Crates: the loose pool your next set digs from

Every DJ has the folder. It's called NEW NEW, or july maybe, or just aaa so it sorts to the top — the place records go the moment you hear them, before you know what they're for. mixinout's crates are that folder, made first-class.

A crate is not a playlist

A tracklist has an order because a set has an order. Your collections do too — they're finished thoughts. A crate deliberately has neither: it's a loose pool of records with no sequence, no position numbers, nothing to maintain. You throw things in while you dig and sort it out later, the same way a record-shop crate works under your arm.

That lack of structure is the feature. The moment filing a record requires a decision — which playlist, what position — you start losing the ones you couldn't decide about. A crate asks nothing.

Filling one

Anywhere you see a track row — inside a set, on a label page, in Browse — you can drop it into a crate on the spot. The good workflow is greedy: preview the record, and if any part of you hesitates to close the tab, crate it. You're not committing to anything; you're just refusing to forget.

The recommendations panel pairs well with this — when a suggestion lands but doesn't fit anything you're building yet, the crate is exactly where it goes.

Emptying one

A crate earns its keep when you come back cold. Skim it with the play button, and this time bring intent: check keys against the Camelot wheel, watch the BPMs, see which records were often mixed together by DJs who got there first. Some records graduate into a real collection; some get cut. Both outcomes are the crate doing its job — it's a waiting room, not a museum.

Start digging

Open any set you love, crate the three records you'd steal from it, and move on. Do that for a week and you'll have the rarest thing in digging: a pile of records you already know you like, waiting for the set that needs them.