Create and manage session presets.

1 · What a preset is

• Name + icon
• BPM corridor (min/max for auto-pick) — only applies without a fixed playlist (section 3)
• Crossfade duration override (e.g. slower transitions for sleep induction) — only applies when "Smart Crossfade" is switched off (Settings → "Playback & Mixing" → "Smart Crossfade"). It is on out of the box; the app then calculates the length of each transition itself.
• Fixed playlist per phase (Intro, Mid, Climax, Outro), once "Use only these tracks (otherwise: all tagged tracks)" is ticked
• "Outro = Intro" (same track for both — common in hypnosis) — only takes effect without a fixed playlist, when you switch in the cockpit directly from "Intro" to "Outro" and the intro track is also assigned to "Outro" in the library
• Playlist-mode default — Loop (the current track loops endlessly, DJ style; with a fixed playlist per phase, pressing the phase button again restarts it) or Playlist (the phase's tracks play through automatically). The cockpit's Mode toggle starts on this value and can be switched any time mid-session.
• Notes

A preset has no soft-stop duration of its own; the editor has no field for it. The "Soft-stop duration" under Settings → "Playback & Mixing" applies. Only the bundled "Standard session" always fades out over 5 seconds on Soft Stop.

2 · Bundled presets

Hypnotika ships with five presets:

• 🧘 Standard session — active out of the box, fixed playlists with the four bundled music tracks, BPM 60-80, crossfade duration "Default", Soft Stop 5 sec
• 🚭 Smoking cessation — BPM 60-80, "Outro = Intro" ticked
• 🌙 Sleep induction — BPM 55-68, long crossfade (12 sec), no hard climax
• 😌 Anxiety release — BPM 65-78, 8-sec crossfade, "Outro = Intro" ticked, safety-focused
• 🥾 Hero’s journey — BPM 56-72, 8-sec crossfade, long sessions (60-90 min). See Hero's Journey article.

Only the "Standard session" comes filled with bundled music; the other four have empty playlists that you fill yourself. All five have "Use only these tracks (otherwise: all tagged tracks)" ticked, and the app ticks it again on every start. As long as it is ticked, "Outro = Intro" has no effect for them. If you delete a bundled preset, it is back in its original state after the next start.

3 · Create your own preset

1. Sidebar → Session presets
2. Top right, click "New preset"
3. Enter a name under "Name" (e.g. "Pain Reframing") — "Save" stays disabled without a name
4. Pick an icon under "Icon"
5. "BPM corridor": enter the min and max values (pre-filled with 60 and 80)
6. "Crossfade duration": while "Default" is highlighted, the value from the settings applies. Clicking it enables the number field (2 to 16 seconds, pre-filled with 6).
7. "Outro = Intro" is ticked for a new preset — untick it if needed
8. "Playlist mode (default)": choose "Loop" or "Playlist"
9. Notes (optional)
10. For fixed playlists, tick "Use only these tracks (otherwise: all tagged tracks)" (it is off for a new preset) and assign tracks (section 4)
11. "Save" — the preset appears as the first card. This does not make it active yet (section 5).

Without the tick, the preset uses no playlist: on every click of a phase button, the app picks a track itself from all tracks assigned to that phase in the library — preferably within the BPM corridor and matching the track that is playing.

To open an existing preset, click the pencil icon ("Edit") on its card. Every change there is applied immediately; "Cancel" does not undo it. The trash icon ("Delete") removes a preset after a confirmation prompt.

4 · Assign tracks

Once "Use only these tracks (otherwise: all tagged tracks)" is ticked, the preset editor shows four areas at the bottom (Intro, Mid, Climax, Outro). Per area:

• "Available tracks to add" lists the tracks assigned to that phase in the "Assignment" column of the "Library". The BPM corridor does not filter this list. One click appends the track to the end of the playlist.
• The arrow buttons ("Move up", "Move down") change the order within the area. A track assigned to several phases can be added to several areas.
• List order = playback order on repeated phase-button presses, the cursor advances (with a fixed playlist per phase, only when the "Mode" toggle in the cockpit is set to "Playlist"; in the out-of-the-box "Loop" position, the same track starts again)
• The X icon ("Remove from playlist") removes a track from the list

If an area stays empty, that phase plays nothing while the preset is active; in the cockpit its button is greyed out ("Not in preset").

5 · Activate

There are two ways to make a preset active:

• Click "Load" on its card ("Session presets" page): the preset becomes active and the cockpit opens. A preset without a single playlist entry cannot be loaded here, even without the tick — instead a notice appears and the editor opens.
• Click "Preset" at the top of the cockpit and pick a preset. This also works for presets without playlist entries; if the tick is set for them, the phase buttons are greyed out. "No preset" switches the active preset off; the app then picks a track itself on every phase click, from all tracks assigned to that phase. This lasts until the next app start, when the "Standard session" is active again.

Once the preset is active:

• The preset's crossfade duration applies, provided "Smart Crossfade" is switched off (section 1)
• With the tick set, the phase buttons play only tracks from the preset's playlist; without it, all tracks assigned to the phase in the library
• Cursor-based ordering is enabled (with a fixed playlist per phase, repeated presses only move to the next track when the "Mode" toggle in the cockpit is set to "Playlist"; in the out-of-the-box "Loop" position, the same track starts again)
• The preset also sets the initial Loop/Playlist mode — the cockpit's Mode toggle starts on that value and can be switched any time. After an app restart it starts on "Loop" again for every preset, because in version 0.2.2 the app does not keep this default across a restart.

On "Playlist", the playlist moves on by itself at the end of every track and jumps back to the first after the last one. Clicking an entry in the playlist shelf below the phase buttons fades straight to that track. Soft Stop does not reset the playlists to the start; that only happens when you switch presets or on the next app start.

6 · Variations of a preset

There is no duplicate function. For a variation, e.g. of the Hero's Journey preset, create another preset with "New preset" and set its values and tracks yourself.

7 · Best practices

• 2-4 tracks per phase is enough — prevents the repetition effect with regular clients
• Choose the keys of adjacent tracks deliberately: in a fixed playlist, the app does not shift the key automatically. The editor's rating of each transition assumes an automatic key adjustment that does not happen there — arrange tracks so that their keys also fit without adjustment.
• Use the notes field for session-script hints (e.g. "middle, 3rd track is the mentor encounter")

Related: Phases & transitions · Hero's Journey session