CortexDJ

What's new

CortexDJ keeps itself up to date: it installs each update for you and reopens, on Windows and, since 2.35, on Mac. The user guide covers the current version. Every release, newest first:

v2.38.4 — November 8, 2026

One singer and one bassline at a time in rendered sets

  • Fixed — the next track’s singer came in over the current one: since 2.38.2, RENDER SET with Separate the instruments? on is meant to hold back the incoming track’s vocal while the outgoing track is still singing. When a track’s tempo had to be matched, which is almost always, the held vocal came through slightly louder instead. It is now held back, and returns smoothly when the other singer stops.
  • Fixed — two basslines at a transition: with Separate the instruments? on, part of a track’s bass kept playing while it was meant to be out: under the outgoing track before the bass swap, and under the incoming track after it. Now only one bassline plays at a time.
  • Both fixes are for RENDER SET. Live sets and renders without separation are unchanged.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.38.3 — November 6, 2026

No more repeated beats or dips you didn’t ask for, and live cuts that wait for the singer

  • Changed — rolls and slams are off by default: at some transitions, CortexDJ repeated a beat faster and faster or dropped the music for a moment. These effects could sound like playback faults. They are now off, live and in RENDER SET. To bring them back, turn on Rolls and slams in Settings › Mixing.
  • Fixed — Creativity had no effect on RENDER SET: every render used all of its effects, whatever you had chosen. A render now follows your Creativity setting, as a live set does.
  • Fixed — a singer cut off in a live set: before a live set starts, CortexDJ now listens to the outgoing track at each short cut. If someone is still singing, the cut waits for a bar where they are not. If they don’t stop in time, it becomes a blend.
  • Changed — added and swapped tracks fit the set’s style: when CortexDJ adds a track to reach your length, or swaps one to keep two vocals apart, it now checks the track’s genre tag, or its sound when it has no tag. If nothing fits, the set can come out shorter, and CortexDJ tells you.
  • Changed — a slam is now a short dip: if you turn slams on, a render lowers the music briefly instead of silencing it, as a live set does.
  • New — a recommendation for vocal-heavy sets: when many tracks in a set have vocals, Separate the instruments? now recommends Yes for that render.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.38.2 — November 5, 2026

Rendered sets without ticks or gaps, built from tracks that really mix, as long as you ask

  • Fixed — a faint tick in RENDER SET: while a track glided back to its own tempo, a render could leave a tiny click about every 0.75 seconds. The glide is now seamless.
  • Fixed — the beat dropping out at a transition: when the next track started with a long intro without drums, the outgoing kick and bass could leave 13–19 seconds before the new drums came in, and a track could stop in the middle of a note. The outgoing track now keeps its kick and bass until the new kick has really started; a much later kick brings the next track in later. Each render checks itself for more than 4 bars without a kick.
  • Fixed — vocals cut off mid-word: a short cut now listens to the outgoing track at the cut point. If someone is still singing, it echoes out instead, so the word fades naturally.
  • Changed — two vocals at once: with Separate the instruments? on, the next track’s vocal waits until the outgoing vocal line has ended. Its music still comes in as before.
  • New — sets built from tracks that mix: while it picks and orders the tracks, CortexDJ now checks every pair for a clean place to blend, where only one of the two tracks has a vocal. If a pair cannot be mixed cleanly, it moves a track or brings in another one from your music with a similar tempo, key, energy and length, and the transition’s Why? says what it changed.
  • Fixed — sets shorter than asked: each track plays from its mix-in point to its mix-out point, about two thirds of it, but the set builder counted almost all of it, so a 60-minute set could come out near 48 minutes. It now counts each track as the mix plays it, measures the planned set, and brings in more tracks from your selection if the set is still short. If there are not enough tracks that mix together and a rendered set comes out clearly shorter than asked, Render complete says how long it is and why.
  • Changed — the slam effect is much shorter, so it can never leave a noticeable gap.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.38.1 — November 5, 2026

Tighter beats in rendered sets, and no vocals forced over vocals

  • Fixed — beats in RENDER SET: on some tracks a render read the tempo 0.5–2 % off and then placed the incoming kick up to about 120 ms late, so a transition could sound unsettled or abrupt even with matching BPM and key. Each track’s tempo now comes from a fit to its whole beat grid, and the two kicks are lined up by where they actually start. Playing live was not affected: the decks keep correcting the sync.
  • Changed — vocals over vocals: when no blend can keep two vocals apart, CortexDJ now makes a short cut that lands on the next track’s phrase instead of laying one vocal over the other, even with automatic cuts turned off. This holds for RENDER SET and for the live auto-mix. At most a quarter of a set’s transitions are cuts and never two in a row; where that leaves no room, the transition’s Why? says the overlap was forced.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.38.0 — November 3, 2026

Send to rekordbox: your set in rekordbox in a few clicks, and better-protected keys

