Besides USB drives for Pioneer players, Solco writes playlist files other DJ apps open. Your music stays where it is; the files point at it.
Export
- Open the Export page. When no USB drive is connected, the Export step opens it on Traktor.
- Choose the format at the top right: Traktor or M3U8.
- Choose Everything or Chosen playlists, then Choose… the folder the files go in.
- Read the plan, then click the button, which names the folder, for example Export 3 playlists to DJ sets.
After the export, Show folder opens it. Exporting only adds: if a file of the same name is already there, choose Keep it and save the new file beside it or Replace it. Nothing else in the folder is touched.
Traktor
Solco writes one .nml file: Solco.nml for everything, or one named after your playlist. It holds the playlists and their folders, each track's title, artist, album, genre, comment, rating, colour, key and tempo, the beatgrid, hot cues A to H, memory cues, and loops with their names.
To bring it into Traktor:
- Right-click Track Collection and choose Import another Collection.
- Pick the file, and answer Collection when Traktor asks which tags to use.
Tracks with a grid arrive with Traktor's analysis lock on, so Traktor keeps Solco's tempo, grid and key. Use Disable Analysis Lock in Traktor if you want its own analysis instead. Cues in MP3 and M4A files land on the same sound as in Solco. Make the file on the computer that runs Traktor, since Traktor plays M4A files differently on a Mac and on Windows.
Import another Collection never changes a track Traktor already has. To bring newer cues or grids for one playlist, export just that playlist, then right-click Playlists in Traktor, choose Import Playlist and answer Playlist. This replaces those tracks' cues and grids in Traktor with Solco's, including cues you added in Traktor.
M3U8
Solco writes one .m3u8 file per playlist, with folders as subfolders, for Serato DJ, Engine DJ, rekordbox, VirtualDJ and media players. Each holds the playlist's order and each track's file. M3U8 carries no cues, grids, keys, ratings or colours.
Traktor Pro 3 doesn't import .m3u8 files, and renaming them to .m3u makes Traktor forget the cues and grids of tracks it already has. Use the Traktor format for Traktor.
What to know
- The files point at your music where it is on this computer. Another computer needs the music at the same paths.
- Smart playlists are written with the tracks they match at that moment. A track whose file is missing is left out and listed.
- Traktor holds one tempo per track. For a track whose tempo changes, the plan says how far its beats can drift.
- Traktor has eight hot cues and seven track colours: later hot cues become memory cues, other colours become the nearest one. Cue colours don't travel.
- A grid waiting for review in Solco goes without a grid, so Traktor analyses that track itself.
- Traktor Pro 4 is untested.