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Built In Player
TangoDisplay includes a native audio player that lets you manage and play your milonga setlist directly — no Music.app, Swinsian, or Embrace required. All display automation (cortina detection, tanda counting, coming-up preview, album artwork) works fully with the built-in player.
Screenshot placeholder: feature banner — full setlist view with tracks loaded
- Click the display icon in the menu bar › Show Settings Window
- Go to Player in the sidebar
- Under Player Source, select Setlist (Built-In Player) — it appears at the top of the list, marked Recommended
- Switch to the Setlist tab to build your setlist
Once the built-in player is active, you can jump straight to the Setlist tab at any time from the menu bar: click the display icon › Show Setlist.
Screenshot placeholder: Player Settings view with Setlist (Built-In Player) selected
The Setlist tab is the main workspace for the built-in player. It shows your full track queue, player controls at the top, and setlist statistics at the bottom.
Drag tracks directly from:
- Music.app — drag from the track list or search results
- Swinsian — drag from the browser
- Finder — drag audio files from anywhere on your filesystem
Drop onto the track list or into the empty drop zone when the list is empty. Dropped rows appear instantly with their filename and fill in full metadata (read from the audio file itself) a moment later — they do not need to be in any library. Cloud-only Music.app tracks are downloaded on drop, so a mixed selection of downloaded and cloud-only tracks is added in full rather than partially.
To insert mid-list, drag onto a specific row to place the new track before it rather than appending to the bottom.
If a dropped file no longer exists on disk (for example a Music track shown with a warning triangle because its underlying file is missing), it is rejected on drop with a brief N files not found note rather than being silently skipped later at playback.
When the built-in player is active, dropping tracks from Music also imports each track's start/stop times (set in Music under Song Info → Options) as playback trim markers automatically — see Track Start & End Time below.
You can also copy audio files in Finder, Music.app, Swinsian, or Foobar2000 (⌘C), then press ⌘V while the Setlist panel is focused to append them instantly — no drag required.
Supported formats: MP3, M4A (AAC), AIFF, WAV, FLAC, CAF, Opus.
When Duplicate track protection is enabled in Player Settings, dropping one or more tracks already in the setlist (played or unplayed) shows an alert. The wording reflects how many duplicates were dropped and whether they have already been played, e.g.:
This track already exists in this set. Add anyway? 3 tracks have already been played in this set. Add anyway?
- Add — adds the duplicate(s).
- Don't Add — skips them.
- Remember for this session — check this before clicking either button to lock in your choice. Subsequent duplicates are then added or skipped silently for the rest of the session. The remembered choice is cleared when you click Clear Setlist.
When duplicates are skipped silently (because of a remembered choice or the Don't Add button), a brief note appears at the bottom of the list — e.g. Added 4 — 2 already in set — so the skipped tracks aren't mistaken for a failed drag.
Non-duplicate tracks in the same drag operation are always added immediately, regardless of this setting.
Screenshot placeholder: setlist view with several tracks showing mixed state (queued, playing, played)
Each row shows:
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| State icon | Waveform = playing · Pause = paused/armed · Checkmark = played · Play = next up |
| Title & Artist | Extracted from the audio file's tags |
| Genre tag | Colour-coded: green = playing, orange = paused, blue = next to play, grey = queued/played. Custom colours can be assigned to upcoming tracks by genre keyword (see Genre Colours below). |
| Year | Optional — toggle in Player Settings |
| Duration | Optional — toggle in Player Settings |
| Comments / Album Artist | Optional — toggle in Player Settings |
| Stop marker | Small stop icon when "Stop After This Track" is set |
| Repeat icon | Blue repeat icon when the track is set to Repeat |
| Auto-gap icon | Filled green wave = auto-gap silence applied before this track · Outlined grey wave = skipped or ignored |
| Last Tanda flag | Red flag icon = this cortina is marked as the last tanda and will activate the Last Tanda label when it plays |
| Tag colour dot | Coloured dot on the left edge of the row when a tag colour has been assigned (see Track Tags below) |
| Performance badge | Small indicator when the track is marked as a performance track |
| Progress bar | Appears beneath the currently-playing row: shows elapsed position, remaining time, the mark-as-played threshold marker, and the auto-fade marker (for cortinas when Auto-fade is enabled) |
The setlist persists across app restarts — it is saved automatically to Application Support.
The player controls sit above the track list.
Screenshot placeholder: player controls area showing level meter, transport, seek bar, fade buttons, volume, eye button, and artwork
The controls are arranged in three columns with a volume row below:
- Level meter — dual-channel (L/R) bar graph on the left side of the controls panel. Gradient bars show real-time RMS level from green (quiet) through yellow to red (loud). White peak-hold markers latch for 2 seconds then decay; they turn red when clipping is detected. Tap the meter to reset clip indicators. A dB scale (-0, -3, -6, -12, -24) runs alongside.