  • New — Send to rekordbox: when a set is built, RENDER SET has a third choice beside Render to file and Perform live: “Send to rekordbox”. No need to play, render or check the set first. You see the whole running order, then choose Playlist (the original tracks in this order, unmixed, with CortexDJ’s mix plan beside it) or Mixed (the whole set as one audio file, with CortexDJ’s transitions). One click writes the file to Music › CortexDJ › rekordbox and shows exactly what to do in rekordbox: File › Import › Import Playlist, the file to choose, and the name of the playlist that then appears under Playlists. Show in Finder / Show in Explorer and Copy path are right there.
  • New — Tracks that can’t go are named first: before anything is written, CortexDJ checks every file of the set without reading it (only the header of a WAV, AIFF or FLAC file is read; on Windows a file on your disk is also opened for a moment, to see that it can be read): a file that was moved or deleted, can’t be read, is kept online (iCloud, OneDrive) and not downloaded, or is a file type rekordbox can’t play is listed by name, and you choose to send the set without it or to cancel. A track is never left out without a word — nor is one that a Mixed render can’t read.
  • New — Everywhere a set goes to rekordbox: in Simple mode, Export playlist › rekordbox opens the same window; in Advanced mode, Mix › “Send the last set to rekordbox…” and the library’s export menu do. Each playlist points at your files exactly as your library has them, accented names included. A Mixed set you already rendered, exactly as it is now, is not rendered again; several mixes go in one send, one playlist each.
  • Fixed — The rekordbox xml steps: the guide and the README in every export folder now say what rekordbox needs: tick rekordbox xml under Media Browser, then double-click rekordbox xml, Playlists and the CortexDJ folder, and click the refresh button for a set you export later. The rekordbox xml route is still one click away, on the Send to rekordbox window, with its name and Replace choice.
  • Changed — Your keys on a Mac: on macOS, Pro and Lifetime licence keys are now stored encrypted with a key held in your Keychain, as stream keys already were, and CortexDJ’s settings folder can be read only by your macOS user. This happens by itself the first time 2.38 starts; free keys stay as they are. If macOS asks once whether CortexDJ may use the Keychain, click Allow; if the Keychain can’t be used, your keys stay as they were. Windows is unchanged.
  • Changed — Safer sign-ins and streams: signing in to Mixcloud or SoundCloud from the app now accepts only the answer to CortexDJ’s own request, and the Mixcloud sign-in no longer puts the app’s secret in a web address. A stream key no longer appears in CortexDJ’s log, its error messages or a diagnostics report. With Broadcast Scene, the scene’s picture goes only to CortexDJ’s own video encoder on your computer.
  • Privacy: CortexDJ never writes into rekordbox’s own library or settings and never starts or stops rekordbox, and your set never leaves your computer: CortexDJ writes a playlist file there, and rekordbox imports it. If CortexDJ can’t read your diagnostics choice, diagnostics stay off. The privacy policy says how keys are stored.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.37.0 — November 2, 2026

Edit any transition, sets that learn from you, a backup player for live sets, and Stream DJ mode

  • New — Edit transitions: Mix → “Edit transitions of the last set…” (Ctrl+Shift+E) shows the whole set on a timeline. Move where a transition starts, change its type and length, play a preview of just that transition, then apply it, or render the set again with your changes. “Open a recent set…” brings back any of your last 30 sets.
  • New — Learns from your edits: the tracks you keep, replace or move, the transitions you change and the stars you give a set shape the next sets it plans. On this computer only. Settings → Mixing → Learning shows what it has learned, with Forget for each item and Reset learning; “Learn from my edits” turns it off.
  • New — Style and vocals from the sound: CortexDJ also listens to each track for its style, its instruments and where the vocals are, with a sound model that ships with the app. The new STYLE and VOX columns show what it heard, and a library you already have is listened to in the background. Treat it as a first guess: it is most useful next to your own genre tags, which it learns to match. Where it can tell where the vocals are, the AI avoids blending vocals over vocals.
  • New — Backup player: during a live set, a second CortexDJ waits in the background. If the app crashes or stops responding, it keeps the music going, and when CortexDJ is open again you can take the set back. For every edition, on by default: Settings → Audio → Backup player.
  • Changed — Take Control and Hand back: Take Control (Ctrl+T) now stops the AI, so every control is yours; press it again to hand back, and the AI plans the rest of the set from the track that is playing. The old meaning (Auto Protect off, the AI keeps mixing) is one setting away in Settings → Mixing.
  • New — Stream DJ mode (Pro and Lifetime): Mix → Stream session… plays hours of music that plans itself chapter by chapter, without repeats, with a now-playing text file and page for your stream overlay and sampler pads that play on a schedule. Long recordings no longer stop at 4 GB.
  • New — Cuts: a short transition (EQ swap, filter or echo) you can choose in the transition editor. The AI does not choose cuts on its own yet.
  • Changed — One copy of a song per set: when your library holds the same track twice (the same title, artist and length in two files, or the same file in two folders), a set plays it once and keeps the better copy, for example the lossless file over an MP3. It is the same check the Pre-show Check uses, and your files are never touched.
  • Changed — A calmer Simple mode: while the AI mixes, Simple mode also hides SYNC, CUE and KEY; they come back the moment you press Take Control. Advanced mode is unchanged.
  • New — Separate decks: on an audio interface with four outputs, Settings → Audio → Output mode can send deck A to outputs 1–2 and deck B to outputs 3–4, each to a channel of your DJ mixer. Each deck keeps CortexDJ’s crossfades, the AI’s too; tick Pre-fader to do the crossfades on your mixer, with both decks at full level. The master effects, the riser and the jingle pads are not sent to the mixer, and a recording or stream holds CortexDJ’s own mix. The choice is remembered with the device, and the output mode stays as it is while a set plays. It is new: tell us how it works with your interface.
  • Changed — Removing tracks asks first: Library → Remove selected from library and the Delete key now ask before they take tracks out of your library, and Delete works only while the track list has the focus. The analysis, the crates and what CortexDJ learned about those tracks go with them; the music files always stay on your disk.
  • Fixed — Quitting after a set: closing CortexDJ while it was still preparing tracks could leave its window not responding for many seconds. It now closes at once.
  • Privacy: all of this stays on your computer; the privacy policy lists what is kept where. With diagnostics on, the app also says whether the previous session ended normally.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.36.0 — October 31, 2026

