TrackRate Feature Reference

Feature Index

1Library & Database 2Playback 3Native Audio Output 4EQ & Audio Effects 5EQ Visualizer 6LUFS Auto-Leveling 7Rating System 8Tagging System 9Search & Filtering 10Shuffle Modes 11Playlists & Inject Queue 12Mixer 13Internet Radio 14Album / Artist Browser 15File Organizer 16File Sync 17Sharing System 18UI & Display Modes 19Themes & Fonts 20Keyboard Shortcuts 21Discord Rich Presence 22Sleep Timer 23Metadata Editor 24Platform & Licensing 25Frequency Analysis 26Remote Control 27Arrangers 28Audio Metrics 29Metric Lens & Neighborhood 30MCP AI Integration
1

Library & Database

Scanning, identity, artwork, lyrics, and track persistence. Core + Premium +
Feature
Notes
Multi-folder scanning
Add any number of folders; each appended to the same DB.
Recursive scan
Descends into all subfolders automatically.
Multiple databases
Switch between isolated collections such as work, home, or genre-specific libraries. Premium
Incremental scanning
Rescan a folder and only new files are added.
Startup validation
On load, TrackRate checks for moved or missing files and flags them.
Disable / hide folders
Freeze a folder branch so tracks stay in the DB but disappear from the active view until re-enabled.
Play count tracking
Auto-increments per track and stays sortable as a dedicated column.
Album art - local
Reads embedded artwork or folder images.
Album art - online
Fetches artwork from online sources automatically.
Lyrics - online
Fetches and caches track lyrics from the web.
Format support
MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, OPUS, M4A, AAC, AIFF, WMA, APE, MPC, TTA, DTS, AC3, MP4, and WEBM.
File copy / move
Right-click any track to copy or move the physical file.
Export ratings to CSV
One-click export of all ratings.
Reset database
Clear all data with confirmation.
Date-added tracking
Every imported track records the date it was scanned.
Hash-based identity
Tracks are identified by audio content hash so identity survives renames and moves.
2

Playback

Core transport, gapless playback, and crossfade. Core + Premium +

Basic Controls

Feature
Notes
Play / Pause / Stop
Standard transport controls.
Next / Previous track
Respects shuffle and loop modes.
Seek bar
Drag to any position and see the waveform.
Waveform display
Decoded waveform overlaid on the seekbar with silence-threshold awareness.
Volume control
Persistent across sessions.
Playback speed
Adjustable rate, saved and restored per session.
Loop modes
Off, Repeat All, and Repeat One.
First-track fade-in
Optional fade from silence on a fresh load.

Gapless Playback Premium

Feature
Notes
Encoder silence detection
Strips up to 0.5 s of encoder-added padding.
Adjustable silence threshold
Range from -90 dB to -40 dB, default -80 dB.
Pre-warm architecture
The next track is decoded and buffered 15 s before the transition.
Pre-seek
The passive player jumps to the first real audio frame before handoff.
Click-free switch
A 10 ms de-click gain ramp removes audible cuts.

Crossfade Premium

Feature
Notes
Duration
From -5 s to +30 s. Negative values create a gap before the next track.
5 curve shapes
Linear, Equal Power, S-Curve, Logarithmic, and Inverse-Log.
5 quick presets
Gapless, DJ Mix, Smooth Blend, Hard Cut, and Custom.
Silence-aware
Subtracts detected encoder silence from the effective crossfade time.
Live curve preview
Canvas preview of the selected curve in settings.
Waveform refresh
The visualizer updates seamlessly when the player swaps.
3

Native Audio Output

Direct hardware access with shared and exclusive output modes. Premium +
Feature
Notes
Three output modes
Standard (default, free) / Shared (Premium) / Exclusive (Premium).
Windows — Exclusive
OS-level hardware lock; other apps muted while active.
macOS — Exclusive
Device claimed exclusively; other apps muted.
Linux — Exclusive
Direct hardware access and bit-perfect output. Other apps are not blocked (platform limitation).
Windows — Shared
Direct hardware path with configurable buffer; other apps continue playing. Eliminates timing issues from the default path.
Setup wizard
Probes the device at runtime and shows only sample rates and buffer sizes the hardware actually supports.
Test tone
440 Hz sine played through the configured path before saving.
Configurable buffer
64–4096 samples; recommended starting point is 512–1024.
Sample rate selection
Chosen from probed device capabilities; match your library for zero resampling.
EQ in exclusive mode
All 10 bands and effects remain active in every output mode.
Crossfade in exclusive mode
Crossfade works in exclusive — runs before the hardware tap.
LUFS normalization in exclusive
Auto-leveling works in every output mode.
Bit-perfect indicator
Shown in Settings when Exclusive + flat EQ + crossfade off + sample rate match.
Saved config
Wizard settings persist and load automatically on every launch.
4

