One of the most useful features not working in 5.2.1 update. Before you’re able to jump to a crate by typing the first couple letters of the crate name , now w update it’s not working.
I’m i missing something in settings or this feature is not available anymore? Now we have to scroll the entire crates to select.
macbook pro 8 core intel
: Sonoma 14.3.1
: djay pro 5.1.7
: ddj 400
Hi @Donn, this was removed because the “type-ahead” feature conflicts with shortcuts without modifiers. This applies to both lists of songs and playlists.
Why not make a preference option to turn it off for those that don’t like that behavior instead of removing it completely?
Scrolling through 50+ crates vs typing a letter and instantly jump to a crate, song, bpm, or any tag column. This is a basic computer task for searching files/folders. Especially in those pressure moments when you need to get to a crate quickly it makes a big difference! Removing this great feature is a step backwards in efficiency.
It worked great in djay pro in the crates list but not so much in the playlist so i was gonna put in a feature request to have it in all windows but now it’s doesn’t exist at all? 
In any program if you hit a wrong key of course you’ll get unexpected results. There could be simple workarounds like assigning a dummy command or something to all the keys not being used, but why remove a feature other users find incredibly useful.
Hi @Donn,
Our engineering team would like to know whether you have shortcuts disabled or if you accept that shortcuts without modifiers overlap the type-ahead functionality.
Happily awaiting your reply. Have a good day!
Hi NathanielAlgo,
Shortcuts are not disabled.
“accept that shortcuts without modifiers overlap the type-ahead functionality”
Not sure what you mean…
I’ve assigned single key commands (commas, brackets, slash,) for various Djay tasks and when using letters always add modifiers (Shift + S - toggle split library). I save single letters and numbers (no modifiers) specifically for jumping to crates and folders.
(Actually for more qerty keyboard mappings you can add special symbols like !,@,#,%, ect…) With crates, subcrates, folders, it can start adding up.
Curious what is “type-ahead functionality” ?
Thanks!
Hi @Donn, “Type-ahead” means starting to type in a list in order to select list items starting with the letters that have been typed.
So you specifically removed all “letter without modifier” shortcuts to allow using the type-ahead function?
This is tricky, because by default we have many letter modifiers without shortcuts, which clash with type-ahead. So even if you have the playlists list selected, pressing e.g. the letter “A” on the keyboard will set a start cue point and not jump to playlists starting with A. Previously, once you deleted letter shortcuts without modifiers that would enable type-ahead for those letters, but unless you removed all letter shortcuts without modifiers it would lead to the situation that pressing some letters would trigger shortcuts whereas others would jump to a list item, which was unexpected / confusing. This is why we removed type-ahead in 5.2. We will look into this further to see if there’s a potential solution.
Hi Slak_Jaw,
I can see it being a bit confusing but a simple solution is set a dummy command to any key you’re not using to overwrite the Type ahead. For example if typing letter A jumps to a crate starting with A and you don’t want that behavior, map letter A to Target = General and for the Action leave it blank . Now when u type A , it doesn’t trigger any commands. Problem solved! Yes it requires a little effort to map all keys not being used but usually there aren’t that many. Plus don’t DJ’s prefer mapping their own key and controller commands using *Shortcut Sets anyways?
I don’t think users that don’t like this feature would mind setting up dummy commands especially if they might decide to use Type ahead in the future rather than not having the option at all. Without using unnecessary resources to code a solution this is quite an effective simple workaround.
Technical issues aside , I think any DJ would appreciate a feature that allows you to instantly jump to any crate w a key command. ***And the best part about this feature unlike other Dj softwares where they only give you a limited amount of shortcuts to jump to crates in a Palette style set up and you have to switch out crates when the Palette is full is that there’s no limit on how many shortcuts you can have in Djay bc Type ahead is based on the crates name. You simply make up unique names and the shortcuts are limitless!
I tested this on an old laptop w Djay 5.1.3 . Using General as the Target and leaving Action blank it worked perfectly! The key command doesn’t trigger anything. (Theoretically I’m guessing you can choose any Target as long as you leave Action blank?) I don’t know if it created any problems under the hood but to be safe you can even assign an unused key to an actual command like ‘Tempo +’ for example, so if you did accidentally trigger that shortcut it really doesn’t do anything but increase a deck by 0.1% , hardly noticeable.
