Audio setup
Choose the audio output device Ora DJ plays through, reserve master headroom for the limiter, and trade buffer size against controller latency.
Three settings decide how Ora DJ's audio reaches your speakers: which device it plays through, how much level it leaves under the ceiling, and how big the audio buffer is.
Choosing an output
The output device sits in the app header, showing a speaker or headphone icon and the current device's name. Click it and pick from Audio output. Devices with four or more channels are listed first and tagged 4-channel, since those are the ones that can carry a cue bus.
Ora DJ confirms the switch with a Routed to message. Hover the badge and it shows the device's output latency.
What Ora DJ picks at launch
In order:
- A DJ controller it recognizes by name, which always wins.
- The device you last chose yourself, if it's plugged in.
- Any device with four or more channels.
- Your Mac's built-in output.
Ora DJ only remembers a device you picked by hand. If that device isn't there next time, it quietly moves down the list and keeps your choice for the day it comes back.
Plugging in a controller Ora DJ knows overrides the device you picked. That's deliberate, since a connected controller is almost always the thing you want to hear through, but it will surprise you if you deliberately chose an interface.
If the device you're playing through disappears mid session, Ora DJ tells you the device was lost and falls back to your built-in output so the music keeps going.
Cueing needs four channels
A 4-channel device gets master on the first pair and your cue, the headphone signal, on the second. A plain stereo device only gets the master, and the cue signal is dropped. If you want to pre listen a track in headphones, you need a four channel device or a controller.
Master headroom
Open Settings, then Mixer & Controller, and find Master headroom. Choose None, -3 dB, -6 dB, or -9 dB. The default is -3 dB.
Headroom reserves level under the master ceiling so loud peaks arrive at the limiter with room to work, instead of slamming into it. More headroom keeps transients sharp and the limiter calm through busy passages. At None there's no reserve and the signal clips sooner.
A brick wall limiter always sits at the very top, so the output never clips outright, whatever you set here.
Audio buffer size
In the same Mixer & Controller settings, find Audio buffer size. The choices are 128 frames, 256 frames (default), and 512 frames.
A smaller buffer cuts the delay between moving a control and hearing it. The difference across the whole range is only a few milliseconds, but on a scratch heavy set you may feel it. The trade is headroom: a small buffer gives the audio engine less time to work, so on a slower machine it can glitch when the CPU is busy.
The buffer size is a request, not a guarantee. Some devices refuse a small buffer and open a larger one anyway.
Related
Stem Studio
Split a track into vocals, harmonic, bass, and drums on your own Mac, mute lanes live, scratch a stem, and bounce a selection to a new file.
Keyboard shortcuts
Every keyboard shortcut in Ora DJ, for playback, navigation, and switching views, plus the shortcut bar along the bottom of the library.