EQ & Audio Effects

Parametric EQ, audio processing, and tag-driven presets. Core + Premium+
Feature
Notes
10-band parametric EQ
60 Hz, 170 Hz, 310 Hz, 600 Hz, 1 kHz, 3 kHz, 6 kHz, 12 kHz, 14 kHz, and 16 kHz.
EQ on / off toggle
Bypass the full EQ instantly and keep the state persistent.
EQ presets
Rock, Jazz, Metal, Classical, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Pop, Acoustic, Bass Boost, Flat, and more.
Tag to EQ preset auto-switch
For example, a #jazz tag can auto-load the Jazz preset.
Auto EQ blend mode
Average or Random blend for multi-tagged tracks. Premium
Preamp
Global makeup gain before the EQ chain.
Compressor
Threshold, ratio, and makeup gain knobs.
Echo / Delay
Feedback loop plus wet / dry mix.
Reverb
Room-size wet / dry mix.
Stereo width
4-channel matrix that can narrow to mono or widen past stereo.
Inject Queue audio sharing
All EQ and FX apply to both the main player and the queue player with shared controls.
5

EQ Visualizer

Animated canvas visualizers with color control and resizing. Premium+

15 animated canvas visualizer presets:

Free: Frequency Bars

Premium: Mirror Bars, Circular Spectrum, Waveform, Gradient Wave, Spectrogram, Bubbles, Beat Pulse, Bloom, Kaleidoscope, VU Needles, Cascade, Lissajous, Heartbeat, Reactor

Feature
Notes
15 visual presets
1 free (Frequency Bars), 14 premium. Cycle through them with Alt+[ and Alt+].
Custom color picker
Per-preset color customization.
Theme-adaptive
Colors sync with the active app theme.
Resizable panel
Drag the visualizer pane to the preferred height.
Enable / disable toggle
Hide the panel entirely to reclaim vertical space.
6

LUFS Auto-Leveling

Loudness normalization with cached analysis and worker-thread decoding. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Standard
BS.1770-4 integrated loudness measurement.
Target range
Adjustable from -23 LUFS to -12 LUFS.
Per-track cache
LUFS values are stored with metadata so TrackRate does not need to re-analyze every replay.
Background analysis
Analysis happens during playback without blocking the UI.
Warm start
If cached values exist, normalization applies immediately on load.
True Peak guard
Linear peak is stored alongside integrated loudness.
Worker-thread decode
Offline AudioContext analysis runs 5x to 10x faster than real-time.
7

Rating System

Track-by-track scoring, keyboard speed, and import / export tools. Core+
Feature
Notes
0-10 integer scale
Mixer and Arrangers use these ratings to power weighted playback and algorithmic sequencing.
Color coding
Red for 0-3, orange for 4-6, and green for 7-10.
Keyboard rating
Alt+1 through Alt+0 for instant rating while listening.
Global shortcuts
Rate tracks even when the app is minimized.
Play count
Tracked separately from rating.
Date rated
Stored for each rating event.
Sort by rating
Available in both tree view and playlists.
Rating filter
Multi-select exact ratings 0-10 plus an Unrated toggle.
Export ratings
CSV or shareable .trackrate-ratings.json.
Import ratings
Override, Fill Gaps, or Max merge modes.
Diff report
HTML diff preview before any import is applied.
8

Tagging System

Unlimited tags, bulk workflows, metadata sync, and quiz-based tagging. Core+

Tag Basics

Feature
Notes
Unlimited custom tags
Any name using letters and numbers.
Tag autocomplete
Live suggestions while typing.
Bulk tagging
Checkbox mode for ranges and batch tagging.
Toggle smart logic
If all selected tracks already have the tag, TrackRate removes it; otherwise it adds the tag only where missing.
Tag chip display
Color-coded chips per track in the UI.
Delete entire tag
Remove a tag from every track at once.

Tag Suggestions

Feature
Notes
Curated starter set
Includes rock, pop, jazz, ambient, synthwave, afrobeats, classical, metal, hiphop, lo-fi, electronic, acoustic, instrumental, vocal, upbeat, chill, dark, experimental, and more.
Import from genre field
Auto-apply genre metadata as tags with a quality warning.
Auto-tag on scan
Optional tag application during library scan.

