Play button (the purple round triangle): the track you press starts playing. While it plays, the button turns into a pause shape, and pressing it again stops the track on the spot.
CUE: press it while stopped and it remembers the current position. The remembered spot appears as a purple flag above the waveform. Press it while playing and it returns to the remembered spot and stops. This is the same idea as real DJ software (rekordbox).
Waveform: the center line is the current playback position, and the track flows from right to left. Press a spot to jump there, and drag sideways to move in small steps. It does not snap to the beat, so you can close a gap by hand. Jumping alone does not change the CUE.
Where you are now: the orange line in the center is the current position. The bar numbers flow below the waveform, so the number under the line is the current bar. There is no separate box for the number.
Beat offset: check whether the red lines of the two tracks line up. When the red lines are half a beat or more apart, "The beats are off!" appears below the waveform. It shows only while they are off. It does not show how many beats off they are, because you can tell from the red lines.
Line colors: red is the start of a bar, white is the beats in between, orange is the current playback position, and lime is the saved CUE. When the red lines of the two tracks line up one above the other, the starts of the bars are matched.
CUE: a lime vertical line and "CUE" appear where you set it. It stays attached to its place in the audio and flows with it, so it disappears when it leaves the 8-bar view. It is not pushed to the edge, because that would make it look as if it were there.
View range: fixed at 8 bars. A and B are drawn at the same width of time, so when the tempos differ, the spacing of the beat lines looks different. Any offset shows up on the screen as it is.
Tempo: the speed of the track changes in steps of 0.5 BPM. Pull down to go faster, push up to go slower, the same direction as the tempo slider on a CDJ. The center is the track's own speed (128 BPM). Because it changes the playback speed itself, going faster also raises the pitch. This is the same behavior as a CDJ without key lock, or a record. Matching the BPM alone does not line up the timing of the beats automatically.
Previewing in headphones: on real gear, you can check a track in your headphones first without sending it to the dance floor. This screen does not have that. Match by listening to the sound that is playing.
EQ (HIGH / MID / LOW): this changes the amount of that band. Turned all the way down to 0, that band cannot be heard, just like the EQ on real gear: when you say "cut", it disappears. When the bass of two tracks overlaps it turns muddy, so try lowering the LOW on one of them and compare.
Fader: this is the volume of that track. At 0 it cannot be heard.
What you can practice with these two tracks: bring in B from bar 9 of A, at the point marked "Play B" in the waveform strip, and overlap them for 8 bars. During that time A is in Drop (chorus) and B is in Intro. At bar 17 of A, where the overlap ends, Vocal begins at bar 9 of B. That is where A should be fully lowered, not where A ends: if you do not lower it, A keeps playing for its remaining 16 bars and stays layered with the Vocal of B. The mark "Cut A" that appears at bar 9 of B is that cutting point. It is 32 beats, or 8 bars, from the start of B. This is one easy way to practice, not the only right answer. You can overlap anywhere you like, and nothing stops you if you do not follow the marks.
Track length: what plays here are edited versions cut out for practice. A is 32 bars and B is 16 bars. Not every real track is built like this. Playback stops when it reaches the end.
Audio credits
AKulakovka, "Pop House"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 32-bar cut arrived that keeps going for 45 seconds after the 8-bar changeover. According to the accompanying notes, the original was 118 BPM and it was converted to 128 BPM.
BAlex_Morgan, "House Music Classic"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 16-bar cut arrived: an 8-bar kick intro, then the vocals come in from bar 9. The tempo has not been changed.
The track starts playing, and the waveform moves along with the playback position.
Press it again and the track stops at that spot.
PAUSE stops at that spot
Stopping a track that is playing, right where it is, is called PAUSE.
For example, if you play a track partway and stop it,
the position where you stopped stays as it is.
If you press PLAY again, it continues from there.
In other words,
PLAY → plays the track PAUSE → stops at the current spot
Play button (the purple round triangle): the track you press starts playing. While it plays, the button turns into a pause shape, and pressing it again stops the track on the spot.