A mix plan for rekordbox, master switches with meters, and a quicker first set

  • New — Mix plan: every set export (rekordbox, Serato or a folder, and the playlists folder next to every rendered mix) now includes “<set> - mix plan.txt”: the running order with each track’s BPM and key, where each blend starts in the incoming track (MIX IN), where the outgoing track starts to leave (MIX OUT), how long each transition is and the tempo change. Play the set yourself the way CortexDJ planned it.
  • New — Mix points as memory cues: an option for the rekordbox XML with grids and cues adds the planned MIX IN and MIX OUT points as memory cues, so rekordbox shows where each transition starts. Off by default; the playlist-only XML is unchanged.
  • New — Master stages you can see and switch: LOUD (loudness match), COMP (compressor) and LIMIT (limiter and true-peak protection) sit next to the master fader, each with its own meter. All three are on by default, so the sound is exactly as before. Switching the limiter off lasts until you close CortexDJ (it is always on when the app starts); while it is off, a CLIP light shows overs and the pre-show check warns, and rendered sets always keep the limiter.
  • New — Quick first set: a new install opens in Simple mode with “⚡ First set: 20 songs, about 15 minutes” selected. CortexDJ takes the first songs from across your library and shows an honest estimate of the time left while it analyses them.
  • Improved: after the first set, the free-key and key choices are part of the “Ready to mix” or “Render complete” message instead of a separate window.
  • Privacy: with diagnostics on, the activity lines now include when the first set was ready (timings and counts only) and which answer was chosen for the key question. Nothing is recorded with diagnostics off.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.35.0 — October 31, 2026

Set ready, one-click playlist export, sets in Italian, and a safer live set

  • New — Set ready: in Simple mode, as soon as a set is planned you see how many tracks it has, how long it is and its full running order, and you can export it right away, without waiting for the music.
  • New — Export playlist: one click to rekordbox, Serato or a folder, under a name you choose. In rekordbox each set becomes its own playlist in a “CortexDJ” folder (one-time setup, shown step by step). It never touches your beat grids, hot cues or library, and never overwrites an earlier export unless you choose to replace it.
  • New — describe a set in Italian as well as English, including stages: “inizia con lounge e jazz morbido, passa gradualmente alla soulful house”. Then change it in a sentence (“replace track 5”, “make the last 20 minutes more energetic”), with a preview and undo.
  • New — Pre-show check: missing files, unreliable beat grids, tempo doubts, very loud or very quiet files, duplicates and files on removable drives, with one-click fixes. Nothing is changed on your disk.
  • New — Sampler: 8 pads for jingles, drops and announcements, with optional ducking of the music (Ctrl/⌘+1–8).
  • New — Auto Protect: during an automatic set, an accidental touch on pitch, crossfader, EQ, effects, hot cues or a controller can no longer disrupt the mix. Press Take Control (Ctrl+T) to mix by hand for the rest of the set.
  • New — rekordbox BPM as reference: point CortexDJ at your rekordbox collection export and it uses rekordbox’s tempo level; tracks where the two disagree by half or double are flagged, with a one-click re-check. Read-only.
  • New on the Mac — automatic updates: “Update now” downloads the next version, checks Apple’s signature and ours, replaces the app in place and opens it again. This version still installs the usual way; the next ones update themselves.
  • Improved: after a blend, the new track returns to its own tempo gradually, in proportion to the difference — live and in rendered mixes. Double-click the round deck display to enlarge its numbers.
  • Fixed: switching between Simple and Advanced during a set could briefly restart the audio. Settings that restart the audio now wait for the set to end, and changing the output device mid-set asks first.
  • Fixed: the “Choose my music folder” button was cut off in Simple mode; deck titles now end in “…” when they do not fit.
  • Privacy: diagnostics events are recorded only while diagnostics are on.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.34.2 — October 30, 2026

License activation on macOS 27

  • Fixed: on macOS 27, pressing Activate under Settings > About closed the app. The crash happened while macOS drew the “please wait” mouse pointer, before any key was checked, so it happened offline too. CortexDJ no longer changes the pointer on macOS. Your key, library and settings were never affected; after updating, press Activate again.
  • Fixed: dragging rows from the library could raise an error when the selection included an empty cell.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.34.1 — October 30, 2026

No samples in AI sets, and clearer buttons on high-resolution screens

  • Fixed: very short files could end up in an AI set: one set opened with a two-second sound effect. Files under a minute (samples, one-shots, jingles, spoken announcements) are now left out of every AI set, rendered or live, and the status bar says how many. They stay in your library and on your disk.
  • Fixed: at 150–200 % display scaling the LOAD and KEY labels were cut off at the bottom.
  • License: the EULA now says that Pro and Lifetime may be used for paid and public performances, such as gigs, venues and events. The rights to the music you play stay yours to arrange.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.34.0 — October 29, 2026

