KO R D B OX 6 . 0 It was just over ten years ago that rekordbox first emerged onto the market. Its competitors at the time were the very well-established Traktor and Serato, as well as others like PC DJ and OtsAV. At the time, Pioneer DJ had dominated DJ booths with the ground-breaking CDJ-1000 series of CD players and were in the process of releasing the CDJ-2000 and CDJ-900 media players which would replace their predecessors as the club DJ booth standard worldwide. rekordbox started life as a music management utility tool for preparing and organising music for performance on those players and evolved to also become a fullyfledged performance software.

80 80 sponsored by Personally, I have been fortunate to be a user of rekordbox from the very start. It provided a really intuitive and reliable means for the mixing DJ to manage their library and perform without the need to carry a huge amount of CDs. Particularly for mobile DJs, this was (and still is) a massive plus! Indeed, for many years, I used two CDJ-2000s and a DJM-900, networked together with an ethernet switch, connected to my rekordbox software on my MacBook in Export mode, to DJ all my weddings and other parties.

This was an awesome combo which worked exceptionally well. Later, I converted to using controllers such as the DDJ-RZ and DDJ-1000, which I use to this day, in Performance mode. The latter has been totally stable, with no software crashes at all, during the last few years of solid DJing. Bear in mind that, as a full-time DJ, I work some 80 events per year, so that is impressive and reassuring.

So, from a standing start, over the past decade we have seen rekordbox evolve, become more stable, and grow to be the industry standard for DJs worldwide. We’ve even seen other notable manufacturers adopt the ability to use rekordboxprepared media in their own players, which is great to see, especially as I find other music prep software to be much less intuitive and difficult to use properly! Over the years, rekordbox has introduced a raft of new features which have been well-received, and have made the DJ's job far more enjoyable too.

Up until rekordbox 5, the licensing model has been based on buying a licence for Performance mode. This meant that DJs could prepare their tunes and play them on compatible hardware in Export mode, but if they wanted to DJ using the software they would need a licence costing around £100. Although this licence was bundled with some of Pioneer DJ's range of equipment, so not everyone needed to pay for it separately. In addition, there were chargeable add-ons for those wanting to use things like DVS or Video functionality.

So, that’s the history lesson over. It’s now the year 2020, with its unforeseen and unexpected challenges, but also a new version of rekordbox! Right back at the start of lockdown, Pioneer DJ released version 6 of their software with some fundamental changes and big new features. No sooner had the announcement been made, I saw REKORDBOX 6.0 the usual people complaining about this and that, “why did /en/plan. they choose now to provide a major new release, when all DJs To re i te rate, are skint”, “I bought a licence purchased a and now I am being forced to versions of upgrade to a new payment plan” still work with etc...

Sometimes, I wish I could but not with switch off some DJ forums, the 6. You will need nonsense emitted is frankly subscription annoying! Instead, let's actually key message look at the facts. to convey with is that the What Pioneer DJ has done is plan on release a major new version of far more rekordbox, with the most new old Performance features added in a new release. rekordbox 5, The old licence key functionality is actually lost no longer supported in version 6, transition to although if you wish to stick with 5, it still works.

Version 6 now uses However, if a subscription licensing model there are some with three different levels. These are called Free, Core and Creative. The Free plan is, as you might guess, free, but now includes several features you previously needed a licence to use, including Performance mode. Core adds DVS functionality and is priced at £9.99 a month, while Creative adds DVS, Lyric, Video, Sequencer, RMX effects, vocal position detection, and Cloud sync, and is priced at £14.99 a month.

There are special introductory offers available which expire on the 13th of July 2020. Some of the Pioneer DJ hardware also unlocks certain elements when connected to the computer running rekordbox. You can find the full functionality SRTEAKYOIRNDGB MOOX B6I.L0E rekordbox 6.0 re : new features available. The Cloud Sync feature, in particular, is quite ground-breaking.

What Pioneer i f yo u h ave DJ has done is cleverly taken the key for previous pain out of syncing your analysed rekordbox, they will music library (complete with the the that version, cues and loops you have prepared) the new rekordbox between computers. This can be one of the new done with the aid of a Dropbox plans. However, a account, and for most mobile DJs, Pioneer DJ is trying this will mean a subscription there the new scheme too in order to get the storage Free subscription capacity required.

But, this really rekordbox 6 includes is a great move in my opinion functionality than the as it makes physical storage Mode Key for issues disappear. A new app is so you haven’t also available to complement anything if you these features, and prepare your v.6 on the free plan. library on the go from anywhere. Forgetting to sync tracks from you decide to pay, home is no longer a problem! really quite special THE EARLY DAYS 81 rekordbox 6.0 There’s even a new Cloud column running on one or to show if the track is stored in This is awesome the cloud and/or locally. creative DJs out The user interface has also seen A new option is a few notable changes and the to colour the addition of extra new features.

One to show the hi, extremely powerful feature, which frequencies in I absolutely love, is Vocal Position Although I'm really Detection. In the waveform display, old RGB (which is you can now see a Vocal Indicator display option is which shows you when singing clearer, and I'm is taking place. This is incredibly helpfully for mixing to avoid vocal Finally, another clashes. It is derived through some additional display clever AI technology, although the choice of a sometimes guitar solos seem to the user interface. confuse the algorithm, but hey, it's hideous in dark a good start! but for a daylight is essential, and most The new version of rekordbox also adds support for Ableton Any new software Link, which is a technology that getting used to, synchronises musical beat, tempo, a few initial issues phrase and start/stop commands from rekordbox across multiple applications been absolutely 8822 82 more devices.

Thankfully, rekordbox 5 can still news for the coexist with rekordbox 6 on our there! computers, so we can switch back if there's an issue. The initial setup also available for a mobile DJ means analysing waveform display a huge record library. This takes mid and low many, many hours – in my case different colours. 43,000 tracks took over a day, and used to the I am still seeing a few issues. still there), this actually much Although I have found that growing to like it. rekordbox 6 works well whilst DJing, it's sometimes slow to long overdue display the contents of playlists.

I option gives hope to see an update soon that white skin for will clear the remaining initial This looks bugs which made it through to the environments, launch version, and look forward to or outdoor gig using it properly when the current welcome. COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, allowing us all to get back to work. takes a bit of I actually think Pioneer DJ’s timing and I have had for this new release was perfect, transitioning as I’ve have time to play with it 5, which has properly before diving in head first amazing for me. at a gig!

Thanks Pioneer DJ! REKORDBOX 6.0