Do Embedded Cue Points Work in Engine DJ?

No. Engine DJ does not read hot cues from tags inside an MP3. It stores cues in its own Engine library. It can, however, import a rekordbox library or XML and keep the cues, and it reads standard tags such as BPM, key and comments from the file. The practical route for Club Ready Music tracks is MP3 plus rekordbox XML into rekordbox, then into Engine DJ.

What Engine DJ reads from a file

Engine DJ reads title, artist, album, genre, BPM, key, comment and artwork from the tags, then analyses the file for its grid and key. It ignores proprietary cue frames from Serato or anyone else in the audio file.

Getting Club Ready Music cues into Engine DJ

Route 1: via rekordbox (keeps cues)

1. Download the DJ pack and import the MP3 and rekordbox.xml into rekordbox as described on the rekordbox page.
2. In Engine DJ desktop, open the Collection panel for rekordbox. Engine DJ reads the rekordbox collection on the same computer.
3. Drag the tracks or playlist into your Engine library. Hot cues and the grid come across.
4. Sync the library to a USB drive for a Prime, SC or Numark player.

Route 2: by hand (fastest for one track)

1. Add the MP3 to Engine DJ.
2. Read the comment tag or the cue points text file from the DJ pack for the intro end, first drop and outro start times.
3. Load the track, move to each time and set a hot cue. Engine DJ lets you name and colour them.

Route 3: via Serato

If you use Serato DJ, drag the Club Ready Music MP3 in; Serato reads the embedded cues. Then import the Serato library into Engine DJ desktop, which brings the cues with it.

Grid and BPM

Club Ready Music's generated tracks are rendered at a fixed BPM with a hard start on bar one, so the grid should anchor at zero at the tagged BPM. Engine DJ's analysis will usually agree. If it does not, set the BPM to the tag value and move the first beat marker to the start. For DJ edits with a tempo shift, the tag carries the target BPM.

Playing on Engine OS hardware

Engine OS players read Engine libraries from USB or SD. Export from Engine DJ desktop with the Sync Manager. Recent firmware also reads rekordbox-exported drives, so a USB prepared for CDJs can often be used on a Prime player without changes; check your firmware's notes. The MP3 320 and 24-bit 48 kHz WAV files that Club Ready Music exports play on current Engine OS hardware.

Why the extra step

Like rekordbox and Traktor, Engine DJ keeps all performance data in its own database to avoid editing audio files. The cost is that cue data cannot be embedded in the MP3 for it. Club Ready Music works around this by offering the data in two interchange formats most Engine users already touch: Serato frames and rekordbox XML.