What’s new in Ora DJ

New

• Library Home: You can now open your library on a discovery page that surfaces similar tracks, listening patterns, artists, labels, release years, and genres, with full result views when you want to dig deeper.
• Playlist discovery: Empty playlists now suggest New Tracks and Heavy rotation from your library. As a playlist grows, Groove Match can recommend tracks based on the music already inside.
• Configurable deck views: You can now choose which deck layouts appear in the header picker, V shortcut cycle, and macOS View menu. Stem Studio is available as an optional view on supported Apple silicon Macs.

Improvements

• Library preparation: Import and analysis now show audio analysis and track-suggestion indexing as separate progress bars, with active counts that keep updating as work continues.
• Track search: You can now hold Shift and turn a supported controller jog wheel to move quickly through a loaded track while playing or paused, without entering scratch mode.
• Track Prep: You can now collapse the full editor to the compact single-deck player, then expand it again when you need the beatgrid and cue controls.
• Keyboard controls: Space plays or pauses Deck A, Option+Space controls Deck B, and Shift+Space toggles the compact view.
• Startup: Ora DJ now starts even faster in about 2 seconds.

New

• Key shifting: You can now transpose a loaded track in semitone steps while keeping Master Tempo locked and seeing the shifted key in the deck.
• Backup locations: You can now choose where Ora DJ stores library backups, including an internal disk, external drive, or NAS, and move existing backups safely.
• Controller support: Ora DJ now works with more Pioneer and AlphaTheta controllers, including DDJ-FLX2, DDJ-SB3, DDJ-FLX6, DDJ-800, DDJ-1000, DDJ-1000SRT, and DDJ-FLX10.

Improvements

• Startup: Startup time improved for large libraries on external drives
• BPM precision: Deck BPM values and edits now show two decimal places.

Fixes

• Master Tempo: Fixed audible glitches when toggling Master Tempo during beat sync or an active loop.
• Library analysis: Fixed needing to restart the app after a library backup was imported.

New

• Traktor playlist export: You can now export a playlist from Ora DJ as a Traktor NML file, preserving its track order and available BPM, key, cue, color, rating, and comment metadata.
• Monitored folders during onboarding: Rekordbox and Traktor onboarding can now suggest safe music folders to monitor, so tracks added there continue to arrive in Ora DJ after the first import.
• Post-import product tour: New users now get a short introduction to Chapters, Canvas, and Groove Match once their first tracks arrive.

Improvements

• Chapter planning across every playlist view: Canvas and cover art views now show empty chapters and let you create chapters without switching back to the list. In cover art view, you can also rename or delete chapters and drag tracks between them.
• Chapter headers that stay in reach: In list view, chapter names, stats, and controls now stay visible while you scroll a wide track list sideways.
• Quicker playlist view switching: A single selector now switches between List, cover art, and Canvas, while track-list row size has moved into Display settings.
• Remove tracks directly from Canvas: You can now remove a track from a manual playlist directly from its cover art on the Canvas.
• Load sidebar tracks with a double-click: Double-clicking a track in the library sidebar now loads it onto Deck A.
• A tighter track list: The Rating column now uses less horizontal space while keeping all five rating discs visible.

Fixes

• Audio-device recovery: If a newly connected audio device appears available but never starts, Ora DJ now rejects the stalled connection, routes audio to a working output, and returns to your intended device when it becomes available.
• Faster first EQ turns: The first EQ movement after launch now catches more reliably on the DDJ-400, DDJ-FLX4, and DDJ-GRV6, without weakening soft takeover after the software value changes.
• Honest deck-display controls: FX, EQ, and compact-view controls are now disabled in views where they cannot change the display.

Improvements

• A cleaner mixer: The EQ, trim, filter, and FX knobs across every mixer now share one polished design with a clear value ring, and the channel fader has a crisper look.
• Clearer VU meters: The peak marker on the channel and master meters is now colored by zone (green, yellow, red) and holds a constant, crisp thickness.
• Smoother Rekordbox imports: After importing a Rekordbox library, Ora DJ finishes the remaining analysis (waveform, energy, and Auto Gain) in one steady run instead of resetting progress between passes.
• Instant sidebar: Opening and closing the navigation sidebar is now instant.