Tag Filtering & Exclusion

Feature
Notes
Positive tag filter (OR)
Click any tag in Filter Mode to show only tracks with that tag. Multiple active tags combine with OR logic — a track needs any matching tag.
Negative tag filter (exclude)
Exclude tracks that carry a specific tag. Positive and negative filters can be active at the same time: positive uses OR, negative uses AND-NOT (track must have none of the excluded tags).
Right-click to exclude
Right-click any tag in the cloud to toggle it as a negative filter — always works as a direct action regardless of mode.
Negative Tag Mode
Toolbar button that flips the default to exclude. While active, left-clicks and typed entries apply negative filters. The mode label changes to Filtering (!) and the placeholder shows Exclude tags….
Prefix syntax
Type #!rock, !#rock, or !rock in the autocomplete field to apply a negative filter regardless of mode. #rock always applies a positive filter.
Ban icon on excluded tags
Active negative filters appear with a ban icon next to the tag name so you can tell them apart from positive filters at a glance.
Stacks with all other filters
Negative tag filters combine with positive tag filters, search chips, and rating filters — all narrow the same pool simultaneously.
Baked into Mixer scope
When you create a recipe while negative tag filters are active, they are offered as part of the recipe scope and appear as #!tagname chips.

Write Tags to Audio Files

Feature
Notes
Comment field storage
#tag1 #tag2 #tag3 appended to the audio file comment field.
Surgical add
Only the new tag is appended and existing comment content stays intact.
Surgical remove
Only the matching tag token is removed.
Full sync operation
Strip all hashtags and rewrite the comment field from the current tag set.
13+ format support
MP3, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, M4A, WAV, AIFF, WMA, APE, and more.
Parallel write workers
1-6 worker threads with large batch throughput.
Progress modal
Shows completion percentage, elapsed time, cancel button, and failed-path log.
DJ software compatible
Serato, Rekordbox, and Traktor can all read the comment field.

Tagging Quiz

Feature
Notes
Two-phase bulk tagging
Artist pass first, then album pass.
Random presentation
Albums surface in random order to reduce fatigue.
Skip / Done per item
Skip an artist or album, mark it done, and move on.
Progress tracking
Separate artist and album completion bars.
New tag on the fly
Create tags directly from the quiz modal.
Metadata health check
Flags large libraries with missing artist or album names.
Startup trigger
Optional prompt 3 seconds after the database loads.
Manual trigger
Can also be opened from the menu at any time.
Bulk apply
The tag is applied to all tracks by the artist or on the album.
9

Search & Filtering

Chip-based search syntax, metadata filters, and stacked narrowing. Core+

Filter Chip System

Filter type
Syntax
Example
Plain keyword
text
burial
Artist
artist:
artist:boards of canada
Album
album:
album:geogaddi
Title
title:
title:roygbiv
Folder
folder:
folder:E:\Music\Electronic
File name
file:
file:01-
Extension
ext:
ext:flac
Year
year:
year:2002 or year:1998-2005
Duration
dur:
dur:>3m or dur:<30s
Bitrate
kbps:
kbps:>300
Bit depth
bit:
bit:24
Sample rate
khz:
khz:44 or khz:>44
Missing field
missing:
missing:artist
Date added
added:
added:30d or added:20260101-20260401
Last played
lpl:
lpl:-30d (not in 30+ days), lpl:6m (within 6 months)
Codec
codec:
codec:flac

Additional Filter Axes

Feature
Notes
Tag filter (positive)
OR logic across tag chips — a track needs any one matching tag. Multiple tags broaden the view.
Negative tag filter (exclude)
Exclude tracks with a specific tag via right-click, Negative Tag Mode, or #! / ! prefix. Positive and negative filters stack — show #rock but hide #instrumental.
Rating filter
Bitmask multi-select for exact values 0-10 plus Unrated.
All three stacked
Chip filters, tag chips, and rating filters all apply simultaneously.
Floating search
Searchable overlay for tree, playlists, mixer, and radio views.
10

Shuffle Modes

Weighted playback modes with history and unrated caps. Core+
Feature
Notes
4 modes
Random, Favorites, Discovery, and Balanced.
Max Unrated %
0-100% slider to cap how often unrated tracks appear.
Shuffle health bar
Color-coded indicator of pool distribution quality.
History navigation
The Previous button walks back through shuffle history.
Shuffle toast
On-screen confirmation when the mode changes.
Flat playlist shuffle
Fisher-Yates shuffle for playlist-mode playback.
11

Playlists & Inject Queue

Saved lists, drag sorting, imports, and temporary queue injections. Core+

Playlists

Feature
Notes
Create / rename / delete
Create playlists from the plus button or the current selection.
Add tracks
Use the context menu or the star icon; tracks can live in multiple playlists.
Drag-to-reorder
In-playlist drag with playback-lock guard.
Sort
By rating, play count, or name in ascending or descending order.
Export playlist
Shareable playlist file format.
Import playlist
M3U, M3U8, and PLS drag-and-drop with auto-import of unknown tracks.
Album art thumbnails
Optional thumbnail view for playlist rows.
Playlist shuffle
Unweighted Fisher-Yates order inside the playlist.
Auto-collapse
Collapses the folder tree when the next track plays.
Go-to-track
Reveals the playing track in the tree and auto-scrolls to it.