Let me know if I’m overlooking anything but we already have a solution right in front of us. Please any chance putting it back on next update since the dummy command could be a great solution ?
Let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Hi @Donn, thanks for the additional thoughts on this. I’ve passed this onto the devs to see what they think. I’m guessing the main issue would be communicating this solution to all users to prevent unexpected behavior.
Hi Slak_Jaw,
sorry not to beat a dead horse but just for conversation and constructive feedback it’s actually how you look at it. Is it really unexpected behavior or is it by design and you simply need to change preferences to fit your workflow. I use a lot of music programs, Logic, Cubase, Ableton, Dorico, Sibelius… and run into “problems” all the time which are not actually problems at all but just preference settings that needed to be changed to fit my workflow. I think we’re in a similar situation. To me Type-ahead is a feature by design and if it happens to not fit my workflow simply change the preferences i.e. assign a key to not trigger any command. I’ve never felt or heard anyone have a problem with changing a preference bc that’s how programs work. Changing a key command is just like changing a preference setting, no biggie really. I don’t mean to rant or anything , just giving some user feedback in this tricky situation where you have users that hate the feature and users that rely on it. Ideally an On/Off option would be great but until then I really lost out bc I relied heavily on it. In the future it would be great if the update notes listed any features that were removed 
Thanks!
Hi @Donn and @discocactus, so it seems that our recent change in djay to solve Discocactus’ issue (linked below) has affected Donn’s workflow. Before we start making more changes, I think it would be extremely helpful for you both to be involved in the discussion here.
Discocactus, we would really appreciate it if you could read through the discussion above to familiarize yourself with Donn’s issue.
Donn, we’d also appreciate it if you could read through the discussion linked below to familiarize yourself with Discocactus’ issue.
We are thinking that maybe enabling “type ahead” just for the playlists but not for the track list would be ok, as the playlists usually are not selected as much so the likelihood of unwanted “type ahead” is less. Please let us know what you both think. Thanks!
Hi @Slak_Jaw ,
I have looked in the documentation and could not find any mention of type-ahead.
Was type-ahead originally intended as a feature?
If it is just an unintentional inheritance of OS functionality, then it is a bug.
Well, it doesn’t matter.
It is impossible to have both a completely flexible keyboard shortcut and type-ahead.
For those who need either feature, either feature will always be an obstacle.
I think the only way is to add a user-selectable option for either feature, as @Donn mentions.
Hi Slak_Jaw and Discocactus,
Sure, happy to get involved. I’m curious—before Type-ahead was removed and to address Discocactus’s issue, if the devs suggested assigning any keys without a shortcut to do nothing (dummy command) instead of jumping to a song, would that have been an acceptable solution?
I believe this solution met the needs of all DJs opposed to the Type-ahead default behavior without impacting DJs who relied on it. And, there’s no need for the devs to make any changes.
If everyone is comfortable with using dummy commands, let’s not change anything. So far, it seems the most flexible and easiest solution. For example, if you don’t like a key’s current action, simply assign it to do something else, in this case, do nothing.
I think DJs who don’t like the Type-ahead feature can still find it useful in certain situations. For example, if you don’t want any key without a shortcut to jump to a song or crate, but you have one particular crate you want to access quickly, you can let the default behavior of Type-ahead handle that for you. This way, you retain the flexibility to choose which crate to jump to, while other unassigned keys simply do nothing since they’re assign a dummy command.
“We are thinking that maybe enabling ‘type ahead’ just for the playlists but not for the track list would be ok, as the playlists usually are not selected as much so the likelihood of unwanted ‘type ahead’ is less.”
Actually, I strongly feel prioritizing one over the other limits DJs’ options because everyone has their own style and workflow. For example, I’d use both equally. I’d like the ability to quickly jump to any part of the Tracklist or Playlist instead of constantly scrolling through the whole list (actually, I would love if it worked in all the lists: Search result list, Queue list, Second library list, etc.)
*Ideally, having a shortcut to toggle Type-ahead on or off with a small on/off indicator in the GUI viewable in all view configurations would be great. This way, you wouldn’t be locked into which list you want to use Type-ahead in.
However, with the current setup, you can simply avoid pressing any unassigned key in the Track list if you don’t want to use Type-ahead there. It’s available if you need it; otherwise, just avoid using those unassigned keys, whether in the Playlist or Track list , or of course turn off completely w dummy commands.