Fixes

• Accurate DDJ-GRV6 scratching: Fixed the GRV6 jog wheel and its ring LEDs running about four times too fast, so scratching now tracks the physical wheel and feels like vinyl.
• Stem Studio beatgrid: The beatgrid now shows across the full track the moment you drop it in, instead of growing bar by bar as stems separate.

New

• Four-deck stacked player: Play up to four decks at once in a single stacked layout, for longer blends and back-to-backs.
• Prepare compatible copies: Turn lossless or club-incompatible playlist tracks into club-safe copies (AIFF or compact MP3) without touching the originals. Playlist order, cue points and so on is preserved.
• Adjustable audio buffer size: Pick your buffer size for tighter controller response or more CPU headroom. The default is lower now, so pads and the platter feel snappier out of the box.
• New collapsible sidebar: A rail-style navigation sidebar that stays out of the way and is one click from the full nav, without shifting the playing waveform.
• Channel and master level meters: Continuous level meters on every channel and the master, so you can watch your levels at a glance.
• Keyboard shortcut footer: Every deck view now shows a footer with its keyboard shortcuts.

Improvements

• Faster track analysis: Track analysis is noticeably faster, with no change to analysis quality.
• Jump anywhere on the overview waveform: Hover and click the full-track overview to jump straight to that point.
• Configurable master headroom: Set the master headroom to 0, -3, -6 or -9 dB.
• Remembered audio output device: Ora DJ now restores your selected output device across launches.
• Google sign-in opens in your browser: Signing in with Google now opens in your default browser.
• Smarter controller browsing: The browse knob cycles both directions, the hardware BACK gesture is wired up, and selection highlights are consistent across the library.
• Centered active track: Navigating the library with arrows or the browse knob keeps the active track centered.
• Tempo fader true stop: The WIDE tempo range now reaches a full stop at the bottom of the fader.

Fixes

• Fixed scratching so it keeps tracking the platter through a backspin.
• Fixed a deck losing its track after the app reloaded; the track now recovers.
• Fixed the beat-sync follower's playhead jittering; it now snaps cleanly to the sync point.
• Fixed the tempo fader jumping on synced or out-of-position decks with a controller; it now catches up smoothly before changing tempo.
• Fixed EQ, trim, and filter knobs on a controller so they pick up smoothly from wherever the hardware is parked, instead of jumping to neutral.
• Fixed the trim knob's attenuation so it tapers naturally by ear.
• Fixed search not being available inside chaptered playlists.
• Fixed the alignment of the side-view mixer panels.

New

• Groove Match: Ora DJ can now suggest tracks from your own library that match the feel, energy, and rhythm of the one you're already playing, so your next pick keeps the momentum without digging or text search. You'll see it as a "+" card at the end of each chapter in the cover-art view, an "Add track" badge when you hover a row in list view, and as a dedicated mode in the Library sidebar. Suggestions audition on hover so you can hear a match before you add it.
• Back up now: You can now trigger a backup on demand from Settings and choose whether to include waveforms, with an estimated size for each option before you commit.
• Resizable track list columns: You can now drag column edges in the track list to set the widths that suit how you work.
• Relocate renamed folders: When a library folder has been renamed on disk, Ora DJ now offers to relocate it instead of losing the tracks inside.

Improvements

• Backups now run in the background, so the app stays fully responsive instead of freezing while one runs.
• Stem Studio separation keeps running in the background and can be cancelled at any time.
• Stem Studio's separation model is now roughly half the size, for a lighter download with no loss in quality.
• The Library sidebar now opens instantly.
• Press H to toggle Hover Preview, and the keyboard shortcuts legend is now grouped by area so it's easier to scan.
• The missing-file indicator in the track list is clearer, so you can spot tracks Ora DJ can no longer find at a glance.
• You can now switch off continuous Rekordbox XML auto-export with a single Clear action.