- Eye button — scrolls the track list to highlight the currently playing track
- Track info — title and artist of the current track
- Transport button — large central play/stop button (see states below)
- Fade buttons — Fade & Stop and Fade & Continue (see below)
- Volume slider — master volume for the built-in player (0–100%)
- Artwork panel — current track artwork, sized to match the height of the controls column. Falls back to the SetlistLogo placeholder when no artwork is embedded in the file.
| Colour | State | Click to… |
|---|---|---|
| Green (play icon) | Stopped / ready | Start playback |
| Accent (waveform) | Playing | Arm stop |
| Orange (pause icon) | Armed — stop pending | Confirm stop |
| Red (stop icon) | Stopped after confirm | Resume or start next |
Stopping playback requires two deliberate clicks to prevent mis-clicks mid-tanda:
- First click while playing → button turns orange, entering an "armed" state for approximately 3 seconds
- Second click within that window → playback stops
- No second click → the armed state expires and playback continues uninterrupted
This means a single accidental tap on the transport never kills the music.
The two fade buttons are enabled only when the currently playing track is a recognised cortina — they are never active on dance tracks. Use them when you want to end a cortina early rather than letting it play to its natural finish:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fade & Stop | Smoothly fades the cortina volume to zero over the configured duration, then stops. |
| Fade & Continue | Smoothly fades the cortina volume to zero, then immediately advances to the next track and restores volume. |
Both buttons are disabled while a fade is already in progress. The fade uses an exponential curve for a natural, professional sound.
Configure the fade duration in Player Settings › Cortina fade (1–15 seconds).
When Auto-fade all cortinas is enabled, the fade buttons are automatically disabled while a cortina is playing — the auto-fade will handle the transition at the configured time. Right-click the cortina in the setlist and select Skip Auto-fade to re-enable manual control for that track.
Drag rows up or down to reorder. Tracks that have already been played are locked in place and cannot be moved — only queued (unplayed) and paused tracks are draggable. This prevents accidentally scrambling your played history.
If you pause a track and then drag a queued track above it, pressing play starts the new topmost track — playback always begins from the highest not-yet-played row, and the paused track reverts to a normal queued track.
Right-click any row:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mark as Played | Stamps a queued track as played without playing it |
| Mark as Not Played | Resets a played track to queued so it will play again |
| Stop after Playing | Sets a stop marker — playback halts automatically when this track finishes. Can also be set on the currently playing track. Shows as Resume after Playing when already set; click again to clear it. Setting it clears any Repeat on the same track. |
| Repeat Track | Loops a non-dance track — it replays continuously until you clear the repeat or it hits a stop-after marker. A blue repeat icon appears on the row. Shows as Stop Repeating when already set. Mutually exclusive with Stop after Playing (marking Repeat on a stop-after track prompts to switch). Any fade action (Fade & Stop, Fade & Continue, auto-fade) clears the repeat. |
| Track Start & End Time… | Opens an editor to trim playback to a sub-range of the track, so you can replay it from a mid-point (e.g. during applause after a performance). Works on any track. Shows a blue start–end badge on the row once set, and Clear Start & End Time to remove it. See Track Start & End Time below. Built-in player only. |
| Delete | Removes the track from the setlist (asks for confirmation) |
| Ignore Auto-gap before this Track | Disables auto-gap for this track only. Shows as Resume Auto-gap when already set; click again to re-enable it. |
| Skip Auto-fade | Disables auto-fade for this cortina track only, re-enabling the Fade & Stop and Fade & Continue buttons for manual control. Available only when Auto-fade is enabled and fading has not yet started. |
| Mark as Last Tanda | Marks this cortina as the last tanda. TangoDisplay will automatically activate the Last Tanda label when this cortina starts and deactivate it when the next cortina begins. A red flag appears on the row. Shows as Remove Last Tanda when already set. Available only on cortina tracks. Requires Last Tanda label text to be configured in Appearance Settings. |
| Mark as Performance | Marks this track as a guest performance track. When it plays, the dancer display switches to the custom Performance view instead of normal track info. Shows as Remove Performance when already set. See Performance Tracks below. |
| Tag Colour | Opens a sub-menu to assign a colour dot (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) to the row for visual organisation, or Clear Tag Colour to remove it. See Track Tags below. |
Screenshot placeholder: right-click context menu on a setlist row
Bulk mark: ⌘-click or Shift-click to select multiple rows, then right-click to apply Mark as Played or Mark as Not Played to all selected tracks at once. When two or more tracks are selected, the status bar at the bottom of the setlist shows the number of selected tracks and their combined duration.
When Stop after Playing is set on a row, a small stop icon appears in that row and playback halts automatically when that track completes. Right-click the same row again and select Resume after Playing to clear the marker. Only one stop marker can be active at a time.
Click the Clear Setlist button in the toolbar. This removes all tracks and resets all playback state.
Click the filter button (three-line funnel icon) in the Setlist toolbar to hide all fully-played tracks. The current or next-to-play track is always visible — it won't disappear even if it has been early-marked as played. The list scrolls to the active track automatically when you toggle the filter.
While the filter is active, a banner at the top of the list shows how many played tracks are currently hidden.
