Get some Denons chaps.
Then there’s only one thing to blame 
Rekordbox 7 Thread (for DJs)
Im going to have to download RB7 and get to grips with it for this party I have in July. Haven’t used it since my CDJ900 days . Im using an XDJ RZ for that party so I will probably just use the free version, export my tracks onto a HD/SD card and use without a laptop.
….just had a putz around on my SC5000s and Tidal. Seem to work pretty well. Will now have to work out how to get some of my Apple Music playlists into Tidal and synced up. Sure there are some gaping disparities between the two services. I sense Tidal will be good for popular music, so I may just delve into their curated playlists and stream from those / export my Apple playlists via Engine onto a external drive……
Was so much easier just taking a couple of boxes of. tunes to a party!! If a tad heavier lifting ….
If you are just burning sticks, whilst they fix some bugs in RB7 I’d just go with RB 6.8.5 as its very stable.
Some people are hanging back on this for a few months anyway. RB6 and RB7 share the same database so you are at no loss.
Download RB 6.8.5 (stable) (Win or Mac)
If anyone needs instructions on how to burn sticks suitable for Pioneer CDJs or XDJs because they’re used to other brands, you need to make playlists in rekordbox first - then I wrote instructions here.
IndustryStandard I sense Tidal will be good for popular music
Think it has the best spread of popular music and house music across all the services.
Most of them have import/ export tools now. There are also loss online so should be pretty easy 
Going back to Rekordbox , what can you do with the free version? Just organise tunes via the GUI, pull in Itunes playlists and export to a USB? Or can you connect your laptop to a DDJ/XDJ and pull in tracks from that? Does connecting a laptop with rekordbox to any XDJ unlock features?
Seems to me the free version is just the basic organise/export to USB jobbie.
Final Q - how about Tidal integration? Is that done on the hardware with no rekorbox upgrade needed?
…downloaded 7.1, export seems much faster (although last time was first time since moving to 7 and there’s some file conversion taking place, so may have been down to that), have sussed the iTunes browser window (thanks G!)… also works OK.
Still issues with the renumbering though, I did get it to work after much faffing but haven’t been able to replicate it. Clicking the arrow will reverse the order of the playlist, but once I’ve done that the option to ‘Renumber Track Order’ seems to disappear- ie. its only there when the arrow disappears (default mode), I wanna be able to reverse track order, then renumber, if that makes sense?
IndustryStandard …used to beta test RB, but to be honest am not up on the functionality of the different subscriptions these days. I know I’ve never paid for it, and on the previous version was able to connect the laptop to the CDJ as you describe.
- Edited
Re: Rekordbox
They give you so many ways to pay its almost not obvious most Pioneer users can use it for free even in Performance Mode if you bought most DDJ controller/XDJ all in one equipment after 2017. I know people who started paying to subscribe and I’ve shown them how they didn’t need to. They ram the subscription options down everyones throats up front some just say yes/next/card details etc.
Things I’ve done with Rekordbox include
FREE FEATURES
- Making USB sticks for CDJs - Export mode
- Adding a hot cue at the first major drop (so I can quickly judge in headphones whether to cue or try a different track)
- Adding custom tags that mean something to me like like Ritual Beats, Beach, Vocal, Anthemic, Sentimental, Intelligent Intro, Opener, Closer, Dramatic
- Automatic loops (if a track is short or I want to layer - a loop can kick in without me pressing anything when it gets to that part in the track and the track will go on forever until mixed out)
- Editing colours of tracks for mood (I don’t do this now, instead only use #3)
- DJ’d long sets with laptop open in in Export Mode (Macbook off to the side connected to any model CDJ-2000 nexus 1 onwards, or any XDJ). Sometimes its handy to be able to type into your library and click things when playing 8hrs instead of relying on USB menus on smaller screens
- Edit beatgrids so that the Cue button is definitely on the first beat when first importing
- iTunes can port in (even if its called Music on new Macbook software they still call it iTunes)
- After getting home from a performance, plug the USB back into rekordbox on the macbook. A History entry will be generated in Rekordbox called the date you opened rekordbox. I right click on that history and click “Turn the History into a Playlist” naming it the event i.e. Live @ Early Doors Club 18/2. I do this so that in future sets when I hear a track in my head that would work right now and can remember where I last played it but don’t remember the name of the track if its new… I can still get it ( ha.. brain
) - I have my inFlyte connected so that promos from Producers/Labels come straight into rekordbox now. I can test the tracks at home and approve/download if I want them or feedback. I don’t know when this appeared its not that new but I’ve only just started to use this instead of web browser.
- Have the laptop connected to the XDJ-XZ off to the side to record my sets. (I wonder if you can do this with a Pio mixer as I use a wired in Tascam at events?). The XZ can record to a USB stick but the quality is only OK instead of great.