Inject Queue

Feature
Notes
Q key
Customizable shortcut that pushes selected tracks into the queue.
Ephemeral queue
Tracks play in order and are removed from the front automatically.
Auto-resume
Main playback resumes from the exact position when the queue drains.
Right-click Add to Queue
Available from any major view.
Drag-to-reorder
Reorder pending tracks while the front slot stays locked during playback.
Toast notification
Visible Queue active indicator on the player bar.
Cross-session
The queue persists across app restarts.
EQ / FX shared
Queue playback uses the same EQ and FX chain automatically.
12

Mixer

Weighted recipes built from tags, artists, ratings, years, folders, and randomness. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Ingredient types
Tag, Artist, Album, Year, Folder, Duration, Rating, and Random.
Weight-based probability
Each ingredient gets a percentage weight and Mixer draws tracks proportionally.
Strictness slider
0 means a loose blend, 1 follows the configured weights exactly.
Max Repeat control
Prevents the same track from playing within N tracks.
Recipe management
Save, load, edit, and delete named recipes.
Filtered Mixer scope
Active search filters, tags (including negative/exclusion filters as #!tagname chips), and rating masks can be baked into a recipe permanently.
Filter scope chips
Visual display of baked constraints with removable chips.
Track count preview
Live count of tracks that match each ingredient.
Session counter
Counts tracks played in the current mixer session and can be reset.
Recipe sharing
Export and import .trackrate-recipe.json files across libraries.
13

Internet Radio

Worldwide stations with search, country filters, and favorites. Premium+
Feature
Notes
10,000+ stations
Aggregated from a community radio directory.
Country filter
Browse all countries with flag-based filtering.
Genre filter
Browse stations by genre tags.
Live search
Instant filtering across all stations.
Sort options
Popularity, A-Z, and genre sorting.
Favorite stations
Save named stations to a personal list.
Station ratings
0-10 rating scale for saved stations.
HLS stream support
High-quality adaptive streams.
Shortcut
Next and Previous station via Ctrl+Alt+Right or Ctrl+Alt+Left as global shortcuts.
14

Album / Artist Browser

Library browsing beyond the tree view, with metadata, cover art, and rich artist panels. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Artist list view
Sort by A-Z, genre, or track count.
Album grid view
Cover-based grid that can be flat or grouped by artist.
Track list panel
Checkbox multi-select that syncs with the main tree selection.
Artist rich panel
Photo, bio, country, formed year, and similar artists.
Online metadata fetch
Uses Deezer, Wikipedia, TheAudioDB, and Last.fm-like sources in a fallback chain.
Local artist image cache
Downloaded to userData/album-art/{Artist}-1.jpg.
Cache expiry
30-day TTL with refresh on next visit.
Album stats display
Year, track count, and genre.
Live search
Filter artists and albums while typing.
Rating filter
0-10 bitmask plus Unrated across album and artist views.
Sort modes
Multiple sort modes per view including A-Z, year, rating, and track count.
15

File Organizer

Pattern-driven moves or copies built from metadata tokens. Core+
Feature
Notes
Token system
{artist}, {album}, {track}, {year}, {genre}, {codec}, {bitrate}, {samplerate}, and {rating}.
Rating range labels
Define labels like 8-10 = topshelf.
Mode
Move files in place or copy to a destination folder.
Duplicate handling
Skip, rename with auto-increment, or overwrite.
Missing field fallback
Skip the file or substitute an Unknown placeholder.
Short files guard
Skip clips under 5 seconds such as sound FX or stabs.
Currently-playing guard
Busy files are queued until track changes.
Windows path limit
Track titles are truncated automatically to stay under the 260-character path limit.
Empty folder cleanup
Removes orphaned directories after moves.
Dry-run preview
Full planned-operations log before execution.
Auto-open result
Opens the destination folder in the operating system after completion.
16

File Sync

Source-versus-target diffing for portable libraries and mirror folders. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Split diff view
Source database versus target folder side by side.
Status indicators
Present, Copy for new files, and Orphan for files not in the database.
Per-file controls
Skip or delete individual orphan files.
Bulk actions
Copy all new files, delete all orphans, or keep all orphans.
Rescan
Re-run after manual edits to the target folder.
Delete confirmation
Required before any destructive bulk action.
17

Sharing System

Ratings and mixer recipe exports built for cross-device and cross-library transfer. Core + Premium+

Ratings Sharing

Feature
Notes
Export format
.trackrate-ratings.json, human-readable and versioned.
Privacy-first
Hash-based by default, with no metadata or file paths required.
Optional hints
Opt-in title, artist, and album hints for unmatched tracks.
Import modes
Override, Fill Gaps, and Max.
Diff report
HTML report generated before any import is applied.
Use cases
Sync your taste across devices or share rating sets with friends.

