How to use Timbre.

01 Getting started

From your account to the first analyzed library.

1. Create an account Choose “Create account” on the start page and enter your email address. Timbre sends you a code. Enter the code and your account is ready right away.
2. Connect online storage Under “Import”: pick where your music lives, then enter the WebDAV address, user name, password and start folder, “Test connection”, then “Connect”. Safest is an access that may only read – on a Hetzner Storage Box, a sub-account.
3. Let the matching run Timbre reads the file list, builds an acoustic fingerprint for every file and asks the catalog with it. Whatever the catalog knows shows up in your library at once, with every value. The status line at the top shows how far the matching has got.
4. Analyze unknown files What the catalog does not know yet, Timbre analyzes when you click “Analyze unknown files” under “Import”. Every analysis counts against your quota; Timbre deletes the copy of the file right after measuring.
5. timbremusic: later timbremusic, the desktop app for Mac and Windows, is in the works. Once signed in, “Beta” shows what already exists of it.

Result Your tracks sit in the library with genre mix, energy, tempo, key and sound profile – on the web and in the app.

02 Filtering your library

In the “Library” tab the filters sit on the left, in this order. All of them combine, and the hit count follows along. On a phone you open the bar via “Filters”.

1. Energy Pick one or more levels: o (calm), +, ++ or +++ (peak).
2. BPM Drag the slider's two handles to your range or type the numbers. The scale spans your library (almost all tracks, without single outliers), so you see the spread from left to right. A handle at the end stop means: no limit, outliers like half tempo included. You can type any number, even beyond the scale. The switch above picks the source: tags or measured.
3. Key Tap one or more keys (in your notation, for example 1m). “+ neighbors” adds the ones that mix in key: one step up and down and the switch between minor and major.
4. Genre Find a genre and select it. Every selected genre gets a slider: the minimum share in percent a track needs (starts at 20 %). “must be lead genre” only lets through tracks where that genre leads. With several genres you decide: “all” or “any”.
5. Features Fixed words such as Piano, Vocals, Vocal chops or Instrumental. Several features are combined with AND: the track needs all of them.
6. Sort Under “Sort by” every selected genre adds an entry “Share: genre” – that puts the tracks with the highest share on top. Active filters sit as chips above the list and can be removed one by one.

Result For example: energy ++, 120 to 126 BPM, House from 30 %, plus Piano and Vocals – what is left is the selection for exactly this moment. The filters live in the page address: as a bookmark the list comes back just the same.

Further down the bar: loudness, character, movement, use, vocals, style, genre (model) and mood. “Refresh” next to “Export” loads new tracks – filters, sorting and your place in the list stay.

03 Reading a track

The fly-in next to the list shows the overview, the track info shows everything.

1. Open the fly-in Tap a track in the library. The panel with the overview opens; “Open track info” shows everything on a page of its own.
2. Key figures BPM and key from your tags, with the measured values beside them; for tempo one word tells you how well both agree: same, just off, half, double or different. Plus energy in four levels from o to +++ and the length.
3. Genre mix The bar shows the shares, the legend gives names and percent. The genre with the biggest share is the lead genre.
4. Sound profile Eight axes: energy, danceability, sub bass, brightness, dynamics, stereo width, vocals, loudness. Each axis shows the rank within your library from 0 to 100, only energy sits there as a level from o to +++. The dashed ring marks the middle. For small libraries the rank within the Timbre catalog counts.
5. Frequency bands and genre over time The “Frequency bands” card shows one lane per band, HI at the top, LOW at the bottom – split like on your mixer (DJM 3-band or Xone/V10 4-band, switchable on the card). Height = level, ▼ = onset, hatched = bass out; dashed lines mark the end of the intro and the start of the outro. The lengths of intro, main part and outro are right there – so you see where to mix in and when the track runs out. Below it runs the genre over time: which genres the model hears at which point. Pointer or arrow keys show the time and the largest shares.
6. DJ profile and depth Character, movement, use and vocals in four terms, estimated by a model – so you pre-sort faster. Behind them come the features. The track info unfolds further: sound profile in detail, single curves, model labels, measurements with explanations and “Similar sound”.

Result You see how a track sounds, where you can mix in and where the track turns – before you even listen in.

The dot in front of a value shows where the value comes from: measured, calculated from measurements or estimated by a model.