- Down the left under DEVICES if you click on your USB stick you can customise it’s name and colour. So if you go for a Green or Red or Yellow etc you lower the risk of a different DJ pulling out the wrong stick and your menus appear quite obviously in that colour on CDJs as well. You can name the USB your name too and the CDJ will say it. Very few DJs seem to know about this and its handy for everyone
- You can edit MySettings (Export Mode - Preferences - DJ System - Mysettings) so all CDJs appear to have the same settings you like
i.e. - 6/10/16/wide tempo
-Master Tempo On - CDJ wheel/screen brightness
- What extra info comes up on the screen
- Load Lock / Eject Lock on
- Auto Cue On, Quantise On
- CDJ-3000 jogwheel screen settings (artwork only, or BPM / waveform too)
- On Air Display (playing CDJ wheel turns red)
This makes you feel like every CDJ you play on is just like yours at home if you press Menu - LOAD on a stopped deck with your USB in / linked. Stops DJs handing over and squinting at 10 settings so they can just focus on the music.
PERFORMANCE MODE FEATURES
Either subscription, or most DDJ / new CDJ hardware unlocks it
- DJ in performance mode on controllers, with 4 channels, Sampler, FX
- DJ with DVS vinyl - play MP3s/Wavs etc controlled by Turntables (activated free if you buy a DDJ-XP1, XP2 or its a monthly subscription)
- DJ with synchronised DMX Lighting (activated free if you buy the RB-DMX1)
- DJ with Streaming (Beatport Link, Soundcloud Go, Tidal)
To do the streaming side you still have to use rekordbox in performance mode IIRC. Although they are making some inroads with CDJ-3000 and XDJ-RX3 / Opus Quad its not as complete as Denon is yet - they seem to be taking far too long on that to just give everybody everything Denon did in like 2018. If you want to stream you need to be sure what you are DJing on vs if it unlocks Performance Mode. One good thing about it is on Beatport Link you can get an “offline locker” of 50 or 100 tracks so you don’t need to be connected to the internet for your favourite streaming AFAIK.
Tidal offline locker is coming but hasn’t yet (they have just launched it on DJay PRO) - Tidal was great for corporate events/weddings even tethered to my mobile phone’s 4G when I did some of those but I only used it for weird requests or to find unusual background music playlists.
When I started writing this it was short, I don’t know what just happened (applying for jobs at Pioneer tonight). Hopefully useful to others!
Cheers for the details . So essentially to use Tidal on a hired XDJ RZ i’m going to have to hook it up via USB cable and pay for a performance subscription . It’s only one party so hopefully i can upgrade for a month then switch back to the free version .
Tidal on by Denons works like a charm now. Shame i can’t lug them over to Portugal and get the other DJs to use those instead 
@NasserAlazzawi - Mate -Help!!!!: so the IT idiot at work made me take Rekordbox off my laptop so reluctantly I agreed to transfer it to my home system. We did a back up and I downloaded RB 6 back onto my home one and tried to restore from the portable HD. Yet when I click on the backup file “rekordbox_bak_20240517” it just opens the folder and there are a load of greyed out files. In other words it does not run a restore …..any ideas ? I went on the RB help site but they are about as useful as the proverbial bourneville teapot. I can’t face reconstructing about 300 playlists from 5000 tracks - it will take a year!
IndustryStandard Tidal on a hired XDJ RZ i’m going to have to hook it up via USB cable and pay for a performance subscription
Negative, the XDJ-XZ is a hardware unlock for Performance Mode so you just need to take your laptop, rekordbox, put rekordbox in performance mode and log that into tidal.
baggers44 message https://rekordbox.com/en/support/contact/ but my first idea would be that you are clicking something wrong.
I’d be going
- Open rekordbox
- File > Library - RESTORE BACKUP
- Find that rekordbox_bak_20240517.zip
- Leave it for a long time to do its thing
I assume all the music is in there too rather than just the playlists or you’ll need to move your mp3/wav music files into exactly the same series of folders that it was in on the other laptop (i.e. c:\yourusername\music\dance or wherever you had it).
baggers44 I had a similar issue, can’t remember the resolution, but Pioneer help were excellent and surprisingly quick
NasserAlazzawi the zip just opens to a folder…..yes the music is there. will try support - cheers
Fixed it - just ran it again and it worked- weird!! thanks chaps
- Edited
Anyknow know how hardware unlock works with CDJs? I’ve got everything all plumed into the same network and can see the tracks from my laptop/rekordbox from the CDJ screens, but the app says it’s still in “trial” mode?
Do I actually need to do somthing in order for it to register the software?
CDJ-3000 are hardware unlock. 2000nxs2 and earlier arent. Neither are any XDJ-1000.
Makes no sense to include 3000s and not the older models but you’re also not likely to use those in performance mode on any of the above models - just to manage the library and make USBs really.
Full list of hardware unlock here.
If I had CDJs and wanted to activate hardware unlock, I’d rather buy a used RB-DMX1 for automatic lighting control or DDJ-XP1 / DDJ-XP2 for DVS control (so you can run turntables but use rotary knobs and buttons for controls and efx off to the side). Then I’d have some benefit, and not be paying a subscription. I already have the above kit but the XZ unlocks it anyway.
There is also a Pioneer Interface 2 that creates DVS capability where a controller or mixer didn’t already have it.