Mixer Recipe Sharing Premium

Feature
Notes
Export format
.trackrate-recipe.json.
Cross-library
Recipes use fuzzy selectors such as tags and artists, so they can work on different libraries.
Import modes
Create new or replace existing recipes when names collide.
Preview before import
See the ingredients and weights before accepting the recipe.
18

UI & Display Modes

Layout presets, compact mode, lyrics, album art, metadata, and status surfaces. Core+
Feature
Notes
5 display modes
Default, Tree+EQ, Playlist+EQ, Playlist, and Compact.
Compact always-on-top
Frameless mini player that stays above other windows.
Collapsible toolbar groups
Five groups with per-separator toggles and saved state.
Resizable panels
Side panels can be dragged and their widths persist.
Album art panel
Large toggleable artwork display.
Waveform seekbar
Waveform decoded from the audio and overlaid on the seek track.
Lyrics panel
Fetched lyrics with paste, clear, and save tools.
Metadata panel
ID3 and related fields shown for the current track.
Tag chips
Colored hashtag chips in the track UI.
Go-to-track
Reveals and highlights the playing track with a spinning disc indicator.
Status bar
Current operation, progress, and sleep timer countdown.
Track info
Title, Artist, Album, Duration, Bitrate, and Codec at a glance.
Toast notifications
Non-blocking status messages for key actions.
Tooltips
Hover help across controls through a tooltip manager.
19

Themes & Fonts

Theme sets, accent control, font families, and UI scale options. Core + Premium+
Feature
Notes
4 free themes
Vibrant, Light, Dark, Pure Black.
19 premium themes
Olive Garden, Ocean, Wood, Watermelon, Earthy Tones, Midnight Purple, Sunset, Cyberpunk, Forest Green, Turquoise, Dark Outline, Amber, Light Clean, Neon, Aluminum, Crimson Glow, Frosted Glass, Studio Console, Mechanical, Hard buttons.
Color variant picker
Per-theme accent and secondary color customization on Olive Garden, Wood, Mechanical, and Hard buttons themes (14 variants across 4 themes).
Font selection
TikTok Sans, Segoe UI, Roboto, System font, and more.
Font weight slider
200-900 range.
Zoom control
50%-200% app zoom with Ctrl+=, Ctrl+-, and Ctrl+0.
Rounded / sharp corners
Toggle header corner radius.
Dark / Light mode
Manual or follow the operating system setting.
Previous / next theme
Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] to cycle themes.
Previous / next font
Ctrl+Shift+[ and Ctrl+Shift+] to cycle fonts.
20

Keyboard Shortcuts

Remappable actions, platform defaults, duplicate detection, and help surfaces. Core+
Feature
Notes
40+ remappable actions
Every major action in the app can be bound to a shortcut.
Global shortcuts
Playback, skip, rate, and EQ power work while the app is minimized.
Platform defaults
Windows and Linux defaults differ from macOS when needed.
Shortcut manager modal
Visual table to inspect or rebind actions.
Duplicate detection
Warns when bindings conflict.
Reset per-action
Restore an individual shortcut to its default.
Reset all
Restore every shortcut to platform defaults.
Persistent storage
Only custom bindings are saved, then merged with defaults on load.

Default Shortcut Categories

21

Discord Rich Presence

Now-playing details, rating display, hashtags, and reconnect logic. Core+
Feature
Notes
Track title + artist display
Can include year when desired.
Rating display
Shows the current rating and hides it when the track is unrated.
Up to 2 hashtags
Pulled from the current track tag set.
Playing / Paused state
Small icon changes when the transport pauses.
Download button
Links directly to the TrackRate website.
Auto-connect
Attempts RPC on startup with graceful fallback if Discord is unavailable.
30 s reconnect backoff
Retries quietly if Discord is closed.
Settings toggle
Enable or disable without a restart.
Thread-safe updates
Throttled so updates only send on real track or state changes.
22

Sleep Timer

Countdowns, fade-out, optional shutdown, and status-bar visibility. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Countdown
Hours 0-12 plus minutes 0-59 through draggable or scrollable controls.
Audio fade-out
Optional fade before playback stops.
PC shutdown
Optional system shutdown when the timer expires.
Status bar countdown
Remaining time is visible in the main UI at all times.
Cancel mid-countdown
Stop the timer at any point.
Keyboard-friendly
Esc closes the modal and the scroll wheel adjusts knobs.
23

Metadata Editor

Batch editing, file writes, and immediate database sync. Core+
Feature
Notes
Editable fields
Title, Artist, Album, Year, Genre, and Comment.
Reads from file on open
Shows actual embedded metadata, not just cached database values.
Batch editing
Edit a folder or selected tracks at once.
Write to audio files
Optional file writes for ID3, Vorbis, APE, and related tag formats.
Right-click access
Available from track, folder, and playlist context menus.
Auto-sync to DB
The database dictionary updates immediately on save.
24

