[{"content":"Various notes and thoughts I intend to share with others about various stuff. They can contain life slices, weird findings and cautionary tales. Have fun reading through and maybe these will inspire you! ✨\n","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/","section":"Blog","summary":"Various notes and thoughts I intend to share with others about various stuff. They can contain life slices, weird findings and cautionary tales. Have fun reading through and maybe these will inspire you! ✨","title":"Blog","type":"blog"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/blog/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Blog","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"Camp's garbage","summary":"","title":"Camp's garbage","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lora/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lora","type":"tags"},{"content":"Hi there! 👋🏻\nLate last year, my lover bought a pair of Heltec V4 radios for experimenting with LORA Mesh protocols and networks.\nSince then, I’ve been a bit obsessed with the tool and have experimented a lot with it to learn about it. Since then, my view of that tool has shifted significantly but not necessarily for the worse. I’m just wiser and better informed about it.\nSo, let’s discuss it. I have a lot to share and I want to help new comers work through the issues I had myself with that tech.\nThis post will be split into two main sections: Meshtastic, since I started on it, and MeshCore.\nOh so important context # All of my experience comes from using a Heltec V4 radio with the basic small and curly antenna in the Greater Montréal Area in Québec, Canada, during the month of February 2026. Therefore, all of my starting points for my settings and tests are based on the local community’s setup at that time and, of course, the limitations of my hardware and the software used at that ime.\nMeshtastic # Firmware version used at the time of testing Version 2.7.15.567b8ea (Stable / Beta) was installed from the official web flasher.\nSo, first, I began with MT since, at the time, it was the system we would see everywhere online when looking for that tech. It was also the system with the most publicly showing nodes and repeaters in the area when comparing with MT\u0026rsquo;s map and MC\u0026rsquo;s map. And so, Meshtastic was picked to begin the journey with LORA Mesh.\nGetting started # Getting it installed was really simple actually. So, I flashed the latest official Stable / Beta firmware on it.\nFlashing Meshtastic firmware onto a Heltec V4 radio To flash the firmware, the radio needs to be in DFU mode. Here\u0026rsquo;s how to do it on a Heltec V4 radio.\nPress and hold down the BOOT / RESET button Connect radio to a computer Once connected, wait 1-2 seconds then release the BOOT / RESET button DFU mode with a battery attached If the radio has a battery attached to it, holding both the USER and the BOOT / RESET button while plugged in to a computer should allow to bring it into DFU mode without having to open the case and pull the battery out.\nVisit the official web flasher on a Chromium-based browser (Helium in my case) Select the Heltec V4 radio as the Target device Select the latest Stable / Beta firmware for install if it’s not already selected Check ON the Full Erase and Install option Erasing is only needed for new installs! If you are already running Meshtastic on your device, keep the Erase device setting OFF to preserve your settings. Otherwise, you will lose all your settings and have to set up the radio again from scratch if you did not have a backup.\nClick ⚡ Flash to start the process Select the USB JAG/serial debug unit device that shows in the browser’s serial device selection pop up Wait for the process to complete Open the web client (or the mobile app) and connect to the radio Set the appropriate region of use (US in my case) Explore and have fun! 🎉 About the factory-provided firmware While the radio shipped with a Heltec-provided Meshtastic firmware on it, it was pretty outdated and, at the time, not considered optimal when asking people online. However, some still noted having better power management and even better radio transmittion performance too in some occasions. So, it might be worth trying it out if the official firmware doesn\u0026rsquo;t work well for your use case.\nFrom there, it’s pretty easy and mostly a matter of setting up the node’s name (short and long) and maybe a few other settings depending on the use case.\nLuckily, my local Meshtastic community is running off the default LORA radio settings (Long Fast), so I was already part of the mesh as soon as I applied the US preset. ✨\nAnd now began my observations on the system. 👀\nNode roles # I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see that everything is included in the same single firmware. Meaning I can flash the same firmware binaries for a client and for a repeater and only the configuration will determine their role and behaviour. As someone who is used to cases like RAID cards needing a different firmware to run in an alternative mode, that was really refreshing for me.\nFrom there, I found there’s a lot of different roles that can be used for different use cases. However, I’ll note the most useful ones to me.