Key traffic light system like Rekordbox and Traktor

[hardbea7]

Hello Djay Team,

I’m currently considering switching from Rekordbox and Traktor to Djay, and I’m really impressed so far! However, there are two features that I feel are missing and would make a big difference:

1. Hot Cue Loop – similar to what’s available in Rekordbox and Traktor
2. Key Suggestion Traffic Light – again, like the one used in Rekordbox and Traktor

Are these features something we can expect to see in Djay soon? I see this was requested many times in this form, and ignored sadly…

Thanks for the great work—looking forward to hearing from you!

[Slak_Jaw]

Hi @hardbea7, thanks for the suggestions.

1. Please note that Cue Loops are already available in djay and can be custom MIDI mapped to performance pads on DJ hardware.
   
   
2. Regarding the “Key Suggestion traffic light” system, can you please share more details on how this works in other software with some screenshots or a short video? We already offer options in the settings to use Exact of Fuzzy Key Matching, as well as showing the keys in different colors
   
   

Can you please also share links to these previous Community Topics so I can review them further? Thanks!

@hardbea7

I see this was requested many times in this form, and ignored sadly…

[Akrilovy]

I believe what @hardbea7 means regarding the traffic light is that when you load a track into the deck in RB, it takes the current song’s key and highlights the songs with the same key in green, and those with ±1 in yellow (or something like that) in the library. I remember requesting something similar when I switched from RB almost a year ago, but I no longer have it and have forgotten what it actually looks like.

Also, It would be cool if you could simple-script that. F.E. make What color you want to highlight on which condition. Well, this is closer to improving the MATCH feature, then to original topic

[Slak_Jaw]

Thanks for the calcifications @Akrilovy, hopefully @hardbea7 can share a screenshot so I can properly communicate this to the dev team.

[DJ_Big_Blender]

Hi @hardbea7,

I love your suggestion about bringing the Traffic Light key system to djay — I’m totally with you on that! It’s a feature I’d really like to see as well, so thanks for bringing this to the attention again

@Slak_Jaw, you asked for links to existing suggestions — here are two from @Andreas_Haase1, submitted in January and July 2024:

Make "Harmonic Key" matches more visible like in VDJ, Rekordbox or Traktor
Harmonic key mixing with visible aid

So judging by the earlier posts and votes, it’s clear that many other users are hoping for it too.

Let’s keep the momentum going — the more visibility this gets, the better the chances we’ll see it in a future update!

[hardbea7]

1.yes thanks to @DJ_Big_Blender, that’s exactly the one I’m talking about!
Here’s a screenshot as well.

I really like how the other 2 DJ softwares implemented this feature. It’s simple and straightforward, at a glance, you can immediately see the green highlighted keys without any extra effort.
With Djay’s key display, it just takes extra brain power every time I look at it. It’s frustrating.

I’m aware there’s a mini window on the right that shows matching key songs, and while I do like that, you just can’t beat the simplicity of Traffic Light key system, I’m sure this can be easily added in.

2. I mapped the hot cue loop, but honestly, it feels like another overcomplicated feature. When I press the pad once to jump to a hot cue loop, if I miss the timing or early, I can’t press it again to jump, it exits the loop first. Why? There’s already a dedicated loop exit button on every controller, so this behavior just gets in the way.

Also, sometimes the manual loop length I used previously affects the hot cue loop. If I saved a 16-beat loop on the pad, but my manual loop was shorter or longer, pressing the hot cue loop doesn’t follow the saved length, it uses the manual one instead. I couldn’t figure out why, which is why I’m writing this.

Honestly, even if there’s a good reason for this behavior, I’m 100% sure I don’t need it. If I saved a 16-beat hot cue loop on the pad, that’s all I want it to do, no extra thing, no toggling, no second press to exit

And why even split hot cues and loop cues into two separate pages? I don’t see the need. Don’t even mention that pads on screen doesn’t even follow that active pads on the controller, like beat jump or sampler etc. Although I don’t mind current implementation so I can use 2 different things simultaneously by touching the screen , and pressing controller pad but I still wish we have some kind of toggle to on and off to follow the controller pads in some cases.