Platform & Licensing

Electron delivery, device activations, offline licensing, and update flow. Product model+
Feature
Notes
Platform
Windows, macOS, and Linux through Electron.
License model
One-time purchase with up to 3 device activations.
Offline license
RSA-signed JWT stored locally, so the app still works without internet after activation.
Hardware tolerance
50% or more fingerprint match allows reasonable hardware changes.
Device management
Deactivate an existing device to free a slot.
Update delivery
In-app update check with download delivery via email.
Feedback
In-app bug report and feature request form.
25

Frequency Analysis

Per-track spectrum viewer with noise floor references, bandwidth detection, and loudness metrics. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Full-spectrum display
Plots audio energy from 20 Hz to the Nyquist frequency of the source file.
dB scale
Y-axis spans 0 dB to −150 dB with labeled gridlines.
16-bit / 24-bit noise floor lines
Horizontal reference lines showing the theoretical noise floor for each bit depth.
CD limit marker
Vertical line at 22.05 kHz marking the maximum CD-audio bandwidth.
Content bandwidth detection
Vertical marker at the highest frequency where meaningful content is present — reveals upsampled or lossy-source files masquerading as hi-res.
Quality badge
Automatic classification: Hi-Res, Semi-Hi-Res, CD Quality, or Lossy.
True bandwidth label
Numeric readout of the detected content bandwidth in kHz.
LIN / LOG frequency scale
Toggle between linear and logarithmic X-axis for different analysis perspectives.
LUFS readout
Integrated loudness (BS.1770-4) shown below the chart.
True Peak readout
Intersample peak level in dBFS.
Crest factor
Dynamic range indicator — difference between peak and integrated loudness.
Track metadata panel
Format, Bit Depth, Sample Rate, Channels, Bitrate, Duration, and DC Offset alongside the chart.
Album art display
Cover art shown in the analysis window.
Worker-thread analysis
FFT processing runs off the main thread so playback is uninterrupted.
26

Remote Control

Phone and tablet remote with transport, EQ, library browsing, and system controls over WiFi. Premium+
Feature
Notes
Built-in web server
Serves the remote UI as static HTML from the desktop app on port 19840.
Phone/tablet browser
Any device on the same LAN can connect — no app install needed.
Transport controls
Play/pause, next/previous, and a seek bar with live position updates.
Volume, shuffle, loop
Bidirectional sync — changes from either the phone or desktop are reflected everywhere.
EQ preset switching
Tap a preset pill on the phone to switch EQ on the desktop; state syncs to all connected devices.
Display mode tabs
DB, Radio, Mixer, Playlist — switch the desktop audio source from the phone.
Library browser
Artist → Album → Track drill-down, folder tree, and full filtered track list with playback and queuing.
Rating bar
Rate the current track from the phone; double-tap to clear.
Power controls
Shutdown, restart, or sleep the PC from the phone with a confirmation sheet.
Real-time push sync
ZERO polling — every state change fires a native event that pushes to all connected clients.
Multi-phone support
Multiple phones connect at once; all stay in sync via broadcast push events.
Lyrics display
Collapsible lyrics panel fetches from the desktop cache.
Album art
Cover art fetched in real time from the desktop and shown at 280×280.
Theme and font
Remote appearance can be customized independently of the desktop.
Optional auth
Configure users with username + password (SHA-256 hashed); leave empty for open LAN access.
QR code pairing
Scan a QR code in Settings to open the remote URL instantly on your phone.
Instant kill switch
Toggle OFF in Settings closes the port and clears all sessions immediately.
LAN-only
No internet connection needed — all communication stays on the local network.
Same-origin WebSocket
WS served from the same HTTP server — no mixed-content issues.
27

Arrangers

Shape, interleave, and gap-spread shapers that turn any track list into a listening journey — or select a curated subset from a larger pool. Premium+

Arrangers take a pile of tracks and give them structure. They work in two modes: reshape an existing playlist into a listening arc, or select a smaller curated set from a larger source pool. All driven by 18 audio metrics, metadata fields, tags, and ratings.

Three Shaper Building Blocks

Shaper
What it does
Shape
Order tracks by any field (rating, energy, BPM, year, etc.) with arc, staircase, or flat profiles. Arc curves can be peak-centered, front-loaded, or back-loaded with adjustable width and slope.
Interleave
Rotate through field values — artist, album, genre, tags, or decade — so the same value never repeats back-to-back. Creates variety without random chaos.
Gap-Spread
Enforce a minimum distance between tracks sharing the same field value. Useful for keeping repeats of an artist or tag spaced apart by a chosen gap.