My wish with Type-ahead, or in any feature in Djay, is to have options and not be locked to one workflow.
For simplicity’s sake, I would personally prefer to leave Type-ahead as it is for now and either avoid using unassigned keys when not needed or use dummy commands, which offer a range of customized workflows as shown above.
(By the way, the Type-ahead never worked correctly in the Track list. It jumps to songs, but the letters most of the time never coordinated. However, in the Playlist, it worked perfectly.)
Looking forward to hearing back!
Thanks!
Hi Discocactus,
can you give an example? If I’m not mistaken, you prefer that any unassigned key not jump to a song or crate. That was achieved by removing Type-ahead. Now when you hit a key without a shortcut, it doesn’t jump to a crate or song or do anything.
My suggestion is instead of removing Type-ahead, we can accomplish the same thing by simply making all keys without a shortcut inactive by assigning them a dummy command. Now when you hit a key without a shortcut, it doesn’t jump to a crate or song or do anything.
So aren’t we using both keyboard shortcuts and Type-ahead at the same time without them interfering?
Now you have the flexibility to either have a key jump to a crate (by not assigning a shortcut to it (Type-ahead default behavior), or not jump to a crate by assigning a dummy command.
Let me know if I’m referring to the same thing your are.
Thanks!
Hi @Donn ,
As I mentioned above, I can’t find a description of type-ahead in the documentation.
However, in practice, pressing a key to which I have not assigned a command has resulted in the selection of an unintended song in the library.
I try to assign the same shortcuts to Traktor and djay as much as possible, but Traktor has many commands that djay does not, so I sometimes press the wrong key.
This is an annoying phenomenon for me.
So I have reported it as a bug.
And the development team decided to remove the unintended type-ahead behavior.
My guess is that it was unintended behavior for them as well.
If their response had been “djay has a type-ahead feature and you can’t avoid conflicts with it, so either avoid the incorrect keypress or find another workaround,” I would have given up, as I did with many other complaints about djay.
However, it is a waste of effort for me to assign a dummy command for all of unused keys I want to prevent unintended behavior.
I am happy to have eliminated one phenomenon that seems to me to be a bug.
The rest is for the development team to decide, not us.
Please don’t involve me in this issue any further.
again @Donn ,
I apologize for not imagining that there are users like you who take advantage of the type-ahead feature.
But please remember.
I did not change the code, nor did I make the decision to do so.
I guess the development team did it because they thought my report was reasonable.
So I believe “reinstate the type-ahead feature” should be your independent request.
I do not need any rollback and workaround for it.
Hi discocactus,
No worries! When asked for input I wrote my suggestions before I knew your take on dummy commands. I was only suggesting what I would do, not pushing dummy commands as a solution for all. If you notice my first question was “if everyone was okay with dummy commands”. Now I know you’re not and I would guess maybe others too, I can totally respect that and who ever wants to get involved we can brainstorm other solutions that don’t require extra set up.
Thanks.
Thanks for the input @discocactus and @Donn. I’ve shared your comments with the devs. If they have any follow up questions or comments, I will share them here.
OK, let me get this straight.
I have a large number of tracks, and the ones I currently don’t have a playlist, are in general folder. I’ve been meaning to look up a shortcut to jump to a specific letter of whatever column I’m organizing by (Artists, Title, etc.)
So is there a way, or is there not a way, to jump straight to tracks that start with M, or all tracks songs that start with the letter R? Because that feature would be extremely useful, and necessary unless there’s a shortcut to jump a quarter halfway and three-quarter down the list of whatever list you’re in. Could I be better at organization yes, but it’s a function that I use on almost every computer device that I have. I use it all the time in the Finder window, it’s just part of my navigation behavior, as I’m sure it is with many others.
I don’t care if it’s not mapped by default, I’ll map it manually, but leave the option out?
I get that you don’t want to be as overwhelming as virtual DJ is with all the options. At least Have an option in the mapping, if it’s not already.
Hi Patch_ed,
Kinda yes and no. Before 5.2.1 if the Playlist (crates) is in focus, typing a letter or letters will jump to the letters of the Playlist and it worked perfectly.
Track list is in focus, it was unpredictable, if you typed M it might jump to T.
If it’s implemented hoping in will work in any list that’s in focus
Thanks!