Click the button again to restore the full track list and scroll the current track back into view.
The hide-played setting is remembered across sessions.
A status bar at the bottom of the track list shows:
Screenshot placeholder: setlist footer showing total duration and estimated end time
- Total duration & remaining count — the combined length of all tracks followed by the number of unplayed tracks (e.g. "1h 42m · 28 remaining")
- Next cortina — a live countdown showing how much time remains before the next cortina begins, based on the current elapsed position and queued track durations. Shows "0s" when a cortina is already playing.
- Estimated end time — a projected clock time when the setlist will finish, calculated from the current elapsed position, all remaining queued tracks, and any stop-after marker (e.g. "Ends ~23:45"). For cortinas with Auto-fade enabled, the effective play duration (play time + fade duration) is used rather than the full track length, so the estimate stays accurate when cortinas fade early.
Clicking anywhere on the timing area opens the Set Timings window — a large-format floating dashboard displaying total set time, remaining track count, next cortina countdown, estimated end time, and a current-track progress bar. The window can be left open on a secondary display for at-a-glance monitoring during a milonga.
- Auto-gap status — when auto-gap is enabled, a small green dot and the live gap duration (e.g. "Auto-gap: 2.0s") appear. The dot turns grey and the label reads "Auto-gap: off" when the feature is disabled. The duration updates in real time as you adjust the slider.
- Auto-fade status — when auto-fade is enabled, a small orange dot and "Auto-fade: on" label appear alongside the auto-gap indicator. The dot turns grey and the label reads "Auto-fade: off" when the feature is disabled.
Auto-gap analyses the silence at track boundaries and schedules a silent preroll buffer before each track so the gap between songs always meets your target minimum — useful for tango DJs who want consistent, perceptible separations between tandas without adding unnecessary dead air.
How it works: TangoDisplay reads the audio waveform at the end of the finishing track and the start of the incoming track, measures the existing silence, then prepends exactly as much extra silence as needed. Only silence is ever added — it never shortens a gap. If the existing silence already meets the minimum, a 1-second buffer is still inserted so the separation is always audible.
- Go to Settings › Player
- Under Built-in Player, enable the Auto-gap toggle
- Use the Minimum gap slider to set your target (0.5–5 s; default 4 s)
When Skip gap before first track is enabled (the default), the opening track of the setlist starts immediately with no silence preroll — the gap only applies between consecutive tracks. Disable this if you want the same treatment from the very first song.
Right-click any queued track row and select Ignore Auto-gap before this Track to exempt that individual track. The option becomes Resume Auto-gap when already set; click it again to re-enable. This lets you keep auto-gap active globally while skipping it for specific tracks (e.g. a track you want to follow immediately after its predecessor).
The override reflects the track's effective state, so it works even on the first track: when Skip gap before first track is auto-applying the skip, the option reads Resume Auto-gap and selecting it forces the gap back on for that track.
When you pause and then press play again, the player resumes without applying the auto-gap — the next track begins immediately. Auto-gap only applies during normal end-of-track transitions.
Three places in the UI reflect auto-gap state:
| Indicator | What it means |
|---|---|
| Setlist footer dot | Green dot + "Auto-gap: 4.0s" (live duration) = feature active. Grey dot + "Auto-gap: off" = feature disabled. |
| Timer toolbar button | Opens the Auto-gap popover for instant duration changes. Disabled when auto-gap is off. |
| Filled green wave icon on a track row | Auto-gap silence was successfully scheduled before this track |
| Outlined grey wave icon on a track row | Auto-gap was skipped or ignored for this track (first track with "Skip gap before first track" on, or per-track override active) |
| (no icon) | Auto-gap not applicable to this track |
Auto-fade automatically fades out a cortina and advances to the next track after a configurable play time — useful when you want cortinas to end cleanly without manual intervention.
- Go to Settings › Player
- Under Built-in Player, enable the Auto-fade all cortinas toggle
- Use the Cortina play time slider to set how many seconds of the cortina should play before the fade begins (5–120 s; default 30 s)
When a cortina starts, an orange marker appears on the in-row progress bar to show exactly when the fade will trigger.
Short cortinas: If a cortina is shorter than the play time plus the fade duration, TangoDisplay adjusts automatically — the fade starts early enough to complete before the track ends.
When auto-fade is enabled for a cortina, the Fade & Stop and Fade & Continue buttons in the player controls are disabled — the auto-fade will handle the transition at the right moment. Once the fade begins, it cannot be interrupted.
Right-click any cortina row in the setlist and select Skip Auto-fade to disable auto-fade for that track only. The orange progress-bar marker disappears and the fade buttons become active for manual control. The option is hidden once the fade has already started.
| Indicator | What it means |
|---|---|
| Orange marker on progress bar | The point at which auto-fade will begin for the current cortina (visible in the in-row progress bar beneath the playing track) |
| Setlist footer orange dot | Orange dot + "Auto-fade: on" = feature active. Grey dot + "Auto-fade: off" = feature disabled. |
| Fade buttons (disabled) | Auto-fade is scheduled — the transition will happen automatically |
Cortinas often sit louder than the dance tracks around them — sometimes by design, sometimes because ReplayGain alone doesn't bring the level down enough for a milonga floor. The Cortina volume slider lets you pull every detected cortina down by a fixed amount in dB without touching the source files or affecting dance tracks.
