Getting started
Resident is your automatic DJ. Add your own songs, press Play, and it builds a continuous set: choosing tracks, lining up beats and musical phrases, and mixing between songs.
- Add songs or a folder. Use the playlist buttons, or drop audio files and folders onto the app. Resident analyzes tempo, key, energy, and arrangement on your device.
- Let songs become ready. Analysis runs in the background. You can start as soon as a song is ready; the others join the set as they finish.
- Press Play. With Autopilot enabled, Resident picks an opener and plans what follows. Leave the automatic settings on for a first session, then adjust them to taste.
There are two decks: cyan A and magenta B. They take turns playing and preparing the next song. The mixer between them shows the next transition and the balance between the decks.
Managing the playlist
Expand playlist fills the app window with your playlist while keeping the transport available. Search, import, sorting, row actions, and dragging all work in this view. Use Restore view or Escape to return.
With Autopilot on, the playlist reads in planned playback order: played songs are dimmed, the current song is highlighted, and the next song is tagged UP NEXT. Resident weighs tempo, compatible keys, musical energy, and usable intros and outros, and avoids repeating an artist back to back where possible.
- Play next on a row queues that song ahead of the automatic choices. Click again to unqueue; you can queue several songs.
- Play now, or double-click a row, starts that song with a short mix at the next bar line when another song is playing.
- Drag an upcoming song to pin its position. Autopilot arranges the other songs around your pins.
- Auto-arrange clears pins and rebuilds the plan for a smoother flow. Shuffle produces another order.
With Autopilot off, Resident follows the playlist order. Drag rows or click a column header to sort by title, BPM, key, energy, or time. Explicitly queued songs still take priority.
The Next tracks summary estimates the currently forecast tracks, their remaining playing time including overlaps, and the finish time. It previews the next part of your set. The playlist count covers your whole library. Changes to the plan or playback can change the estimate.
The four transitions
In Automatic mode, Resident selects a transition for each pair. Similar tempos and compatible keys usually suit a blend; clashing keys favor a filter sweep; a large tempo gap favors an echo; a hard ending with no usable intro can require a drop. An energy lift alone does not trigger a drop. Auto chooses from the track analysis, rather than adding random variety. Hover over the mixer details to see the reason for its choice. The arrangement, beat-grid confidence, and vocal activity can shorten or change the handover.
01 / Blend
A smooth overlap: the outgoing song fades down while the incoming song fades up. With bass swap enabled, the outgoing bass hands over to the incoming bass near the middle, so two basslines do not compete. Best for compatible, steady grooves.
02 / Filter sweep
The outgoing song loses low frequencies as a high-pass filter rises. The incoming song opens from a muffled sound into full range. This makes the change more deliberate and reduces the overlap of clashing musical material.
03 / Echo out
The last part of the outgoing song feeds a tempo-synced echo. Its dry sound is cut while the echoes trail over the incoming song. Useful when the tempos are too far apart for a clean, sustained beatmatch.
04 / Drop
The incoming song is prepared silently, then takes over on the downbeat with a quick handover. Automatic drops use a short, softened fade; choosing Drop manually keeps the sharper downbeat cut. This creates a clear energy change instead of a long overlap. Useful for a strong new section or a track without a usable intro.
You can force any style in Transition style. Transition length controls the overlap in beats: 32 beats means eight bars in 4/4. Automatic chooses between 8 and 128 beats according to the usable music and analysis confidence; a fixed length may be shortened to fit the tracks.
With Keep vocals apart enabled, Resident tries to avoid two lead parts competing. It can shorten the overlap or use a brief, smooth crossfade of up to two seconds at natural speed. Automatic also uses this gentle entrance for short intros when there is room, keeping Drop for hard endings and urgent handovers. This is a musical activity estimate; synth leads, repeated choruses, and live recordings can confuse it.
Tempo, key & sound
- Beatmatch
- Glides the tempos together during an overlap, within the selected 3%, 6%, or 10% limit. Half and double time can match too: 70 BPM can fit 140 BPM. Large gaps or uncertain grids avoid sustained stretching. Off uses native tempos.
- Phrase alignment
- Transitions are planned on musical bar and phrase boundaries, so a new section arrives where the previous section ends. Resident also compares the audio around a planned beatmatch to refine timing when it has enough evidence.
- Key and key lock
- The key readout uses Camelot notation, such as 8A or 9B. Matching numbers, neighboring positions, and relative major/minor keys tend to blend well. Key lock preserves pitch when changing tempo. With key lock and key correction enabled, Resident can shift the incoming song by one semitone if that resolves a clash.
- Loudness target
- Levels tracks toward a shared perceived loudness in LUFS. More negative values are quieter. This reduces jumps between differently mastered songs; it is separate from the master volume. Off keeps each track's original level.
- Master limiter
- Protects the output by turning down peaks that would otherwise overload it. LIM lights while this happens. Occasional flashes on strong beats are normal. If it stays lit or the music sounds squeezed or pumps, lower Master and allow a few seconds for the volume to settle. Choose a quieter loudness target, such as −16 or −18 LUFS, keep bass swap enabled, and try shorter transitions if it happens mainly during overlaps. Keep the limiter on: switching it off can let distorted peaks through. It cannot repair an already distorted recording or prevent playback interruptions.