CUE: press it while stopped and it remembers the current position. The remembered spot appears as a purple flag above the waveform. Press it while playing and it returns to the remembered spot and stops. This is the same idea as real DJ software (rekordbox).
Waveform: the center line is the current playback position, and the track flows from right to left. Press a spot to jump there, and drag sideways to move in small steps. It does not snap to the beat, so you can close a gap by hand. Jumping alone does not change the CUE.
Where you are now: the orange line in the center is the current position. The bar numbers flow below the waveform, so the number under the line is the current bar. There is no separate box for the number.
Beat offset: check whether the red lines of the two tracks line up. When the red lines are half a beat or more apart, "The beats are off!" appears below the waveform. It shows only while they are off. It does not show how many beats off they are, because you can tell from the red lines.
Line colors: red is the start of a bar, white is the beats in between, orange is the current playback position, and lime is the saved CUE. When the red lines of the two tracks line up one above the other, the starts of the bars are matched.
CUE: a lime vertical line and "CUE" appear where you set it. It stays attached to its place in the audio and flows with it, so it disappears when it leaves the 8-bar view. It is not pushed to the edge, because that would make it look as if it were there.
View range: fixed at 8 bars. A and B are drawn at the same width of time, so when the tempos differ, the spacing of the beat lines looks different. Any offset shows up on the screen as it is.
Tempo: the speed of the track changes in steps of 0.5 BPM. Pull down to go faster, push up to go slower, the same direction as the tempo slider on a CDJ. The center is the track's own speed (128 BPM). Because it changes the playback speed itself, going faster also raises the pitch. This is the same behavior as a CDJ without key lock, or a record. Matching the BPM alone does not line up the timing of the beats automatically.
Previewing in headphones: on real gear, you can check a track in your headphones first without sending it to the dance floor. This screen does not have that. Match by listening to the sound that is playing.
EQ (HIGH / MID / LOW): this changes the amount of that band. Turned all the way down to 0, that band cannot be heard, just like the EQ on real gear: when you say "cut", it disappears. When the bass of two tracks overlaps it turns muddy, so try lowering the LOW on one of them and compare.
Fader: this is the volume of that track. At 0 it cannot be heard.
What you can practice with these two tracks: bring in B from bar 9 of A, at the point marked "Play B" in the waveform strip, and overlap them for 8 bars. During that time A is in Drop (chorus) and B is in Intro. At bar 17 of A, where the overlap ends, Vocal begins at bar 9 of B. That is where A should be fully lowered, not where A ends: if you do not lower it, A keeps playing for its remaining 16 bars and stays layered with the Vocal of B. The mark "Cut A" that appears at bar 9 of B is that cutting point. It is 32 beats, or 8 bars, from the start of B. This is one easy way to practice, not the only right answer. You can overlap anywhere you like, and nothing stops you if you do not follow the marks.
Track length: what plays here are edited versions cut out for practice. A is 32 bars and B is 16 bars. Not every real track is built like this. Playback stops when it reaches the end.
Audio credits
AKulakovka, "Pop House"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 32-bar cut arrived that keeps going for 45 seconds after the 8-bar changeover. According to the accompanying notes, the original was 118 BPM and it was converted to 128 BPM.
BAlex_Morgan, "House Music Classic"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 16-bar cut arrived: an 8-bar kick intro, then the vocals come in from bar 9. The tempo has not been changed.
Play button (the purple round triangle): the track you press starts playing. While it plays, the button turns into a pause shape, and pressing it again stops the track on the spot.
CUE: press it while stopped and it remembers the current position. The remembered spot appears as a purple flag above the waveform. Press it while playing and it returns to the remembered spot and stops. This is the same idea as real DJ software (rekordbox).
Waveform: the center line is the current playback position, and the track flows from right to left. Press a spot to jump there, and drag sideways to move in small steps. It does not snap to the beat, so you can close a gap by hand. Jumping alone does not change the CUE.
Where you are now: the orange line in the center is the current position. The bar numbers flow below the waveform, so the number under the line is the current bar. There is no separate box for the number.