12 Built-in Strategies

Strategy
What it builds
Preset variants
Energy Waves
Tracks rise and fall by energy level
Standard, Front-loaded, Back-loaded
Fresh Picks
Unplayed or rarely-heard tracks first
Standard, Never heard, Gentle mix
Genre Tour
Walk through genres with smooth transitions
Genre tour, Tag tour
Discovery
Surface hidden gems by rating and recency
Standard, Gem hunter, Balanced mix
Greatest Hits
High-rated tracks in an engaging order
Standard, All stars, Easy listening
Chrono Journey
Travel through time by year or decade
Standard, Album hop, Decade trip
Party
High-energy, beat-driven sequence
Standard, Wall-to-wall, Fun mix
Chill Out
Descending energy for winding down
Standard, Sunset fade, Late night
Dynamic Set
Contrast-driven peaks and valleys
Standard, Big room, Slow burn
Album Experience
Respects album groupings and flow
Standard, Discography, Album shuffle
DJ Set
BPM-aware sequencing with tempo arcs
Standard, Opening set, Headliner
Radio Shuffle
Familiar mixed with discovery
Standard, Loose vibe, Smooth flow

Selection Mode — Arrangers as Curators

Feature
Notes
Subset selection
When the source pool is larger than the target count, the arranger intelligently selects which tracks make the cut — not just reorders them.
Metric-aware picking
Selection uses the same metric profiles as ordering, so a "Party" arrange picks high-energy tracks and drops quiet ones before shaping the sequence.
Create playlist from arrangement
The arranged result can be saved as a new playlist, preserving the crafted order permanently.
Custom arrangers
Build your own from scratch — add any combination of shapers, pick fields from 18 metrics + metadata + derivatives, and save as a named preset.
Web Worker processing
Arrangement computation runs off the main thread so the UI stays responsive even on large libraries.
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Audio Metrics

18 raw signal measurements, 3 derivative scores, per-track indicators, batch calculation, and sort-by-anything. Premium+

TrackRate decodes every track and computes 21 audio measurements — 18 raw signal metrics plus 3 composite derivative scores. These power the Arranger engine, Metric Lens, Metric Neighborhood, metric indicators in track rows, and the universal sort menu.

Raw Metrics (18)

Metric
Unit
What it measures
RMS Power
dB
Average loudness of the signal
Crest Factor
ratio
Peak / RMS ratio — punchy vs. flat/dense
Zero Crossing Rate
0–1
Waveform sign-change rate — proxy for noisiness
Dynamic Range
dB
Spread between quietest and loudest moments
Dynamic Movement
0–1
Loudness change from moment to moment
Spectral Centroid
Hz
Brightness — where the timbre center of mass sits
Spectral Flux
raw
Frame-to-frame timbre change rate
Bass Ratio
0–1
Energy fraction below 250 Hz
Spectral Rolloff
Hz
Frequency below which 85% of energy lies
Spectral Flatness
0–1
Tonal (0) vs. noisy (1) — pure sine = 0, white noise = 1
Spectral Contrast
0–1
Difference between spectral peaks and valleys
Onset Rate
onsets/s
Note and beat attacks per second — busy vs. sparse
Tempo
BPM
Estimated beats per minute
Tempo Confidence
0–1
Certainty of the BPM estimate
Beat Strength
0–1
Average beat magnitude — pulse vs. fluid
Energy Movement
0–1
Energy shift across frequency bands over time
Energy Brightness
0–1
Energy fraction above 3 kHz — airy/crisp
Energy Density
0–1
Spectral energy concentration — dense vs. sparse

Derivative Scores (3)

Derivative
Unit
Composite formula
Perceived Energy
0–1
Combined from RMS Power, Spectral Flux, Beat Strength, and Energy Brightness — how energetic the track feels.
Spectral Richness
0–1
From Spectral Flatness, Flux, and Brightness — timbral complexity and texture density.
Dynamics
0–1
From Dynamic Range, Dynamic Movement, and Crest Factor — how expressive and varied the loudness is.

How Metrics Are Used

Feature
Notes
Metric indicators
Show up to 4 customizable numeric metric slots per track row in tree view and playlists. Toggle with Ctrl+,. Each slot can display any metric, derivative, or info field.
Sort by any metric
Universal sort menu with tabbed categories: Info (7 fields), Raw Metrics (18), Derivatives (3), Other (LUFS, Date Added, File Path, Hashtags). Independent ascending/descending per view.
Batch calculation
Calculate Metrics modal computes metrics across the entire library using parallel pool scanning. Four-phase flow: Setup, Scanning, Complete, Cancelled.
Track detail popup
Resizable, draggable overlay showing detailed metric explanations with formulas, academic references, and interpretation guidance for every measurement.
Export metrics CSV
Export all computed metrics for checked tracks as a CSV spreadsheet for external analysis.
Web Worker compute
FFT and metric computation runs off the main thread so playback and UI remain smooth during analysis.
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Metric Lens & Metric Neighborhood

Live audio-metric filtering with range histograms, seed-track neighborhoods, and context-aware tree results. Premium+

Metric Lens turns TrackRate's audio measurements into a live tree-view filter. Normal filters answer metadata questions like artist, tag, folder, or rating. Metric Lens answers sonic questions: which tracks sit in this part of the measured sound space?