04 Finding tracks that fit

What fits next? On the web via key, tempo, energy and sound. And this is how you pull out the gems that got buried in your library: with filters, genre sliders and “Similar sound”. Less searching, more time for digging.

1. Read the key The key is shown in the list and in the track info as Open Key, for example 1m for A minor: number plus m for minor, d for major. Hover shows the note name. Pick another notation under Settings → Appearance.
2. Filter the neighbors Pick that code in the “Key” filter and switch on “+ neighbors”. For 1m that adds 2m, 12m and 1d.
3. Narrow tempo and energy Drag the BPM slider around the tempo of the track that is playing and pick the energy that is due next.
4. Search by sound Open track info and unfold “Similar sound”: tracks from your library that sound alike, with key and similarity in percent beside them.
5. Fits next In the track info, unfold “Fits next” or tap the button at the top of the track info. The octagon shows eight ways out of your track: up top it rises, below it drops, left stays close, right gets bold, ◐ switches between minor and major. Each field counts the tracks in your library where key, tempo and energy follow; “Also against the energy” counts them all. “Keep lead genre” and “Keep character” start on No; set to Yes, only tracks with the same lead genre or character as the track now count. Dashed keys are bold. A tap or click on a field shows the best tracks with light and reason. The “Legend” explains arrows, numbers and dashes. Comparing two tracks is in timbremusic, the desktop app.
6. Your path In the library fly-in, the octagon and its legend sit under “Fits next” as well. A tap on a track makes it Now, and “Your path” below adds a step. Go back with ‹ and ›, a tap on a chip or Alt+←/→. Jump off again from an earlier step and a new branch starts – the notice that pops up brings the old branch back. Via ⋯ you save the path as a playlist or begin again with “Start over”. Every step with a playable track has a ▶ below it: a tap starts the track, ❚❚ pauses. A tap on the chip itself only jumps to that step, no sound.

Result A short list of tracks that match the playing track in key, tempo and sound.

Search by description (“dark, driving, with vocals”) is in the works.

05 Mix octagon on the home page

Under “Your next puzzle piece” the mix octagon is there to try, no account needed: with the freely licensed tracks of the live demo. When the octagon comes into view, it plays a short mix in eight moves; any tap, click or arrow key takes over, “Pause” stops it.

1. Read the eight ways The center shows “Now”: the track with key, BPM and energy o to +++. Top: key boost, bottom: key drop – one to three steps on the circle of fifths, e.g. 1m → 2m. Each field shows what the energy does: ++ → +++ ▲ rises, ▼ falls, ! runs against the way. “=” holds: same key or direct neighbor. ◐ is Mood Change. The number in each field tells you how many tracks fit that way.
2. Open the legend “How do I read this?” under the octagon explains every sign: dashed means a bold jump that only works with prep. Faded means the energy already sits at o, so there is little room further down.
3. Mood Change ◐ switches between minor and major, equally close on the key wheel – 1m becomes 4d, for example. Energy may rise or fall on the way. A 0 in the field means no live demo track fits that switch right now.
4. Pick a way, pull in a track Tap a field: the matching tracks show up below. With a mouse, pointing is enough; the arrow keys move like in the picture, Home jumps to ↓↓↓, End to ↑↑↑. A tap on a track makes it Now and the numbers update.
5. Your path Every jump adds a chip under “Your path”. With ‹ and ›, a tap on a chip or Alt+←/→ you step back and forth; jump off from there and the new way replaces the rest. “From the top” brings back the start track – nothing gets saved. Where a chip has a ▶ below it, you preview the track for 30 seconds, starting about a third in; a second tap stops it.

Result You dig through matching tracks way by way, and the path shows how you got here.

Not signed in? “Try it yourself: live demo” opens the same tracks in the real octagon. In your library the octagon lives in the fly-in and in the track info – see “Finding tracks that fit”.

06 Explorer

The explorer lays out your library around one track: center = now, eight ways to fitting tracks all around. You dig with mouse or keyboard; the crate is your whole library, your filters or a playlist.

