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Rekordbox 4.05 Usability Comments

As much as I want to love Rekordbox DJ, I really feel that it isn’t ready yet. In the future, I think this is going to be a far superior product to Traktor and Serato, and I am excited about it.

I am running a high end Windows 8.1 laptop, 16gb ram, RB 4.05, and my music is stored on an external USB3 drive. I am using a DDJ-SX2 that was intended for use with Serato. Rekordbox really brings this controller alive, whereas Serato doesn’t take advantage of all the options. My trial is expiring very soon, and as much as I love RB, it just doesn’t seem ready yet, but I would hate to have to go back to using Serato.

Awesome Features:

  1. This really seems to take the best of Traktor and the best of Serato and put them both together! It fits right in the middle of each, which is where I want to be.
  2. RB really brings the touchpads alive!
  3. Love the MyTags and Suggested Songs. This relational capability has been in my brain for years, and RB has done it
  4. Love the preview implementation.

 

Serious Problems:

  1. Very strange flickering on the deck waveform preview, and also flickering on the BPM area. I suspect there is something wrong with the display update algorithm for these areas. More often than not, this will blank out the BPM display. A few other things in this area sometimes disappear as well making it very unusable. Want to see some screenshots??
  2. Autoplay on load cannot be disabled, even though you have set the setting. Sometimes autoplay ignores the setting and autoplays upon track loading. Insanely frustrating and embarrassing. I have had times when just tapping the autoloop has started playing automatically, not just set the loop. It is completely inconsistent.
  3. Lag time. Nearly always, there is a significant lag (1s) when spinning the track selection wheel. It doesn’t occur immediately. I can scroll several tracks quickly, then it freezes for about a second or even 2. My hard drives set to be powered and running 100% of the time, so this doesn’t seem to be a lag due to hard drive start up. Perhaps RB is storing the tracklist in a strange way.
  4. Try to advance the playhead, and then it automatically resets the playhead to the start of the track. The only way to get around this is to set a cue point, then press the cue point. Or to play the track, then press pause. Then the playhead can be moved anywhere (and it stays as it should). This seems very buggy to me since it doesn’t always happen.
  5. Related tracks. Fantastic feature that I have been waiting to see for years. But why can’t tracks be dragged and dropped in while in performance mode? This is crazy not to allow this…
  6. The Search Collection shortcut doesn’t search the collection. It searches the current playlist. Unless the highlighted section is the playlist section, not the track section. There is use for both, but it is frustrating to have to use the mouse instead of just keys.
  7. Cannot permanently delete tracks from the hard drive. When I am sorting through music, I want to be able to permanently get rid of tracks that I am not happy with. I shouldn’t have to use another program to do this.

 

Annoyances:

  1. Can’t set the beat grid while being in DJ Performance mode. Well, actually, it is possible, but the menu keeps reverting back to XXX. And while in Export mode, the jog wheels and play/pause don’t work, and I find that annoying since I must now use the mouse.
  2. I have not noticed an AutoDJ where it will play the next track automatically. This is a super handy feature.
  3. Need some subcrates for easier organization and display.
  4. The slicer indicator always assigns the first light to when the slicer is started. Perhaps someone finds this useful, but I would prefer if it would count the 1-4 and 5-8 properly in time with the beat grid.
  5. Beat Drifting. Because I can never see the BPM due to the graphic glitches (and I cannot beatmatch to save my life), it’s easier to tap the sync button on and off. This makes sure my BPMs are identical. It only takes a couple of bars before the beats of each deck begin to separate slightly. Why should this happen if the BPMs are identical? If the sync is engaged for both decks, they continue to stay in sync.
  6. The Time on the track deck changes back. I want to set it at remaining time and leave it there forever! But it resets everytime the program restarts.
  7. The Master Tempo and Tempo range spontaneously change, but I know you guys are already aware of that.
  8. Memory Points vs Cue Points. I can’t seem to see the difference, except that the beat countdown only seems to work on memory points, whereas everything else seems to work on cue points. I don’t have CDJs but it seems to me I would be a lot happier only working with the Cue Points and if the beat counts would pay attention to the cue points as well… because I don’t see why I would otherwise want to use memory points. What’s the point??
  9. Can’t seem to drag and drop and swap around cue point order as is handy in Serato.
  10. Doesn't support 4k screens. The fonts are all way too small. But then again, no programs support this well.
  11. I can see that somehow the preplist has been included, but I cannot seem to figure out how to use it. This was a horribly implemented feature in Serato that made it unusable. Hopefully RB have been smarter!