- Go to Settings › Player
- Under Cortinas, move the Cortina volume slider
- Range: -10 dB to 0 dB in 0.5 dB steps. Default 0 dB (off).
The reduction is applied on top of ReplayGain — if ReplayGain is on, the cortina's per-track gain is calculated first and the slider's reduction is multiplied in after. A track is treated as a cortina if it matches the same cortina-detection rules used elsewhere in TangoDisplay (configured in Settings › Cortina Rules).
Changes apply live: move the slider while a cortina is playing and the level updates immediately.
Pre-schedule which cortina is the last tanda of your milonga. When that cortina plays, TangoDisplay automatically activates the Last Tanda label on the dancer display — no manual intervention needed mid-set.
Right-click any cortina row in the setlist and select Mark as Last Tanda. A red flag icon appears on the row to confirm. Only one cortina can be marked at a time — marking a new one automatically clears any previous marker.
If no Last Tanda label text is configured in Appearance Settings › Last Tanda, a warning is shown instead of marking the cortina. Configure the label text first.
| Moment | What happens |
|---|---|
| Marked cortina starts playing | Last Tanda label activates automatically |
| During dance tracks in the tanda | Label remains visible on every track |
| Next cortina starts | Label deactivates automatically |
The Last Tanda toggle on the Live screen always takes priority. You can turn it off at any time — the label clears immediately and remains off for the rest of the current tanda, even as new tracks play.
Right-click the marked cortina row and select Remove Last Tanda. The flag icon disappears.
Click the Balance button (dial icon) in the Setlist toolbar to open the balance popover.
- Drag the slider left to shift audio towards the left channel, or right to shift it towards the right.
- The readout above the slider shows Centre, L N%, or R N% depending on the current position.
- Click Centre to snap back to balanced (0).
The balance setting persists across app restarts. The Balance button is disabled when the built-in player is not active.
When auto-gap is enabled, a timer icon button appears in the Setlist toolbar alongside EQ and Balance. Click it to open a popover with a duration slider — the same 0.5–5 s range as the full Settings panel, but reachable in one click during a performance.
The button is disabled when auto-gap is off (enable it first in Settings › Player › Auto-gap).
You can adjust the duration while a track is playing. The new value takes effect for the very next gap: the gap duration is read at the moment the current track ends, so any change you make during playback applies to the upcoming silence preroll. The setlist footer updates to reflect the new value in real time.
Example: Global gap is 4 s. While Track A plays, open the popover and drag to 2 s. The gap before Track B will be 2 s. Drag back to 4 s before Track C ends and subsequent gaps return to 4 s.
Click the Waveform button (waveform path icon) in the Setlist toolbar to open a compact floating window showing the audio waveform of the current or upcoming track.
The window displays:
- Waveform bars — amplitude of the audio across the full track duration. Bars before the playhead are shown in the accent colour; bars after the playhead are dimmed.
- Playhead — a red line that moves in real time to show elapsed position.
- Elapsed / total time — shown at the left and right of the waveform.
Waveform data is computed from the audio file on demand and cached so subsequent plays load instantly. The button is enabled whenever tracks are loaded in the setlist.
Sometimes you want to replay a track from part-way through — for example while a performing couple take an applause. Track Start & End Time lets you trim any track (dance or cortina) to a sub-range so playback starts and stops where you choose.
Right-click a row and select Track Start & End Time… to open the editor window. It shows the track's waveform with two controls for setting the range:
- Drag the handles — a green handle at the start and a red handle at the end of the waveform. The part of the waveform outside your selection is dulled so the chosen range stands out.
-
Type the times — enter a Start and End time manually in
m:ss.dformat (tenths of a second are supported, e.g.1:05.4). The end time cannot be earlier than the start.
Click Apply to save (or Cancel to discard). The row then shows a blue start–end badge. To remove the trim, right-click the row and choose Clear Start & End Time.
Notes:
- Playback begins at the start time and stops at the end time, then advances as normal.
- Combine with Repeat Track to loop just the trimmed range continuously.
- This is enforced by the built-in player only, so the menu action appears when the built-in player is the active source.
- Tracks dropped from Music while the built-in player is active have their start/stop times (Song Info → Options) imported as trim markers automatically, so you don't need to re-enter them here. You can still adjust or clear them afterwards.
Assign a colour tag to any track for visual organisation of your setlist. Right-click a row and choose Tag Colour, then pick from:
Red · Orange · Yellow · Green · Blue · Purple
A coloured dot appears on the left edge of the row. To remove it, right-click and choose Clear Tag Colour.
Tags persist in the saved setlist — they survive app restarts and reload with the setlist. They have no effect on playback.
