29.03.2019

As a long time Traktor timecode user, late last year I decided it was time to change things up and make the switch over to Pioneer CDJs. One of the main reasons for doing this is that it is difficult to find working 1200s in clubs or festivals these days. Also I really liked the idea of not having to carry a laptop and not having to stress-out about plugging cables in and out, while another DJ is playing and the party is ongoing.

I am treating my digital music library with good care and keep everything organised. I use iTunes as my main library. The music then gets imported into Traktor. Traktor’s algorithm then analyses the keys and sets the grids. After that I set loops and cues. I am used to this workflow for many years now and was looking for a way to incorporate it in Rekordbox.

I have thousands of tracks that are already beat-gridded, have cues and loops set, so I had zero interest in doing the work all over again in Rekordbox.

After a bit of research I came across the DJ Conversion Utility app, which promised to get all of my data safely into Rekordbox. I bought it for 14,50$, read the manual and looked up the developers tutorials on Youtube. The conversion is a straight forward, non destructive procedure. It is helpful to know Rekordbox’s import settings before hand.

Once I got everything up and running in Rekordbox, I realised that all my cues and loops are there but some grids where off by a fraction. After more research I learned that this has to do with the way an audio file was compressed and that my lossless audio files do not have this problem. Every audio app has their own way of encoding for example MP3s and therefor is using a slightly different time structure. Good thing that the DJ Conversion Utility app comes with another app called Rekordbox Correction Tool, which corrects the timing of compressed files back to their original signature (the one from Traktor). Once applied the timing is corrected and everything is now on point in Rekordbox. It is important that your grid is set correctly in Traktor in order for this to work properly.

I hope this helps some of you who want to make the switch.