−14 LUFS−3.9 dB
−15 LUFS−4.9 dB
−16 LUFS−5.9 dB
What DropWave is
DropWave reads the musical key, the Camelot code, the tempo, the tuning, the loudness and the true peak of any audio file, or a whole folder of them, the moment you drop it in. It shows where a song changes key, draws the beat grid, and lets you check both by ear.
That is the whole product. It does not manage a library, edit audio, separate stems or change your audio. It measures, and it tells you what it measured.
Why it exists
Every producer accumulates the same folder: a few hundred unlabelled files, each useful only if you know two things about it. And every producer has had the same afternoon — the one where a sample sounded fine until the bassline came in, and the key was wrong all along.
The tools for answering that question either send your audio somewhere, or bury the answer three steps into a library manager, or hand you a confident number that turns out to be the key next door.
DropWave exists because that is a solvable problem.
What we care about
Every number has to be actionable. True peak in dBTP. Loudness in LUFS, to ITU‑R BS.1770‑4 — the standard streaming platforms normalise against. Real units, defined publicly, comparable against anything else that implements them. Not an "energy" score on a scale somebody made up.
The key should be the key, not its neighbour. Key finders that judge the overall colour of a sound can be pulled a fifth away by overtones. DropWave listens for the notes actually being played, bass line included, measures the tuning instead of assuming it, and lets you hear the key back over the track. That is the thing we are proudest of getting right.
When a call was close, you should be told. "A minor, possibly C major" is something you settle by ear in ten seconds, and DropWave gives you the chord to settle it with. A single answer in a large font, when two were nearly tied, is a coin flip formatted as a fact.
Your audio is yours. Analysis happens on your machine and your files are never uploaded. No DropWave account, no analytics, and the app only goes online for updates and its licence, so material that is not yours to upload never gets uploaded. More →
Speed is a feature. Well under a second for a full song, with nothing to upload and nothing to wait for. The answer is there before you have let go of the mouse, because a tool you have to wait for is a tool you stop reaching for.
What V2 changed
DropWave V2 (version 3) is a ground-up rebuild as a native app. It brought a new key engine that listens for the notes, key changes shown section by section, the beat grid on the waveform, ways to check every reading by ear, whole folders in a table, and updates that install themselves.
What stayed is the rule behind all of it: real units, honest confidence, and nothing that leaves your computer.
Everything it does
- Key, Camelot, tempo, tuning, loudness and true peak from one drop
- A key engine that listens for the notes actually played, bass included
- Key changes: every section of a song that modulates, with its key and where it starts
- Tempo changes: every stretch of a song that changes tempo, with its own BPM and beat grid
- The beat grid drawn on the waveform, with bars marked
- Check it by ear: a click that plays on the detected beats, and the key played as a chord at the track’s own tuning
- Half, as detected, or double tempo for every track
- A confidence reading on key and tempo, counted from how many sections of the song agreed, with the runner-up named when it was close
- The Camelot wheel drawn with every result, and the keys that mix with it
- Drop a folder: a sortable, searchable table of every file, exported as CSV
- Write the key and tempo into file names, shown first and undoable
- Mastering-grade loudness: loudness range, short-term and momentary max, PLR, sample peak, stereo correlation and loudness over time
- What Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer will do to the level
- A delivery check for every file, and PDF reports to send to a label, artist or client
- Play through your audio interface, with Match loudness to compare files at the same level
- Opens WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A, FLAC, CAF and the audio track of video files
- Audio is analysed on your computer and never uploaded. The app only goes online for updates and its licence
- Remembers your files, and analyses from a right-click in Finder or Explorer
- Updates itself in the background and installs when you click Restart
- Installs and updates DropWave Editor and DropWave Tune for you, from DropWave Manager
Where it is
DropWave is in beta, free and with no key: download it and it opens. Tell us what you find with Help → Send Feedback… in the app, or in the Discord, where builds are posted first. Reports of false readings are the most valuable thing a tester can send.
Working with us
If you make music, run a label, teach, or write about production tools, get in touch.