RECORDING
YOUR SET

records the master output as a WAV file to a USB storage device only, never to the SD card; recording is unavailable when a Bluetooth device is the selected source, and 1 GB of free space holds approximately 90 minutes

The unit records its own set to a connected drive, from the Record page in the Control Center, with start, pause, resume and stop and a name typed in at the end. "Recorded files will be saved in a folder called Sessions on your media device", and they can be played back from the Files section of the library. Maximize Recording Volume normalises the finished file at minus 1 dBFS and is on by default.

Recording is WAV or MP3, captured from the master output. Recordings go to whichever drive was chosen when recording started, a USB drive, an SD card or the internal drive, and land in a folder called Sessions.

Recordings are written to a connected media device rather than to the unit, into a folder called Sessions, and can be browsed afterwards under the Files section of the library. The recording file format, bit depth, sample rate and maximum length are not stated. A Maximize Recording Volume option normalises the recording at minus 1 dBFS and Numark state that it is enabled by default.

Read the OMNIS-DUO line twice. USB only, never the SD card, and no recording at all while a Bluetooth device is the source. A set played from the SD slot with the recorder pointed at a drive that is not there records nothing, and the unit does not argue.

Serato DJ Pro writes recordings into a Recording folder inside the _Serato_ folder by default, which you can move with Rec Location in the Recording panel, and the file also appears in the Recorded crate. Serato state recordings are saved as 24-bit by default.

Serato publish the limit that catches people out: recorded files are automatically split when the recording exceeds 3 hours at 16-bit or 1 hour 50 minutes at 24-bit. They also tell you to test that your record levels are not clipping before you start.

TRAKTOR PRO 4 records your set from its own master output, or from a physical input if you are mixing on a hardware desk, and the source is chosen on the Mix Recorder page before anything else. The file splits itself: you set a size and "When the maximum file size is reached, Traktor splits the actual file and seamlessly starts a new file for recording", with a CUT button to split one by hand at any point. NI cap that setting at 2048 MB. Recordings go to a directory you nominate and appear in the browser under Audio Recordings.

The Serato split is the one that surprises people. A three-hour set at 16-bit arrives as more than one file, and at 24-bit the cut comes before two hours. Neither is a fault. Know it before you look for the missing second half.

On a recording in progress, their note is that when the memory runs out the recording stops automatically and the file is saved up to the moment just before the space ran out. So a set recorded onto a nearly full drive is not lost, it is cut short, at a point you did not choose.

The same answer closes another door: "The recording function cannot be used. This is due to copyright restrictions set by the streaming services."

So a drive that is nearly full ends the recording at a point you did not choose, and a set that uses streaming tracks cannot be recorded inside rekordbox at all. Both are known before the first track, which is where they belong.

Three messages the XDJ-RX3 shows when recording to USB fails. AlphaTheta document them on the RX3 error page. FILE MAX: the PIONEER REC folder on the drive already holds the maximum of 999 recorded files, or a file named REC999.WAV exists; delete, move or rename. REC ERROR: the write failed, or the drive connected cannot be recorded to; use a different drive. READ ONLY: the drive is read-only or its file system may have failed; use another drive, or copy what you need to the computer and reformat it. AlphaTheta, XDJ-RX3 error messages.

At soundcheck, record one minute and play it back on the same unit. That single minute proves the source is right, the drive is writable, the file lands where you think it does, and the level is not clipping. It costs sixty seconds and it is the only test that checks the whole chain.

Then check the free space against the length of the set, and put both checks on the pre-gig checklist.

Recording from a club mixer to a phone with DJM-REC has its own rules, connect the all-in-one before you press record, and AlphaTheta's page on what the app does and does not save covers them.

Check the source selection first, then the drive the recorder is pointed at, then the free space. All three are on screen and take a moment.

If it still will not record, record from outside the unit. A phone or a handheld recorder on the booth output captures the set whatever the player is doing, and it is the reason a small recorder lives in a working DJ's bag. Sort the unit tomorrow.