Mark a track as a performance track when a guest couple or performer will dance to it and you want the audience display to show something other than the normal track info.
Right-click any track and choose Mark as Performance. A small indicator appears on the row. Right-click again and choose Remove Performance to clear it.
When a performance track begins playing, the dancer display switches to the Performance view — a custom layout with a dedicated background image and DJ-configured text lines. The normal artist/title/genre display is hidden.
Configure the Performance view in Appearance Settings › Performance:
- Background image — a separate image shown only during performance tracks (independent of your profile's background image). An optional Show during cortina toggle also shows this background during the cortina that immediately precedes the performance.
-
Text lines — add up to any number of text lines, each with its own font, size, and colour. Text can include placeholders:
{title},{artist},{genre},{year}— replaced with the playing track's metadata at runtime. Each line has its own Show during cortina toggle to pre-announce the performance on the cortina screen.
In Settings › Player › Performance, the Stop after each performance track toggle (on by default) automatically stops playback when a performance track finishes — giving you time to re-cue for the next performer before the music resumes.
Click the Share button (↑ icon) in the Setlist toolbar to open the export menu. The button is disabled when the setlist is empty.
Creates a new Apple Music playlist containing all tracks in the current setlist. The playlist is named with the current date and time.
Note: Export to Apple Music requires the Automation › Music permission. macOS will prompt for this on first use.
Opens a Save dialog and writes a standard M3U8 playlist file. Each track is written as an #EXTINF: line (with duration and Artist — Title metadata) followed by the absolute file path. The default filename is Tango Display SetList DDMMYY HH:MM.m3u8.
Use this to import your milonga setlist into any M3U-compatible player or DJ software.
Saves a snapshot of the current setlist as a named report. The report captures every track's title, artist, genre, year, duration, play state, and last-tanda flag. Reports are stored in Application Support and are visible in the Reports tab, where they can be exported as interactive HTML files.
Click the Equaliser button in the toolbar to open the EQ popover.
Screenshot placeholder: EQ popover with five vertical sliders
| Band | Frequency | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | 60 Hz | Low shelf |
| Band 2 | 250 Hz | Peaking |
| Band 3 | 1 kHz | Peaking |
| Band 4 | 4 kHz | Peaking |
| Band 5 | 12 kHz | High shelf |
Each band has a vertical slider with a ±12 dB range. The current gain is shown above each slider.
Click Flat to reset all bands to 0 dB in one click.
EQ settings are saved across sessions.
ReplayGain adjusts playback volume using loudness metadata so every track sounds equally loud without manual volume tweaking. Click the ReplayGain button (waveform icon) in the Setlist toolbar to open the quick-access popover, or go to Settings › Player › ReplayGain for the same controls alongside the rest of the player settings.
The ReplayGain button is never disabled — you can always reach it to change the mode, even when playback is stopped or mode is currently Off.
| Mode | How it works |
|---|---|
| Off | No gain adjustment is applied. |
| Track | Reads the REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN tag embedded in the audio file and applies it directly. |
| Album | Reads the REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN tag instead, preserving the relative volume between tracks in an album. |
| Auto (Recommended) | Uses embedded ReplayGain tags when present. When a track has no tags, TangoDisplay analyses the audio and calculates the gain needed to reach the Target Loudness setting. Analysis runs in the background; a live status line in the player controls shows progress ("Analysing…") and the result once complete (e.g. "Auto +2.3 dB · −18.0 LUFS"). |
Prevent clipping — when enabled, the calculated gain is capped so the output never exceeds 0 dBFS, regardless of the Preamp setting. On by default.
Preamp — a global gain offset applied on top of the ReplayGain value (−12 to +6 dB). Use this to raise or lower the overall volume without touching individual track tags.
Target Loudness — the loudness target used when analysing tracks in Auto mode (−23 to −14 LUFS). Only active when mode is set to Auto. Default: −18.0 LUFS.
While a track is playing with ReplayGain active, a status line appears below the artist name in the player controls showing the active gain adjustment and mode. For example:
-
Auto +2.3 dB · −18.0 LUFS— gain calculated from analysis -
Track −1.5 dB— gain read from embedded tag
The line clears when playback stops or ReplayGain is set to Off.
Loudness analysis results are cached on disk so each file is only analysed once. Subsequent plays of the same file load instantly from the cache.
The built-in player can host up to 4 Audio Unit effect plugins in series directly in the audio chain — useful for applying EQ curves, dynamics processing, or filtering to improve the clarity of older recordings without modifying the source files. Each slot is independent: you can reorder, bypass, edit, and preset each one separately.
Test before you play: Try your chain at home before using it live. If a plugin fails to load, playback continues unaffected. Third-party Audio Units run at your own risk — an unstable plugin may still interrupt playback.
- Go to Settings › Player
- Open the Audio Unit Plugins section
- Click Add Plugin to open the plugin browser and pick an Audio Unit — it loads immediately into the next free slot
- Repeat to add up to 4 plugins. Audio flows through the slots top to bottom.
