface and plugin setting differ from the current standalone presentation.

Check the arrangement before exporting

Franklin analysis: try one short section and keep a layer you already like locked while requesting a revision elsewhere. Inspect the actual notes and listen for transitions between sections.

Then export MIDI into the workstation you use and check timing, track separation and instrument assignments. An editable arrangement gives you a concrete way to assess whether a musical suggestion is useful without treating the generated performance as finished production audio.