 

Rob McKerlie

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@Rob > Thanks for your comments, we'll certainly pass them along to the rekordbox team for review and further improvement. I know some are bugs, but here's some comments from my side...

Problems:

1) Please ensure that your graphics drivers are up-to-date, and not by way of the Windows Update. Visit the chipset manufacturer's website and use one of their driver detection tools to check that you have the latest drivers. If you still find it to be an issue, consider lowering the waveform drawing rate from High to Medium to see if that improves the issue.

2) The engineers will be adding an AutoCue mode similar to what the CDJs have (and can control rekordbox); controllers adhere to the "what it was previously doing" rule. If the deck was playing and you load a track, the new track will also play. If it was paused / cued, it will be stopped. We expect to see this changed in a future update.

3) I can't say I've encountered this problem with my Windows machines, again, this could be related to the graphics issue (#1).

4) Are you using the needle search to advance the playhead or are you using the "skip" (shift + jog)?

5) You certainly can... I just verified this on 4.0.5. Can you record a video of this so I can see what might be going on?

6) I think this is just a mis-named keyboard shortcut; it says "Search in the collection" but it searches whatever the current view is, so if that view is a playlist, it searches within the playlist. Other users have asked for a more similar "Serato-style" where the first time you press your shortcut it will search the current view, but pressing it again will then search the entire collection.

7) This has been something on the books for a while, I'm not sure when it will be implemented but many users are requesting a "delete from collection AND drive" option. Hopefully we'll see it soon!

Annoyances:

1) You can, just not with the buttons on the DDJ-SX2. Move your mouse over the deck number onscreen, you'll see a little arrow appear click it and a drop-down appears:

Click GRID and you'll see this instead of the pads below the deck:

2) There is no AutoMix (blending of track to track) but you can enable Auto Play under Preferences > Controller > Deck > Auto Play > On. To use this function, the track on any given deck must be loaded from a playlist; you can not auto-play from the main collection.

3) You can, but sub-crates' contents are not currently shown in the parent crate (folder). This has been submitted to the engineers for future inclusion.

4) The reason it does this is to engage as if it were a loop; you turn it on, that point becomes the "1" regardless of where it is in the phrase.

5) I would question if your beat grids are accurate and properly analyzed (dynamic vs. normal), you should be able to get two identical tracks and test that it works properly.

6) A future update will actually show both time elapsed and time remaining, so this won't be an issue. ;)

7) Yeah, this is a bug the rekordbox team is working to squash.

8) Memory points can't be called the same way hot cues can. The main reason memory points exist is CDJs have 3 hot cues per track, which limits them a bit, but you could also store up to 10 memory points, allowing a bit more flex. Controllers, on the other hand, have up to 8 hot cues, making them more versatile. If you're needing a countdown, you may set memory points, but otherwise I recommend using hot cues for use with a controller.

9) No, but that's a good suggestion for future!

10) Hi-DPI isn't properly supported yet, but I've also found (when using a Windows 10 Ultrabook) that even many Windows elements aren't suited for Hi-DPI. The engineers know about it and I know they're working to include higher resolution displays and more options for font sizes in future updates.

11) Do you mean the TAG list? It's where tracks go if you press the PREPARE button on the SX2. You can make that list visible by clicking this little button way over on the top right of the collection window:

Then over on the far left, make sure TAG is selected from the series of palette banks:

Hopefully that answers some questions for you!

Pulse
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Thanks for your feedback!  Here are some of my comments to your comments in [square brackets]!!

 

 

@Rob > Thanks for your comments, we'll certainly pass them along to the rekordbox team for review and further improvement. I know some are bugs, but here's some comments from my side...