If you used a single plugin in an earlier version of TangoDisplay, it is migrated automatically into slot 1 of the chain on first launch.
The plugin browser lists every effect Audio Unit installed on your system — both kAudioUnitType_Effect (plain effects) and kAudioUnitType_MusicEffect (effects that also accept MIDI, such as FabFilter Pro-Q 4). This covers Apple's built-in effects (parametric and graphic EQ, dynamics processor, multi-band compressor, peak limiter, shelf and pass filters) and any third-party effects you have installed (e.g. FabFilter Pro-Q 4, Klanghelm MJUC).
Plugins load out-of-process by default: each plugin runs in its own process, so if a plugin crashes — whether while processing audio or when you open its editor — the crash is isolated and won't take down TangoDisplay. This is the standard, well-tested hosting path that third-party plugins expect.
A small number of plugins need to be hosted in-process for plugin-driven window auto-resize to work (when hosted out-of-process their editor view can't tell the host to grow the window). These are handled via a built-in allowlist — currently Klanghelm MJUC, whose expander panel resizes the editor at runtime. In-process plugins are not crash-isolated.
Each slot in the chain has its own controls in Settings › Player:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| ▲ / ▼ | Reorder the slot up or down within the chain |
| Open editor (expand icon) | Opens that plugin's native editor UI in its own window |
| Replace… | Swaps the slot's plugin for a different Audio Unit |
| Remove (trash icon) | Removes that plugin from the chain, freeing the slot |
A Bypass entire chain toggle at the top of the section lets you mute all effects at once without unloading them. To enable or disable individual slots during a set, use the Setlist toolbar popover (below).
The plugins occupy up to 4 chained slots, processed in order:
┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌───────────┐
│ Audio File │───▶│ ReplayGain │───▶│ Slot 1 ─▶ Slot 2 ─▶ Slot 3 ─▶ Slot 4 │───▶│ Output │
│ (decoder) │ │ (optional) │ │ (each optional, bypassable, reorderable) │ │ Device │
└─────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ └───────────┘
Presets let you save and recall a plugin's complete configuration per slot — useful for switching between EQ curves for different rooms or recording eras.
In Settings › Player:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Preset picker | Shows the active preset name for that slot (or "None" if unsaved) |
| Save as Preset… | Prompts for a name and saves that slot's current parameter state |
| Delete | Removes the selected user preset |
Factory presets built into the plugin appear at the top of the picker; your saved presets appear below them.
In a plugin's floating window:
A Preset: bar at the bottom of each plugin's editor window mirrors the Settings picker for that slot. You can switch or save presets without leaving the window.
Auto-restore: Each slot's last-used preset is saved automatically and reapplied the next time the plugin loads.
Dirty state: If you adjust any parameter directly in a plugin window (e.g. drag an EQ band), that slot's preset label resets to None to show the state no longer matches a saved preset.
While per-slot Presets save a single plugin's parameters, a Plugin Configuration snapshots the entire chain state — every slot, every parameter — under one name. You can then assign that configuration to specific setlist tracks so the chain automatically switches when those tracks play.
Saving a configuration:
- Set up your plugin chain exactly as you want it (plugin selection, slot order, parameters)
- Go to Settings › Player › Audio Unit Plugins and click Save current settings as configuration…
- Enter a name — the snapshot is stored immediately
Managing configurations:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Circle icon | Tap to set a configuration as the default (applied to all tracks without an explicit assignment) |
| Remove default | Clears the default; the chain will not switch automatically for unassigned tracks |
| Rename | Rename a saved configuration in place |
| Trash icon | Delete a configuration permanently |
Assigning a configuration to a setlist track:
Right-click (or control-click) one or more tracks in the Setlist and choose Apply Configuration from the context menu. The track shows a small purple badge with the configuration name. When TangoDisplay plays that track, the chain automatically switches to the assigned configuration — and restores your previous settings when a track without an assignment plays next.
To remove an assignment, right-click the track and choose Apply Configuration › None.
When the chain has at least one plugin, a puzzle piece button appears in the Setlist toolbar next to the ReplayGain button. Click it to open a popover for live chain access without going to Settings: enable or bypass the whole chain, toggle individual slots on or off, and open each plugin's editor window.
The decibel meter monitors ambient room noise in real time using your Mac's built-in microphone, giving you a live reading of how loud the room is without needing a separate tool.
- Go to Settings › Player
- Under Built-in Player, enable the Enable decibel meter toggle
macOS will prompt for microphone access the first time you enable it. If you decline or later revoke the permission, an orange warning appears in the settings panel. Grant access in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone.
When enabled, a live dB reading appears in the Setlist toolbar showing the current room level (e.g. 68 dB). The reading is colour-coded against your configured range:
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Blue | Below the low threshold — room is quieter than expected |
| Green | Within the acceptable range |
| Red | Above the high threshold — room is too loud |
The indicator updates every 250 ms and disappears automatically if microphone permission is denied.
Use the interactive range slider in Settings › Player › Decibel Meter to configure your thresholds. The slider shows three colour zones — blue, green, and red — with draggable handles for the low and high boundaries (0–140 dB). The defaults are 60 dB (low) and 80 dB (high).