Simple mode, modern decks, collections and a safer live mix

  • New: Simple mode. One switch at the top of the window. Pick what to mix (all your music, a crate or a genre), how long (15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes) and how it blends (short, medium or long), then press Make a mix. Safe settings come with it, and every other control is one click away in Advanced mode.
  • New: modern decks. A progress ring with the time left, and a line under each deck with elapsed, remaining and total time, BPM, key and a countdown to the next automatic transition. Prefer the turntable? Settings > Mixing > Deck style.
  • New: collections. The library's sidebar lists your crates and builds collections from your genre tags (Afro House, Disco, Soulful House and so on). Pick one and press Mix this collection. The folder view shows your music folders instead of the whole computer, and search finds genres too.
  • New: export to rekordbox without touching what's already there. When the tracks are already in rekordbox with your own beat grids and hot cues, choose playlist only and just the set's order comes across.
  • See where each value came from. Hover a key, energy or BPM in the library to see whether it came from Mixed In Key, the file's tag or CortexDJ's own analysis.
  • Transitions in the set dialog: Short (32 beats), Medium (64) or Long (128), right where you choose the set's length.
  • A safer live sound. True-peak protection on the live output (−1 dBTP). Safe buffering is on by default on Macs with 8 GB of RAM or less, and switches itself on if the audio keeps stuttering, never in the middle of a song. When the computer is under strain, background analysis pauses and transitions stay simple until it recovers.
  • A late next track no longer means silence. The outgoing track loops its last bars until the next one is ready, the blend fits the time that is left, and a track that won't load is skipped instead of ending the set.
  • Fixed: the deck controls overlapped at the default window size and on 13-inch laptops; "Add to crate" added only the row under the mouse; dragging tracks carried only the first one.
  • Windows and macOS. Much of this came from your ideas and reports — thank you.
v2.33.6 — October 29, 2026

The right tempo for hard-to-read tracks

  • Fixed: some tracks were read at the wrong tempo. For most tracks CortexDJ's main beat detector finds a clean grid. When a track is hard to read (the tempo drifts, or it isn't sure where the bar starts) it hands over to a simpler detector, and that one could pick the wrong tempo level: a 128 BPM house track came out as 160. The simpler detector is now steered by the tempo the main detector heard, which is almost always right even when its grid isn't, so those tracks get their real BPM.
  • Your library is corrected in the background. After the update, CortexDJ re-analyses only the tracks this affects, one at a time and at low priority, and fixes their BPM, beat grid and MIX mark. Every other track is left exactly as it was. Tracks with a BPM tag from Beatport or Mixed In Key were already read correctly and keep using it.
  • Windows and macOS.
v2.33.5 — October 29, 2026

Tracks with a ✕ never shrink a set without asking

  • Fixed: a set could come out far shorter than you asked for. Tracks with a ✕ in the MIX column (their beat grid doesn't lock firmly to the kick drum) are left out of automatic sets, and that happened without a word: ask for 30 minutes with only four ticked tracks selected, and you got a mix of four tracks. Now, when leaving them out would make the set noticeably shorter than requested, or leave too few tracks to mix, CortexDJ tells you and lets you choose: include them anyway, or leave them out.
  • Fixed: a selection of only ✕ tracks mixed every one of them without telling you. That fallback contradicted the rule above. It now asks the same question.
  • Your choice holds for the whole batch, including a live performance of the same set. When the ticked tracks are enough for the length you asked for, nothing changes.
  • Windows and macOS. A user report led us to it — thank you.
v2.33.4 — October 29, 2026

Your set, in order, in any DJ app; shorter blends; no pops

  • New: the set in its play order, for your DJ app. Every rendered mix now gets a “playlists” folder next to it, and the Export to rekordbox / Serato menu has Export the last AI set in play order, for a live auto-mix too. Inside: a rekordbox XML with the set as a playlist (beat grids, hot cues, key and BPM included), an M3U8 and an M3U for Serato, VirtualDJ, Traktor, Engine DJ, Mixxx and djay, a Serato crate, and a README with the steps for each app. Crates keep no order, so until now a set reached rekordbox shuffled.
  • Shorter blends when you want them. Blend length now goes down to 32 beats (8 bars, about 15 seconds at 128 BPM). Set it under 48 and the live auto-mix follows your length instead of stretching every transition to 12 bars, and a blend grows by at most a quarter of your length to cover a breakdown in the next track, instead of up to 32 more beats. The default, 128 beats, is unchanged.
  • Fixed: pops when a track stopped at the end of a transition. The outgoing deck dropped from its level to silence in one step, and the crossfader, the master level and the bus compressor changed in steps between audio blocks. Each of them now glides over a few milliseconds, so a stop or a level change makes no click.
  • Windows and macOS. A user report led us to all three — thank you.
v2.33.3 — October 29, 2026

Blend length does what it says

  • Fixed: the Blend length setting did nothing. The auto-mix plan and RENDER SET always used their own 32-bar default, whatever Blend length said, and the setting went back to 96 beats every time CortexDJ started. Now it is saved, and every set is planned from it: each transition starts at your length, and the AI still fits it to the two tracks, using about half of it when the next track opens with vocals.
  • The value is in beats (4 beats = 1 bar). The default, 128 beats (32 bars), is the length the plan used before, so if you never changed it your mixes sound the same. The setting now starts at 48 beats (12 bars), the shortest blend the live auto-mix plays; below that it offered values the mix ignored.
  • Windows and macOS. A user report led us to it — thank you.
v2.33.2 — October 28, 2026

Stereo stays stereo in rendered mixes

  • Fixed: parts of a rendered mix could sound doubled or delayed between the left and right speakers. While a track played on its own between two transitions, CortexDJ eases it back towards its own tempo. In that step the right channel was filled with the left channel’s audio from about 0.74 seconds later, so the track’s real right channel was lost and you heard an echo between the speakers. It affected every exported mix in which a track’s tempo differed from the mix tempo, whatever the creativity level and with or without stem separation. Transitions themselves were not affected. 2.33.2 keeps both channels exactly as they are in your track.
  • Mixes rendered with an earlier version keep the problem; render them again with 2.33.2. Your library, crates and settings are unchanged.
  • Windows and macOS. A user report led us to it — thank you.
v2.33.1 — October 21, 2026

