Getting started

Getting started with Solco

Solco prepares your music for DJing and writes the USB drive your Pioneer CDJ and XDJ players read. It grids every track, finds its key, loudness and character, helps fix tags and covers, and exports your playlists. Everything is analysed on your computer. Solco is in private alpha. Keep a backup of your music and your Solco library, and use a spare USB drive for your first exports. Add your music 1. Open Solco. The first page says Drop tracks in. Plug the USB in. Go play. 2. Drop a music folder on the window, or click Choose music folder…. Your files stay where they are. Solco adds its own ID tag to each file so it can follow moves and renames. Tracks appear as the folder is scanned, and analysis starts straight away. To add more later, drop files or folders anywhere on the window, or open Settings › Library and click Add folder…. Dropping single files asks once whether to Copy or Move them into your music folder, and never replaces a file of the same name. Coming from rekordbox, Traktor or Apple Music? The first page offers to bring your playlists and cues too. See "Importing from rekordbox, Traktor and Apple Music". Let Solco prepare your tracks With Analyze new tracks automatically on (in Settings › Library), Solco works through every track in the background: beatgrid and downbeats, key, loudness, waveform, fingerprint, and the style, mood and energy readings. You can keep working while it runs, and Activity shows what is happening. The steps in the sidebar take you through the rest: - Analysis: progress for every track. - Duplicates: the same recording in more than one place. Nothing is removed until you choose what goes. - Tags: catalogue matches from MusicBrainz and Discogs, waiting for your decision. Nothing is written to a file until you apply it. - Beatgrids: the few grids the analysis could not settle, with a one-click fix such as ×2 or ÷2. - Playlists: build playlists by hand, as smart playlists, or with the assistant. - Export: put your playlists on the connected USB drive. Build playlists Search with filters such as bpm:124..130 key:8A energy:>=60. Beside Playlists, the add menu offers New playlist and New smart playlist. A smart playlist saves a search: every new track that fits files itself in, and the playlist is written as an ordinary playlist when you export. Put it on a USB drive Plug in a USB drive and click it at the bottom of the sidebar, or click the Export step. An export only adds and updates: nothing on the drive is removed. See "Exporting to a CDJ or XDJ USB drive". Need help? Click Feedback at the top of the sidebar, beside Settings, to write to the Solco team. See "Contacting the Solco team".

Installing Solco on macOS, Windows and Linux

Solco runs on Macs with Apple Silicon, on Windows PCs and on Linux. Every alpha is published on the Solco releases page, and the release notes name the right download for each computer. All analysis models are included in every download. macOS You need a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 13.4 or later. Intel Macs are not supported. 1. Download the .dmg file, for example solco-v0.9.0-alpha.2-macos-arm64.dmg. 2. Open it and drag Solco into Applications. 3. Open Solco from Applications. The Mac app is signed and notarized by Apple. On a Mac, Solco asks once for access to the Music app when you import your Apple Music library. Windows Solco runs on 64-bit Windows on Intel and AMD processors. It has been tested on Windows 11 24H2; earlier versions are untested. 1. Download the .msi installer, for example solco-v0.9.0-alpha.2-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.msi. 2. Open it. It installs Solco for your user account, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Solco, without asking for administrator rights, and adds Solco to the Start menu. The release also has a setup program (-setup.exe) and a portable .zip for anyone who needs them. Your library and settings live outside the installation folder, so installing a new version or uninstalling never touches them. Linux Solco runs on 64-bit Intel and AMD (x86-64) and on ARM64 Linux. Each release has: - a .deb package for Debian and Ubuntu, and an .rpm package for Fedora and similar distributions; - a portable .tar.gz archive, which you unpack anywhere and run solco from. Packages install Solco under /opt/solco with a desktop entry and the solco command. Graphics Beat analysis uses your graphics card when there is a supported one, and the processor otherwise, which is slower. On some integrated graphics, analysis can still make the interface stutter. Before you start Keep a backup of your music. If you used an earlier Solco build, save a library backup first: see "Backing up and restoring your Solco library". Each alpha build runs for 30 days. See "The private alpha and its expiry date" and "Updating Solco".

The private alpha and its expiry date

Solco is in private alpha. DJs are invited in small groups from the waitlist at getsolco.com, and new builds come out often. It is unfinished software: keep a backup of your music and your Solco library, and use a spare USB drive for your first exports. Free to use, no account The alpha is free to use. There is no account and no license key to enter. The price of the full release is not set yet. Each build runs for 30 days Every alpha build expires 30 days after its release date, even if you download or install it later. The release notes give the exact date and time, and Solco shows it too: open Settings › About and click About this alpha. It shows your version, the date the build is free to use until, and a link to download the latest alpha. In the last seven days Solco reminds you that the build expires soon. Install a newer alpha before then: see "Updating Solco". After a build expires Your library stays available. You can still: - browse your library and play tracks; - save library backups; - check, recover and safely eject USB drives; - update Solco, even from an expired build. Work that was already running can finish. USB drives you exported keep working on your players. To start new work, such as analysis, tag edits, imports or exports, install a newer alpha. If the dates look wrong Solco checks the computer's clock. If it was set wrong by accident, correct it in your system settings, then click I’ve corrected the clock in About this alpha. This does not change the build's expiry date.

Contacting the Solco team

From inside Solco Click Feedback at the top of the sidebar, beside Settings. Write what happened, what you expected and the steps that led there, or just an idea, and send it. - Your email, for replies there too (optional): leave an address if you would like replies by email as well. - Attach a diagnostic summary adds a short technical summary. Click Read it to see the exact text before you send. Replies from the Solco team appear in the same panel, and the Feedback icon shows a dot when one is new. Closing the panel keeps the conversation. When a task goes wrong, Activity shows the problem with Tell us beside it, which opens Feedback with the details filled in. After a crash, the sidebar says whether a crash report was sent and offers Add details…. From this help center Use the chat bubble in the corner of any page here. The chat asks for your email address first, so we can reply by email after you close the page. Sharing a diagnostic report For a fuller report, open Settings › About, find Report a problem and click Create report…. Add notes if you like, click Review report, read it, then Copy report or Save report… and attach it to your message. The report holds your Solco version, operating system and a summary of recent tasks. It never contains your music, your library, track names, file paths or your computer's name. Creating it uploads nothing. If Solco can't open your library at all, run solco diagnostics in a terminal for a basic report. See "Privacy, error reports and diagnostics" for what each of these sends, and where.