Beat offset: check whether the red lines of the two tracks line up. When the red lines are half a beat or more apart, "The beats are off!" appears below the waveform. It shows only while they are off. It does not show how many beats off they are, because you can tell from the red lines.
Line colors: red is the start of a bar, white is the beats in between, orange is the current playback position, and lime is the saved CUE. When the red lines of the two tracks line up one above the other, the starts of the bars are matched.
CUE: a lime vertical line and "CUE" appear where you set it. It stays attached to its place in the audio and flows with it, so it disappears when it leaves the 8-bar view. It is not pushed to the edge, because that would make it look as if it were there.
View range: fixed at 8 bars. A and B are drawn at the same width of time, so when the tempos differ, the spacing of the beat lines looks different. Any offset shows up on the screen as it is.
Tempo: the speed of the track changes in steps of 0.5 BPM. Pull down to go faster, push up to go slower, the same direction as the tempo slider on a CDJ. The center is the track's own speed (128 BPM). Because it changes the playback speed itself, going faster also raises the pitch. This is the same behavior as a CDJ without key lock, or a record. Matching the BPM alone does not line up the timing of the beats automatically.
Previewing in headphones: on real gear, you can check a track in your headphones first without sending it to the dance floor. This screen does not have that. Match by listening to the sound that is playing.
EQ (HIGH / MID / LOW): this changes the amount of that band. Turned all the way down to 0, that band cannot be heard, just like the EQ on real gear: when you say "cut", it disappears. When the bass of two tracks overlaps it turns muddy, so try lowering the LOW on one of them and compare.
Fader: this is the volume of that track. At 0 it cannot be heard.
What you can practice with these two tracks: bring in B from bar 9 of A, at the point marked "Play B" in the waveform strip, and overlap them for 8 bars. During that time A is in Drop (chorus) and B is in Intro. At bar 17 of A, where the overlap ends, Vocal begins at bar 9 of B. That is where A should be fully lowered, not where A ends: if you do not lower it, A keeps playing for its remaining 16 bars and stays layered with the Vocal of B. The mark "Cut A" that appears at bar 9 of B is that cutting point. It is 32 beats, or 8 bars, from the start of B. This is one easy way to practice, not the only right answer. You can overlap anywhere you like, and nothing stops you if you do not follow the marks.
Track length: what plays here are edited versions cut out for practice. A is 32 bars and B is 16 bars. Not every real track is built like this. Playback stops when it reaches the end.
Audio credits
AKulakovka, "Pop House"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 32-bar cut arrived that keeps going for 45 seconds after the 8-bar changeover. According to the accompanying notes, the original was 118 BPM and it was converted to 128 BPM.
BAlex_Morgan, "House Music Classic"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 16-bar cut arrived: an 8-bar kick intro, then the vocals come in from bar 9. The tempo has not been changed.
The CUE position is also shown on the screen.
With that,
you have decided the position to "come back to."
That is what you've done.
Return to the cue point
This time, play the track from that cue point.
After it has advanced a little, press CUE.
Then,
it returns to the cue point you set and stops there.
Play button (the purple round triangle): the track you press starts playing. While it plays, the button turns into a pause shape, and pressing it again stops the track on the spot.
CUE: press it while stopped and it remembers the current position. The remembered spot appears as a purple flag above the waveform. Press it while playing and it returns to the remembered spot and stops. This is the same idea as real DJ software (rekordbox).
Waveform: the center line is the current playback position, and the track flows from right to left. Press a spot to jump there, and drag sideways to move in small steps. It does not snap to the beat, so you can close a gap by hand. Jumping alone does not change the CUE.
Where you are now: the orange line in the center is the current position. The bar numbers flow below the waveform, so the number under the line is the current bar. There is no separate box for the number.
Beat offset: check whether the red lines of the two tracks line up. When the red lines are half a beat or more apart, "The beats are off!" appears below the waveform. It shows only while they are off. It does not show how many beats off they are, because you can tell from the red lines.