On top of that we have to midi map, extra time wasting and it’s just bad idea, it will take up fixed pad buttons for the loop cue, it’s much easier like Relordbox and Traktor you can save any cue either hot cue or loop cue…way in Djay implemented really is a put off for me, Simplicity is best. Please fix this.

[Slak_Jaw]

Thanks for the screenshot and additional feedback @hardbea7. I will pass this onto the dev team for consideration. Don’t forget to Vote!

[DJ_Bassdex]

I switched from Recordbox to DJAY, I really miss the function where the program prompts and highlights the related, identical and similar tonality of the tracks in the playlist. In Recordbox, the key hint is relative to the material of the track (what is playing now), the CDJ 2000nsx2 3000 works the same way. This is familiar and helps you improvise faster on the fly, finding the right track in a split second, without searching. It would be cool if you added this to DJAY.
In recordbox and CDJ, tracks of similar or the same key are highlighted in a special green color relative to the mater track. It’s convenient.

[Slak_Jaw]

Hi @DJ_Bassdex, welcome to the Community! Please use search before creating new topics. I have merged your new topic with this existing one. You can show your support for this suggestion using the blue vote button at the top left of this page. Thanks!

[Ben4]

Hi

I think a real improvement to facilitate mixing in Key would be for any tracks that match the key of the currently playing song to automatically be highlighted as opposed to using the filters as this can be time consuming. Similar to Rekordbox which highlights all the songs that match the currently playing songs key.

This way the option is still there to mix with songs that aren’t in Key as they don’t disappear, which is what happens currently when you use the filter option in djay. It also means that when you change song you don’t have to change the filter settings, which is currently what you have to do if the song is not the exact same key but simply a compatible key. For example, I have a filter which I use for songs in G major, which includes any songs in G, C or D. If I move to a song in D I need to change filter to songs in D, A or G. The Rekordbox method is much simpler to use.

[Slak_Jaw]

Thanks for the suggestion @Ben4. I’ve merged your new topic with this existing one as they are closely related. Please use the blue Vote button at the top left of this page. Thanks!

[hardbea7]

@Slak_Jaw Is this feature going to be added? why do I feel like you guys following Traktor footsteps? slow and ignorant…

[Slak_Jaw]

Hi @hardbea7, I’m not at liberty to discuss unreleased features one way or another.

For more information on how suggestions and voting works, please refer to this topic:

Update to Our Voting System Guidelines [Suggestions]

As a user, it’s essential to grasp the significance of your vote and how it influences our development roadmap. When you vote for a specific feature request or general suggestion: Your vote signals your interest and support for the proposed feature/suggestion. We consider the cumulative votes alongside other factors such as feasibility, resource availability, and alignment with our product vision. While high-voted features are more likely to be prioritized, they are not automatically im…

[jaysnbrwn]

New to djay pro and absolutely loving it - almost certain I will make the full time switch from Traktor.

One big thing I miss from Traktor though is similar to what OP is saying with regards to highlighting the songs in similar key from the track on the master track.

Doesn’t necessarily need to be a traffic light system - can keep the same aesthetic djay pro is going with and do it the way Traktor does. There is a setting in the options where you can have all key colors shown, or only the key-compatible tracks key colors shown and anything not in key remains standard text color. Feel like this could be a very simple thing to implement considering the fuzzy system is already in place and very useful when choosing next track!

[Slak_Jaw]

Hi @jaysnbrwn, welcome to the Community! Thanks for the additional feedback. I will pass this onto the dev team.

[Charlie]

Hello, just wondering (hoping) if there’s any news on implementing this? At the moment, Djay does highlight matching keys in the library but this only works when you sort the library by key. While this works, it is not very useful because by sorting the tracks in order of keys already puts songs with matching keys next to each other. What would be really helpful is for the software to do this highlighting even if the library is sorted on a different field.

[Slak_Jaw]

Hi @Charlie, welcome to the Community! Thanks for the additional input and for checking in, but we don’t have any updates to share regarding this suggestion.

[Charlie]

Thank you, we stay hopeful!

[Slak_Jaw]

You’re welcome @Charlie

[Austinjacobm94]

Would love to see the key matching traffic lights in green as well. What a neat feature they offer.