How to · VirtualDJ

Edit beatgrids in VirtualDJ.

VirtualDJ's CBG, the computed beat grid, drives sync, quantized cues, and loops. When it is wrong, everything built on it is wrong. Here is how to check a grid and correct it.

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A waveform with a beatgrid being corrected

A grid that matches the music is what makes sync trustworthy.

Edit beatgrids in VirtualDJ, step by step.

The CBG is VirtualDJ's map of where the beats fall. Two things can be wrong with it: the tempo (grid spacing) and the phase (where beat one sits). Diagnose which one you have before touching anything, because the fixes are different.

Diagnose the grid against the waveform

Load the track and look at the grid markers over the waveform while it plays. If markers drift steadily away from the transients, the BPM value is wrong. If they are consistently offset by the same amount, or the emphasized downbeat marker sits on beat three, the tempo is right and only the anchor position is wrong.

Open the BPM and beatgrid editor

Click the deck's BPM display for the quick tempo menu, or right-click the track in the browser and choose BPM Editor to open the full editor. This is where the CBG tools live: BPM value entry, halve and double, tap tempo, and controls to shift the grid.

Fix the tempo first

If the spacing is wrong, correct the BPM: use halve or double for octave errors, type the value if you know it, or tap along to the track for unusual tempos. Get the spacing right before touching the phase, since moving the anchor of a wrongly spaced grid is wasted work.

Move the grid onto the downbeat

Shift the grid so the first beat marker lands exactly on the first kick of a bar. Zoom into the waveform and place it on the transient's leading edge. Once the anchor is right and the spacing is right, the whole grid locks in for a constant-tempo track.

Anchor tracks with drifting tempo

For live drummers, older vinyl rips, and anything not produced to a click, one straight grid cannot fit the whole track. In recent VirtualDJ versions the BPM editor has a fluid mode where you add extra beatgrid anchors at the points where the grid drifts off, pinning the grid back onto the beat section by section.

The catch

Grid edits live in VirtualDJ's database, and each track is manual work. Budget the effort for the tracks that need it, older material and live recordings, rather than regridding a library of modern quantized productions that were fine already.

bass

mids

highs

lead

intro

verse

buildup

drop

breakdown

outro

Where Vibes fits

Arrive knowing which grids need work

Vibes does not export to VirtualDJ, so it cannot write beatgrids into the CBG; its export path covers Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, and Engine DJ. For a VirtualDJ user, Vibes is the triage step: it analyzes the same files with downbeat-aware tempo detection and shows the beatgrid over the waveform, so you can see which tracks have a solid, constant grid and which are the drifters that deserve manual CBG work in VirtualDJ.

See how it works

Tempo detection with downbeat backtracking builds a locked beatgrid on every imported track

Waveform visualization lets you verify a grid at a glance before you decide it needs manual work

Inline BPM editing with halve and double buttons fixes octave errors in one click inside Vibes

If you also run Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, or Engine DJ, the analyzed library exports there directly

Organize in Vibes, export to VirtualDJ.

Your playlists, tags, ratings, and cue points travel back to the gear you play on, so nothing you do in Vibes is locked away.

Track 001

Artist A

128

Afterhours

Mysterious

Introspective

Track 002

Artist B

124

Cozy Floor

Peaceful

Home

Track 003

Artist C

132

Rave

Aggressive

Festival

Build & Release

Playlists

Vibes

Mood

Aggressive

Euphoric

Melancholic

Mysterious

Peaceful

Playful

Tense

Function

Arrangement

Sets

Club Night 12/28

NYE Closing Set

Rooftop 01/04

Frequently asked questions

The honest answers, including the trade-offs.

No. Vibes has no VirtualDJ integration, so CBG corrections happen in VirtualDJ's own BPM and beatgrid tools. Vibes helps you spend that manual effort well: its independent analysis of the same files shows which tracks have clean constant grids and which drift, so you regrid the twenty tracks that need it instead of auditing thousands.

Because sync aligns the beatgrids, not the audio. If one track's grid is offset from its actual beats, VirtualDJ locks the grids together and the music plays flammed apart by exactly that offset. Matching BPM values with a misplaced anchor is the classic symptom that a grid needs its phase corrected.

Rarely. Music produced to a click grid at constant tempo is what automatic detection handles best, and most modern electronic releases get a correct CBG on first analysis. The tracks worth checking are vinyl rips, live recordings, older disco and funk, and anything with rubato intros or tempo changes.

Methodology