ANSWER · DJ SOFTWARE & EXPORT
Do Embedded Cue Points Work in VirtualDJ?
No. VirtualDJ does not read hot cues from tags inside an MP3. It keeps cues in its own database. It does read the standard tags, so a Club Ready Music file arrives with the right BPM, key, genre, cover art and a comment listing the cue times, and the DJ pack includes a text cue sheet to work from.
What VirtualDJ reads from the file
On import VirtualDJ reads title, artist, album, genre, year, comment, key, BPM and the cover image from the ID3 tag. It then runs its own analysis for the beat grid and key unless you tell it to trust the tags. Proprietary cue data from Serato or rekordbox inside the file is not used.
Setting Club Ready Music cues in VirtualDJ
- Add the MP3 to VirtualDJ and let it analyse.
- Open the tag editor or the info panel and read the comment, for example "intro end 0:30.000; first drop 1:00.000; outro start 4:00.000". The DJ pack also contains a cue points text file with the same values.
- Load the track, move to each time, and set a hot cue. VirtualDJ lets you name and colour cues; Club Ready Music's convention is red for intro end, orange for first drop and blue for outro start.
- Confirm the grid. Generated tracks begin on bar one at zero at a fixed BPM, so the first beat marker should be at the start of the file at the tagged tempo. Adjust if VirtualDJ's analysis chose a different anchor.
Importing from another DJ application
VirtualDJ's browser can display libraries from other software installed on the same computer, and it reads those applications' cue points when it does. If you use Serato, which reads Club Ready Music's embedded cues directly, or rekordbox, which imports Club Ready Music's XML, you can load the track there first and then see the cues in VirtualDJ through the imported library. The exact set of supported libraries changes with VirtualDJ versions, so check the import options in your release.
BPM and key tags
VirtualDJ can be set to prefer the BPM and key in the file's tags over its own analysis. Club Ready Music writes the BPM as a whole number in the standard tempo tag and the key as a short musical name such as Am or F#, with Camelot and Open Key values in extra text tags. For a DJ edit with a tempo shift, the BPM tag is the target tempo.
Why the limitation exists
Like Traktor and rekordbox, VirtualDJ was built around its own database so cue edits never modify the audio file. The trade-off is that cues do not travel inside the MP3. Serato is the exception among the major applications, which is why Club Ready Music writes Serato frames into generated tracks and provides a rekordbox XML and a cue sheet for everyone else.
Frequently asked
Can VirtualDJ import Serato or rekordbox cues?
VirtualDJ can read libraries from several other DJ applications in its browser, including Serato crates and rekordbox collections, and show their cues. Check the current version's import options.
Where does VirtualDJ keep cues?
In its own database file in the VirtualDJ documents folder. Cues edited in VirtualDJ are stored there, not in the audio file.