Line colors: red is the start of a bar, white is the beats in between, orange is the current playback position, and lime is the saved CUE. When the red lines of the two tracks line up one above the other, the starts of the bars are matched.
CUE: a lime vertical line and "CUE" appear where you set it. It stays attached to its place in the audio and flows with it, so it disappears when it leaves the 8-bar view. It is not pushed to the edge, because that would make it look as if it were there.
View range: fixed at 8 bars. A and B are drawn at the same width of time, so when the tempos differ, the spacing of the beat lines looks different. Any offset shows up on the screen as it is.
Tempo: the speed of the track changes in steps of 0.5 BPM. Pull down to go faster, push up to go slower, the same direction as the tempo slider on a CDJ. The center is the track's own speed (128 BPM). Because it changes the playback speed itself, going faster also raises the pitch. This is the same behavior as a CDJ without key lock, or a record. Matching the BPM alone does not line up the timing of the beats automatically.
Previewing in headphones: on real gear, you can check a track in your headphones first without sending it to the dance floor. This screen does not have that. Match by listening to the sound that is playing.
EQ (HIGH / MID / LOW): this changes the amount of that band. Turned all the way down to 0, that band cannot be heard, just like the EQ on real gear: when you say "cut", it disappears. When the bass of two tracks overlaps it turns muddy, so try lowering the LOW on one of them and compare.
Fader: this is the volume of that track. At 0 it cannot be heard.
What you can practice with these two tracks: bring in B from bar 9 of A, at the point marked "Play B" in the waveform strip, and overlap them for 8 bars. During that time A is in Drop (chorus) and B is in Intro. At bar 17 of A, where the overlap ends, Vocal begins at bar 9 of B. That is where A should be fully lowered, not where A ends: if you do not lower it, A keeps playing for its remaining 16 bars and stays layered with the Vocal of B. The mark "Cut A" that appears at bar 9 of B is that cutting point. It is 32 beats, or 8 bars, from the start of B. This is one easy way to practice, not the only right answer. You can overlap anywhere you like, and nothing stops you if you do not follow the marks.
Track length: what plays here are edited versions cut out for practice. A is 32 bars and B is 16 bars. Not every real track is built like this. Playback stops when it reaches the end.
Audio credits
AKulakovka, "Pop House"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 32-bar cut arrived that keeps going for 45 seconds after the 8-bar changeover. According to the accompanying notes, the original was 118 BPM and it was converted to 128 BPM.
BAlex_Morgan, "House Music Classic"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 16-bar cut arrived: an 8-bar kick intro, then the vocals come in from bar 9. The tempo has not been changed.
If you press PLAY again, it plays from the same cue point.
In other words,
PLAY → CUE → PLAY → CUE
if you repeat this, you can start the track from the same spot every time.
What is the difference between PAUSE and CUE?
This is important.
Both PAUSE and CUE can stop a track.
But where it stops is different.
PAUSE
It stops where it is currently playing.
CUE
It returns to the cue point you set in advance and stops there.
For example,
suppose you set a cue point at the beginning of a track and play it up to 20 seconds.
If you PAUSE there,
it stops at the 20-second position.
If you press CUE,
it goes back to the beginning of the track, where you set the cue point.
It's enough to remember this difference.
Why DJs use CUE
A DJ doesn't play the next track from a random spot.
In advance, they prepare
"the place from which I'll start the next track."
That is the place you prepare.
If you set a cue point, you can return to that position right away, so you can start the track from the same place every time.
Playing track B from a set place in "Connecting Two Tracks for the First Time" was based on the same idea.
Prepare the position where the next track comes in, and play from there at the moment you need it.
That is what CUE is used for.
Create your own cue point
Finally, try going through the whole thing yourself.
Play button (the purple round triangle): the track you press starts playing. While it plays, the button turns into a pause shape, and pressing it again stops the track on the spot.
CUE: press it while stopped and it remembers the current position. The remembered spot appears as a purple flag above the waveform. Press it while playing and it returns to the remembered spot and stops. This is the same idea as real DJ software (rekordbox).