Fixes

• Fixed the Stem Studio playhead bouncing at the edge of the separated region.
• Fixed Rekordbox XML tracks disappearing from playlists.
• Fixed exports to Traktor and Rekordbox breaking when track metadata contained invalid characters.
• Fixed duplicate detection showing the wrong folder for a track's real location.

New

• Stem Studio: split any track into four stems (vocals, harmonic, bass, drums) and play, scratch, loop, and mute each one live. Separation runs entirely on your Mac and streams onto the deck within a couple of seconds, so you can start playing before it finishes. Apple Silicon.
• Export stems: bounce any separation to FLAC, WAV, or MP3 and import the results straight back into your library.
• Automatic library backups: Ora DJ now backs up your whole library (playlists, cues, tags, ratings, analysis) on its own, so a corrupt database or an accidental deletion is recoverable in one click. Daily backups are on by default; full backups are optional. Manage them in Settings → Library → Backup.
• Recovery mode: if the library database ever won't open, Ora DJ drops into a recovery screen that lets you restore from a backup instead of leaving you stuck.
• Duplicate detection and cleanup: find duplicate tracks reliably (even across formats like MP3 vs WAV), see which copy is best and why, and clean up the rest in one pass without ever losing playlist placements, cues, or tags. Removed copies are archived, not deleted, and can be restored.
• Beat sync: match two decks' tempo and phase straight from the jog wheel, with master/slave sync and manual trim.
• Auto Hot Cue points: Track Prep can now place hot cue points for you automatically.
• Auto Gain: tracks load at a consistent loudness so you're not riding the trim knob between songs. Enable it in Settings → Mixer & Controller.
• Track preview from the cue point: audition a track from its cue without loading it to a deck (Rekordbox-style), including a PREVIEW button on the GRV6.
• Rekordbox active loops: saved active loops now import and auto-engage when playback reaches them, and you can enable or disable them per cue.
• Multi-folder library import: import from several library folders at once, from Settings or the sidebar.
• 1-Deck Player view: a compact, full-width Deck A with phrase markers.
• Hover Preview: hover a track in the list to preview it, now across All Music, folders, and other track views.
• Accounts: Ora DJ now has sign-in. Sign in with Google or a one-time email code, and manage your account from the new Account settings page.
• "What's new?" in the header: a header button opens an in-app changelog so you can see what shipped without leaving the app.
• Help menu and richer feedback: a new Help menu, plus you can attach an optional diagnostic bundle to feedback (file paths are redacted) and your email is pre-filled.

Improvements

• Redesigned the FX panel: it now sits beside the EQ in a more compact layout, with deck cover art alongside.
• Cleaner deck waveforms with clearer beatgrid bar markers and recessed readouts.
• Playlist chapters are easier to work with: chapter cards, and you can move chapters up or down from the chapter header.
• Rebuilt the import and analysis progress display, with a live control over how much of your Mac it uses.
• Tighter library layout and a quick-access link to All Music in the sidebar.
• The track-list toolbar stays on one row, collapsing labels to icons when the window is narrow.
• Audio devices now open at their native sample rate instead of being forced to 48 kHz.
• When a playlist search comes up empty, Ora DJ offers to search across All Music.
• Sidebar sections remember whether they're collapsed across restarts.

Fixes

• Fixed the autoplay waveform swapping with a flicker or jump when the next track loads.
• Dynamic playlists now export correctly, and chapter order is honored in Rekordbox and Traktor exports.
• Enabled scratch in vinyl mode on the Pioneer DDJ-400.
• Fixed loading some MP3s with unusual ID3 tags, and load errors are now surfaced instead of failing silently.
• Fixed the wrong tracks getting shift-selected after sorting by a column header.
• Trackpad vertical scrolling now stays vertical in cover-art view.
• Made track analysis more resilient: it now self-heals a stalled analyzer and survives an external drive being unplugged mid-analysis.