Problems:

1) Please ensure that your graphics drivers are up-to-date, and not by way of the Windows Update. Visit the chipset manufacturer's website and use one of their driver detection tools to check that you have the latest drivers. If you still find it to be an issue, consider lowering the waveform drawing rate from High to Medium to see if that improves the issue. [This isn't a waveform refresh issue. I saw that in Serato, which was bloody horrible and unusable. However, this is a different issue. Here are some screen captures.]

 

 

2) The engineers will be adding an AutoCue mode similar to what the CDJs have (and can control rekordbox); controllers adhere to the "what it was previously doing" rule. If the deck was playing and you load a track, the new track will also play. If it was paused / cued, it will be stopped. We expect to see this changed in a future update.

[Right now, Rekordbox seems to choose at random whether it plays or not. I have the decks locked so that I cannot load into an already playing deck. I am not sure if your suggestion will fix the problem, but sounds like they will look into the issue more.]

3) I can't say I've encountered this problem with my Windows machines, again, this could be related to the graphics issue (#1).

[I doubt these two are related, because the issue you are thinking of is the waveform refresh/update speed. My graphics issues are flashing glitches, and they seem to be bounded boxes and rectangles, likely where the programmers are trying to refresh. My problem in this case with the lag, seems to be more along the lines of the MIDI signals getting hung up for a brief moment.]

4) Are you using the needle search to advance the playhead or are you using the "skip" (shift + jog)?

[No, just rotating the platters slowly.]

5) You certainly can... I just verified this on 4.0.5. Can you record a video of this so I can see what might be going on?

[I can try to record a video once I learn how! ;)  When I drag a song from the track list over to the related tracks window, the mouse pointer changes to the Windows 'do not enter' red circle with a line through it.]

6) I think this is just a mis-named keyboard shortcut; it says "Search in the collection" but it searches whatever the current view is, so if that view is a playlist, it searches within the playlist. Other users have asked for a more similar "Serato-style" where the first time you press your shortcut it will search the current view, but pressing it again will then search the entire collection.

[That would be a workable solution. The RB programmers labelled the shortcut "Search in Collection", so I figure it should do so!!  Right now if the track window is active, then it will search there. If the Playlist window is active, then it will search all the collection. Too many buttons to press (in the dark) to get to search the whole collection.]

7) This has been something on the books for a while, I'm not sure when it will be implemented but many users are requesting a "delete from collection AND drive" option. Hopefully we'll see it soon!

[I don't really consider this an optional implementation. Especially when RB is a great tool to organize music. But it is missing the most fundamental feature. I am wondering what users are expected to do... listen to their songs in RB, then pop over to another windows explorer, search for the track, then delete from there, then continue back with RB and delete the dead link also??  Makes no sense at all not to have a delete function.]

Annoyances:

1) You can, just not with the buttons on the DDJ-SX2. Move your mouse over the deck number onscreen, you'll see a little arrow appear click it and a drop-down appears:

[Yeah, I found this from another forum search, but if I am going through setting the grid and cue points, then any adjustment I have to go back, use the mouse, and find this super little obscure drop down menu that just won't stay in the mode that I have selected. Why don't the dedicated Grid Adjust buttons on the SX2 seem to be enabled??]

Click GRID and you'll see this instead of the pads below the deck:

2) There is no AutoMix (blending of track to track) but you can enable Auto Play under Preferences > Controller > Deck > Auto Play > On. To use this function, the track on any given deck must be loaded from a playlist; you can not auto-play from the main collection.

[This sounds like a strange way to implement. If I have an emergency (often at my bar) and have to step away, it would be nice to push one button on the screen instead of rolling through levels of menus. What you seem to be changing with that setting is the whole problem I was trying to get away from in the other problem above... I don't want my tracks to autoplay when loaded unless, an 'autodj' is on. I don't care about AutoMix or track blending.]

3) You can, but sub-crates' contents are not currently shown in the parent crate (folder). This has been submitted to the engineers for future inclusion.

4) The reason it does this is to engage as if it were a loop; you turn it on, that point becomes the "1" regardless of where it is in the phrase.

[I get it. But still strange because it causes a dissonance with the numbers my head is counting, so it is hard to really understand the slicer points. It makes it unusable for me, unless I happen to be able to start the slicer on the beat everytime.]

