Batch testing files for CDJ compatibility?

For context, all of my library is MP3, WAV, or AIFF. Most of my music comes from Bandcamp/iTunes/Amazon, and follow-gate sites through soundcloud (artist union, hype edit, etc.)

My issue is the occasional MP3/WAV file that, for some reason, will play in Rekordbox DJ, but not on a CDJ. I often find out the hard way, with the track displaying an error while I'm in the middle of a gig. Or, while importing a large batch of songs, rekordbox will display a message that "some" of these songs will not be compatible with certain CDJ models (of course, it doesn't tell me which songs). This tends to happen with less mainstream artists, so I'm assuming the issue might be the export settings they're using in their DAW?

Currently, I resolve this by making a note of the song that didn't play, and converting the song to MP3 when I get home. But I've been downloading a lot of new music lately, and I've had the message pop up in rekordbox a handful of times, and testing each song individually on a CDJ will be tedious.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to drag an entire playlist into a program that will tell me if the songs are CDJ compatible or not. I've used MP3 Scan & Repair and was disappointed when tracks that were "repaired" still did not work on a CDJ. Does anyone know of any software that will help in this situation?

Nick Carr 16. November 2019 21:38 Beantwortet

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If anything, it's the Bandcamp files which would be problematic. I communicated with one of their engineers this year and I was able to troubleshoot the cause; a flag in the encoding which makes the WAV look like it contains multi-channel audio, when it's only stereo. As a result, it doesn't conform to the standards the CDJ is looking for, and while rekordbox will play it and export it, the CDJ can't. I can tell you what you need to change using a HEX editor if you're comfortable making those edits.

There was also a similar issue with TagLib (an open-source library for adding ID3 tags) which incorrectly reports the FORM size in the tags; this library is used by DSP-Quattro (among other apps), and thus any files exported using that library can have a bug causing it not to be recognized by the player. Again, something that can be changed in HEX, but it's only advisable to go digging in if you know what you're doing, and to save time, it's easier if you know which tracks you need to edit based on which ones won't load.

Pulse 17. November 2019 22:35

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I'm 100% certain it is NOT the bandcamp files, I had that issue several months ago and resolved. I now download everything from bandcamp as AIFF and I've never had an issue since. I've also never used taglib.

I posted this on reddit and someone brought up bit depth and sample rate, so I sorted through all of my music and put together a playlist of everything above 16bit/44.1hz. I was hoping this would narrow it down and give me a clear list, but now I'm staring at a list of a few hundred songs, many of which I know already work on CDJs.

I don't think my first post clearly explained my issue; I'm trying to test music that is already imported into rekordbox. I've already done the leg work of tagging, beat gridding, hot cue-ing, and played gigs using these tracks on my DDJ400. What I need to know is which songs will not work when I put them on a USB stick, so I can convert them all before I'm getting an error message in the middle of a gig. It seems the only way to find out will be to spend a few hours testing tracks 1 by 1 on a CDJ.

Ideally, I could just drag my playlists into a program that could sort out the incompatible tracks, but it sounds like no such program exists...

Nick Carr 17. November 2019 23:03 1 Stimme

I'm having this same issue which seems to become more prevalent with time. @pioneerofficial - if it's not too much trouble, this post is quite old, could you share the information regarding changing encoding using a HEX editor. That would be much appreciated.

freshen_up 17. September 2021 14:07 0 Stimmen

For the Bandcamp-specific issue, change bytes 20-21 (wFormatTag) to a value of 01 00 (a decimal value of 1; meaning PCM):

Pulse 17. September 2021 21:11 0 Stimmen

Hey, Pls Help me, im going really crazy.. i have a lot of songs like this 100+, and i d like to do it how u show it. but i have a windows, and looking tottaly different and i cant find nothing. re format i dont like cause everything organised and if i do my track artist name not even good. hope u can help me.

benitoth@protonmail.com write here pls!

many thx

Benjamin Toth 7. Februar 2022 20:47 0 Stimmen

Benjamin,

If trying to perform that edit seems daunting, I won't suggest that you create a script to automate the process. I'd recommend you use an application that can batch convert the files.

Pulse 8. Februar 2022 04:14 0 Stimmen