Reading the decks
The platter shows rotation and track progress. Each deck displays BPM, any tempo adjustment, key, remaining and elapsed time, and a bar/beat counter. The idle deck previews the cued song.
The track overview shows the whole song, its quieter intro/outro, and the planned overlap. The larger Waveforms view shows both songs scrolling around a common playhead, with beat, bar, and phrase lines.
Orange · bassGreen · midrangeBlue · treble
Waveform colors describe the sound at that moment: orange emphasizes low frequencies such as bass and kick drums; green emphasizes the middle range, often voices and instruments; blue emphasizes high frequencies such as cymbals and hi-hats. Mixed colors mean several ranges are present together. Taller waves show stronger peaks; color alone does not tell you how loud a song feels or whether a voice is present. Cyan and pink deck labels identify Deck A and Deck B.
The mixer shows Next mix in before a handover and progress while mixing. Its details show the style, length, tempo match, and key relationship. Deck meters show levels; bass knobs and the crossfader follow the automatic handover.
Click a playing deck's overview or the scrolling waveform to jump. Resident waits for a beat and lands at the same point in a four-bar phrase, with a short crossfade. Shift-click uses the same beat within one bar for finer jumps. Skip part moves to the next detected section that sounds different.
Holding a track with loops
Choose 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 beats on the playing deck to repeat a beat-aligned section around your current position. In 4/4, four beats is one bar. The selected size lights up. Choose another size to change the loop, or click the selected size again to continue from your current place. Automatic transitions wait until you leave the loop; Mix next or Play now also releases it. Loops cannot be engaged during a handover or on a cued deck. Pause and refresh keep the loop; Stop clears it.
Shaping your set
- Vibe
- Chill, Balanced, and Peak time shift Autopilot's target energy. Energy is a musical intensity estimate, rather than a genre or mood label.
- Energy over the night
- Warm-up, peak, cool-down builds to a high point and relaxes afterward. Building energy aims upward; Steady energy keeps the target consistent.
- Party ends at
- An optional finish time stretches the energy shape over the time left and adapts track play lengths. Resident fades out as that time arrives. Clear the field to remove the finish time.
- Play each track for
- Automatic trims only very long tracks, unless a party finish time requires fitting the remaining set. Full length keeps the whole usable track. A fixed time selects roughly that much of the stronger middle portion, with phrase-aligned entry and exit.
- Use breakdowns and drops
- When trimming tracks, Resident can leave at a breakdown and land the next song on a drop for a more natural arrangement change.
- Repeat the playlist
- Starts another round after the available songs have played. Disable it for a set that ends. Autopilot avoids replaying a song before the rest of its round has played.
Controls & shortcuts
- Space
- Play, pause, or resume. Pausing and resuming fade smoothly.
- N / Mix next
- Start the next transition at the next bar line.
- Stop
- End playback and the current set.
- Master
- Click or drag the volume slider. Changes glide over two to eight seconds; use the arrow keys when the slider has focus.
- Esc
- Close this guide or a confirmation dialog first; otherwise restore the expanded playlist.
- REC
- Start recording the master output. Press it again to save the recording.
Full screen in the top bar fills your display. Press it again to return to the window.
Playback shortcuts are disabled while typing, operating a button, or reading this guide. The guide and playlist view do not pause the music. Refreshing keeps your place and your playlist choices; press Resume to continue.
Storage & recording
Songs and their analysis are copied into this browser's storage for the Resident site. Your original audio files stay where they are, and the playlist remembers your library and settings between visits on the same browser and site address.
The playlist heading shows the space used by stored songs. Removing songs or clearing the playlist frees their stored copies. Keep your original files: clearing site data, using a different browser, or browser storage cleanup can remove this library.
The browser may call folder selection an “upload”; Resident reads those files on this device and does not upload them. Dropping a folder is another way to import it. Some formats depend on the browser's audio decoder; try another format if a file cannot play.
REC captures the mixed output after the limiter, including your transitions and volume changes. Stopping recording downloads a WebM or M4A file, depending on browser support.
You can install Resident when your browser offers it. After the app has loaded once, it supports offline use with songs already stored on this device.
Resident remembers your library and settings on this Android device. Songs you add stay in their original locations; removing a song from Resident never deletes the original file.
Use Song storage options to keep an offline copy or reconnect a song if its original moves or access changes. Resident removes a saved copy when no remaining library entry uses it.
REC saves a mix to Android storage or offers the system share sheet, depending on your Android version.
When something sounds wrong
- BPM is half or double the real tempo: use ÷2 or ×2 on that deck. These corrections are saved with the song.
- The bar starts on the wrong beat: use the Beat arrows to move the grid one beat at a time.
- The mix enters or leaves in the wrong section: press Set in or Set out while that deck plays at your preferred point. It snaps to a phrase boundary. Reset removes your manual corrections.
- Two vocals or melodies compete: keep vocal separation enabled, try a shorter transition, or choose a filter or drop. Analysis is an estimate, so audition unfamiliar tracks.
- A large tempo jump sounds forced: use Automatic or Echo out, reduce the beatmatch limit, or rearrange the songs.
- Play does nothing: wait for a song to finish analysis and check that the browser supports its audio format.
For a closer listen, open the mix lab. It renders transitions using your current playlist order and settings so you can listen, check timing and levels, and download a mix clip.