Opens on macOS 27

  • Fixed: on macOS 27 the Mac app closed about a second after it started. macOS 27 refuses to load some of the maths libraries inside CortexDJ, because of a header field that earlier versions of macOS ignored. 2.33.1 corrects that field, and the app starts normally again. Nothing else changes: the sound, the analysis and your library are exactly as in 2.33.0.
  • Already on macOS 27 and the app won’t open? Download it again from the download page and drag CortexDJ.app into Applications over the old copy. Your library, settings and key are stored outside the app, so they stay.
  • macOS beta only. Windows stays on 2.33.0, which needs no change.
v2.33.0 — October 20, 2026

Lighter on your computer, and steadier

  • Far less CPU and memory while it mixes. The decks, waveforms and audio engine do the same work with much less effort, and a library scan needs less memory at its peak. The sound and the analysis are exactly the same as before.
  • Changed files are picked up. When a track has changed since CortexDJ analysed it, for example because another DJ program wrote its key and energy into the file afterwards, opening the folder analyses it again. Hot cues you set by hand stay where you put them.
  • Fixed: a crash when choosing where to save a recording or a set while music was playing.
  • On Windows and in the macOS beta.
v2.32.1 — October 19, 2026

Keys and energy from the tools you already use

  • Already analysed somewhere else? CortexDJ uses it. If another DJ program on your computer has analysed a track, CortexDJ now takes the key, energy and tempo it stored, so both show the same values. It only reads them, never changes them, and nothing leaves your computer. Tracks you have moved since are still recognised.
  • More key and energy tags understood. Musical key names (Am, E♭m), Open Key (1m), Camelot with a leading zero (08A), and an energy level written in the comment, grouping or label field.
  • Tags in WAV, AIFF and M4A files are read too, not only in MP3 and FLAC.
  • The macOS beta gets 2.32. Everything in 2.32.0 below is now on Mac too, including the free key from inside the app. It needs macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon.
v2.32.0 — October 15, 2026

Your free key from inside the app, a much faster first scan, and privacy you choose

  • Get your free key without leaving CortexDJ. Type your e-mail address, then click the link in the e-mail or type its 6-digit code. CortexDJ activates itself; nobody copies a long key any more. The key is also in the e-mail, for your second computer.
  • Diagnostics are off unless you turn them on. A short notice on first start says exactly what the app sends and lets you choose. When they are on, reports go about once an hour, carry a random ID that is not your licence, and count your audio devices instead of naming them. Up to 2.31 diagnostics were on by default, every 90 seconds, with device names.
  • The first scan of your library is several times faster. Tracks are analysed in parallel, each worker loads the beat model once, and there is a live estimate and a Stop button. It now reads 8 folder levels deep and up to 20,000 files, and tells you when a limit cuts a scan short.
  • Stem separation in RENDER really happens. “Separate the instruments?” used to try to download a model, fail quietly offline and render without stems. It now uses the model shipped with the app, never the network, and the result says plainly whether every track was separated.
  • Long sets render in bounded memory. The mix streams to disk two tracks at a time, so a long set no longer runs out of RAM.
  • Errors in plain words. A failed render shows what happened and what to do, not a Python traceback. “Copy details” puts a short report on your clipboard with paths, e-mail addresses and keys removed; nothing is sent anywhere.
  • One analysis for planning and playing. RENDER and PERFORM now plan on the key and beat grid your library shows, including Mixed In Key and Beatport tags in your files, so one set comes out in one order.
  • M4A, AAC, ALAC and WMA files decode with the converter built into CortexDJ, not whatever happens to be installed on your computer, which made them fail on many machines.
  • Security. A planted analysis-cache file in a shared or downloaded music folder could run code; the cache is now plain data. Updates are signed with an offline key and checked before they install. Licence keys carry a key ID, so a signing key can be replaced without breaking any key already issued.
  • Honest about controllers. The app says which built-in controller maps come from the maker’s MIDI chart and which are community-derived, and the MIDI page has a Rescan button.
  • Requirements. Windows 10 version 1809 or later. CortexDJ now runs on Python 3.12 with locked, hash-checked dependencies. The macOS beta needs macOS 13 or later and gets 2.32 in a separate build.
v2.31.0 — August 30, 2026

