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Migrate · Mixed In Key to Rekordbox

Move from Mixed In Key to Rekordbox.

Mixed In Key results reach rekordbox on two separate routes: file tags for key and energy, a shared collection file for the cue points. Here is exactly what carries across, what gets lost, and how to bring your whole library over without starting from scratch.

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A DJ library organized in Vibes with BPM, key, and vibe tags intact after moving from Mixed In Key to Rekordbox

Bring your collection across without losing your work.

Analyze your files in Mixed In Key, let it write the results into the file tags, then select those tracks in rekordbox, right-click, and choose Reload Tag. Key and energy appear; the automatic cue points do not, because they arrive on a second route, a collection file both apps point at. To sync Mixed In Key with rekordbox you set both routes up once, then repeat them for every batch of new music. rekordbox never reads a Mixed In Key database: everything arrives as an ID3 tag or through the rekordbox xml Imported Library.

What transfers from Mixed In Key to Rekordbox.

CapabilityCarriesWhat happens
Audio filesNothing to move. Mixed In Key reads the files already on your drive, and rekordbox points at those same files.
PlaylistsMixed In Key is an analyzer, not a library, so there are no playlists to carry. The MIK Cue Points playlist in the xml is a delivery vehicle, not your crate structure.
Key & BPMKey carries through the file tags once you hit Reload Tag. Leave BPM and the grid to rekordbox: the cue points are aligned to the grid it made, so its analysis has to run first.
Hot cuesOnly through the xml route, and only as the cue type your import creates. Reloading tags brings none of them. Eight cue points sit well inside what rekordbox holds per track.
BeatgridsMixed In Key does not write a grid. rekordbox makes its own, which is exactly why you analyze BPM and grid there before the cue export.
Star ratingsNot part of this move. Mixed In Key writes key, energy, and cue points, so whatever rating a track has in rekordbox stays as it is.
Comments & tagsKey and energy land in the Comments field by default and rekordbox shows them. Turning them into My Tag filters is manual work afterwards.

Using both routes together: file tags for key and energy, the shared xml for cue points. Reload Tag on its own carries the key and the comment and nothing else. rekordbox never reads a Mixed In Key database: everything arrives as an ID3 tag or through the rekordbox xml Imported Library.

The easy way

Moving from Mixed In Key to Rekordbox, step by step.

This is two connections, not one, and neither of them is an import. Anyone asking how to export Mixed In Key to rekordbox is really asking about two exports: the tags, and the cue points. Here is the whole flow end to end, in the order that stops rekordbox from overwriting the key you just wrote.

01

Analyze BPM and grid in rekordbox first

Add the files to rekordbox, open Preferences, go to Analysis, then Track Analysis, and tick BPM / Grid under Track Analysis Setting. Analyze the tracks there before they ever reach Mixed In Key: the cue positions are written against that grid, and Mixed In Key's own guide tells you to do the grid in rekordbox first. Leave KEY unticked while you do this if you want Mixed In Key's key to be the one you keep.

02

Set what Mixed In Key writes into your tags

In Mixed In Key, open Settings, then Tag Options. Turn on the Initial Key option so the detected key is written to the field rekordbox reads, and switch on the leading-zero option so single-digit codes are written as 01A rather than 1A. By default the results also go to the Key and Comments fields. Tagging and cue export do not work on WAV files, so keep AIFF or 320 kbps MP3.

03

Point both apps at one rekordbox xml file

In rekordbox, open the File menu and choose Export Collection in xml format, then save it in a local folder that is not synced to cloud storage and not on an external drive. In Mixed In Key, open Settings, then DJ Software, switch rekordbox on, and link that same file: this shared Mixed In Key rekordbox xml file is the only path the cue points have. Back in rekordbox, tick rekordbox xml under Preferences, View, Layout, and set it as the Imported Library under Preferences, Advanced, Database. If you get rekordbox xml unable to be read properly, the file it points at cannot be parsed: export a fresh one and link that.

04

Reload the tags, then import the cue points

Analyze in Mixed In Key. In rekordbox, select the tracks, right-click, and choose Reload Tag: that re-reads the ID3 tags, so the key and the energy comment appear. Cue points are a separate step. Refresh the rekordbox xml node in the browser, right-click the MIK Cue Points playlist, choose Import Playlist, then select the tracks and choose Import to Collection. Tags arriving without cues means you skipped this second half.

Reload Tag replaces rekordbox's track information with whatever is in the file, so anything you edited by hand in rekordbox for those tracks is overwritten. The xml is a snapshot as well: re-export it whenever the collection changes, keep it on a local drive, and run both passes again for every batch of new music. Mac users sometimes skip the xml with the Rekordbox Cue and Key Tool, a third-party bridge that writes the collection directly; it is not made by Pioneer DJ, and there is no Windows version.

