Here we will show you how to export tracks to your USB from Rekordbox, so it can be used with Pioneer stand alone controllers such as the RX3, or CDJ players like the CDJ 3000. Technically you could slap some mp3 files on a USB drive and load it in the CDJ 3000. However, CDJs and stand alone controllers can be quite temperamental with acceptance of various file formats. We hope to eliminate any scenes like the image below and any other difficulties you may have with this easy to follow step-by-step Guide.
What does Rekordbox do?
Rekordbox will prepare your music for the XDJ and CDJ players by Pioneer, like the CDJ3000. Below is a list of some other things it can do:
• Check and change detected beatgrid and BPM.
• Set cue points, cue point names, (auto) loops.
• Set hot cues and hot cue names.
• Set CDJ or XDJ settings (like wave form color, auto cue and much more).
• Analyses the beatgrid so it will load fast on your CDJ or XDJ.
• Warns you for incompatible file formats.
• Make playlists / smart playlists.
• Set My Tag labels to find your songs quickly.
• Record song matches.
• Set related track requirements (i.e. key and tempo).
• Add song notes/description.
If you don't use rekordbox, and just copy your music straight to USB, your CDJ or controller will try to analyze your files on the fly. This can take some time and can sometimes go wrong. Nothing is more frustrating than a wrong BPM or beatgrid when you are spinning.
To get the most out of your DJ set, use Rekordbox to prepare your files for USB drive when spinning with the CDJs and standalone controllers.
Format your USB drive correctly
An essential part of preparing your USB drive is to format your USB drive correctly. It needs to be formatted as FAT32 or HFS+ on the MBR (Master Boot Record) setting. If you don’t know how to do this, check out, How to format a USB for Rekordbox, CDJs & controllers.
Import songs
Before you can export or sync songs from Rekordbox to USB, Rekordbox will need to have tracks imported to begin with. Check out How to import and analyse your music in Rekordbox if you are not sure how to do this.
Adding songs to USB drive
There are two ways to get songs from Rekordbox on your USB
• Sync manager
• Export
Sync manager
In our opinion the sync manager is not the best, as there were some bugs in older versions of Rekordbox which led to improper synchronisation and missing songs when it came to looking for them. So we prefer to export. This does pretty much the same thing. It looks also for files that already exist on your USB drive and skips the ones already on your USB this will reduce export time.
The difference between sync manage and export is that sync manager will delete files on your USB when you delete them from Rekordbox, exporting does not.
To use the sync manager:
• In the bottom left corner of the screen click Sync Manager
- check the checkbox Synchronize playlists with a device
- check all the playlists in the middle column that you want to synchronize.
- Click on the arrow next to the Rekordbox playlists.
- This will start the the synchronization process. You can follow the progress at the bottom of the screen. Once sync is complete your USB can be used.
Exporting to USB
There's a couple of ways you can export songs from Rekordbox, which basically do the same thing. You can export a playlist or one or more individual songs.
Exporting all songs in a playlist can be done in one of two ways:
• Click a playlist
• Select on the top of the screen Playlist
• Select Export playlist
• Click [name of your USB drive]
• A progress indicator on the bottom of the screen shows the progress
Or
• Right click on a playlist.
• select Export playlist.
• Click [name of your USB drive].
• A progress indicator on the bottom of the screen shows the progress.
Exporting one or more individual songs
- Look for the song you want to export by clicking on a playlist or search for it.
- You can select multiple songs by holding Shift and clicking on more songs.
- Right click on one of the selected tracks.
- Select Export tracks.
- Click [name of your USB drive].
- A progress indicator on the bottom of the screen shows the progress.
Delete songs from USB drive
If you want to remove deleted files in Rekordbox, you will have to format the drive and export again. Or delete them one by one from the USB drive in Rekordbox.
- select USB drive
- click on the arrow down next to your USB drive
- selectall tracks,the playlist or search for the song
- right click on the file
- clickdelete track
- clickokwhen Rekordbox if you are sure if you want to delete the file
And that is how you get your music from Rekordbox, to your USB drive.