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Plain-language guides to setting SynAmp up, looking after your library, and getting playlists you'll love. SynAmp is still being built, so guides for things that aren't ready yet say so. Press / to search.
What you need
Somewhere your music lives (a NAS or always-on computer), and a Mac or PC for the first listen-through.
Listen away from home, privately
A short checklist sets up a private connection between your server and your phone — no router changes, nothing open to the internet.
Use the phone and car apps you like
SynAmp works with many existing music apps, so you get lock-screen controls, CarPlay and offline listening right away.
The first listen-through
SynAmp listens to every song once. For a big library that takes days — and you can pause it any time.
Tidy names and folders without fear
SynAmp suggests changes; you approve them; anything can be undone.
Find missing tracks and albums
See every album with songs missing, and albums you don't have yet from artists you love.
Second copies of the same song
Keep the better copy and set the other aside. Nothing is ever deleted.
Add new music
Drag it in, check where it'll go, approve.
Describe a playlist in your own words
Ask for “something to focus to, no words” and see why every song made it in.
How SynAmp learns what you like
Love, skip and remove — and why an accidental skip doesn't count against a song.
What leaves your house (almost nothing)
SynAmp runs at home. Here's the short list of things that ever talk to the internet, and how to turn them off.
Analysis looks stuck
Usually it's updating the library list, or the computer doing the listening is asleep.
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Ask a questionFrom zero to playing.
SynAmp isn't ready to install yet. These guides describe how setup works today on the first test system, and will be fleshed out step by step before launch.
What you need
- Somewhere your music lives. A NAS (like a Synology) or any always-on computer at home. It doesn't need to be powerful.
- A Mac or PC for the first listen-through. Listening to every song takes real computing power, so SynAmp does it on your computer rather than slowing your server down. It only needs to be on while it works, and it picks up where it left off.
- Optional: a music app on your phone. See Use the phone and car apps you like.
Listen away from home, privately
SynAmp includes a “Listen anywhere” checklist that walks you through it one tick at a time:
- Install Tailscale — a free app that makes a private network just for your own devices — on your server and your phone.
- SynAmp shows your private “anywhere” address with a copy button. Paste it into your phone's music app.
- Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and press play. If music comes through on mobile data, you're done.
Nothing on your router changes, and your music is never open to the public internet.
Use the phone and car apps you like
SynAmp speaks the same language as a family of existing music apps (they're usually described as “Subsonic” apps). That means lock-screen controls, background play, CarPlay or Android Auto, and offline downloads work from day one — no SynAmp phone app needed.
When an app asks for a server address, use your SynAmp address (the one from the checklist). That way SynAmp hears what you play, and your smart playlists can learn from it.
Leave it better than you found it.
The first listen-through
Before SynAmp can build “sounds like” playlists, it listens to each song once and notes things like tempo, energy and loudness. A library of tens of thousands of songs takes days, not hours.
- The Library page shows how far along it is and roughly how long is left.
- Press Pause analysis whenever you need your computer back. It carries on later from where it stopped.
- You don't have to wait: smart playlists get better as more songs are done.
Want to check its work? Check the measurements plays a random song and lets you tap along to the beat.
Tidy names and folders without fear
SynAmp suggests tidier names — merging “Brubeck, Dave” into “Dave Brubeck”, adding the year to album folders, numbering tracks — and shows you a before-and-after for each one.
- Approve the suggestions you like, skip the rest.
- Press Apply. Only approved changes happen.
- Changed your mind? Undo puts every file back exactly where it was.
Your plays, likes and analysis follow each song to its new name. Pause file changes stops SynAmp touching your files at all until you switch it back on.
Find missing tracks and albums
SynAmp compares your albums with MusicBrainz, the free, community-run music encyclopedia, and lists every album that's missing songs. You can sort and tag the list, and it clears itself as you add the missing tracks.
Discography gaps goes further: follow an artist and see the albums of theirs you don't have yet, with links to listen or buy.
Second copies of the same song
When tidying brings two copies of the same recording together, SynAmp keeps the better one (lossless over compressed, then higher quality, then better song details) and moves the other into a _duplicates folder next to your incoming music. Nothing is deleted.
Remasters can look alike, so every pair has a Keep the other copy instead button. If SynAmp isn't certain two files are the same recording, it leaves them both and asks you.
Add new music
Drag files or folders onto SynAmp, or copy them into the incoming folder on your server. SynAmp works out where each album belongs, shows you, and files it once you approve. Copies are checked to make sure every file arrived intact.
Coming later: adding music straight from Dropbox.
Ask for what you want to hear.
Describe a playlist in your own words
Type something like “upbeat, under 130 bpm, nothing too loud” and SynAmp turns it into a playlist. Each song shows the reasons it was picked.
When SynAmp hasn't measured something yet — say, whether a song has piano — it won't guess. Those songs appear separately as “not measured yet”, so a “no piano” playlist never sneaks one in.
Smart playlists stay up to date by themselves: add an album and matching songs appear without you doing anything.
Coming as the Brain grows: “no words” and instrument detection, “sounds like these two songs”, moods and lyrics. See the roadmap.
How SynAmp learns what you like
- Love a song to see more like it.
- Skip early and it counts as “not now”. Jumping around in a song, an error, or a phone call interrupting never counts against it.
- Remove a song from a playlist and it stays out of that playlist. It's not banned everywhere — and “Removed by you” lets you bring it back.
Plays from your phone apps count too, when they use your SynAmp address.
Your listening stays yours.
What leaves your house (almost nothing)
SynAmp runs on your own hardware. There's no SynAmp account, no tracking, and no ads. The only things that ever reach the internet are:
- Album lookups on MusicBrainz — artist and album names, to find missing tracks. Nothing about you or what you play.
- Last.fm, only if you connect it — your plays, sent to your own Last.fm profile. Leave it off and nothing is sent.
When something's off.
Analysis looks stuck
- It may be updating the library list. Every so often analysis pauses to share its results; after an update this can take a while. The Library page says when this is happening, and analysis carries on by itself.
- The computer may be asleep, or no longer connected to your server. Wake it, check your music folder is still connected, and it carries on from where it stopped.
Music stutters away from home
Streaming from home depends on your home internet's upload speed, which is often much slower than download. Many phone apps have a “streaming quality” setting — try a lower one on mobile data. Automatic lighter streams away from home are on the roadmap.
Plays from my phone app don't show up
Check the app is using your SynAmp address, not your music server's own address. The “Listen anywhere” checklist has a live “SynAmp hears your apps” step that shows which apps it's hearing from.
Straight answers.
Is SynAmp available yet?
Not yet. It's being built in the open and tested on a real 46,000-song library. Join the early-access list for one email when it's ready, and follow along on the roadmap.
Do I need a NAS?
No. Any computer that's always on at home will do — a mini PC or an old laptop, for example. A NAS is just what SynAmp is being tested on.
Will it mess with my files?
Only when you say so. SynAmp suggests changes and waits for your approval, every change can be undone, and nothing is ever deleted.
Do I need a SynAmp app on my phone?
No. SynAmp works with many existing music apps, so your phone, car and computer can play your library from day one. A SynAmp app only happens if those leave a real gap.
Is it a subscription?
No, and it won't be. Getting away from renting your own music is the whole point.
Still stuck?
The help centre grows from real questions. Send one in — good questions often become new guides.