Performance

• Library scanning moved off the main process for a smoother UI during imports.
• Smoother moving of tracks between chapters.

New

• Traktor support. Ora DJ now imports your Traktor library, finding your collection on your machine automatically, and can export finished playlists back out to Traktor. Traktor users get the same round trip Rekordbox users already had.
• Import your library on first launch. The first time you open Ora DJ, it detects Rekordbox or Traktor on your machine and brings your library in, beatgrids included, in a couple of clicks. Nothing in either app is changed.
• Track colors. Assign a color to any track, filter by it, and build dynamic playlists from it. A fast way to mark and group your collection at a glance, and your colors import and export with your library.
• More accurate beatgrids. Beatgrids now stay locked to the beat from the first bar to the last, instead of drifting off by the end of a track. Analysis is faster and lighter in the process.
• Editable, lockable energy. Set a track's energy by hand and lock it, so the values reflect how you actually read the track.
• Quick-listen on the Canvas. Hover a track on the planning canvas to audition it instantly on Deck A, without loading it onto the deck.
• M3U8 playlist export. Export playlists and sessions as M3U8 for use in other tools.

Improvements

• Smoother Track Prep. Prep now advances from one track to the next on its own, with previous/next shortcuts and a shortcut bar, so you can keep your hands on the keyboard.
• Hot and memory cue shortcuts. Drop hot and memory cues straight from the keyboard with h and m while you prep.
• Smoother waveform scrolling. The waveform scrolls more fluidly while a track plays.
• Cleaner settings. Your library folders now show as one compact, unified list, audio and display options are split into clearer Mixer & Controller and Display sections, and your track-list sort order sticks across restarts.

Fixes

• Ora DJ now switches to a newly plugged-in audio device automatically.
• Fixed an audible click when jumping rapidly between beats via hot cues.
• Corrected the Trans FX beat range (1/16 up to 16 beats).
• Energy and phrases now refresh correctly after you edit the beatgrid.
• Fixed WAV and AIFF tracks with accented or non-Latin metadata showing garbled text.

New

• Direct Rekordbox import. You can now bring your Rekordbox library straight into Ora DJ from Settings, tracks and cues included, with no manual export step in between.
• Phrase detection in Track Prep. Ora DJ now maps each track into its musical sections (intro, build, breakdown, groove, outro) under the waveform, and you can correct any section by hand. Your edits stay put through re-analysis.
• More accurate key detection. Reworked key analysis reads tracks more reliably, so the keys you mix on are more trustworthy.
• Drag-and-drop cues in Track Prep. Grab a hot cue or memory cue on the waveform and drag it exactly where it belongs, instead of deleting and re-adding it to nudge it into place.
• Waveform color schemes. Pick how the 3-Band waveform looks from three palettes (Simple, Nocturnal Studio, and the new Electric Contrast default) in Settings.
• Finder-style keyboard navigation in the track list, so you can move through your library entirely from the keyboard.

Improvements

• A cleaner deck. The deck section is now a single, uncluttered card with a scrollable loop-length ladder (from 1/32 up to 32 beats) and steadier BPM and time alignment that no longer shifts as the numbers change.
• Bar-snapping in the Track Prep overview. Hovering the overview waveform snaps a guide line to the nearest bar and shows how many bars you are from the playhead, and clicking seeks straight to that bar.
• Tidier Track Prep controls across the beatgrid panel, the FX toggle, and overall alignment.
• Sharper Slip Mode. Slip Mode now tracks the would-be playhead inside the audio engine, so snapping back is sample-accurate and free of clicks.
• Consistent 4-bar jumps. The left and right arrows now move a steady four bars and keep your place within the bar, instead of snapping to the nearest line.

Fixes

• Fixed header dropdowns staying open when you click the title bar.
• Fixed track context menus and submenus that could open off the edge of the screen.

