Will my beat points, waveform data, etc. be deleted if I rename my tracks?

Basically, what I am asking is, will the info Engine Prime analyzed be deleted or compromised if I rename the actual file (not metadata)?

Also, what are some cases where that information would disappear or be overwritten?

Thanks gang!

Edit: I did a test myself and it did delete beat grid and hot cues. This is what I did. I renamed the filename and added cover art in Kid3. I then imported the track back into Engine Prime and the beat grid and Hot Cues were gone.

Edit 2: I attempted to just rename the file without using Kid3 and it still deleted the hot cues and beat grid, this was with auto-analyze off.

Does anyone know why this happens? I thought the info is written in the file.

The info must be writing to a part of the file that you are altering.

It looks like when you remove the the track from Engine Prime it deletes the beat grids and any other info because it is NOT written to the file itself but to the database itself. Can someone correct if I am wrong? If so that’s scary if someone was to make a mistake.

That seems the right thing to do. If I’ve thrown away a scratch CD, I wouldn’t keep it listed in my paper index. If I threw away a broken padlock, I wouldn’t keep the keys

Engine prime saves the data to its own database, so if the track is no longer available eg by renaming the original file, moving it to a new location the hot cue etc is gone.

Just don’t rename the track, or do all you Kid3 work before adding it to the dBase. I personally let Prime sort my file management.

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Ahh okay got it, would be nice to write to tags like Serato. Still getting use to the new ecosystem.

Fair enough.

That makes perfect sense.

• Buy / get (?) your music tracks • play it / test it as a file • Tag them how you want them tagged • Change any of the audio you’re going to change, like removing silence at beginning and end, adjusting levels.

Only then bring it into your collection

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Sounds like a more pro way to do it. I like it.

I much prefer the data to be written to the database rather than into individual files.

I don’t want the dates on my files to be changed every time I add a cue point (etc). Having the data stored in one place it’s much easier to back up. Say you add a bunch of hot cues one day. Which files did you do that to? You will now have to back up all those separate files.

AFAIK all librarian and/or DJ software uses a database. Some might have the option to write certain things to files, but they all use a central DB - because it’s efficient.

Yea, if the data would be written in the tag, it would be more dangerous for the file than if it is written to a database. I would preffer it more as an backup. Engine could write it to the file for backup issues, so if you lost your database, you could backup the cues from the mp3 files. (Also it wouldnt take as much time to reanalize files then.) - Optional write data to file would be great.

That’s how it is in Traktor, Rekordbox. The default writes to Database, but if you need some things written to the tags itself such as Key, BPM those can be written to tags.

I think Serato creates some custom tags in addition to its database. These custom tags make it possible for me to actually rename the file name outside serato in Kid3 and retain the hot cues and loops.

It also makes it possible for me to share a MP3 file with hot cues, loops, flips etc intact.

I could be wrong, I don’t think any other Dj software can do this.

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That´s a cool feature. Never has used Serato before. Just downloaded it, when my Denon arrived. I was a long time BPM Studio and VDJ user. I think when I buy a new Laptop, then I will also use Serato from time to time …

There are loads of cool stuff in serato. Same as other software.

If I share a serato prepped mp3 with you, if you load it into your own serato you will see - the beatgrids that I made on it, the flips, the key, the hot cues, the loops.

You don’t even need to analyse it:

The mp3 will contain all that.

It’s powerful stuff

This what I what I love about Serato.

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