\n📱 Client\nThis is the most common role for a node on the Meshtastic network and the default one to use when in doubt.\nIt allows receiving, sending and forwarding messages on the network and can connect to the mobile and desktop apps. 🔇 Client Mute\nThis role is like the 📱 Client role, except it doesn’t forward the messages broadcasted on the mesh (useful for keeping the noise down on the network). 🏠 Client Base\nThis one is like a client, except it will also always rebroadcast packets from its favourites nodes (usually your own client nodes).\nIf you have an extra stationary node at home, this is a good role for it. 🛜 Repeater\nRepeaters are pretty self-explanatory.\nThey \u0026ldquo;repeat\u0026rdquo; (rebroadcast) messages but don’t count in the retransmission hops count of a message and they don’t appear in the discovered nodes list.\nThey are very useful for extending the mesh’s network coverage. 🛜 Router (Late) Similar to repeaters except they do count in the message hops count and also they do show on the nodes list.\nHowever, the 🛜 Router Late variant will only rebroadcast after all other modes have done so. A complete list of roles is available on the official documentation! Meshtastic has a great list with all of the other modes described in it. Don’t hesitate to read through it! They even have a thorough guide on how to choose the node role\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re unsure or just starting, I\u0026rsquo;d suggest sticking with the default 📱 Client role for your own node. It\u0026rsquo;ll work well and have all the interesting features to get you going. 👀\nLater, if you have some extra nodes, mainly one that stays at home, you could set the stationary one to 🏠 Client Base and the mobile one to 📱 Client Mute.\nIf you have some more extra nodes that can be placed at high altitude in the area, installing 🛜 Repeater nodes to extend the mesh coverage is very handy to contribute to the network.\nPrivate channels # Another thing I was happy about is the existence of private channels that are set up with a private pre-shared encryption key. Of course, this shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be used for transmitting sensitive information, but I found it was great to use with private communities to prevent polluting the public channel with messages that are more private anyway. This is also useful if wanting to have the telemetry broadcasted only to specific people since automatic telemetry broadcasts only happen on the primary channel.\nFor that, you must configure the primary channel to have a private key that\u0026rsquo;s different than the default one. Ideally using the strongest setting (32 bytes / AES-256) for the key length. Then, the public channel can be set as a secondary channel with the default key to stay connected to the public mesh and have access to the public nodes and repeaters.\nHowever, after doing that, I noticed that the automatic frequency slot selection will switch the radio out from the default one set for the region. Therefore, kicking me out of the local mesh even while still having the public channel set as a secondary channel.\nIn order to stay connected with my local community, I needed to use Meshtastic’s Frequency Slot Calculator to obtain the slot number associated with the default frequency with the US preset and join back my local mesh community. ✨\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re familiar with meshtastic-cli and happen to be in the same situation, here\u0026rsquo;s a configuration code snippet you can re-use to configure your node with the right frequency slot for the US preset while also having a private channel set up.\nconfig: lora: bandwidth: 250 channelNum: 20 codingRate: 5 region: US spreadFactor: 11 sx126xRxBoostedGain: true txEnabled: true txPower: 30 usePreset: true Reliability # While this tech was fun to use in testing, I unfortunately wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to reliably transmit or receive messages with friends through hops. I am still unsure about the source of the issue but I believe the hardware that I was using (Heltec V4 with the small and curly antenna) was not entirely at fault since direct communications were working fine. Increasing the maximum hop count to 7 didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to help either.\nSo, I decided to give MeshCore a try to see if it would perform better in that regard considering I am in an urban setting. Also, at the time I was testing MT, I was seeing a lot of discussion online about trying MC instead. Especially considering its different approach to routing that relies more on repeaters existing in the network and allowing a higher hops count.\nAbout using MQTT with Meshtastic While setting MQTT allows to reach more nodes and have more reliable communications, using the Internet to transmit messages between nodes that should be off-grid kinds of defeats the purpose I think. Therefore, aside experimenting with making my nodes show on the public map, I have kept MQTT fully disabled to stay true to the off-grid nature of the mesh.\nMeshCore # Firmware version used at the time of testing Version v1.14.1 (Companion – Bluetooth) was installed from the official web flasher.