5) I would question if your beat grids are accurate and properly analyzed (dynamic vs. normal), you should be able to get two identical tracks and test that it works properly.

[The tracks were all analyzed with Normal. If the natural BPM of Track 1 is 128.00 bpm, and my second track is say 126.00 bpm. Then I sync Track 2 up to 128.00 bpm... why should there be any drifting at all.  It seems that 128.00 is not always 128.00 and it depends on what the 'normal' bpm of the track was originally, not what it is set. That is what is happening... I really don't understand that. BTW - there is no drifting between the identical track on different decks.]

6) A future update will actually show both time elapsed and time remaining, so this won't be an issue. ;)

7) Yeah, this is a bug the rekordbox team is working to squash.

8) Memory points can't be called the same way hot cues can. The main reason memory points exist is CDJs have 3 hot cues per track, which limits them a bit, but you could also store up to 10 memory points, allowing a bit more flex. Controllers, on the other hand, have up to 8 hot cues, making them more versatile. If you're needing a countdown, you may set memory points, but otherwise I recommend using hot cues for use with a controller.

[Perhaps its that the programmers are focusing more for the professional CDJs but memory points are pointless a]nd inaccessible on my SX2, yet Cue Points are ready and easy. However, the programmers decided not to use the cue points for the beat count, or the inner platter displays since they are only paying attention to the virtually redundant memory points. Again, this seems very weird. I would be happy to completely ignore memory points, but there are some features that are unfortunately and unencessarily tied to them.

9) No, but that's a good suggestion for future!

10) Hi-DPI isn't properly supported yet, but I've also found (when using a Windows 10 Ultrabook) that even many Windows elements aren't suited for Hi-DPI. The engineers know about it and I know they're working to include higher resolution displays and more options for font sizes in future updates.

[no big deal. Every program sucks with 4k, so I always downgrade the display to HD anyhow.]

11) Do you mean the TAG list? It's where tracks go if you press the PREPARE button on the SX2. You can make that list visible by clicking this little button way over on the top right of the collection window:

[Thanks, I never would have found that. It is fantastic that it is easy to add tracks to the preplist using the controller. Is it easy to enable that view from the controller, without having to go to the screen to click all those tiny little buttons??]

Rob McKerlie 0 votos
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Good post Rob, lot's of things I'm also experiencing with my Rekordbox - DDJ-RZ combo.

Wat I really don't get is the drifting between synced tracks. A lot of times using Traktor (and in the old days 2x SL1200 + CDJ's) playing 3 decks together. The fact that you don't have to beatmatch manually gives you lot's of time to be creative, so I love it. With Trakor perhaps 1 per 100 tracks didn't sync well, I think because didn't analyze properly.

With Rekordbox lot's of time I have to adjust the tracks with the platters to keep them in sync. Visually It looks ok (as far as you can tell from the not so smooth graphics), but it simply is not in sync. This makes me wonder if the analyze function in Rekordbox is simply not working as well as Traktor's? (btw, most tracks I use are house, so no difficult patterns)

It's good to see Rekordbox is growing every update, but without a proper analyze in the beginning we keep having problems with this. So I'm wondering if this perhaps is the issue.

Theo 0 votos
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@Rob > Answering your replies...

Problems:

1) Yeah, it does look like those issues are graphics-driver related. Please try and update. Links here:

NVIDIA
Intel
AMD / ATI

2) It shouldn't be random; if the deck was playing, the new track will also play. If it was stopped, it will be stopped.

3) I'll have to look into this a bit further. What's the size of your collection and have all tracks finished analysing?

4) Again, this is normal performance - if the deck is CUED and not playing, moving the jog and letting go will have the playback position jump back to the cue point. If you want to move it, press play/pause and then play/pause again to put it in "pause" mode, then set the new cue. Or you can do what I do, just keep holding the jog and press the CUE button to set that point as the master cue.

5) Ah - you're dragging TO the related tracks! Nah, you can't do that - you can drag FROM it to a deck or playlist. The tracks shown on that list are those matching the criteria you select under the gear icon at the top right of the related tracks window.