DJ Software
Rekordbox
Rekordbox
Import XML or Database
Serato
Serato
Import Library Database
Traktor
Traktor
Import NML Collection
Engine
Engine
Import Engine Database
File System
Local Folder
Scan directory
Audio Files
Select files

The cleaner path

One library, every app.

Vibes works on the same files and does the analysis and the organizing in one place: key shown as Camelot, musical, or Open Key, an energy value per track, and sections marked for intro, buildup, drop, breakdown, and outro. When the library is in shape, it exports playlists and vibes back to rekordbox as a folder tree, with optional key or BPM sub-folders, so there is no xml file to keep in sync and no tag pass to redo. Cue points still get set in rekordbox; what you drop is the round trip.

See the DJ Library
Analyze BPM, key, energy, and track sections across the whole library in one pass
Find Compatible pulls harmonic neighbors inside a BPM window, half and double time aware
Set Designer with Energy Flow sorting builds the set ascending, descending, or as an arc
Export playlists and vibes back to rekordbox as a folder tree, with optional key or BPM sub-folders

Organize once, export to Rekordbox.

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

Track 001 by Artist A

Track 001

Artist A

128
3A
Track 002 by Artist B

Track 002

Artist B

124
5B
Track 003 by Artist C

Track 003

Artist C

132
8A
Vibes App
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.

Two connections, set up once. Mixed In Key writes its key and energy results into the file tags, and rekordbox reads them when you select the tracks, right-click, and choose Reload Tag. Cue points take the other route: both apps point at the same rekordbox xml collection file, and you import the MIK Cue Points playlist from the rekordbox xml node in the browser. Neither route changes your audio files.
Mixed In Key says so, and that is the whole mixed in key vs rekordbox argument: its own site calls its detection significantly more accurate than the detection built into rekordbox. That is the vendor's claim, not an independent test. Both do well on clean, straightforward material and both struggle on layered or ambiguous tracks, so spot-check the tracks you actually play and fix a wrong key by hand when it matters.
Through the xml, never through the tags. The shared collection file is how you export cue points from Mixed In Key to rekordbox: refresh the rekordbox xml node in the browser, right-click the MIK Cue Points playlist, choose Import Playlist, then select the tracks and choose Import to Collection. Analyze BPM and grid in rekordbox first, or the cues land off the beat. For auto cue points, rekordbox also has a cue analysis of its own, depending on your plan.
Three ways. Let rekordbox work it out: open Preferences, Analysis, Track Analysis, tick KEY under Track Analysis Setting, then right-click the tracks and choose Analyze Track. Write the key into the file tags from another app and pull it in with Reload Tag. Or type it into the track information window yourself, which is fine for a few fixes and painful for a library. Analyzing tracks in rekordbox covers the settings in detail.
Right-click the column header in the track list and tick Key, so the column is there at all. Then check your rekordbox key settings in Preferences, View, Display Type, where the rekordbox key display format switch chooses between Classic, which shows Abm and F#, and Alphanumeric. That is rekordbox keys explained in one line: a display choice sitting on top of one stored value. The rekordbox alphanumeric key style shows Camelot-style codes like 8A.
rekordbox not showing key usually means one of three things: the Key column is hidden, KEY was unticked in Track Analysis Setting when the track was analyzed, or the value never made it into the file. If Mixed In Key wrote it, select the tracks, right-click, and choose Reload Tag to re-read the tags. Remember that Reload Tag also overwrites anything you edited inside rekordbox for those tracks.
Turn on Traffic Light. With a track loaded on a deck and the Key column showing, rekordbox highlights the compatible keys in the browser, and you set how wide that goes in Preferences, View, Traffic Light: same key, or related keys one through three. That is rekordbox key matching in practice. There is no rekordbox key wheel and no rekordbox key chart inside the app, only that highlight.
Two different things share that name. rekordbox key sync is a performance feature: in the DUAL PLAYER layout, KEY SYNC shifts one deck's key to match the other, and the semitone controls do the same by hand. Availability depends on your plan and connected gear. Matching keys you already have is browsing, not syncing: use Traffic Light and the track filter to find tracks that fit.

From a Vibes customer

The import worked perfectly. Have created several sets now and my life is so much easier
Danny

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Methodology

How we keep this honest.

Verified against the apps

What transfers is tested against the current versions of Mixed In Key and Rekordbox.

We own our bias

We make Vibes. We show the native process and its limits honestly, and we are upfront about what no tool can carry across.

Live pricing

The Vibes price shown comes straight from our checkout, never a hardcoded marketing number.

Kept current

Last reviewed June 2026.

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