Preparing Tracks & the Library
3 min readDesktop App
Browse your tracks and prep them before a set — analyze, edit beat grids and hot cues, and accept cue suggestions. DJ and Production editions.
Library and Track Prep
Track Prep (Create group, shortcut 4) is where you get your music ready for a live set. It is available in the DJ and Production editions and has two tabs:
- Library — a searchable, filterable view of all your tracks across every connected source. (Typing "Library" in the Command Palette takes you straight to this tab.)
- Show Memory — tracks you have already used in the current show, with their prep status preserved.
From here you analyze tracks, edit beat grids, place hot cues, and review cue suggestions.
Well-prepped tracks give AutoPilot and the cue engine everything they need to fire at the right moments.
The Library Tab
The source tree on the left lists every available source: USB (tracks on connected Pioneer drives, organized by playlist exactly as in rekordbox), Local (your configured music folders), and Live decks (tracks currently loaded on connected players, badged so you can prep what's playing right now).
Each track row shows title and artist, BPM, key (standard and Camelot), a genre badge, a MATCH badge when the track is harmonically and tempo-compatible with the master deck, and a PREPPED badge once analysis is complete.
- Find a track by BPM — type a number like
128to find tracks within ±4 BPM, or120-130for an exact range. - Find a compatible track — the KEY column shows compatibility with the master deck's current key; it updates live as the master track changes.
- Send to Track Prep — double-click any row to open it directly in Track Prep.
No USB drive mounted? The list is empty until you connect a Pioneer USB drive or add local folders in Settings → Advanced → Library folders.
Preparing a Track
Double-click a track to open the editor:
- Waveform canvas — full-color waveform with beat markers, phrase blocks, and hot-cue markers. Drag a hot-cue marker to reposition it; pinch or use the zoom controls (
Cmd+=/Cmd+-). - BPM / beat-grid editor (Override in the editor header, local tracks) — adjust the BPM with tap-tempo or a direct value, and drag beat markers to fix grid offset. A Pioneer USB track keeps rekordbox's own grid.
- Key / Camelot display — the detected musical key in both notations.
- Phrase strip — color-coded phrase blocks (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro). Phrases are the primary input for AutoPilot and phrase-triggered cues.
- Cue suggestions — suggested cue positions from the track's analysis, each with a moment type (drop, build, chorus peak), beat position, and confidence. Test-fire any suggestion to preview it, then accept it to add it to your cue stack with the trigger already configured.
Tips & Gotchas
- Analysis runs automatically on open — but only when it's safe. If AutoPilot is armed (a live set is running), auto-analysis is suspended so it can't interfere with the show. Prep tracks before arming AutoPilot.
- USB tracks get enhanced analysis. Tracks on a connected Pioneer USB drive also use rekordbox's analysis, for more accurate phrase detection and energy curves.
- Editing BPM or grid demotes ready state. A cue marked Ready drops back to Drafted after a grid change, because its timing may have shifted.
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