How SetFlow Builds a DJ Set: Key, BPM and Energy

What SetFlow reads from each track

SetFlow reads the tags your DJ software already keeps for each track. Your audio isn't uploaded, and nothing is written back to your library.

Step 2 shows you how to fill these in before you import.

Key: the Camelot wheel

SetFlow turns every key into its Camelot code: a number from 1 to 12 and a letter, A for minor and B for major.8A is A minor. The moves that almost never clash are:

• The same code, like 8A to 8A.
• One step round the wheel with the same letter, like 8A to 9A or 7A.
• The same number, other letter, like 8A to 8B: from a minor key to its relative major.

Try them on the Camelot wheel, or read harmonic mixing explained.

BPM: staying close in tempo

SetFlow treats a tempo change of up to 2% as perfect (124 to 126 BPM is 1.6%), up to 4% as good, and up to 8% as one to mix with care. It avoids bigger jumps. The BPM by genre chart shows the usual range for each style.

Energy: the shape of the set

Every track gets an energy from 1 to 10. SetFlow takes the first of these it finds:

• The energy you set yourself in SetFlow.
• A word in the track's Comments, like banger or peak (high), groovy (middle) or warm up and opener (low).
• The track's colour in Rekordbox: pink and red are high, blue and purple low.
• Its genre and BPM.

When you build a set you pick its shape: Warm-Up, Peak Time, Closing, Journey or Chill. SetFlow then picks tracks whose energy follows that curve. On Pro you can draw your own with a custom plan. More in DJ set energy flow.

Reading a finished set

At the top of a set you get three scores: Flow, Harmonic and Tempo. Between every two tracks there's a note on the join, like “Same key (perfect match)” or “Adjacent on Camelot wheel”, with its score.