TrackRate user guide
Playback & Audio Output
Configure native audio output, crossfade, gapless playback, quality, waveforms, spectrograms, and analysis.
8 questions
How do I choose an audio output device and quality setting?
Select the output device and a sample rate that the device and operating system actually support. The highest number is not automatically the best choice: a 44.1 kHz track sent through an unnecessary 384 kHz conversion requires substantial resampling. A direct or sensible match is usually preferable.
Premium Native Audio Output can use shared mode, where other applications continue playing, or exclusive mode, where TrackRate takes control of the device for a direct path. Use the setup wizard to probe supported formats and buffer sizes instead of guessing.
What is the difference between Crossfade and Gapless Playback?
Crossfade overlaps the end of one track with the beginning of the next for a blended transition. Gapless Playback removes transition gaps and encoder-added silence so connected tracks meet cleanly without overlapping their musical content. They solve different problems: Crossfade is an effect; gapless is continuity.
Gapless analysis does not modify files, save trim points, or change the displayed duration. It does not apply to radio streams or files under five seconds. Lossless formats may contain no encoder padding, but the clean transition still works.
| Behavior | Crossfade | Gapless Playback |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | Tracks overlap | Silence or encoder padding is removed |
| Best for | Mixed playlists and soft transitions | Live albums, DJ mixes, classical works |
| Musical content | End and beginning play together | Tracks meet without intentional overlap |
| Changes files | No | No |
How should I set the Gapless silence threshold?
Encoder padding is effectively digital silence, so any normal threshold catches it. Raising the threshold mainly determines whether very quiet musical material—such as fade-outs, room tone, or ambient tails—is also trimmed. Start conservatively and test albums whose transitions you know well.
If a fade ends too early, lower the threshold. If a release still has an audible quiet gap, raise it slightly. The calculation happens during playback and does not alter the source audio.
What do waveform, spectrogram, decode threshold, and track analysis do?
The waveform shows amplitude over time and supports visual seeking. The spectrogram shows frequency energy across time. Premium analysis calculates measurements used by Metric Lens and Arrangers. The decode threshold determines when TrackRate prepares additional decoded data for longer or more demanding tracks.
Analysis can take time on large libraries. Very long files may be skipped if full decoding would exceed Electron’s memory limit; this protects the application and does not prevent ordinary playback.
What is the Play History Explorer, and what exactly does it record?
The Play History Explorer is a local listening timeline available in Free and Premium. When logging is enabled, TrackRate stores an event after a track passes 50% playback. Each event preserves the title, artist, album, year, rating, playback source, and up to three hashtags as they existed at that moment.
Historical snapshots remain meaningful even if current metadata or tags later change. Entries can also remain visible when the original track is no longer in the active library, although playback actions are disabled for unavailable files.
Can I replay or queue something I find in Play History?
Yes, when the historical entry can be matched to a file in the active library. Use preview to listen from the Explorer, click the title progress area to seek, or inject the track into the current queue.
If the file has been removed or belongs to another unavailable library, the historical record remains visible for context but TrackRate disables actions that require the audio file. History events are stored in yearly history-YYYY.csv files on your device.
No questions match that search.