Waveform: the center line is the current playback position, and the track flows from right to left. Press a spot to jump there, and drag sideways to move in small steps. It does not snap to the beat, so you can close a gap by hand. Jumping alone does not change the CUE.
Where you are now: the orange line in the center is the current position. The bar numbers flow below the waveform, so the number under the line is the current bar. There is no separate box for the number.
Beat offset: check whether the red lines of the two tracks line up. When the red lines are half a beat or more apart, "The beats are off!" appears below the waveform. It shows only while they are off. It does not show how many beats off they are, because you can tell from the red lines.
Line colors: red is the start of a bar, white is the beats in between, orange is the current playback position, and lime is the saved CUE. When the red lines of the two tracks line up one above the other, the starts of the bars are matched.
CUE: a lime vertical line and "CUE" appear where you set it. It stays attached to its place in the audio and flows with it, so it disappears when it leaves the 8-bar view. It is not pushed to the edge, because that would make it look as if it were there.
View range: fixed at 8 bars. A and B are drawn at the same width of time, so when the tempos differ, the spacing of the beat lines looks different. Any offset shows up on the screen as it is.
Tempo: the speed of the track changes in steps of 0.5 BPM. Pull down to go faster, push up to go slower, the same direction as the tempo slider on a CDJ. The center is the track's own speed (128 BPM). Because it changes the playback speed itself, going faster also raises the pitch. This is the same behavior as a CDJ without key lock, or a record. Matching the BPM alone does not line up the timing of the beats automatically.
Previewing in headphones: on real gear, you can check a track in your headphones first without sending it to the dance floor. This screen does not have that. Match by listening to the sound that is playing.
EQ (HIGH / MID / LOW): this changes the amount of that band. Turned all the way down to 0, that band cannot be heard, just like the EQ on real gear: when you say "cut", it disappears. When the bass of two tracks overlaps it turns muddy, so try lowering the LOW on one of them and compare.
Fader: this is the volume of that track. At 0 it cannot be heard.
What you can practice with these two tracks: bring in B from bar 9 of A, at the point marked "Play B" in the waveform strip, and overlap them for 8 bars. During that time A is in Drop (chorus) and B is in Intro. At bar 17 of A, where the overlap ends, Vocal begins at bar 9 of B. That is where A should be fully lowered, not where A ends: if you do not lower it, A keeps playing for its remaining 16 bars and stays layered with the Vocal of B. The mark "Cut A" that appears at bar 9 of B is that cutting point. It is 32 beats, or 8 bars, from the start of B. This is one easy way to practice, not the only right answer. You can overlap anywhere you like, and nothing stops you if you do not follow the marks.
Track length: what plays here are edited versions cut out for practice. A is 32 bars and B is 16 bars. Not every real track is built like this. Playback stops when it reaches the end.
Audio credits
AKulakovka, "Pop House"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 32-bar cut arrived that keeps going for 45 seconds after the 8-bar changeover. According to the accompanying notes, the original was 118 BPM and it was converted to 128 BPM.
BAlex_Morgan, "House Music Classic"PixabayPixabay Content LicenseA 16-bar cut arrived: an 8-bar kick intro, then the vocals come in from bar 9. The tempo has not been changed.
If it returns to the same position every time and plays from there, you've succeeded.
Headphone CUE is something else
On real DJ equipment, the word CUE comes up in one more place.
Mixers have a CUE for listening only on headphones to a track that you aren't yet playing to the audience.
This is a separate function from
the CUE that sets a track's start position
that we explained on this page.
The same word "CUE" is used, so it's confusing at first, but for now,
CUE = the control for deciding the position you want to start a track from and returning to it
is what to remember.
How to check the next track in advance on headphones will be explained in the chapter on handling real DJ equipment.
Summary
PLAY plays the track from the current position
PAUSE stops the track at the current position
A cue point is a place you decide in advance as the position where you want to start a track
Pressing CUE returns to the set cue point and stops there