What you prep in Rekordbox
is what plays on the deck.

Why Re-encoding is Safe at High Bitrates

A common concern is quality loss when re-encoding MP3/AAC. However, for gain adjustment only at high bitrates (≥256 kbps), the degradation is completely inaudible.

• Quantization noise below -90dB — far below audible threshold
• ABX tests confirm — listeners cannot distinguish 320kbps→320kbps re-encodes
• Waveform preserved — gain is simple multiplication, no compression or EQ applied
• Club environment — any theoretical difference is masked by ambient noise and PA characteristics
• High-quality encoders — Bake'n Deck uses libmp3lame/libfdk_aac with best quality settings

Why this matters for CDJ users

Bake'n Deck exists because Rekordbox's Auto Gain doesn't follow your tracks onto the CDJ — the analyzer fixes that by baking gain into the audio files, so the loudness work survives USB export.

rbsort is the same idea applied to playlist order. Rekordbox can't multi-column sort, and even if it could, CDJs play tracks in playlist order, not by software sort. rbsort bakes the Key+BPM order into the playlist itself, so the harmonic-mix prep you do at home shows up on the deck without any reordering at the gig.

Workflow

1. Set key display to Alphanumeric (1A..12B notation) in Rekordbox: Preferences → View → Key display format → Alphanumeric
2. Export your collection: File → Export Collection in xml format
3. Run baken rbsort against the exported XML (omit --playlist to sort every TrackID-referenced playlist at once, or pass --playlist "Name" to target one)
4. Point Rekordbox at the output: Preferences → Advanced → Database → rekordbox xml → Imported Library → select the output file, then restart Rekordbox (the XML is only read on startup)
5. Open the rekordbox xml tree in the left sidebar — it's a separate tree from your main library, accessed via the sidebar icon column on the far left. The sorted results live in a new folder at rekordbox xml → Playlists → Sorted (Key+BPM)/, each playlist named after its source
6. Verify the sort by clicking any playlist inside Sorted (Key+BPM)/: tracks run 1A (lowest BPM) → 1B → 2A → … → 12B (highest BPM)
7. Drag the playlists you want out of Sorted (Key+BPM)/ into your main Playlists to use them in your sets — your originals are untouched
8. Export to USB for CDJ: switch Rekordbox to EXPORT mode (top-left dropdown), plug in your USB / SD, then right-click the playlist → Export Playlist. The CDJ reads the playlist in the order it's stored — Key+BPM order travels to the deck

Don't see it? The sorted results live only inside the rekordbox xml → Sorted (Key+BPM)/ folder, not in your main Playlists. If you only see the originals, switch sidebar trees.

Sort Rules

• Primary: Camelot Key ascending — 1A → 1B → 2A → 2B → … → 12A → 12B
• Secondary: BPM ascending within each key group
• Tracks with no Camelot key sort after all known keys
• Tracks with BPM 0 / unanalyzed sort last within their key group
• Your original collection.xml is never modified — output goes to a separate file with a new Sorted (Key+BPM)/ folder appended
• Originals stay in place; the sorted copies live inside Sorted (Key+BPM)/ and reuse the source playlist names (same pattern as the analyzer's backup/ directory)

Single-column sort vs. multi-column sort

Rekordbox and the CDJ-3000 / XDJ-1000MK2 can sort a list by Key or BPM — but never both at once. Given the same input playlist, the three sort modes produce different orderings:

See docs/rbsort-sort-comparison.md for a 6-track walk-through showing the actual track ordering each mode produces.

Why this matters for CDJ users

Pre-NXS2 CDJs only play MP3 reliably — and Rekordbox will happily export a FLAC playlist to USB without warning you. The failure shows up in the booth, sometimes mid-set.

cdjsafe is the same design thesis as the other two subcommands, applied to format compatibility: instead of hoping the booth has NXS2+ decks, bake a CDJ-safe copy of the playlist and carry it as your emergency-backup stick. Sources already at exactly 320 kbps CBR @ 44.1 kHz are copied byte-identically (zero generation loss, LAME header untouched), and lossy→lossy re-encodes are flagged in the run report so you can refresh those from lossless masters later.

Workflow

1. Export your collection: File → Export Collection in xml format
2. Run baken cdjsafe with --xml, --playlist, and --out-dir — the MP3s land in the output directory, the updated XML next to the input
3. Point Rekordbox at the output: Preferences → Advanced → Database → rekordbox xml → Imported Library, then restart Rekordbox
4. Import to Collection: open the rekordbox xml sidebar tree → CDJ-safe (MP3)/, right-click the imported tracks → Import to Collection. Beatgrids and cues carry over — nothing to re-analyze
5. Export the playlist to USB in EXPORT mode, as usual. This stick plays on any CDJ in the booth

Design notes

• Every track is normalized to the same profile — skipping "good enough" sources would leave holes in the backup USB, which defeats the point
• Output profile is locked (320 kbps CBR / 44.1 kHz / ID3v2.3): the only combination that plays reliably across the whole CDJ fleet, and CBR sidesteps Rekordbox's VBR cue-offset problem
• New XML entries get fresh TrackIDs and a [cdjsafe] comment marker — your original tracks and playlists are never modified
• A valid Xing/LAME header is written, so Rekordbox compensates the encoder delay and cues stay sample-aligned
• If any track fails to convert, no XML is written — all-or-nothing by design
• Requires ffmpeg with libmp3lame (Homebrew/winget builds qualify); soxr resampling used when available