The Powerful Rekordbox Feature Not In The Manual
Happy Monday Jog Jigglers,
The other day I was mixing, and started staring at the little circle with the BPM in the middle. You know, this thing:
And I started wondering:
What the hell is that red thing about?
Why does that black notch fly around seemingly independently from the grids?
Why does it sometimes have a blue circle and sometimes not?
So I did what any maniac would do and read the Rekordbox manual. But most of that information wasn’t actually there.
I did the hard work for you and figured out what it was actually doing. And it turns out, some of it is pretty damn useful.
In this email you are going to learn about the super powers this tiny little circle gives you as a DJ, and how it can level up your mixing.
I’m sorry Pioneer (kind of)
Vinyl mode. It’s a way of switching the way you interact with your jog wheels.
In vinyl mode if you press down on the platter, it will stop the music. Just as would happen on a traditional vinyl turntable.
In not-vinyl mode then touching the top of the jog will not stop the track. You can use the entire surface to nudge the pitch.
I typically like to use my DDJ-1000 with vinyl mode off, because I have massive elbows that keep hitting the jog and stopping the music.
In a previous YouTube video I made fun of Pioneer for offering no indication whether this mode was on or off.
But it turns out they do. But don’t expect them to tell you about it, even in the official manual.
So now you know.
The notch
You’ve probably seen that little black thing spinning around when you are playing a track. I call it the notch. I don’t know what Pioneer calls it. Probably Steve.
Yeah it shows you when a deck is playing or not, kinda obvious. But what you might not realise is it is also related to the RPM of your jog wheel.
Jog wheels have an RPM? They sure do.
By default this is set to 33rpm but you can change it to 45rpm under preferences→controller→jog rotation speed.
The notch always begins at the 2 o’clock position at the start of the track.
It will return to that 2 o’clock position after one ‘rotation’ of the jog at the RPM you have set whilst the track is playing.
If the jog is set to 45rpm (faster), it’ll get spin round to that position again faster than it would at 33rpm.
This isn’t that useful in itself, but it’s important to know how it works for the next hidden feature..
The red circle of confusion
I’ve spent too much of my life looking at this little red circle over the last few weeks.
I just couldn’t figure out what it was doing and how it relates to the notch.
After many many hours of doing doughnuts with my pupils I finally worked it out. It turns out this is a handy (ish) way of showing when you are approaching a cue point.
There are 4 main stages it goes through. Let’s break it down.
Stage 1 - The count begins
Remember how the notch corresponds to the rotations of the jog wheel?
Well at 5 notch rotations (don’t ask me why 5) from the cue point, the red circle will begin it’s journey to completion.
Stage 2 - Half way to cue
The red circle will continue to fill in. After 2.5 rotations of the notch, the countdown bar will be half filled.
Stage 3 - Reach hot cue
As the notch completes it’s 5th lap, the red bar will be fully filled. Note how the notch is now back in the original position it was when the countdown started.
Stage 4 - Move past cue
As the track moves away from the cue point, the red circle will begin to disappear until after 5 more rotations it is completely gone.
Alternative mode - Cue marker
If you prefer to just have a visual indicator of where your cue point is (standard cue, not hot cue) then you can go into preferences→view→switch JOG display and change the option to ‘Current CUE/SLIP’.
This will simply place a small red marker where the cue point sits. As you approach it, the notch will hit that red marker right on the cue. Super handy for nailing timing.
Also, why is JOG in capital letters?
Other news
I got a tattoo on the weekend in a mammoth 11 hour session. It’s music related, but not obviously so. I’m one of those tw*ts that likes to have to explain the meaning of a tattoo to innocent bystanders, so sorry if you are one of them.
I’m working on a really fun project with a music producer at the moment. Make sure you are subscribed to the YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.
Worked in IT most of my life, so no, your explanation is great. You should be writing Pioneer Manuals.
Very useful info, thanks! I guess the Notch and red circle are related to old school vinyl mixing, when you would use a symbol, letter or something printed on the record label to help cue.