\nNow came the time to start using MC and see how it performs compared to MT. Not gonna lie, reading the summaries of differences between these two solutions made me pretty excited to try it out and see how it performs in real life. It has a lot of potential for addressing the issues I was having with MT. And so, I took a backup of my Meshtastic settings and private key and flashed the MeshCore firmware on my radio. ⚡\nGetting started # Again, installing it on a node was very simple and pretty much the same as with Meshtastic.\nFlashing MeshCore firmware onto a Heltec V4 radio To flash the firmware, the radio needs to be in DFU mode. Here\u0026rsquo;s how to do it on a Heltec V4 radio.\nPress and hold down the BOOT / RESET button Connect radio to a computer Once connected, wait 1-2 seconds then release the BOOT / RESET button DFU mode with a battery attached If the radio has a battery attached to it, holding both the USER and the BOOT / RESET button while plugged in to a computer should allow to bring it into DFU mode without having to open the case and pull the battery out.\nVisit the official web flasher on a Chromium-based browser (Helium in my case) Select the Heltec V4 radio as the Target device Select the Companion Bluetooth role Check ON the Erase device option Erasing is only needed for new installs! If you are already running Meshtastic on your device, keep the Erase device setting OFF to preserve your settings. Otherwise, you will lose all your settings and have to set up the radio again from scratch if you did not have a backup.\nClick ⚡ Flash to start the process Select the USB JAG/serial debug unit device that shows in the browser’s serial device selection pop up Wait for the process to complete Open the the mobile app (or web app if flashed the Companion USB role) and connect to the radio Set the appropriate region of use (US in my case) Explore and have fun! 🎉 From there, it was again a matter of setting up the node\u0026rsquo;s name, applying the US radio preset and a few other settings for the use case.\nUnluckily, my local MeschCore community was not very present in my area. So, I could only test it out on days I would go work on site. This didn\u0026rsquo;t stop me from trying it out and discovering it! 🔥\nNode roles # MeshCore is pretty simple in comparison when it comes to node roles as there are only three.\n📱 Companion\nThe only role to use unless you want to help building the network.\nIt is the only role that can connect to the app for sending and receiving messages. 🛜 Repeater\nPretty self-explanatory. It rebroadcasts messages to extend the mesh coverage but doesn\u0026rsquo;t connect to the app. 💬 Room server\nBasically a post office for the mesh. They are a \u0026ldquo;store-and-forward\u0026rdquo; bulletin board that holds the last 32 messages of a configured channel and delivers them to you when you come back. Useful if you intend to have a channel with a community and do not want to miss the messages that were broadcasted while you were offline. And again, if you have extra nodes, setting up repeaters in high places is a good idea to extend the mesh coverage, especially since MeshCore relies more on an existing repeaters network than Meshtastic does. Another idea is to setup a room server at home with your private community\u0026rsquo;s channel to make sure you don\u0026rsquo;t miss too many messages when you\u0026rsquo;re offline. 🏡\nPrivate channels and \u0026ldquo;hashtag\u0026rdquo; channels # Private channels also exist on MC and work pretty much the same way as on MT, except for one thing. There are also \u0026ldquo;hashtag\u0026rdquo; channels which are public channels that anyone can join without needing to know the pre-shared key, but they need to be manually added to be able to see and message on them.\nHonestly, I find it pretty neat because it still allowed me to have a private channel for my friends while also have a \u0026ldquo;hashtag\u0026rdquo; channel specifically for events (concerts, festivals, etc.) that anyone can join to chat and have fun.\nTherefore, the way I configured it is that, outside of the default public channel, I have a private channel with a pre-shared key that I share with my friends, a #fluffcore channel for fun of receiving other fluffs on the mesh and finally, when I go to an event, I also add the event\u0026rsquo;s hashtag channel to my node to be able to chat with other attendees. For example, Furnal Equinox\u0026rsquo;s social media hashtag this year was #FE2026, so I added that channel to my node when I went to the event! If I go to Île Soniq this year with a mesh node, I\u0026rsquo;ll add the #ÎLESONIQ2026 channel up for example. 🐺\nOff-grid (client repeat) mode # This feature is very recent and was released in the v1.14 stable firmware version and outside of some tests at home, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have the occasion to use it yet. However, this solves a pain point I had before with MeshCore\u0026rsquo;s approach.\nBasically, it allows a companion node to bet switched into a Meshtastic-like operation mode where it will not only receive and transmit messages, but it will also forward incoming messages not meant for it. Therefore, breaking the isolation that happens when no repeaters are around.\nWhen that feature got introduced, it allowed MeshCore to cover pretty much the entirity of my own use cases on the mesh. I\u0026rsquo;m even considering just leaving that software on my companion permanently from now on. 