Music models that run on 36 GB
4 models with published weights that fit in 36 GB — a MacBook Pro with 36. Counted at four-bit quantisation, weights only, leaving the machine about a third of its memory and a gigabyte for context: room for roughly 37 billion parameters. A mixture of experts is counted in full, because it is held in full even though only a few experts compute.
An Apple configuration, and a comfortable one: it holds what 32 GB holds without the machine feeling tight, which in practice means a longer context or a browser you do not have to close first.
Models that compose and render music from a description. They are priced per generation or per second of audio rather than per token. The question that decides whether you can use one commercially is not the price but the terms: makers differ sharply on who owns the output and whether it may be sold, and that is on the maker's page, not in the rate card.
- YuE2-3BMultimodal Art Projection3.6B≈2.4 GB at 4-bit
- ACE-Step-v1-3.5BACE-Step3.5B≈2.3 GB at 4-bit
- musicgen-melodyfacebook1.6B≈1.0 GB at 4-bit
- musicgen-smallAI at Meta0.6B≈0.4 GB at 4-bit