Audio Analysis

Producer Dashboard includes built-in audio analysis that automatically detects the BPM and musical key of your tracks. The important part: analysis runs entirely on your machine using Essentia.js inside the Electron app. Your audio files never leave your computer.

How it works

When you import audio files into Producer Dashboard, the app queues them for analysis automatically. Here is what happens behind the scenes:

Import triggers a queue. Each imported audio file is added to the local analysis queue.
Essentia.js processes the audio. The analysis engine runs inside the Electron desktop app, using your computer’s resources to examine the audio waveform.
BPM and key are detected. The engine identifies the tempo and most likely musical key of each file.
Results are saved to your track. Detected BPM and key values are written to the track’s musical attributes and appear in the grid, widgets, and detail views.

The entire process happens locally. No audio data is uploaded to any server, cloud service, or third-party API.

Privacy-first approach

This is a deliberate design decision. Your unreleased music, client work, and personal recordings stay on your machine at all times during analysis. There is no network traffic involved in the detection process.

Audio files are read from your local filesystem.
Analysis computations happen in the Electron app process.
Only the resulting metadata (BPM number and key name) is stored in your account.
The raw audio data is never transmitted, cached remotely, or shared.

If you work with sensitive material — unreleased commercial projects, NDA-covered client work, or private demos — you can use audio analysis without any privacy concerns.

Analysis status indicators

Each track displays an analysis status so you always know where things stand. You will see these statuses in the grid and in the track detail view:

Queued

The track has been added to the analysis queue but processing has not started yet. This is normal when you import a batch of files — they are processed one at a time in sequence.

Analysing

The track is currently being processed. Depending on the file length and your machine’s performance, this typically takes a few seconds per track.

Completed

Analysis finished successfully. BPM and key values have been written to the track’s musical attributes. You can see them in the grid columns, the Musical Attributes widget, or the detail modal.

Failed

Something went wrong during analysis. This can happen with very short audio clips, corrupted files, or unusual formats. The track’s BPM and key fields remain empty, and you can enter values manually or try re-analysing.

What gets analysed on import

When you import audio files, analysis is queued automatically for files that meet these criteria:

The file is a supported audio format (WAV, MP3, FLAC, AIFF, M4A, OGG).
The track does not already have BPM and key values from a previous analysis or manual entry.

Project files (.als, .logicx, .flp, etc.) are not analysed since they are not audio files — they link to track groups but do not contain playable audio on their own.

The analysis queue

If you import a large batch of files at once, they enter a queue and are processed sequentially. The queue ensures your machine is not overwhelmed by trying to analyse dozens of files simultaneously.

You can continue working in the app while analysis runs in the background. Browse your grid, play tracks, edit metadata, add tags — analysis does not block any other functionality.

The queue processes in the order files were imported. You will see the status update from Queued to Analysing to Completed as each track finishes.

Re-analysing a track

If you want to run analysis again on a track — for example, after replacing the audio file with an updated bounce — you can trigger a re-analysis:

Select the track in the grid.
Open the Musical Attributes widget in the Activity Panel.
Click the Re-analyse button.
The track is added back to the queue and processed again.

Re-analysis overwrites the existing BPM and key values with fresh results. If you have manually entered values that you want to keep, make a note of them before re-analysing.

Accuracy and expectations

Audio analysis works well for the vast majority of music production material. That said, a few things are worth knowing:

BPM detection

BPM detection is highly accurate for tracks with a clear rhythmic pulse. Straight 4/4 electronic music, hip-hop beats, and pop tracks typically return spot-on values.

Tracks with tempo changes, rubato passages, or very sparse arrangements (ambient pads, sound design) may return less accurate or unexpected results. In these cases, you can always override with a manual value.

Half-time and double-time can occasionally cause the detector to report half or double the actual tempo. If you see 65 BPM when you expected 130, that is a common half-time detection. Edit the value manually.

Key detection

Key detection identifies the most prominent key centre in the track. For straightforward tonal music, this is usually accurate. Tracks that modulate between keys, use ambiguous harmony, or are largely atonal may return results that do not feel right.

The detector reports a single key — it does not identify key changes within a track. If your track moves from A minor in the verse to C major in the chorus, you will get whichever key is more dominant overall.

When to use manual entry instead

Audio analysis is a time-saver for most tracks, but there are situations where manual entry makes more sense:

You already know the exact BPM and key from your DAW session. No need to wait for analysis.
The track is atonal or experimental. Sound design pieces, ambient textures, or noise tracks may not have a meaningful BPM or key.
Very short clips. Audio under a few seconds may not provide enough data for accurate detection.
Complex tempo tracks. If your track has multiple tempo changes, the single BPM value from analysis may not capture the full picture.

In all cases, manual values and auto-detected values live in the same fields. You can mix and match — let analysis handle the bulk of your library and manually adjust the edge cases.

Musical Attributes — view and edit key, BPM, genre, and mood
Using Tags — complement attributes with custom tag labels
Supported Formats — audio and project file formats