1. Pick a starting point Search a track or artist under “Find a starting point”, use “Take the playing track” for the track that’s on right now, or tap “Surprise me”. From the library, “Dig in the explorer” brings you here – your filters become the crate.
2. Read the eight ways The center shows “Now” with key, BPM and energy o to +++. Top is key boost (↑ ↑↑ ↑↑↑), bottom key drop (↓ ↓↓ ↓↓↓), on the left “=” holds the key, on the right ◐ Mood Change switches between minor and major. Every way counts the tracks that fit. The “Controls” narrow tempo, energy, lead genre, vocals and crate; “Never played only” lets through only tracks with play count 0 and needs the “Play counter” from the Rekordbox import.
3. Dig with keys Q W E · A D · Z X C pick the ways as laid out in the picture: Q W E on top, A (=) and D (◐) in the middle, Z X C at the bottom. On a German keyboard that key reads Y instead of Z – the explorer goes by where the key sits, the label follows your layout. Shift + way makes the best track of that way Now right away, Enter the highlighted one, T adds the track to the Tag List. ? shows all keys.
4. Switch the view V switches between “Cockpit” (controls, octagon and list) and “Map” (your trail through the library). Every jump lands in the path; Alt+←/→ takes you back and forward.
5. The path Every jump adds a track to your path. Took a wrong turn? “Edit path” (in the fly-in under ⋯, in the big player at the end of the set trail, here on the path bar) shows the path as a list, start at the top: − or a swipe left takes a track out, the handle ≡ drags it to another spot, ✂ cuts the path there and you dig on from that track. On a computer, Delete takes a track out and Alt + ↑/↓ moves it; “Undo” or Ctrl/⌘ + Z brings back any change. The path only lives in this browser tab – “Save as playlist” makes a copy that stays.

Result You dig way by way through your library, see from the light how well a track fits and from the path how you got here.

On the phone the explorer opens straight into the dig controller, with big pads for your thumb. Switch shortcuts off in your account under Appearance; there are always buttons too.

07 Dig controller on the phone

On the phone the explorer opens straight as the dig controller: big pads for your thumb, starting from the playing track. If nothing is playing, the dig controller starts from the last track you heard, otherwise from the first track with a key.

1. Pick a direction At the top it says “Now”, below sits the pad: three by three fields laid out like the explorer, the track in the middle. Top key boost, bottom key drop, left hold, right Mood Change; every field counts its matches. Tap a field or swipe across the pad in that direction – the match list opens.
2. Match list The best 30 tracks of that way, each with a light and a reason; “Show more” brings more. A tap previews the track – from hot cue A, otherwise from the first onset, otherwise from the middle; the spot is shown next to it.
3. Preview While previewing, the playing track pauses and resumes from the same spot afterwards. The “Preview” button turns previewing off – then a tap only selects the track. Timbre remembers the choice on this device.
4. Save or queue At the bottom are the actions for the selected track: “Save” adds the track to your Tag List, “Play next” plays the track right after the current one, “To end” puts the track at the end of the queue.
5. Back to the pad “Direction” at the bottom, Esc or a swipe right outside the list takes you back to the pad. The match list itself has no swipe gestures, so scrolling never triggers anything.

Result From the playing track to the next one with your thumb: pick a direction, preview, queue.

In the queue, “Replace – dig” opens the dig controller from the track Auto-Listening picks after. On the computer the explorer stays, with keys.

08 The Genres tab

Your library as a map – measured from the audio, not taken from the tags.

1. Open the “Genres” tab Four key figures sit at the top: tracks, lead genres, average energy and average tempo.
2. Read the map Each field is a genre. Its size shows for how many tracks the genre is the lead genre. The color shows the lead share: strong means defining, pale means mostly just a blend.
3. Set the “Genre counts” slider From which share does a track count toward a genre? “any share” on the left, “lead genre only” on the right. The further right, the stricter.
4. Jump into a genre A click on a field or on an entry in the genre catalog opens the library, filtered with the slider's value.
5. Check the numbers “As a table” lists per genre: as lead genre, tracks, lead share and average BPM.

Result You see where your weight lies and land on the tracks with one click.

The “Map” button in the library shows the same map for the selection you have just filtered. When new tracks are coming in, “Refresh” at the top of the page brings them into the key figures, the map and the catalog.

09 Exporting

Take the list you are looking at with you.