Practical Use Case: As the noise level can often vary between the DJ booth and the floor, set the noise level with a professional noise meter at floor level. Measure at the desk and set the acceptable range in Setlist.
The meter runs only when enabled — it has no CPU overhead when turned off.
By default the built-in player uses the macOS system default output device. To route audio to a specific device (e.g. a dedicated DJ audio interface):
- Go to Player in the Settings sidebar
- Under Built-in Player, open the Main output picker
- Select your device
The list shows all currently available audio output devices. If the selected device is disconnected, playback falls back to the system default automatically.
Enable Exclusive mode (Hog Mode) in Player Settings to give TangoDisplay exclusive access to the selected audio device. While active, no other app (Music.app, Spotify, system alerts) can use the same interface — useful for DJ setups where you want to guarantee the audio path is clean.
- The toggle is only available when a specific output device is selected (not the system default).
- If another process already owns the device when you enable Hog Mode, an orange warning banner appears in the Setlist view with a Retry button. Once the other app releases its hold, tap Retry to acquire exclusive access.
- If another app claims the device while a track is playing, a Playback Interrupted alert appears. Click Retry to re-acquire exclusive access and resume playback, or OK to continue without exclusive mode.
- Hog Mode is released automatically when TangoDisplay quits or you switch back to the system default output.
The Setlist Remote lets you control the built-in player from your phone (or any device with a browser) over the same Wi-Fi network. It serves a small built-in web page with sliders for the main controls — useful when you want to nudge levels from the dance floor without going back to the laptop.
Enable it in Settings › Player › Setlist Remote.
Setlist Remote is for the built-in player only — its sliders move the built-in player's volume and ReplayGain settings.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Master output level of the built-in player |
| Cortina volume | Per-cortina attenuation (the same slider as Player › Cortinas › Cortina volume) |
| Replay gain | The active ReplayGain pre-amp / fallback gain used by the player |
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| URL | The IP-based URL your phone connects to (e.g. http://192.168.1.42:4747). A second URL using the Mac's .local hostname is shown when available |
| QR code | Scan from your phone's camera to open the URL directly |
| PIN | A 4-digit code the page asks for before unlocking the controls. The PIN regenerates each time TangoDisplay launches — anyone on the Wi-Fi who knows it can connect, so it is rotated automatically |
| Connected | How many clients are currently connected |
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Regenerate PIN | Issues a new 4-digit PIN immediately (existing connections are dropped) |
| Refresh URL | Re-reads the Mac's current Wi-Fi address — use after switching networks |
| Open in Browser | Opens the remote page in your Mac's browser, useful for testing |
- The phone and the Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network. The remote does not work over cellular or across different networks.
- If the Mac is not connected to Wi-Fi, the panel shows a warning and the URL is unavailable.
- The PIN is not persisted — it changes on every launch by design.
- The remote is for the built-in player only. With Music.app, Swinsian, or Embrace selected, the toggle still works but the sliders have no effect on those external players.
When the built-in player is active, the dancer display responds exactly as it does with Music.app:
- Cortina detection — your Cortina Rules apply to every setlist track. A track whose genre matches a cortina rule triggers cortina mode on the display automatically.
- Tanda counting — TangoDisplay counts consecutive non-cortina tracks to determine tanda position (e.g. "Track 2 of 4").
- Coming-Up preview — during a cortina, the next tanda's first dance track is shown as the "Coming Up" track on the display.
- Album artwork — extracted from the audio file and shown on the dancer display (if artwork display is enabled in Appearance settings).
No additional configuration is needed — the display sync is fully automatic.
Go to Player in the Settings sidebar.
Screenshot placeholder: Player Settings view showing all sections
Choose which player TangoDisplay listens to:
| Source | How it works |
|---|---|
| Music.app | Polls via AppleScript every 2 seconds. Full tanda counting and playlist look-ahead. |
| Swinsian | Real-time push notifications. Tanda position shown; total track count unavailable. |
| Embrace | Real-time notifications + AppleScript polling. Full tanda counting. |
| Built-in Player | TangoDisplay plays audio directly. Build your setlist in the Setlist tab. |
These options appear only when Built-in Player is selected.
Main output — the audio device to use for playback. Defaults to the macOS system output.
Cortina fade — duration of the volume fade used by Fade & Stop and Fade & Continue (1–15 seconds, in 0.5-second steps). Default: 5 seconds.
Duplicate track protection — when enabled, dropping a track that already exists in the setlist shows a confirmation alert before adding it. Includes a Remember for this session checkbox that silences the prompt for the rest of the session (until the setlist is cleared). Off by default.
Auto-gap — when enabled, TangoDisplay analyses silence at track boundaries and pads each transition with a silent preroll so the gap always meets the minimum. Only silence is added — existing gaps are never shortened.
Minimum gap — the target gap duration in seconds (0.5–5 s, in 0.5-second steps). Default: 4 seconds. Visible only when Auto-gap is enabled.