Annoyances:

1) Yeah, I'm not sure why the buttons don't do that work directly, hopefully in a future update.

2) For most people, it's an on or off setting, not something changed regularly, which is why it's buried in the settings.

4) Consider this - if you were to halve the value of the slicer so it didn't count 8 beats, and instead it was counting 4 beats, each pad would represent a 1/2 beat and your counting would be off even further.

5) I can't say for sure, I know I've mixed on the same setup with the sync off and had no issues. Does it happen with all tracks?

8) Hopefully we'll see the hot cues used for count up/down in future updates, I'll make sure they take note of that recommendation.

10) No, unfortunately not - for whatever reason the VIEW button also does nothing. Another annoyance, as you say. ;)

Pulse 0 votos
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Thanks again for your comments. Mine again are in [square brackets].

 

1) Yeah, it does look like those issues are graphics-driver related. Please try and update. Links here:

NVIDIA
Intel
AMD / ATI

[My Asus laptop has a NVidia GeForce GTX 960M. I have installed RBDJ on another new Lenovo computer that has an NVidia card but it is a much lower end computer. The graphic glitches are there on both computers. The driver on my ASUS is the latest driver as per the manufacturer's website.]

2) It shouldn't be random; if the deck was playing, the new track will also play. If it was stopped, it will be stopped.

[It is random, or at least appears to be so. Since I lock the decks, I cannot load into a playing deck. So, the deck will ALWAYS be stopped when I load into it. Sometimes the track will play automatically (bad) and sometimes not (good). There seems to be something in the code that is ignoring or conflicting with the desired state. Once tracks start playing automatically, it seems there is a higher probability it will happen again. It's very weird, but definitely unpredictable.]

3) I'll have to look into this a bit further. What's the size of your collection and have all tracks finished analysing?

[The collection is large, but both Traktor and Serato (both registered legitimate verstons) do not have this lag problem. All tracks have been analyzed completely, so there doesn't seem to be any background processes going. The CPU meter doesn't spike or anything. It's very significant and very annoying.]

4) Again, this is normal performance - if the deck is CUED and not playing, moving the jog and letting go will have the playback position jump back to the cue point. If you want to move it, press play/pause and then play/pause again to put it in "pause" mode, then set the new cue. Or you can do what I do, just keep holding the jog and press the CUE button to set that point as the master cue.

[ok]

5) Ah - you're dragging TO the related tracks! Nah, you can't do that - you can drag FROM it to a deck or playlist. The tracks shown on that list are those matching the criteria you select under the gear icon at the top right of the related tracks window.

[It would be FANTASTIC if I could drag TO the related tracks to make sure that 2 songs are related to each other no matter what the metadata says!!  Because if I put it there, i KNOW 100% that they work together...]

Annoyances:

1) Yeah, I'm not sure why the buttons don't do that work directly, hopefully in a future update.

[ok]

2) For most people, it's an on or off setting, not something changed regularly, which is why it's buried in the settings.

[ok]

4) Consider this - if you were to halve the value of the slicer so it didn't count 8 beats, and instead it was counting 4 beats, each pad would represent a 1/2 beat and your counting would be off even further.

[yeah!  So, in this case the slicer implementation in RB sucks TWICE as bad! ;)  ]

5) I can't say for sure, I know I've mixed on the same setup with the sync off and had no issues. Does it happen with all tracks?

[I haven't tested it extensively, but whenever I pay attention to it, and the BPMs are not at their natural analyzed rate, it seems to drift when it obviously shouldn't. The other guy who commented in this thread seems to have the same problem.]

8) Hopefully we'll see the hot cues used for count up/down in future updates, I'll make sure they take note of that recommendation.

[In my mind, this really should be done. I know RB developers have a lot of work on their plate for the next few releases.]

10) No, unfortunately not - for whatever reason the VIEW button also does nothing. Another annoyance, as you say. ;)

[Yup. Now that I know how this functions, I would put it at more than an annoyance. It's a developer's complete oversight!!  I really hope this changes. Is there anyway to map a hotkey to open up the window quickly??]

Rob McKerlie 0 votos
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