1. Build the list Filter and sort the library the way you need the list.
2. Choose “Export” The dialog tells you how many tracks go out, which filters are active and how the list is sorted.
3. Pick a format Rekordbox XML: genre, key, BPM and comment per track, as a playlist with the name you enter. M3U8: a playlist with the paths of the files in your online storage, relative to the start folder. JSON: the full structure for your own scripts. Under “More formats”: CSV for Excel and Numbers.
4. Get the file The file lands in your downloads. Put the M3U8 into the folder that matches your start folder in the storage – then players find the tracks.
5. Enter your music folder Rekordbox needs a file path per track. Under Import → Rekordbox, enter your music folder – the folder under which your music files sit on this computer. When you read in your Rekordbox XML, Timbre suggests the folder; how to find the path on Mac and Windows is right next to it. Without it the XML still loads, but Rekordbox shows the tracks without audio.
6. Load it in Rekordbox Preferences → Advanced → Database → “rekordbox xml”: pick the file. Then View → Layout → show “rekordbox xml” and right-click the playlist in the “rekordbox xml” tree to import it. Only tracks whose file sits at the path make it into the collection.

Result Exactly the list on your screen – with your filters, in your order.

10 Tag List: prep your set

Playlists are all your lists. One of them is your Tag List: whatever you add with + or T lands there – like the Tag List in Rekordbox. Mark while you dig, order later; all playlists live under “Playlists”.

1. Mark tracks In the library, tap the + on a row or press T on the highlighted row. The + is also in the fly-in, in the track info and in the player. The first + creates your Tag List.
2. Build the order Right in the playlist under “Playlists”: drag the row or handle, Alt+↑/↓ or the ⋯ menu (“Move to slot …”). Clicking a column header only sorts the view. On your phone, the bar at the bottom opens the Tag List.
3. Order by key “Order by key” builds an order from track 1 by key wheel, BPM and energy. Not feeling it? “Undo” brings the old order back.
4. Read the transitions Between two tracks you see the light – fits, works or jump – with the key step (↑/↓), BPM gap and energy, e.g. “Energy + → ++”. Via ⋯ on a row, Timbre suggests a replacement from your library.
5. Export Rekordbox XML (key, genre, BPM, comment, paths from your music folder) and JSON, plus CSV – with online storage connected, the M3U8 with the paths of your files instead.

Result Your set in order, every transition at a glance – before you step up to the decks.

The light follows a common DJ rule of thumb, not a measurement. Your ears decide.

11 Pack your record bag and intelligent playlists

Under “Playlists”, “+ Playlist” opens three ways: “Pack your record bag”, “Intelligent playlist” and “Empty playlist”. The first two build the playlist for you.

1. Set the recipe In “Pack your record bag” you pick lead genre with a minimum share, tempo, an energy curve and the length in minutes or tracks. For the curve, take a template like “Build to peak” or “Wave” – or drag the points yourself. “Mix harmonically” keeps the key moves like in the mix octagon.
2. Check the preview Each slot shows energy against target, BPM, key and the light to the next track. If too few tracks fit, Timbre says so straight and offers looser settings under “More tracks with”. “Reshuffle” draws another pick with the same values, “Other” suggests up to three alternatives for one slot.
3. Save With “Intelligent” checked, Timbre remembers the recipe: genre, tempo, curve and length. Unchecked, you save just the tracks. “Regenerate” on the saved playlist brings in new matching tracks – until then everything stays as it is.
4. Lock slots Already in the preview, “Lock” holds a slot. In the saved playlist the padlock on a row locks the slot, a second click unlocks it; on a phone both run through the ⋯ menu. Whatever you move by hand, Timbre locks at its new slot; “Undo” removes that lock again. When you reorder, every lock travels with its track – and “Regenerate” leaves locked tracks in place.
5. Rules instead of a recipe “Intelligent playlist” works like in Rekordbox: each rule is field, condition and value, starting with BPM in range 120–128 and energy at least +. Then pick “all rules” or “any rule”, the sort order and, if you like, a limit in tracks or minutes. The playlist fills itself as soon as new tracks in your library match.
6. From the library Filtered your library? “Save as intelligent playlist” turns the active filters into rules.

Result A set along your energy curve – and playlists that grow when new tracks land in your library.

In playlists with rules, the rules decide content and order: no dragging or locking there. Rekordbox XML knows no intelligent playlists, so the export writes the state of right now.

12 Sorting and ordering playlists

In a playlist’s view, the toolbar above the list holds “Sort” and “Mix in key”. There is no separate tab for ordering any more: everything happens right in the list.