Metric Neighborhood starts from a seed track and finds nearby tracks by the metrics you choose. It is not genre radio or machine-learning taste prediction; it is a precise way to explore physical similarity such as brightness, density, dynamics, rhythm, bass balance, and perceived energy.

Modes

Mode
What it does
Metric Lens
Live Premium filter for the tree view. Start with normal filters like folder, tag, search, or rating, then narrow the remaining pool by audio metrics such as brightness, bass ratio, dynamics, tempo, beat strength, density, or perceived energy.
Range Explorer
Choose absolute min/max ranges on metric histograms. Enable multiple metrics to combine them with AND logic, so every visible track must land inside every active range.
Metric Neighborhood
Pick a seed track, then use tolerance knobs to find tracks close to that seed across the metrics you choose. Small tolerances stay strict; larger tolerances explore nearby sonic territory.
Context-aware results
Metric Lens works after the ordinary library filters. Filter to a genre tag, folder, playlist-like subset, or rating band first, then explore only that focused set by physical audio similarity.
Metric explanations
Each metric includes an explanation popup with what it measures, how lower and higher values behave, and where it can help when shaping a filter or neighborhood.
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MCP AI Integration

Connect any MCP-compatible AI client to your live TrackRate library — inspect, search, tag, arrange, create playlists, and control playback through natural conversation. Premium+

TrackRate exposes a full Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, giving AI assistants direct access to your music library. An AI can browse your collection, search with the full filter syntax, create and arrange playlists, clean up tags and metadata, fetch lyrics, and control playback — all through tools it calls on your behalf. You decide what it does.

MCP Tools — 30+ Available

Category
Tools
Library survey
Browse artists, albums, tracks with full metadata. Get library stats — track counts, rating distributions, tag coverage, format breakdowns.
Search & filter
Full filter syntax support: artist:, album:, year:, dur:, lpl:, added:, missing:, and 10+ more. Combined with tag and rating filters.
Playlist operations
Create, delete, rename playlists. Add/remove tracks. Sort by any field. Arrange with the full arranger engine.
Tag management
Add and remove tags across tracks. List all tags. Clean up inconsistent or duplicated tags.
Metadata editing
Read and update title, artist, album, year, genre, and comment fields. Batch-clean missing or inconsistent metadata.
Playback control
Play, pause, skip, seek, volume, shuffle mode, loop mode. Switch audio sources (library, playlist, radio, mixer).
Database management
List and switch between multiple databases. Each database is isolated with its own tracks, ratings, and tags.
Album art & lyrics
Fetch album art and lyrics for any track. Cache and retrieve from local storage.

Safety Model — Full User Control

Feature
Notes
Auto-backup before writes
One automatic full-library backup is created before the first write operation in each MCP session. Read-only calls never trigger backups.
One restore point per run
Each logical MCP session gets one backup snapshot. If anything goes wrong, restore to exactly where you were before the AI touched anything.
Read vs. Write separation
Search, browse, and inspect tools are read-only and never modify data. Write tools are clearly separated and only fire when explicitly invoked.
Instant kill switch
Toggle MCP OFF in Settings and the port closes immediately — all sessions terminated, no questions asked.
SSE streaming sessions
MCP uses Server-Sent Events for bidirectional communication. Each AI client gets its own session with a unique ID.
Real-time trace log
A built-in trace modal shows every MCP request and response in real time, so you can see exactly what the AI is doing.

Setup — Two Clicks

Step
Action
1
Settings → Remote API → Enable → Enable MCP. Copy the endpoint URL.
2
Paste the endpoint into your MCP client's configuration. That's it — the AI can now see and work with your library.

What You Can Ask an AI to Do

Workflow
Example
Metadata cleanup
"Find all tracks missing artist or album fields and fill them from the filename pattern."
Tag cleanup
"Find all tracks tagged both #rock and #rock-n-roll and merge them into #rock."
Smart playlists
"Create a playlist of high-energy jazz tracks from the 1970s, arranged from mellow to intense."
Lyrics & theme work
"Fetch lyrics for all tracks in my 'Evening' playlist and suggest a theme based on the mood."
Playlist doctor
"Check my 'Road Trip' playlist — are there any jarring transitions? Resequence to smooth out the energy flow."
Library audit
"How many FLAC files do I have vs MP3? What's my rating distribution? Which tags cover the most tracks?"