Shortly after the release of the long-anticipated Rekordbox 6, a new update has been released for Pioneer DJ’s industry-leading DJ software. The latest version, rekordbox 6.0.1, comes with three new offerings: support for Beatsource LINK, a playlist Auto Upload feature, and vocal position analysis / detection.
Vocal Position Detection:
This new, AI-driven feature does exactly what it sounds like – it uses deep learning to analyze a track and pinpoint the location of vocals within it. Pioneer DJ claims that this service has a “high level of accuracy” and will show the vocal positions within the waveforms of your tunes, making it easier for DJs to find the vocal drops just by looking at their screen and save you from any accidental vocal overlapping or clashing.
It’s pretty smart to address a very common mixing issue for DJs of all calibers – if you don’t know your tracks well enough, you don’t always know when a vocal will appear in a track. Many types of mixes sound great, but two vocals at the same time are a big no-no.
In the bottom/right track, this classic Zhu vocal is picked up nearly perfectly. (click to zoom)
In our testing, vocal detection works decently – but vocal-like sounds trick it up, as you might expect. This seems to be frequency detection primarily, and as with many such tools, such it’s more of a guideline than a rule. It shows a blue line in the large and small waveforms in Rekordbox DJ’s performance mode to indicate the vocal sections.
We’re also left imagining/hoping if this functionality will be on a future CDJ-3000 – because if it’s just in Rekordbox’s performance mode, that metadata is relatively useless for most DJs. This is similar to when Pioneer introduced phrase detection in Rekordbox DJ but without any support for bringing that information onto their standalone players. Build the ecosystem, not just a software tool – and you’ll get more people using these paid features.
Beatsource LINK Support
Perhaps the most interesting of the updates with 6.0.1 is the new integration with the streaming service, Beatsource LINK. This new relationship gives artists access to stream music directly into their DJ software when using rekordbox’s Performance mode, choosing from Beatsource’s massive library of millions of tracks across genres.
Within that Performance mode, you’ll also be able to save Hot cues and loops into those tracks, as well as get analysis info on the BPM, key, and waveform of those tracks – all on the free subscription plan. We’re curious how this interaction will play out in practice, though – or if it’d be worthwhile to upgrade to a paid subscription. For what it’s worth, signing up for their Pro and Pro+ memberships allows you to save tracks from Beatsource LINK into an offline folder for your usage.
Another thing to keep in mind when considering your subscription level as well: the stream quality on the basic version of Beatsource Link is going to be relatively lower than your traditional native track, unless you upgrade to the Pro or Pro+ membership. Beatsource LINK streams at 128 AAC/192 MP3, and Beatsource Link Pro and Pro+ stream at 256 AAC/320 MP3.
Auto Upload
If you upgrade to rekordbox 6.0.1 on the Creative plan, the Auto Upload feature they’ve included in the upgrade adds another layer of ease to the Cloud Library Sync. You can now add any track to a playlist – as long as it’s not an intelligent playlist – and know that it’ll be automatically uploaded to the cloud, meaning that you’ll also find it on any other rekordbox-activated devices you have.
Don’t forget that the new rekordbox 6 does require a subscription for certain features beyond basic organization. They’re currently offering a 30-day free trial of this new version until mid-July on their website.