1. Sort the view A click on a column header sorts ascending, the second descending, the third back to #. “Sort: #” in the toolbar does the same. It only changes the view: the saved order stays by # until you pick “Apply this order”.
2. Drag Sorted by #, drag the whole row with the mouse or grab the handle ⋮⋮; buttons and links in the row stay clicks. On a phone, press and hold the handle briefly, then drag. Esc cancels.
3. Several at once A click selects a track, Ctrl- or Cmd-click adds one, Shift-click selects a range; on the keyboard Shift+↑/↓ and Space. Drag a selected track and the whole selection moves as a block.
4. Keys and menu Alt+↑/↓ moves the selected row, Alt+Home and Alt+End send it to the start or the end. The ⋯ menu on the row does the same, plus “Move to slot …” and “Take out”. Dragging, sorting and taking out can be undone in the notice.
5. Fit the columns From a 1000 px wide window, drag the width at the left edge of a column header; arrow keys change it by 8 px, a double-click resets the column, “Reset columns” resets them all. Genre and length show from 1000 px, Artist gets a column of its own from 1440 px; below that, title and artist share one column.

Result The order you need at the decks – no detour through a separate mode.

In playlists with rules a column header only sorts the view; “Save as the rules’ sort order” moves the sorting into the rules.

13 Queue: what plays next

Line up tracks behind the one playing without leaving the list you play from. Works in the library, in playlists and in the Tag List.

1. Play next or add to the end Tap ⋯ on a row: “Play next” puts the track right behind the one playing, ahead of everything you already lined up – like a stack. “Add to queue” puts the track at the end, like a line. The list icon in the header of a playlist or the Tag List lines up all playable tracks of the list, in the order shown.
2. Faster: swipe and keys On the phone, swipe a library row right for “Play next” or left to add the track to your Tag List; a long press opens the actions, including “Add to queue”. On the computer, press N or Q on the focused row, Shift+→/← jumps to the next or previous track. Every action shows up briefly at the bottom, “Undo” takes the action back.
3. Open the queue The ≡ button in the player bar or Shift+Q opens the queue; the number on the button counts the tracks you lined up. At the top is “Playing”, below “Added by you”, then “Next from the list” – the rest of the list you started from. From a 1000 px wide window the queue opens as a side panel, narrower as a sheet.
4. Reorder and clean up In “Added by you” move a track by the handle, with the arrow buttons or with Alt+↑/↓; Delete takes the track out, “Clear yours” empties everything. Tapping a row plays the track right away. Under “Then” you choose what comes after “Added by you”: “Keep list going” or “Off”.
5. Shuffle, repeat, history “Shuffle” only mixes the rest of the list, never “Added by you”. “Repeat” steps through all (the list from the start), this track, then off – ⏭ still skips ahead while one track repeats. The “History” tab shows the last 50 tracks, a tap plays one of them again.

Result You know what comes next and when it ends: the bottom of the queue shows the number of tracks, minutes and “ends ≈” with the time.

Queue and history live only in this device’s browser, never on the server – tabs on the same device share the state, signing out clears both. Nothing playing? ▶ starts playback. If the player already knows that a file is missing from your online storage, the player skips the file.

14 Listening mode: on the go

Below a 1000 px wide window, tapping the cover in the player bar opens “Now playing” as listening mode – big cover, big buttons, what matters on the go. From 1000 px the same tap opens the big player.

1. Read the time left Under the time slider you see how long the track still runs and at what time the track ends. At the bottom “Play next” shows the following track, a tap opens the queue. Swipe the cover left for the next, right for the previous track; shuffle and repeat sit beside the big buttons.
2. Data saver The chip switches between “Original” and “Data saver”. Data saver passes MP3 and AAC files through unchanged, everything else comes as MP3 at 320 kbit/s; the display reckons with about 144 instead of 605 MB per hour.
3. Match loudness “Match loudness” evens out loud and quiet masters, like Auto Gain in the big player; set target and trim there. On iPhone and iPad the server matches loudness – so the small version (MP3 320) always plays there, even for MP3 files.
4. Settings ⋯ in the header (on your phone: “Playback”, then the last row) opens “Listening mode settings”: data, “Warm up next track” (about 20 s before the end the player requests the start of the next track – if the file is missing, the player knows early), “Match loudness”, “Keep screen on” (costs battery, only while listening mode is open) and “Then”.
5. Lock screen buttons iPhone shows either ⏮ ⏭ or ±10 s there. “Automatic” uses ⏮ ⏭ on iPhone and iPad, ±10 s elsewhere; “⏮ ⏭ track” and “±10 s” fix the choice. Timbre remembers all listening mode settings on this device.

