Bento Stem Export: Move Your Hardware Song into a DAW

A good hardware session can leave you with a nearly finished track and one awkward question: how do you make room for the vocal, fix the arrangement and mix everything without starting again?

Bento’s stem export gives you a way to bring separate audio parts into your DAW. The current 1010music downloads page lists firmware 1.6.1 and includes stem export among the 1.6 features. Our original Bento article covers the instrument’s launch; this guide focuses on the handover to the computer.

Decide what you want to finish

Listen through the song before exporting. Make a short note of the jobs left to do: record a singer, shorten the introduction, give the bass more space, or replace an ending that currently stops rather abruptly.

That list helps keep the next session manageable. You can carry the parts you like into the DAW and concentrate on what needs attention. Save a backup of the project before changing the export setup, and write down its tempo. Give tracks names you will recognise tomorrow.

Check the export settings that matter

According to the manufacturer’s release notes, press SONG and select Export Stems from the menu. Follow the prompts.

Export runs in real time, recording tracks separately before a full-mix pass. Allow time for it to finish and leave PLAY alone during the pauses between passes.

Check mute, solo and output routing first. Muted tracks, or tracks excluded by a solo, are skipped. Tracks routed to Output 2 or Output 3 export as silence. Each rendered track includes its reverb and delay, and the stems include master compression. Their sum therefore may not match the full mix exactly.

The resulting WAV files sit in a new stems folder within the project folder. Keep the full mix with them as a reference.

Line up the parts before adding anything

Create a fresh DAW session and import each part onto its own audio track. Keep the files together in a clearly named folder rather than scattering them across the desktop. A copy of the original export makes a useful fallback if later edits get messy.

Place the files at a common starting point and preserve any opening silence. That silence can be part of the timing, especially when an instrument enters after the introduction. Trim it from one file independently and you can move that part out of position.

For Ableton Live, Ableton’s import guide recommends disabling Auto-Warp Long Samples before importing and matching the session tempo to the source. Check your DAW’s equivalent import behaviour before playback.

Listen to the transfer, then start mixing

Play the imported parts together before adding plugins. Keep the reference mix on a separate track and mute it while listening to the parts. Otherwise, you will hear both versions at once.

Compare a few sections: the opening, a busy passage, a transition and the ending. Is every intended part present? Do the entries land where you expect? Listen through the quieter sections too, where an effect tail or a late sound can be easy to overlook.

If something is missing, return to the export checks before rebuilding it by hand. Once the transfer is sound, save that session as your starting version.

Our Tracker Plus workflow guide looks at another standalone approach to making tracks. Whichever instrument starts the song, a tidy handover leaves you free to work on the music instead of hunting for files.

Now record the vocal, edit that introduction or work on the balance. The hardware session has already done its job: give the remaining decisions a session of their own.