It finds your music, it fits your screen, and it tells you what to do

  • Point it at your Music folder and it works. The scan only ever looked at the folder you picked — not inside it. Almost every library is Artist/Album, so the most obvious first move came back with nothing at all and one grey line at the bottom of the window. It now reads the whole tree underneath, skipping the usual junk, and if it genuinely finds no audio it says so properly and tells you what it reads.
  • The window fits the screen it opens on. CortexDJ asked for 1280×880 while its layout really needed 1252×1114, and refused to shrink below 680 px tall. On a 1366×768 laptop that put the track list, the search box and the status bar — which carries every message the app prints — below the bottom of the display, with no way to pull them back. It now sizes itself to your actual screen.
  • Drag your music in. Dropping a folder or a handful of tracks onto the window, the track list or a deck did nothing at all before, silently. All three work now.
  • An empty library says what to do next. Instead of an empty nine-column grid, you get one button: choose your music folder. It also tells you there that your first set is free — which you previously could only discover after analysing.
  • There is a menu bar. File, Library, Mix and Help, with Ctrl‑O, Ctrl‑E, Ctrl‑R and F1. Help now lists every keyboard shortcut, including the eight live-performance keys that had never been written down anywhere. The rekordbox / Serato export and the mashup finder are reachable from the menu, not only by right-clicking a list you have not filled yet.
  • RENDER SET now renders to a file by default, and shows you where it landed. The live-performance option was first and took the Enter key, which for anyone without a DJ controller led to a feature they cannot use and no mix to show for it.
  • One bad file no longer ruins a whole render. A truncated download or a DRM'd track used to end the job with an error page after all the waiting. It is skipped and named now, and the mix carries on.
  • A failed render gives your free set back. If the one keyless set was spent on a mix that then crashed, you got nothing and the next attempt asked for a key. Not any more.
  • You can watch a long scan, and stop it. A progress bar with a live estimate, and a Stop button. A 200-track library used to be many silent minutes in which nothing on screen changed.
  • Fixes for Mac: tracks with accents in the filename analysed fine and then failed at render time. And CortexDJ now checks it can write to your chosen folder before rendering, instead of discovering at the end that macOS would not allow it.
  • Straight talk about Pro. The streaming page let you set up a full stream, save your key, and then quietly do nothing — it says up front that streaming and recording need Pro. The MIDI page quoted a price without ever checking whether a controller was plugged in; it looks first now, and if you have no controller it says the mixer, library, decks and rekordbox export are all yours free.
  • Small things that were wrong: “Build up → peak → cool” behaved identically to “All energies” and now builds a real arc; the stem-separation prompt defaulted to the slow answer; pressing OK on the set builder could do nothing without saying so; every “enter my key” button opened the wrong settings page; the folder picker opened inside Program Files; and 44 buttons had no tooltip.
v2.30.6 — August 15, 2026

Your free first set is genuinely free — and the app's own paperwork is finally about CortexDJ

  • A cancelled Save box no longer costs you your free set. The previous build spent it the moment you pressed RENDER SET — before the dialogs you can still back out of — so closing the Save window took your one free set without ever building a mix. It is now spent only once a mix actually starts. If 2.30.5 already took yours this way, this version gives it back the first time you run it.
  • The licence agreement and privacy notice inside the app describe CortexDJ. Both were still template text about a different product. They now say what the app actually does — including that activating a key contacts the server.
  • The macOS update prompt stopped overpromising. It claimed the app would install the update and reopen itself. It never did that — it reveals the new build in Finder for you to drag into Applications, and now that is what it says.
v2.30.5 — August 9, 2026

Sets build in seconds — and your first one needs no key

  • RENDER is about 40× faster. The step that measures how far apart the two tracks' kick drums are was doing enormously more arithmetic than it needed. A 20-track set spent over a minute on that alone; it now takes under two seconds. Same measurement, same result — just calculated properly.
  • Your first set is on the house. CortexDJ now builds one full set — full quality, no watermark — before it asks for a licence key. Hear what it does, then decide. The key is still free and still covers 2 computers.
  • Clearer about the key. The app used to say your key “was emailed when you downloaded”, which wasn't true if you never left an address — so it sent people hunting for mail that was never sent. It now says what's actually the case, and offers a button to get one.
  • A smaller download. Two libraries that were being bundled but never used are gone: 16 MB off the installer.
v2.30.4 — July 30, 2026

Tighter track entries — and recordings that can't fail in silence

  • The incoming track now lands on the beat. The step that nudges a new track onto the outgoing one's grid was leaving up to 40 ms of slip on real music — enough to hear as a flam on the first bars. Rebuilt and measured: the residual is now under 3 ms, with no audible seam at the joins.
  • Stopping a recording or stream can no longer freeze the app. If the streaming server stopped answering, ending the broadcast could hang the whole window — you couldn't even quit. Teardown now happens off the interface, and a stuck connection gets cut loose.
  • A failed recording tells you. If the writer died mid-session, recording simply stopped with no warning — you could lose an hour and only find out afterwards. It now raises an error immediately, and a multi-set broadcast starts a fresh stream instead of going out silent.
  • Live override polish. Moving the playhead on the outgoing deck mid-blend could snap the crossfader into a hard cut; taking a deck over could leave the next one silent for a whole track. Both fixed.
  • Also: another third-party component removed from the build (and cleaned off existing installs on update).
v2.30.3 — July 29, 2026

Take over the mix whenever you like — and recordings that stay in sync

  • Live override. Touch any control while the AI is mixing — filter, EQ, crossfader, FX, tempo, a deck's play button — and it becomes yours. The AI stops fighting you and keeps the set running. It picks the control back up when you return it to neutral or press ↵AI — and, for the four it cannot land a blend without (crossfader, both EQs, a deck’s play), at the hand-over if you grabbed it mid-blend. Works from the screen and from a MIDI controller, which picks up without a jump.
  • Recorded video and audio line up exactly. A hardware-encoder stall at the start of a recording was silently dropping seconds of audio, which made the picture appear to lag. Fixed and measured — and long broadcasts no longer drift.
  • Sets that hang together. Splitting a folder into several mixes now groups tracks by key, tempo and energy instead of just by length.
  • Your licence is safer. A paid key can no longer be lost by entering another key, and cancelling Pro really does drop you to the free tier — the app keeps working. Pro keys now renew themselves while your subscription is live.
  • Also: export your library to rekordbox or Serato, a second launch brings the existing window forward, sharper key detection, and stem separation moved fully out of the audio path.
v2.29.5 — July 27, 2026