Result Listening on the go with less data and even loudness – and you see when the track ends.

Limits: there is a short gap between two tracks – no gapless, no crossfade. Whether a locked iPhone reliably moves on to the next track in the background, we are still testing on real devices.

15 Auto-Listening: the music keeps going

Once “Added by you” is done, Auto-Listening finds the next track in your library – by your rules and with the same eight ways as the explorer. Rules, play history and blocks stay on this device, never on the server.

1. Turn it on Open the queue and pick “Auto-Listening” under “Then”. The two other options: “Keep list going” plays the rest of the list you started from, “Off” stops after “Added by you”. In listening mode and on Home the “Auto-Listening” button switches the same thing on and off.
2. In the player In listening mode the “Auto” key sits to the left of “Up next”, and in the player bar next to the queue: one tap turns Auto-Listening on or off, the LED shows the state. When it’s on, listening mode shows below the next track why it fits – way and energy.
3. Log to your Tag List Turn on “Log to Tag List” (in the “Playback” sheet or in the rules) and every track Auto-Listening picks goes into your active Tag List when it starts – so the list shows what played. It’s off by default: Timbre doesn’t record who listens to what; only you decide whether it logs. In listening mode the line “logging to Tag List …” shows the target, one tap opens the list. Without an active Tag List nothing is logged.
4. Check what’s next The “Up next (auto)” block shows the chosen track with a reason: way, energy, BPM difference and sound. “Skip” picks another track. “No more like this” blocks the track and the artist for Auto-Listening; “Undo” in the notice lifts the block right away. “Replace – dig” opens the dig controller from the same track.
5. Set the rules “Rules” opens the settings: a direction sequence of up to six steps that repeats (default = = ↑: hold twice, then one key boost), plus energy (hold, raise, lower, any), tempo window ±3, 6 or 10 %, “Keep lead genre”, “Keep character” and vocals.
6. Source and repeats Under “Source” you pick the whole library or one playlist. “No repeats” keeps recently played tracks away: 25 or 100 tracks, 3 or 24 hours, or off. “Randomness” picks from the best 3, 8 or 20 tracks. “Allow all again” lifts every block.
7. When nothing fits If nothing fits your rules, “Loosen a rule” suggests what helps – a wider tempo window or “Whole library”, for example. A tap loosens the rule and Auto-Listening searches again.

Result The music keeps going without you having to queue more – and you see in advance what comes next.

Auto-Listening only picks from your library or from one of your playlists. Signing out clears rules, play history and blocks.

16 Home: pick up where you left off

Home is the platter: center = now. On top the playing or last played track, below in calm rows what you need next. You get to Home via “Home” in the navigation.

1. Keep listening The platter shows cover, title and artist, the ring shows the progress. While a track plays, ❚❚ pauses and ▶ plays on. If nothing plays, it says “Last played” with the spot where you stopped; “Resume” plays from exactly there – if you were already in the last 10 seconds, from the start.
2. Auto-Listening Below sits the “Auto-Listening” button: on or off, next to it the rule in short, on the right a button opens the rules.
3. Three playlists Under “Playlists” you see three of your playlists, last played first. A tap opens the playlist.
4. Dig from a title “Dig from …” opens the explorer with the playing or last played track as Now; on the phone you land straight in the dig controller. Without a track the row reads “Dig in the Explorer”.
5. Settings The gear at the top right opens “Settings”: Import, Account, Appearance, Language, Analyses, Help and Sign out. At the very bottom a status line shows whether your online storage is connected and how far the analyses are.

Result One tap on Home and you’re back in your music.

Timbre remembers what played last and how far only on this device, never on the server; signing out clears it.

17 Cues in your account

Your hot cues and memory cues from Rekordbox live in your account and show in the track info where things kick in. Setting and editing cues isn’t possible on the web – the cues come from Rekordbox.