New

• Intel Mac support. Ora DJ is now a universal app. The same download runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, so Intel users can run the release for the first time.
• Slip Mode. Scratch, loop, or hold a hot cue and the track keeps running underneath. Let go and the deck jumps forward to where it would have been. Works on screen and from your controller.

Improvements

• Cleaner audio, more headroom. Playback resamples more smoothly, most audible on pitched-up tracks and on 44.1 kHz files played through a 48 kHz device, and the master leaves more headroom so the limiter pumps less.
• More ways to zoom the waveform. Hold Ctrl and scroll to zoom the deck waveforms in and out.
• Tighter knobs and faders. Knobs and faders now use pointer-lock dragging, so you can grab one and keep going past the edge of the control without losing it.
• Keep your ratings on import. A new "Update Rating" toggle when matching tracks from Rekordbox, off by default, so an import never overwrites your star ratings unless you ask it to. Play counts and comments fill in on matched tracks too.
• Faster track analysis on Apple Silicon.
• Remove folders in the sidebar. You can now remove library folders directly in the sidebar with a right click > delete dropdown action.

Fixes

• Ora DJ now recovers on its own if your audio device stops or disconnects mid-session.
• Fixed a freshly analyzed track loading to a deck without its beatgrid.
• Restored full brightness in the color overview waveform.

Ora DJ Studio is now Ora DJ. Same app, shorter name.

New

• A true isolator EQ. Turn a band all the way down and it's actual silence now, with a clean, surgical cut at the crossover, the way a club mixer behaves. The standard (non-isolator) EQ cuts deeper too.
• Color waveforms. A new RGB waveform colors the music by frequency: bass in red and orange, mids in green and yellow, highs in blue, dense drops near-white, quiet passages dim. Resolution is much higher as well, so zoomed in you can pick out individual kicks. The 3-band style stays available as a toggle (and is still the default).
• Adjustable waveform zoom. Pull the deck waveform back to see a breakdown coming, or push in to line up beats precisely, from the screen or your controller. Your zoom level sticks across restarts.
• Hot Cues in Track Prep. A dedicated Hot Cues tab, so you can set and organize cues faster while you prep instead of mid-set.
• Continuous Rekordbox export. Run Ora DJ alongside Rekordbox and your library now stays in sync automatically: every cue, playlist edit, and tag change is written out within seconds, with no manual export step.

Improvements

• A more musical mixer feel. The deck EQ is centered where you'd expect and sweeps smoothly without zipper noise, and the reverb now washes the track out into a bright hall as you turn it up.
• Much snappier on big libraries. Editing playlists, tags, and play counts, and moving things in the sidebar is instant now, no longer stuttering on large collections.
• Faster, lighter track analysis.
• Sort by any column. Click a track-list column header to sort by it. The Key column now sorts in Camelot wheel order whatever display format you use.
• Live position in the beatgrid editor. The zoom lane now shows the bar and beat you're on.
• Quicker library housekeeping. A folder-import button in the Folders section header, and a keyboard shortcut to cycle the library's top section view between 2-deck stacked, 2-deck side, and Track Prep.

Fixes

• More reliable cue and effects behavior during live performance.
• Fixed losing an active loop when setting a hot cue, plus a hot-cue preview glitch and a clipped Hot Cue color picker.
• Nested playlist subfolders now indent by depth in the sidebar.
• Smoother multi-track reordering and library drag-and-drop.

New

• Track Prep. A dedicated view for tightening beatgrids and setting memory and hot cues before you play, so your tracks are gig-ready ahead of time.
• Smarter duplicate detection. Ora DJ now finds duplicate tracks across multiple tiers, matching on audio content and metadata, so it catches the same track even when filenames or tags don't line up.
• More to work with in dynamic playlists. Genre and key multi-select, a cleaner energy operator, and you can save your current filter as a dynamic playlist in one step.
• Quicker track auto import. The import notification now has Show and Playlist+ actions, so freshly added tracks are one click from where you want them.

