RaveCut Back to home
Guide

Install it, say yes, cut your first DJ set.

Three steps to install, then RaveCut does the work while you get on with something else. This is an early alpha, so this guide is honest about what to expect.

RaveCut 0.1.16 alpha · September 2026

RaveCut cuts a multicam DJ set to the beat, on its own, and puts an editable sequence into Premiere Pro. You point it at the folder with your footage and your set recording, and come back to an edit that's ready for your finishing pass. It never changes anything you already made: it always adds a new sequence.

Install in 3 steps

The download is one zip, RaveCut-0.1.16-alpha.zip, with four files in it: 1 Install RaveCut Engine.pkg, 2 Install RaveCut Panel.ccx, Uninstall RaveCut.pkg and Read Me First.pdf.

Had Beatjump or Downbeat before? Double-click Uninstall RaveCut.pkg first. It removes the old versions and never touches your footage, projects or edits.

  1. Double-click 1 Install RaveCut Engine.pkg and follow the installer. It asks for your Mac password. That's normal. This puts RaveCut Engine in your Applications folder. You never open it yourself: it has no window, and the panel runs it for you.
  2. Double-click 2 Install RaveCut Panel.ccx. Creative Cloud opens and warns about installing a plugin from outside the marketplace. Click Install.
  3. Open Premiere Pro and your project, then choose Window → UXP Plugins → RaveCut. Dock the panel wherever you like. Not in the menu? Quit Premiere fully and open it again.

Say yes to these prompts

Allow every permission RaveCut asks for, during install and the first time you use it. Without them it can't read your footage or place your edit.

Installing the engine: the installer asks for your Mac password.
Type it and click Install Software.
Installing the panel: Creative Cloud says to only install plugins from trusted sources.
Click Install.
The first time the panel starts the engine: macOS asks whether Premiere may open “RaveCut Engine”, or whether to open an app downloaded from the internet.
Click Open or Allow.
The first time RaveCut reads footage on an external drive, or in Desktop, Documents or Downloads: “RaveCut Engine would like to access files on a removable volume” (or in that folder).
Click Allow.
When RaveCut reads or saves a file: Premiere asks whether the plugin may use that file.
Click Allow.

Clicked “Don't Allow” by mistake?

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders, find RaveCut Engine, and turn its switches on. Then run Analyse a folder again. Still can't read your footage? As a last resort, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access and turn on RaveCut Engine (if it isn't listed, click + and pick it from Applications).

Make an edit

  1. Open your Premiere project, then open the RaveCut panel (Window → UXP Plugins → RaveCut).
  2. Choose how to unlock it. The first time, the panel shows Try it once, free (one free edit) or Enter serial key.
  3. Click “Analyse a folder” and pick the whole folder of the set: all the cameras and your set recording. Subfolders per camera are fine. First it lists the cameras it found (“Found 3 cameras in …”) and your set recording: untick anything you want left out, then click Analyse. RaveCut Engine works in the background and the line under the bar says what it's doing. Most sets take under an hour; a big seven-camera night on an external drive can take a couple of hours. Cancel stops it straight away. Keep your Mac plugged in and awake, and don't unplug the footage drive.
  4. If the footage isn't in your project yet, the panel says so. Click Import my footage and RaveCut adds it for you.
  5. Click “Place the edit”. RaveCut builds a new sequence called Cut 1 (or the next number if you already have Cut sequences). The bar goes from 0 to 100%; a full set takes about 1–2 minutes on a recent Mac. Don't click around in Premiere while it places.
  6. Done: “Cut N is on your timeline.” Every camera sits on its own track with the chosen shots switched on. Change any cut by switching clips on or off.

Serial keys

Your first edit is free

Choose Try it once, free and RaveCut cuts one whole set with no key, no account and no internet. The free edit is used when you place it.

Enter your serial key

During the alpha, Erik sends testers a serial key from the RaveCut store. Enter it on the license screen: Details → License → Enter key, then activate. Activating needs the internet once; after that, RaveCut runs fully offline and your footage never leaves your Mac.

Send feedback after every run

The panel no longer shows its technical log, so the log file is how we see what happened.

  1. After every run, and especially if anything went wrong, click Save log file… in the panel.
  2. Save it anywhere (Downloads is fine).
  3. Send it to Erik through the feedback page: https://forms.gle/EbzjoS6cBk8rPPJAA. A line on what you were doing, and a screenshot of any message, helps too.

Your footage never leaves your Mac. The log only has file names and timings.

Updating and uninstalling

Known limits in this alpha

When something goes wrong

RaveCut isn't in the Window menu.
Quit Premiere fully and open it again. Still missing? Double-click 2 Install RaveCut Panel.ccx again.
I opened RaveCut Engine and nothing happened.
That's normal. It has no window. Use the panel inside Premiere.
The progress bar sits on “Waking the engine”.
Check that RaveCut Engine is in your Applications folder (run the engine installer again if not) and that you clicked Open or Allow when your Mac asked. See Say yes to these prompts.
It can't read my footage.
You probably clicked “Don't Allow” once. Turn it back on in System Settings, as described above.
“Your footage isn't in this Premiere project yet.”
Click Import my footage and RaveCut adds the files for you.
Premiere looks frozen while the edit is being placed.
It's working, not stuck. Give it a couple of minutes and don't force-quit it.
Anything else.
Click Save log file… and send it with a line on what happened. See Send feedback.

Alpha means alpha. Expect rough edges. The edit itself is real and the cuts land on the beat, so tell us what you'd change. RaveCut never uploads your footage and never connects to the internet, except the one time you activate a key, and it never edits your existing sequences. It only adds a new one.