Set up smart crates in Serato.

A smart crate is defined by rules instead of a hand-picked list. You set conditions like BPM range, key, genre, label, or comment, and Serato keeps it populated with every track that matches, so the crate behaves like a saved query over your library rather than a folder you fill by hand.

Because they can only filter on metadata that exists. Without energy, mood, or role tags, the rules fall back to BPM, key, and genre. Vibes auto-tags those richer attributes and exports each one into Serato as a ready-made crate, which sidesteps the rule builder rather than feeding it: the crate format has no custom field a smart crate rule could read.

Yes, though not as extra rule fields. Vibes auto-tags energy, mood, and role from the audio, attributes Serato cannot generate on its own, and exports each tag back into Serato as a ready-made crate. You get the grouping directly, while your rule-based crates keep working from the standard fields like BPM, key, and genre.

Only if Live Update is ticked in the New/Edit Smart Crate window. With it on, the crate re-checks its rules whenever your library changes, so a house track you just tagged at 124 BPM lands in the matching crate on its own. With it off, the crate keeps its last result until you press the refresh button next to it. With smart crates Serato does the filing, and your job is keeping the tags accurate.

Treat them like any other crate. Select the smart crate, sort by any column, and load tracks to a deck the usual way. You cannot drag a track into a smart crate by hand, because membership comes from the rules, so to add a track you change its tags until it matches. To change what the crate collects, click the edit button and adjust the rules. Serato lists smart crates as a Pro extra, but the Serato DJ Lite 4.0 manual also covers adding them, so check your version.