Solco writes the USB format Pioneer CDJ and XDJ players read, with grids, hot cues, memory cues, loops, waveforms, artwork and playlists. No rekordbox needed. An ordinary export only adds and updates: nothing on the drive is removed.
Before your first export
The drive must be formatted as FAT32, which is what the players need. If it isn't, Solco says so. To format it, back up anything on it, then open the drive's menu in the sidebar and choose Erase and prepare drive…. This erases the drive.
Let analysis finish for the tracks you export, and check any grids waiting under Beatgrids.
Export
- Plug in the drive and click it at the bottom of the sidebar, or click the Export step. CDJ USB is chosen at the top right.
- Under What to export, choose Everything (every track and every playlist) or Chosen playlists and tick the ones you want.
- Read the plan: the tracks to copy, the playlists to write, the tracks already on the drive, and any played sets that are kept. Up to 1,000 tracks are checked automatically; for a bigger choice, click Check what will change. Checking writes nothing.
- Click the button on the Ready card, for example Export to KITKAT.
The card shows each step, with Stop if you need it. You can leave the page while it runs. When it is done, the card says what was written, for example "20 tracks and 6 playlists on KITKAT, every file checked", with Eject KITKAT beside it.
Under Options:
- Leave out tracks that aren't ready (on by default) leaves out a new track that fails, and keeps the older version of a track already on the drive. The report lists them.
- Check every copied file before finishing (on by default) reads every file back. Turn it off only when you are short of time.
- Re-read the whole drive afterwards checks the whole drive once more. Use it for the drive you take to the gig.
- Eject safely when it finishes ejects the drive for you.
The next export to the same drive copies only what changed. The sets you played on the drive, and their play counts, are kept.
What the players show
Pioneer players have eight track colours and hot cues A to H. Grey goes on the drive without a colour, other colours become the nearest of the eight, and hot cues after H become memory cues. Players don't play Ogg Vorbis or Opus files, so those stay off the drive. The plan names every track concerned.
Player settings
Waveform colours, key notation, auto cue, quantize, sync, jog mode, tempo range, the browse menus and the rest of the settings players read from a drive are set once, in Settings › Players. They start at rekordbox's factory settings, with three-band waveforms and alphanumeric keys.
On the Export page, the Player settings card shows what the chosen drive gets and the name players show for it. Defaults follows your settings; This USB gives the drive its own, kept on the drive. Apply to KITKAT writes just the settings, without exporting again. To change the name players show, rename the drive in Finder, File Explorer or your file manager.
If rekordbox or a player changed a drive's settings, the card shows theirs. Make them my defaults takes them over for every drive; Use Solco’s puts yours back the next time Solco writes to it.
Continuing a USB drive rekordbox made
A drive rekordbox exported to stays a rekordbox drive. Choose it and the Ready card offers Add to KITKAT: Solco adds its tracks and playlists beside rekordbox's, and rekordbox's tracks, playlists, waveforms, artwork, played sets and settings stay exactly as they were. Before changing anything, Solco keeps a copy of the drive's library files on your computer; Show the backup opens it after the export.
rekordbox and Solco can then take turns: rekordbox keeps Solco's playlists when it exports to the drive, and Solco leaves rekordbox's as they are. Quit rekordbox before Solco updates a drive rekordbox has open.
To make a drive Solco's alone, use Replace rekordbox’s library… in the Start over box. It lists every file it removes, waits until your library has every track on the drive (Import from USB is right there), and asks you to type REPLACE. Erase KITKAT… sits in the same box. Neither ever runs from the export button.
A drive whose only library is rekordbox 7's newer OneLibrary gets Solco's tracks in that library only, which players that read the classic library won't list. See "Supported players, computers and apps".
Ejecting safely
Wait until the export says it is done: copying reaching 100% is only one step, and the last steps check and flush the drive. Then click Eject KITKAT (or let Eject safely when it finishes do it) and unplug the drive once Solco says it is safe.
If ejecting fails, close any app or window using the drive and try again. On a Mac, keep the drive connected until every volume on it has been ejected. On Windows, if Solco can't eject the drive, use Safely Remove Hardware.
Before relying on a drive at a gig, load a few tracks on a player and check the grid, cues, playlist order, waveform and level.