1. Read cues from Rekordbox Under “Import”, on the Rekordbox card: export the collection as XML in Rekordbox, pick the file here and keep “Cues” checked under “What do you take over?”. Your browser reads the file, no file is uploaded.
2. Take over into your account In the track info the imported cues first show with a note. “Take over from Rekordbox” copies the cues into your account; your own pads stay, a pad already taken is skipped. A new import never changes the cues in your account – only the button copies.
3. Read and jump Above the bands sits the CUES row: A to H for hot cues, memory cues with their own mark, loops by name or as “Loop”. A click jumps to the spot in the player; if another track is playing, the track open in the track info starts at the cue. From a 1000 px wide window the marks also sit in the big player above the lanes, ▼ for memory cues.
4. Different version of the file If your cues belong to a different version (different length or different fingerprint), Timbre hides the marks and names both lengths. Check the spots; “Fine, show cues” confirms the cues for this version.
5. Your data Cues belong to your account, not to the catalog – nobody else sees your cues. “Download my data as JSON” includes all cues, deleting your account deletes the cues too. The Rekordbox XML from Timbre writes no cues, and a beatgrid only if you turn on “Include beatgrid”.

Result Your Rekordbox cues in the browser, one click from the right spot.

The web shows cues and loops; fade-in, fade-out and load stay stored but don’t show. Colors stay stored as well, Timbre shows the marks neutral.

18 Export, find and update your Rekordbox XML

Timbre reads your cues, grids and values from Rekordbox’s own XML export. Five steps – once it’s set up, every update takes about a minute.

1. Export In Rekordbox 6 or 7, open the File menu: “Export Collection in xml format”. The file holds your whole collection – beatgrids, cues, ratings and play counts are already in there.
2. Save it where you’ll find it Rekordbox asks where the file should go. Use the same place and the same name every time, for example rekordbox.xml in a Music/rekordbox folder – just a suggestion. Then every new export simply replaces the last one. Mac: in Finder under Music. Windows: in File Explorer under Music. Lost the file? Search for rekordbox.xml – Spotlight on a Mac, the search box in File Explorer on Windows.
3. Read it in On the web under Import → Rekordbox: “Choose rekordbox.xml”, check what comes in, tick, apply. In the timbremusic desktop app: File → “Import Rekordbox XML …” (⌘O is “Add music”). Timbre takes cues, grid, tempo and key, and with a tick also play count, rating, color and comment.
4. Keep it current New tracks, cues or grids in Rekordbox? Export again to the same place and read the file in again – before every gig or once a week. A new import replaces the old Rekordbox values, your verdicts stay.
5. What stays with you Your browser or the app reads the XML on your computer. Only values per track go to Timbre – never file paths, folder names or the file itself.

Result Your cues, grids and values from Rekordbox are in Timbre – and stay current every time you export again.

19 Rekordbox sorts by itself

Coming with a later app version

The idea: Timbre writes its classification into your files, and Rekordbox's intelligent playlists sort by it on their own. Writing tags has not shipped in timbremusic, the desktop app, yet – this track shows how it will work.

1. Decide what gets written In timbremusic, under “Write tags”, you choose the parts of the comment: genres with or without percent, energy, character, use, features – and the language of the words. For the genre field you decide: leave alone, only if empty, or overwrite.
2. Check the preview Before writing, the app shows “before → after” per track. Start with a few tracks.
3. Let it write Timbre appends its own block to the comment and, if you want, puts the lead genre into the genre field. Whatever is already in the comment stays in front. Everything can be undone.
4. Reload in Rekordbox Have Rekordbox reload the tags of these tracks. Cue points and beatgrid stay as they are.
5. Create an intelligent playlist Create an intelligent playlist in Rekordbox and set rules for genre, comment and year – examples below.

Result The playlist fills itself. Every newly tagged track that matches the rules slides in without you doing anything.

20 Design, language and account

Looks, language and your data.

1. Choose a design In your account under “Appearance”: Glut, Bühnenblau or Klar, each dark, light, by time of day (light during the day, at most from 7 am to 5 pm, estimated from your time zone) or like your device. The choice belongs to your account, so it applies in the app too. Without signing in you change both in the page footer.
2. Switch the language At the top right a button shows the language, for example “EN”: pick English, German, Spanish, French or Italian there.
3. Check quota and analyses Your account shows how many new analyses are used and left. The state of your latest 50 analyses (queued, running, done or failed) is under “Import” in the analysis history.
4. Set sharing “Share my analyses in the shared catalog”: only anonymous audio measurements are shared, never audio and never your tags. Unchecked, new analyses are visible only to you.
5. Download your data “Download my data as JSON” gives you everything stored for your account.
6. Delete your account At the very bottom of your account: check the box, then “Delete account permanently”. All personal data is deleted with that; measurements already shared stay in the catalog without any link to you.

Result Timbre looks the way you need it – and your data is yours to decide on.