Cleaner upgrades & steadier long sessions

  • Upgrades now clean house. Installing an update removes components older versions left behind — keeping every install lean and current.
  • STOP is dependable mid-session. Stopping a multi-set run between mixes can no longer be overridden by a mix that was still preparing.
  • Hardened update downloads. The updater cleans up old downloads, checks free disk space first, and the AI stem model is integrity-verified with a full cryptographic pin.
  • Smoother marathon streams. Fixed a small periodic UI stall during kept-alive live broadcasts, and a browser-engine shutdown nit in YouTube Party.
v2.29.4 — July 25, 2026

Fleet-safe updates & no more stranded live streams

  • Auto-update hardening. The updater now understands beta version numbers correctly, so future releases always reach every install.
  • Live streams always end cleanly. If a queued mix fails to prepare mid-session, the broadcast is now closed out properly instead of streaming silence — and STOP works during the in-between-mixes moment too.
  • Steadier multi-set splits. Splitting a folder into mixes can no longer produce an unplayable one-track set anywhere in the queue.
  • Safer stem separation. The bundled AI model is integrity-checked before loading, and stem-heavy mashup builds wait politely while you're playing or recording.
v2.29.0-beta3 — July 25, 2026

Tighter transitions & fully-offline stem separation

  • Tighter transitions. Every deck now syncs on the track’s true tempo — a cached-analysis bug quietly fell back to a coarser BPM and let long blends drift out of phase. Fixed: cached tracks now beatmatch as tightly as freshly analysed ones.
  • Stem separation is fully offline. The AI bass-swap model now ships inside the installer — no first-use download, works with no internet at all.
  • Multi-set live fixes. Queued mixes hand over cleanly (no stranded stream at the end of a split set) and “Full app view” streams keep the real UI across every mix.
  • New in beta: dynamic EQ on live transitions, plus a 4-channel headphone cue for pre-listening on supported audio interfaces.
v2.28.9 — July 25, 2026

Bracketed folders scan again & steadier multi-set sessions

  • Folders with brackets in the name work again. A folder whose name contains square brackets — for example “[PSR322]” — now scans correctly instead of being skipped.
  • More reliable multi-mix / multi-set sessions. Back-to-back mixes and multi-set runs hold together more dependably from start to finish.
  • Stem-separation robustness fixes for the invisible bass swap and mashups.
v2.28.8 — July 24, 2026

Ask for several mixes — get them all, hands-free

  • Multi-mix live sessions. Split a folder into several mixes and choose “Perform live” — the decks now play every mix back-to-back automatically, and each one records to its own file (perfect for uploading as separate videos). Press STOP any time to end the whole session.
v2.28.7 — July 23, 2026

No more freezing while recording a mix

  • Recordings stay smooth. The background stem separation (used for the invisible bass swap) now runs in a separate low-priority process, so recording a mix no longer freezes or stutters — and the bass swap still works.
  • Windows & macOS (Apple Silicon) are both on this build.
v2.28.5 — July 23, 2026

Sharper key detection & safer stream keys

  • Key detection tuned to Mixed In Key. A retuned key model agrees with Mixed In Key more often — especially it no longer flips a track between its major and minor key, so your harmonic mixes line up better.
  • Mac: stream keys encrypted in the Keychain. On macOS your broadcast/stream keys are now encrypted with a key held in the system Keychain, not stored in plain text.
  • Per-platform auto-update (Mac tracks Mac releases), a smoother app exit, and the admin fleet view now shows whether each machine records on the GPU.
v2.28 — July 22, 2026

A new beat brain, GPU-powered recording & a cleaner stream picture

  • A brand-new AI beat engine. Beat detection is now driven by a state-of-the-art neural beat tracker with a constant-tempo grid fit, confident bar-one detection and kick-locked anchoring — plus a quality gate: a track that can’t be gridded reliably is benched instead of mixed badly. Your existing library upgrades itself quietly in the background.
  • Recording & streaming now use your graphics card. CortexDJ tests which hardware H.264 encoder actually works on your machine (NVIDIA / Intel / AMD) and uses it — video encoding moves off the CPU, keeping it free for the audio engine.
  • The “Full app view” stream picture shows everything. The whole console now fits the frame (no more zoomed-in crop), with a branded band and a live NOW/NEXT strip.
  • Fuller, louder transitions. The blends no longer dip in level while two tracks ride together — the mix holds its energy right through every transition.
  • macOS (Apple Silicon) catches up to v2.28. The Mac beta now has the same neural beat engine and louder transitions — and a fixed auto-updater that tracks Mac releases instead of offering the Windows installer.
  • Faster track loads on already-scanned folders, smoother exit, and stability fixes around recording start/stop.
v2.26 — July 18, 2026

Kick-locked beatmatching & long club-style blends

  • Kick-locked beatmatching. Every beat grid is now re-anchored to the track's real kick drums — so blends stay locked for the whole overlap, not just at the hand-off.
  • The auto-mix skips tracks it can't lock. Tracks whose grid can't be locked cleanly are left out of the set — you'll see which ones, in the status bar and the new MIX column.
  • Long, audible club-style blends. Both tracks breathe together for a ~22-second minimum overlap, and every track gets room up front before the next one comes in.
  • Softer “slam” moments. A split-second duck, never silence.
  • Grab any control mid-mix. Touch the EQ, filter, FX or crossfader and it's yours until the next transition — then the AI takes back over.
  • Recording & streaming fixes. Fixed black video on modern Windows/NVIDIA setups, the screen no longer sleeps mid-stream, and no more audio micro-dropouts when the next track loads.
  • CortexDJ now runs as a single instance.
  • macOS beta updated to 2.26.3 — signed & notarized.
v2.25.30–36 · Jul 2026