Skip gap before first track — when on (default), the first track in the setlist starts immediately with no silence preroll. The gap applies only between consecutive tracks.
Auto-fade all cortinas — when enabled, TangoDisplay automatically fades out cortinas and advances to the next track at the configured play time. Requires cortina detection to be set up via Cortina Rules.
Cortina play time — how many seconds of a cortina should play before the auto-fade begins (5–120 s, in 1-second steps). Default: 30 seconds. Visible only when Auto-fade is enabled. For cortinas shorter than play time + fade duration, the fade starts earlier so it always completes cleanly.
Enable decibel meter — when enabled, TangoDisplay monitors ambient room noise using the Mac's built-in microphone and shows a live colour-coded dB reading in the Setlist toolbar. Requires microphone permission.
Decibel meter range — an interactive three-zone slider to configure the low and high thresholds (0–140 dB). Readings below the low threshold appear blue, within range appear green, and above the high threshold appear red. Defaults: 60 dB (low), 80 dB (high). Visible only when the decibel meter is enabled.
Mark as played — controls when a track receives its played stamp:
| Option | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| After song ends | The track is marked only when it plays all the way to completion |
| After… | The track is marked after a set number of seconds of playback (1–30 seconds). A marker line on the seek bar shows the threshold. Once marked, pressing play again skips to the next queued track. |
ReplayGain mode — Off, Track, Album, or Auto (recommended). Auto uses embedded tags when present and analyses the file against the target loudness when absent.
Prevent clipping — caps the output at 0 dBFS. Active for Track, Album, and Auto modes.
Preamp — global gain offset on top of ReplayGain (−12 to +6 dB). Active for Track, Album, and Auto modes.
Target Loudness — the LUFS target used when Auto mode analyses a file (−23 to −14 LUFS). Active in Auto mode only.
Toggles for which fields appear in setlist rows (visible only with Built-in Player selected):
| Field | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Always on | Cannot be hidden |
| Artist | Always on | Cannot be hidden |
| Genre | Always on | Cannot be hidden |
| Year | On | |
| Time | On | Shows duration and current position |
| Comments | Off | |
| Album Artist | Off | |
| Grouping | Off |
Assign custom colours to genre tags for upcoming (unplayed) tracks — giving a clear visual map of the tanda structure ahead.
Enable/disable: Toggle Genre tag colours in Settings › Player › Genre Colours.
Adding a rule:
- Type a keyword in the text field (e.g.
tango) - Pick a colour with the colour picker
- Click Add
Keywords are case-insensitive and match anywhere in the genre name — tango matches Tango, Argentine Tango, Tango Nuevo, etc.
Colour priority:
| Track state | Genre tag colour |
|---|---|
| Playing | Green (always) |
| Paused (armed) | Orange (always) |
| Next to play | Accent blue (always) |
| Already played | Grey (always) |
| Upcoming / queued — Cortina | Bold/bright (always, even when colours are ON) |
| Upcoming / queued — keyword match | Your custom colour |
| Upcoming / queued — no match | Grey |
When genre colours are OFF: upcoming (unplayed) tracks are shown in semibold with full-brightness text so they stand out clearly from already-played tracks, regardless of any colour rules.
Cortinas always appear bold/bright — even when genre colours are enabled and a colour rule would otherwise match the cortina's genre tag. This ensures tanda breaks are always easy to spot.
Custom colours apply only to non-cortina tracks that have not yet been played and are not currently playing — the tanda structure is visible at a glance without interfering with standard playback indicators.
To remove a custom colour, click the trash icon next to the rule. The genre tag reverts to standard grey for upcoming tracks.
Include song title: When enabled (toggle in Settings › Player › Genre Colours), the genre tag colour also applies to the song title text in the setlist row, not just the genre badge.
The Advanced tab in Settings lets you apply optional regex-based rules to reformat how Artist, Title, Year, Album Artist, and Comments are displayed on the dancer screen — without modifying the original music tags. See Advanced Settings for full details and examples.
The Reports tab (sidebar › Reports) stores setlist snapshots you've saved during or after a milonga.
In the Setlist tab, open the Share menu (↑ icon in the toolbar) and choose Save Setlist Report…. Enter a name for the report — it defaults to a timestamp — then click Save. The snapshot captures every track's title, artist, genre, year, duration, play state, and last-tanda flag at the moment of saving.
Select one or more reports in the list, then click Generate HTML Report. TangoDisplay creates a self-contained HTML file you can open in any browser or share with others. The report includes:
- Summary cards — total tracks, played count, total duration, year range, unique artists and genres
- Per-setlist summary table (when multiple reports are combined)
- Top 10 most-played tracks across all selected setlists
- Genre breakdown charts — artists by genre, year range by genre, and time played by genre (rendered with Chart.js)
- Full track listing — sortable columns and accent-insensitive search
- Select multiple — ⌘-click or use the checkboxes to select several reports before generating a combined export.
- Delete — select one or more reports and click Delete. A confirmation prompt appears before anything is removed.