Switching from Serato to Rekordbox

Hi,

So I recently purchased a DDJ-1000 and might I say, this controller is gorgeous.Once I saw this unit I knew I needed to get a closer look, but there was only one issue. I have been a serato user for about 8 years, and making the switch was scary to me, but nevertheless I went ahead and decided to give it a shot. It has been a nightmare and I truthfully regret purchasing the controller because converting my music is awful. I thought adjusting to rekordbox would be easy, but I quickly found the major flaw associated with this dj program. The analysis of tracks is just so off. I have looked up helped on hundreds of forums to find the best way to get my music over from serato. I have the learned the difference between "normal" and "dynamic" analysis modes, but it still is not helping. All of the beat grids are way off, the pitch decides to jump around midway through a song, I just can't make this stuff up. I have NEVER had this issue with serato as analyzing music was never a chore. I just wish there was an easy way to analyze tracks so I don't have to edit beat grids or worry about the bpm of my song flying around all over the place. I understand the program does;t always get the first beat right, but I really don't have time to edit the grids or find out which songs are flawed with pitch issues for thousands of tracks. I will probably need years to do that in which case I would just go back to Serato. I am really close to giving up with this program all together and returning my DDJ-1000. Can anyone help me who has come from a Serato background to give some advice before I do so? I really want this to work as I love the product (ddi-1000) itself. Please help!

Lawrence DiAntonio August 13, 2018 04:20 Answered

Official comment

I'd been a Serato user for ages and the only problem(s) I found were the pain of manually moving all my crates and re-establishing my hot cues. Beat grids took a little bit of finessing on some tracks, but for the most part things were fine.

Remember; normal analysis for songs with consistent / electronic percussion, dynamic analysis for songs with a live drummer or varying percussion. I find this better than Serato because their software doesn't have a dynamic mode -- you need to manually adjust a grid for any songs with a wavering tempo, so already you're ahead of the game if the software can determine the type of song and how to grid it.

Personally, I just check 3 key points in tracks I know should be consistent; one at the start, one mid-way, one near the end. If you want to get accurate, enable the metronome and just flip through your tracks to hear if it's on-beat at those points. If you know the song may be a problem on dynamic analysis (eg. a disco track or track with a changing tempo), check the grid in a few points and adjust as needed.

There are some growing pains, but there certainly are more benefits to rekordbox than Serato DJ. Let me know if you need any more specific help

Pulse August 13, 2018 04:32

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12 comments

Thank you for the swift reply. I guess I will give this a go a few more times. I just wish there was a way to automate this entirely so I can DJ and not worry about if my tracks are off. Once again, thank you for the reply, I greatly appreciate it.

Lawrence DiAntonio August 13, 2018 11:23 0 votes

If you are using a Mac, buy Rekordbuddy from Next Audio Labs. It will convert your Serato library to Rekordbox and keep all hot cues, and beat grids. I like the way Serato beatgrids and their beat grid editor better, so I still use it to beatgrid my tracks, then use RekordBuddy to transfer them to RekordBox.

It is not a free program but is so worth the cost.

DJ Stygma August 13, 2018 13:20 0 votes

Thank you for the advice, however, I heard that Rekordbuddy only converts over saved hot cues and not beat grids and that is why I didn't purchase the program. I will definitely give it a shot as I love this new controller and Rekordbox itself is amazing in comparison to Serato. Once again thank you so much for the advice.

Lawrence DiAntonio August 13, 2018 14:22 0 votes

It does beat grids too, just make sure you uncheck analyze beat grid in rekordbox, I still have it analyze key for me so I can use RekordBuddy's key, but since I have it selected to protect my serato in Rekordbuddy, when I switch back to serato it still shows up as camelot key.

Make sure you watch the Rekordbuddy videos in Vimeo before you use the program, they show you exactly how to set it up. And if you have any questions, you can ask me.

DJ Stygma August 13, 2018 14:30 0 votes

Thank you so much. I was beginning to lose hope but now I'm feeling better about the situation. I will give it a shot tonight and let you know !

Lawrence DiAntonio August 13, 2018 15:45 0 votes

Depending on you choice of music, the analysis works or is completely off. I've found Dynamic analysis as a pretty much useless feature.

I your music is not straight up, quantized, modern drum machine dance music with a perfectly discernable kick and snare, the chances are it's incorrect. For me, that's 95% of the time. Luckily for most modern music, often you only need to set the first beat of the bar in the grid editor.

I've switched platforms a couple of times, and mostly don't rely on loops, so most of my cue points have been redone quite easily while playing out, or while preparing for a gig. (my collection is around 20000+ tracks)

But as Pulse said, I've found RB to have way more powerful features that going back to Serato feels like kiddie toy...and totally useless for any kind of playlist management.

Antti-K August 14, 2018 14:31 0 votes

Alternatively to Rekordbuddy you can use the DJ Conversion Utility. DJCU will convert the first beatmarker and average bpm from Serato to Rekordbox (along with a whole lot more).

see this video:

https://youtu.be/q5aob6ToRco

MixMasterG August 15, 2018 18:31 0 votes

I’m having the exact problem the first guy wrote about. You couldn’t have said it any better? Did anything work for you? Did you end up getting Rekordbuddy? Please let me know because this is a nightmare! Thank you.

Kevin Ramos August 21, 2018 00:53 0 votes

I apologize I meant to provide an update. I downloaded rekordbuddy2. I paid the 60 dollars or whatever it was and it was the best decision I have made. All my cue points and beat grids transferred over. The only thing I needed to fix was beat grits for older music like disco but for the most part it was all there. Definitely worth the buy!

Lawrence DiAntonio August 21, 2018 01:24 0 votes

Wow that’s great to hear! I paid $14 for Dj conversion utility (the one that was mentioned above ^^^) and didn’t work. I’m going to ask if I can get my money back. What Program did you use before Rekordbuddy2?

Kevin Ramos August 21, 2018 01:37 0 votes

I didn't buy anything but rekordbuddy2 to cover my tracks

Lawrence DiAntonio August 21, 2018 01:53 0 votes