solco. Help Join the waitlist

Solco · Export to CDJ and XDJ

Your CDJ USB.No rekordbox

Solco writes the USB stick Pioneer CDJ and XDJ players read, straight from your library, on a Mac, a Windows PC or Linux. Grids, hot cues, memory cues, loops, waveforms, artwork and playlists, all on the stick. No rekordbox to install, and no laptop in the booth.

Every stick gets both libraries Pioneer players read, so a CDJ-2000NXS2 and a CDJ-3000X both list your tracks.

1Export

Tick the playlists. Plug in. Play.

Pick your playlists, plug in a stick, and Solco writes the format the players read. An export only adds and updates: nothing on the stick is removed, and the sets you played on it stay. The next export copies only what changed.

On stage, it's all easy to find.

2On the stick

Everything the players show.

What you prepared in Solco is what the player shows: the grid you checked, the cues you set, and a waveform you can read from across the booth.

Beat grids, beat for beat
Including tracks whose tempo moves, so sync and quantize follow the drummer. How Solco finds them
Hot cues, memory cues, loops
Hot cues A to H with their colours, memory cues and loops. Cues after H become memory cues.
Waveforms at the real level
Three-band in Solco's own look, so a quieter track looks smaller. Blue and RGB for older players.
Artwork, BPM and key
Covers, tempo, key in the notation you choose, and track colours.
Playlists and folders
In your order, with smart playlists written as ordinary ones.
Player settings
Waveform colour, key notation, quantize, jog mode and the rest, set once for every stick.
Cues come back
Cues you set on the player come into your library at the next export.
Every file checked
Solco reads back what it wrote. One damaged track never stops the export: it is left out with a warning.

3Time

Less waiting.
More digging.

Your USB in 12 minutes.
rekordbox took 3½ hours.

We timed both apps putting the same 493 already-analysed tracks on the same 250 GB SanDisk USB stick (FAT32) from a Mac mini M4; rekordbox 7.2.6; median of three runs. How we measured

4Step by step

Your first export, in five steps.

Let analysis finish for the tracks you export, and look over any grids waiting under Beatgrids. Then:

  1. Plug in the stick. Format it FAT32 (Erase and prepare drive in its menu does it, at any size), then click it at the bottom of the sidebar, or click the Export step. CDJ USB is chosen at the top right.
  2. Choose what to export. Under What to export, choose Everything, or Chosen playlists and tick the ones you want.
  3. Read the plan. Solco lists the tracks to copy, the playlists to write and the tracks already on the stick, and says what it does with anything unusual. Checking writes nothing.
  4. Export. Click the button on the Ready card, such as Export to KITKAT. Tick a second stick under Also export to and both are written at once.
  5. Eject and play. When the card says Exported, click Eject. Before a gig, load a few tracks on a player and check the grid, cues and playlist order.

5Formats

FAT32 works in every booth.

Solco also writes exFAT sticks on every computer, and HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) on a Mac, but not every player reads them. The stick's card on the Export page says which do.

FormatWhich players read it
FAT32Every CDJ and XDJ. The one to use, and the one Erase and prepare drive recommends, at any size.
exFATCDJ-3000 (firmware 1.20 or later), CDJ-3000X, XDJ-AZ, XDJ-XZ (1.23 or later), XDJ-RX3 (1.11 or later), OPUS-QUAD, OMNIS-DUO and newer players. Not the CDJ-2000NXS2, XDJ-1000MK2 or older players.
HFS+The CDJ-2000 and every CDJ and XDJ since, except the first XDJ-RX. Written from a Mac only, and not journaled.

From Pioneer DJ's own manuals and help pages, as the help centre lists them. Solco hasn't yet tried exFAT or HFS+ sticks on a player: FAT32 is the safe choice for the booth.

6rekordbox

Keep it.
Or don't.

Solco and rekordbox can share one stick.

If you still use rekordbox, nothing has to change on the day you start. Solco imports its library, adds to sticks rekordbox made, and leaves what rekordbox wrote as it was.

  • Adds beside rekordbox. Solco's tracks and playlists go next to rekordbox's; its tracks, playlists, played sets and settings stay.
  • Both ways. rekordbox keeps Solco's playlists when it exports to the same stick.
  • A backup first. Solco copies the stick's library files to your computer before it changes them.
  • Only read. Your rekordbox library on the computer is read, never changed.

Questions

What DJs ask about the USB.

Can I make a CDJ USB without rekordbox?

Yes. Solco writes the stick itself, in the formats Pioneer DJ and AlphaTheta players read: the Device Library older players read and the newer OneLibrary. You don't need rekordbox installed, an account or a laptop in the booth.More in the help centre

Which players read a Solco USB?

Every stick gets both libraries, so players that read either one list your tracks. We have played Solco sticks on the CDJ-3000, CDJ-3000X, XDJ-RX3, CDJ-2000NXS2, CDJ-2000 and XDJ-1000MK2. We haven't yet tried a stick with both libraries on a CDJ-3000X, or exFAT and HFS+ sticks on any player. Which player reads which library.More in the help centre

Can I keep using rekordbox on the same stick?

Yes. Solco adds its tracks and playlists beside rekordbox's and keeps rekordbox's tracks, playlists, played sets and settings. rekordbox keeps Solco's playlists when it exports to the stick. Quit rekordbox before Solco updates a stick rekordbox has open.More in the help centre

Should the stick be FAT32 or exFAT?

FAT32: every CDJ and XDJ reads it. exFAT works on the newer players only, and older players such as the CDJ-2000NXS2 read only FAT32 and HFS+. Solco prepares FAT32 at any size, including sticks over 32 GB that Windows' own tools refuse.More in the help centre

Does it work on Linux?

Yes. Solco runs on Linux, x86-64 and ARM64, and writes the same stick it writes on a Mac or Windows. Solco on Linux.More in the help centre

Do I need to analyse my tracks again?

Solco analyses every track itself, in the background, on your computer: grids, key, loudness and character. Cues, loops, playlists, ratings and colours come over from rekordbox; its grids stay behind, because Solco grids every track itself.More in the help centre

Read on

Every step, written down.

Guides

Help centre