1 · The four phases
- Intro (Hotkey 1) — session start, trance induction
- Middle (Hotkey 2) — deepening, main work
- Climax (Hotkey 3) — emotional peak
- Outro (Hotkey 4) — fade out, integration
2 · Crossfade mechanics
Two internal decks (A and B). On phase button press:
- Engine picks a track for the new phase (from library or preset playlist)
- Track loads on inactive deck, starts at volume 0
- Both decks parallel: active deck ramps 1→0, inactive 0→1
- Over crossfade-sec duration (default 6 sec)
- After completion: old deck stops, roles swap
3 · Beat quantization
By default, Hypnotika waits some beats after the click before the crossfade begins. So transitions start on musically meaningful spots.
- Instant (0) — crossfade starts immediately
- 4 bars — at 70 BPM ~14 sec wait
- 8 bars (default) — ~27 sec wait
- 16 bars — ~55 sec wait
While waiting, cockpit shows queued preview: next track name, match score, countdown to crossfade. Esc cancels the queue.
4 · Camelot wheel match
For each possible transition, Hypnotika computes a match score (0-100 %) based on:
- Key distance in Camelot Wheel (e.g. C major ↔ G major = perfect; C ↔ F# = dissonant)
- BPM difference
Below 60 % score: automatic lowpass sweep on the outgoing track — swallows highs, makes harmonic friction less audible. 60-80 % = clean crossfade. >80 % = perfect transition.
5 · Auto pitch shift (optional)
If enabled (Settings → „Auto pitch correction"), Hypnotika adjusts BPM and/or key of the incoming track via SoundTouchJS to maximize match score. Pre-rendered (~1 sec per minute audio) and cached.
6 · Auto-advance on loop end
When a track reaches its loop end: engine picks another track from same phase and switches automatically. You don't need to push a button every 4 minutes.
How the track order in a phase works
Once you start a phase (e.g. "Intro"), everything else runs automatically:
- Track 1 plays through.
- Just before track end, Hypnotika auto-crossfades to track 2 — no click needed.
- Track 2 → track 3 → back to track 1 → 2 → 3 → … endless loop, until you switch to another phase or hit Soft-Stop.
Each phase has its own independent cursor: when you come back to a phase later, it resumes where the cursor was last.
What clicks during the session do
- Re-clicking the active phase (e.g. "Intro" while Intro is playing) → instant crossfade to the next track in the playlist. Useful when you don't like the current track and want to switch without waiting for it to end.
- Clicking a track chip in the playlist shelf → direct jump to that exact track. Useful when you want to go to the third track in the list specifically.
- Phase switch (e.g. Intro → Middle) → crossfade into the first track of the new phase (or wherever its cursor was). The Intro cursor is remembered for later.
Special case: only one track in the phase
If a phase has only one track, Hypnotika crossfades that track with itself — deck A ends, deck B starts the same track from the beginning, both overlap for the crossfade duration. This avoids silence between repetitions.
Note: if your audio track has a built-in fade-in at the start or fade-out at the end, you may still hear a slight volume dip at the crossfade point. Solution: set loop markers (loopIn/loopOut) so the start and end with the fades are skipped, leaving only the "strong" middle section to loop.
7 · Soft Stop
Hotkey Space → master volume gently ramps to 0 over Soft-Stop-Sec duration (default 2 sec). Stops session recording too if active.
8 · Repeat lockout
Setting → „Repeat lockout" prevents the same track from playing again within the last N tracks (default 2). This makes for varied sessions even with repeated phase clicks.
Related: Cockpit hotkeys · Session presets · Loop markers