Improvements

• Snappier, more reliable playback. The audio engine was rebuilt from the ground up, dramatically cutting latency in both audio playback and controller interaction.
• A deeper track list. Ten new optional columns and a grouped column menu, plus new Disc number, Composer, Remixer, and Mix fields in the track info sidebar.
• Sharper filtering. Filter the track list by rating, release year, and play count from the Filter dropdown.
• Better library health view. Sharper health checks, a format-aware Low Bitrate filter (so lossless and AAC files aren't flagged by mistake), and tracks stored on external drives are now marked with an icon, so you can see at a glance which files go offline when a drive is unplugged.
• Clearer key column. Centered, with compatible cells tinted by Camelot key color so harmonic matches read at a glance.

Fixes

• Fixed audio desync when an audio device restarts mid-session.
• The All Music sidebar count now includes missing tracks, so the number matches your library.

New

• Settings moved up to the header, with a new View dropdown and a native macOS app-menu shortcut.
• Track analysis is about three times faster.

Fixes

• Long tracks no longer hit the analysis timeout before they finish. The timeout now scales with track length.
• Folder counts include missing and unlinked tracks, so the number reflects everything in the folder.
• External drives relink faster when you reconnect them.
• Fixed an import crash caused by track-ID collisions.

New

• Beatgrid editor. Correct a track's grid by hand when the automatic detection isn't quite right, with a dedicated analyze button.
• Library folders in the sidebar, with auto-import of new tracks and safe relocation when files move.
• Library health section in the sidebar, so problems in your collection are easy to spot.
• Per-component re-analyze. Re-run just BPM, key, energy, or waveform on a track instead of the whole analysis.
• Find in playlists from the track context menu.
• One export modal for both playlists and sessions, with Rekordbox XML.

Improvements

• Already-played tracks are dimmed in the track list, Rekordbox-style.
• Play count now increments on play, and the play-count threshold is configurable.
• New setting for BPM decimal places under Controller & Display.
• Copy-as-text button in the export modal.
• More accurate key detection.
• Smoother track-list scrolling.

Fixes

• The mixer toggle is now correctly disabled in compact view.
• Fixed a scrollbar jump in the track list.

New

• Energy analysis. Every track gets a 1–10 energy level and a per-bar energy curve, and you can filter your library by energy.
• Folder import with the full analysis pipeline, now publicly available.

Improvements

• Drag tracks from the library straight onto the canvas, with correct placement and automatic lane reflow.
• Energy badge now shows in the track card, in both cover-art and canvas views.
• New "Is / Is not" mode on the genre filter.
• Create a new dynamic playlist from the folder context menu.

Fixes

• Fixed playhead flicker when seeking with the arrow keys.
• Fixed a dynamic-playlist dropdown bug and added a tooltip on the merge icon.

New

• Reset layout action on the canvas, to undo manual lane arrangements in one click.
• Chapter stats now show in swimlane headers in cover-art view.

Improvements

• The audio analyzer was rebuilt for faster, lighter analysis.
• Key detection is about four times faster.
• Taller canvas lanes for easier reading and arranging.

Fixes

• Shift-click range selection now works on the first click.
• Canvas layout stays in sync when you change chapters or reorder tracks.

The first Ora DJ release we're tracking in the changelog. A snapshot of what it does:

Highlights

• Visual set planning. Arrange your set on a canvas with chapters and swimlanes, in cover-art or list view.
• Dynamic playlists that build themselves from rules you set.
• Track analysis. BPM, beatgrid and downbeat detection, key detection, and waveforms.
• Rekordbox import for your existing library, playlists, and metadata.
• Controller support for the Pioneer DDJ-400, DDJ-FLX4, and DDJ-GRV6, with hot cues, beat FX, and LED feedback.
• 4-channel audio output for supported controllers through a dedicated audio bridge.
• A track list built for big libraries. Waveform column, color tags, bulk tagging, genre / tag / date-added filters, play history, and inline metadata editing.