Crate Dig

A reel of your projects that lands on one at random, shaped by your search and filters, with a switch that favors the projects you forgot about and one click to open the pick in Live.

Not sure what to work on? Crate Dig picks one of your projects at random, the way you would pull a record out of a crate. A reel of project tiles slides past a purple marker, slows down and stops on the pick. Then you open it in Live or spin again.

Crate Dig is part of Draftlist. You don't need Pro.

Start a dig

On the Projects view, press the box button just right of the search bar at the top. Its tip reads "Dig up a random project". The panel opens over the Projects list, and the inspector and the sidebar stay where they are.

The button is only on the Projects view. With no project in your library yet, it is off, and the Projects page shows its usual empty state. When every project in your library is hidden, its tip says so.

The spin

The pick is made first, and the reel is drawn so it lands on it. The motion never decides anything, and every tile on the reel is a project that could have been picked.

• The reel races, then slows smoothly to a stop in about 3.6 seconds, with no bounce. A short glide then centers the picked tile under the marker.
• Tiles toward the sides are softly blurred, more the farther out they are. The picked tile lifts with a purple glow.
• The line under the reel says how many projects it is digging through, such as "Digging through 214 projects…".
• Press Skip or Space to jump straight to the result.

The result

When the reel stops, a card under it names the project, with its key, BPM, Live version, the folder that holds it and its Modified date. Behind the panel, the project is selected in the Projects list and the inspector shows it.

• Open in Live or Return opens the set in Live, the same as the first button on its row, and closes the panel. See Open in Live.
• Spin again or R digs again. It never lands on the project it just showed, and it skips your last few picks while there are others to pick from.
• Esc closes the panel, and so does a click outside it. The project stays selected, so the inspector still shows it.

Return opens Live only from the panel itself or from Open in Live. With Spin again focused, Return spins again. Tab and ⇧Tab move between the panel's buttons and stay inside the panel. Holding R down starts one spin, not a string of them.

What it digs through

Crate Dig picks from what the Projects list shows, so your filters decide the crate.

• Search and filters. Type a word in Filter by name, folder or note, or narrow the list by Key, Live version, Status, Folder or More filters, and every tile is a project from that list. Pick a key first, and every tile is a set in that key. The panel's top line says "One project from your filtered list, picked at random" while a filter is on.
• Finished projects are left out. That means the sets you marked finished, and the ones whose inspector shows Probably (render found) under Finished. To let them in, turn on Settings ▸ Library ▸ Crate Dig ▸ Include finished projects.
• Hidden projects are always left out, even while Show hidden projects is on. See Hide a project.
• Only sets Live can open. A project Draftlist couldn't read, or one with no main set, never comes up.

Favor forgotten projects

At first every project has the same chance. Turn on Settings ▸ Library ▸ Crate Dig ▸ Favor forgotten projects to lean the dig toward the projects you have not saved in a long time.

A project's chance grows with the time since its set was last saved. One untouched for six months comes up about twice as often as one saved today. One untouched for a year and a half or more comes up four times as often, and that is as far as it goes. A fresh project can still come up.

Sounds

A soft whoosh starts the spin, a wooden tick plays as each tile passes the marker and slows down with the reel, and a felt thump plays when it lands. Open in Live plays a short rising two-note sound. The sounds are quiet, they never interrupt Live or a sample preview, and the top bar's visualizer doesn't move with them.

To turn them off, press the speaker in the panel's corner, or turn off Settings ▸ Library ▸ Crate Dig ▸ Crate Dig sounds. Both are the same switch. It is on at first.

Reduce Motion

With Reduce Motion on in macOS (System Settings ▸ Accessibility ▸ Display ▸ Reduce motion), nothing slides. The result card fades in with the pick already chosen, there is no Skip, and only the landing sound plays.

When it can't spin

Crate Dig needs two or more projects to pick from. When your filters leave fewer, the panel says "Crate Dig needs two or more projects to pick from. Try clearing a filter." and doesn't spin. While finished projects are left out, it adds that Settings ▸ Library ▸ Crate Dig can let them in.

Settings

Settings ▸ Library ▸ Crate Dig has three switches.

• Include finished projects lets finished projects come up. It is off at first.
• Favor forgotten projects makes the projects you have not saved in a long time come up more often. It is off at first.
• Crate Dig sounds plays the whoosh, the ticks and the landing. It is on at first.

Restore all settings to defaults in Settings ▸ Advanced puts all three back. In search (⌘K), type "crate dig" or "random" to jump to them. Settings has the rest of the Library tab.

What it doesn't do

• Nothing changes on disk. Crate Dig only reads your library. It never touches a set or a project folder.
• Nothing leaves your Mac. It uses no network.
• No global shortcut. Open it with the button on the Projects view. The keys above work while the panel is open.