Key Highlights
- JBL announced the BandBox Solo (£199) and BandBox Trio (£529) at NAMM 2026, featuring real-time AI vocal and instrument separation technology called Stem AI.
- The same de-mixing principles used to isolate John Lennon’s voice for the 2023 Beatles single “Now and Then” now run on affordable consumer hardware.
- Musicians can stream any song and instantly remove vocals, guitar, or drums to create custom backing tracks for practice, learning, or live performance.
Three years ago, separating John Lennon’s voice from a scratchy 1970s demo required proprietary software, massive computing power, and Giles Martin’s expertise. That Beatles “Now and Then” AI de-mixing process produced the band’s first new single in nearly 30 years. At NAMM 2026, JBL announced it has packed that same capability into an amp that costs less than a decent guitar pedal.
The JBL BandBox official announcement introduced two models. The BandBox Solo targets individual players with a single guitar/microphone input. The BandBox Trio offers four inputs and 135W of power for group settings and small gigs. Both ship in February 2026.
The system lets users “isolate or remove vocals, guitar, or drums from any track in real-time,” turning any streamed song into a custom backing mix. The BandBox Solo serves musicians looking to upgrade their practice setup, while the larger Trio handles band rehearsals and live performance with its 6.5″” woofer and dual tweeters.
Additional features live in the JBL ONE app. The technology builds on AI’s transformation of music mixing, bringing studio-grade processing to portable hardware. Current music AI source separation benchmarks show these algorithms now rival professional isolation quality.
The BandBox represents what we might call the “appliance-ification” of studio magic. Running real-time spectral de-mixing once demanded a laptop with a heavy GPU. Plummeting NPU chip costs now enable this processing in budget hardware.
For solo performers, the economics are compelling. Venues increasingly prefer paying one musician £200 over a four-piece band £600. The BandBox Trio gives that solo artist a full-band sound. Wedding singers and pub guitarists no longer need to purchase MIDI backing tracks or AI karaoke maker tools when they can strip stems from original recordings.
This creates winners and losers. Music educators gain instant access to isolated drum grooves and basslines without complex DAW software. Companies selling karaoke versions and guitar backing tracks face an existential threat. The best AI stem separation tools already disrupted that market. Hardware integration accelerates the shift.
The legal landscape remains murky. By processing audio locally rather than distributing pre-separated files, JBL sidesteps licensing complexities that plagued devices like Kanye West’s Stem Player. But if a venue hosts a singer using a Spotify track with AI-removed vocals, is that a public performance or karaoke? PROs like BMI and ASCAP will need answers.
If you produce or engineer music, assume your listeners will deconstruct your mix. Test your masters against current separation algorithms through tools like Moises AI Studio. Ask yourself: does the instrumental stand alone when vocals disappear? Does the song collapse without drums?
Expect competitors to follow within months. Boss, Positive Grid, and Fender will likely integrate similar AI backing track technology for live performance into their product lines. Within two years, this tech will move into consumer headphones and car stereos.
You are no longer delivering a fixed stereo master. You are delivering a mix that your audience will pull apart. Build accordingly.
