NotesProduction note

Setting up Emocute Studio and making your first song (Mac / Windows)

2026.10.29

What you need

Python 3.10 or later
FluidSynth and ffmpeg for MP3 output (Mac: brew install fluid-synth ffmpeg; Windows: install from their official sites and add to PATH)
Claude Code (or Codex)

Unzip anywhere (e.g. ~/EmocuteStudio/ on Mac, C:\Users\<name>\EmocuteStudio\ on Windows)
Install the packages with python3 -m pip install (python -m pip on Windows). Using python3 -m pip rather than plain pip puts them in the same Python you run
Open a terminal inside that folder and start claude
Ask: "Run the startup check and tell me the version"
Ask for a test render ("C major, 90 BPM, 8 bars"). If renders/ gets an MP3 and a prompt .html, and renders/<name>_v<N>_midi/ gets a .mid, you're set

On Windows, use PowerShell: read python3 as python, and put commands split with a trailing \ on one line
On Windows, x64 Python is strongly recommended (ARM64 can't analyze reference audio). Tick "Add python.exe to PATH" on the installer's first screen
On Mac, if pip stops with externally-managed-environment, create a venv first (python3 -m venv .venv, then source .venv/bin/activate) and reinstall
If only the MP3 is missing, FluidSynth or ffmpeg isn't installed (if a WAV appears, it's ffmpeg)