macOS beta, a tighter beat-lock & a more mastered mix

  • CortexDJ is on Mac. A macOS beta (Apple Silicon) is live — the AI auto-mixer, live decks, library and analysis all work today; recording, streaming and stem-based mashups are landing soon.
  • Flanger, not echo. The AI DJ now sweeps a flanger where it used to throw an echo — a cleaner jet-sweep on the way in and out of every blend.
  • Cleaner, more mastered blends. A shared mid-scoop keeps key-matched tracks from piling up and clashing in the mids during long blends, and a gentle bus-glue compressor gives the whole set that "one mastered record" cohesion.
  • Beat-locked live transitions. The auto-DJ now starts every blend on a real downbeat and drives the bass swap from the beat grid instead of the clock, so hand-offs land tight on the one.
  • Longer, more creative blends. The crossfader now holds both tracks together for most of the blend instead of switching fast, with filter-into-the-drop sweeps, risers, breakdowns and a Creativity dial (Minimal → Wild) in Settings.
  • A livelier mid-track ride. The AI now performs between transitions too — filter lifts, bass ducks and echo throws land every 8 bars, not just at the blend.
  • Fixed the rare audible glitch when the next track loaded, and the crossfade cutting out early if a track ended mid-blend.
v2.25 · Jul 2026

Pro beatgrid, controller auto-detect & a braver AI DJ

  • “One perfect mix” — auto-picks your best tracks. Point CortexDJ at a big folder and choose a length; it selects the best set for that hour — one beatmatchable tempo band, every blend in key, shaped to your chosen vibe — instead of just taking the first tracks that fit. Plus reliability/security hardening across the deck audio, auto-DJ, MIDI and the updater.
  • Pro beatgrid that actually locks. A neural beat-and-downbeat detector nails the true tempo and bar-one, fixing tracks that older detectors misread — so two decks stay beat-locked from the first bar to the last, with no drift.
  • Your controller just works (Pro). Plug in a Pioneer DDJ-FLX4/FLX2/400/REV1/FLX6/1000/FLX10, Hercules Inpulse 200/300 or Numark Mixtrack / Party Mix II — detected on launch and mapped automatically (the Inpulse 200, Mixtrack and Party Mix maps are community-derived and not tested on the hardware by us, so check them). MIDI-learn still covers everything else.
  • A braver AI DJ. Filter sweeps, echo throws, low-pass intros and full sweep-throughs on most transitions — plus sparse, beat-safe highlights: a split-second master slam, a gate-roll stutter into the swap, a tape-stop on quick cuts. Varied every blend, never disturbing the lock.
  • Real turntables you can watch. Platter + gold tonearm whose needle rides the groove with the track, and during the auto-mix the EQ knobs turn, the filter sweeps and the FX buttons light up live — you see every move the AI makes.
  • Sharper harmonic order using your library's own key tags, and the library auto-follows the playing track so its info is always in view.
  • Works fully offline for everyone — the pro analysis is bundled, nothing to install or upload.
v2.24 · Jul 2026

Free license keys & a reorderable library

  • Every download now comes with a free-forever license key by email; every key (free or Pro) works on up to 2 of your computers.
  • Drag tracks to reorder your library by hand — column sorting still works.
  • Hot-cues you set on the pads now survive restarts.
  • Safer auto-update (installer integrity is always verified) and crash-proof settings saves.
v2.23 · Jul 2026

Polish & startup update checks

  • The app checks for updates on startup and offers to install in one click.
  • Restored the deck track-name display, the analysis progress indicator, and fixed the mixer layout on short windows.
  • Tighter beat-sync lock.
v2.22 · Jul 2026

Recording & streaming go Pro

  • Recording your set (audio + HD video) and live-streaming to YouTube / Twitch / Facebook are now Pro features.
  • Free stays free forever: the AI mix still plays live and still renders to a file.
v2.21

Legally-clean build & mashup export

  • Switched to an LGPL FFmpeg build (OpenH264) so the app is clean to distribute.
  • Export any mashup straight to a WAV file.
  • Import / export your MIDI controller mapping to share it.
v2.20

MIDI controllers + new pricing

  • Full MIDI controller support with MIDI-learn (Pro).
  • New freemium model: free forever for home use, Pro $7.45/mo, Lifetime $127.
v2.19

Mashup moments in the AI mix

  • The auto-mix now occasionally drops a mashup transition — the incoming vocal riding the outgoing groove, in key.
v2.18

Playlist quality-of-life

  • Delete tracks straight from the playlist, and tracks you've already played this session get marked in the library so you can see what's been used.
v2.17

Describe your set in plain English

  • Type "90s peak-time house, 1 hour" and CortexDJ builds it.
  • "Best Mashups" scans your whole library for the strongest pairs.
v2.16

MASH column

  • Load a track and every other track shows a live 0–100 mashup score — sort to find the best partners instantly.
v2.15

Mashups

  • Find compatible tracks and build a vocal-over-instrumental mashup, beatmatched and in key, with AI stem separation.
v2.14

In-app auto-update

  • CortexDJ now updates itself — you always have the latest.
v2.13

Persistent library & crates

  • Your analyzed tracks, crates and cue points survive restarts. Sort by key / BPM / energy; mark what you've played.
v2.12

Polish

  • Realistic turntables, sortable library columns, and a fix for rendering very long sets.

On first install, Windows may show a SmartScreen notice — click More info → Run anyway. Windows shows it for every installer that isn’t code-signed.