👀\nReliability # Reliability was greatly improved for me even though my local mesh community didn\u0026rsquo;t have many repeaters up yet. In fact, I was bringing my companion node up and back to work for war-walking and discovering repeaters on my way and while I did find one, it was situated far from the office I was working at. However, while being at the office, I was able to exchange messages with other people on the network via a repeater even though both MeshMapper and mapme.sh weren\u0026rsquo;t able to get a successful test out of it.\nI think that, aside when I was away from a repeater obviously, I have yet to have a failed message attempt on MeshCore. Which is pretty refreshing considering I was pretty bummed out with Meshtastic and was considering repurposing the radio for other LORA use cases. ❤️‍🩹\nHow I am approaching this now # Now that I\u0026rsquo;m better informed about that technology and that the novelty wore off a bit, I have a few thoughts on when and where each would be useful that I think would be interesting to know about.\nMeshtastic use cases # Meshtastic still stays relevant for me despite the issues I had of course, but its use case is not a bit strict.\nIf you want a way to exchange messages at crowded events and your experience has been reliable for direct messaging, I believe this remains a good use case for it. It\u0026rsquo;s especially useful at places where having a bunch of cellphones tightly packed together will bring down the mobile phone networks to their knees. Oh! And if you got nodes with GPS installed, this can also allow to share precise location (automatically or manually) with friends to regroup more easily.\nSpeaking of GPS and telemetry, that\u0026rsquo;s pretty much its strenght for me. It unlocks a few more use cases for me that MeshCore, right now, don\u0026rsquo;t seem to cover.\nOne example I\u0026rsquo;ve been told about by another user is being able to leave trackers behind alike \u0026ldquo;breadcrumbs\u0026rdquo; while hiking. They\u0026rsquo;d use them later as checkpoints when backtracking their trip.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been also interesting to observe a node in my area that had a few sensors installed and broadcasted onto the mesh. Essentially acting as a off-grid weather station for the area. 👀\nBut anything that requires communication over extended distances is probably out of question for me with Meshtastic. I will miss the reply references, message reactions and priority alerts features that it offers.\nMeshCore use cases # MeshCore doesn\u0026rsquo;t have the same set of features, especially when it comes to telemetry broadcast for example.\nHowever, its focus on messaging makes it really compelling for anything messaging releated. It\u0026rsquo;s reliable and allows packets to travel far on a network with repeaters present.\nAdd to that the new client repeat mode and also the \u0026ldquo;hashtag\u0026rdquo; channels and it\u0026rsquo;s a really compelling solution for crowded events.\nI still wish there was the same kind of telemetry broadcast feature that MT has however. Like if I am part of a private channel with friends, I\u0026rsquo;d like us to be able to share our position, battery level and mobile connection status (in case one\u0026rsquo;s phone drop out of their companion) so that we can find eachother at festivals. The companion connection status would especially be useful to guess what\u0026rsquo;s going on with them no responding after a while. 😌\nMy recommendation # Now, with all of that, would I still recommend people to get nodes and try Meshtastic and / or MeshCore?\nYes! Of course! If you\u0026rsquo;re already interested in this and especially if you\u0026rsquo;re a bit of a tinkerer anyway, you\u0026rsquo;ll likely find something interesting to try out in both solutions. The radios are cheap and don\u0026rsquo;t need to be fancy with big antennas. Just get a Heltec V3 or V4 with a battery and a GPS module and \u0026ldquo;plop\u0026rdquo; that with its default coily antenna in the plastic box that it came with and you\u0026rsquo;re already set for getting started.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s just so accessible that even a kid can study it. They can use it learn and present at school about using LORA on a farm. Like, explaining how this is used to wirelessly transmit information about the fields\u0026rsquo; moisture levels and other details back to home base. And that is useful data to make decisions on harvesting times!\nAnyway, I hope these notes have been interesting and maybe even useful for you as much as they\u0026rsquo;ve been fun to explore and write. Even if the novelty of the tech wore off for me, I\u0026rsquo;m still always excited to bring one and show and try it out with people, especially furries. We\u0026rsquo;re a big bunch of nerds and the likelyhood of finding someone with the same interest is very high. So, there\u0026rsquo;s always opportunity to mess around and learn with it. ✨\nUseful resources on the matter Here\u0026rsquo;s a handful of sites that I found were helpful on the subject to understand and test things out.\nMeshtastic-related\nOfficial website Official documentation Frequency slot calculator Backing up and restoring security keys with meshtastic-cli Official Meshtastic flasher Official Meshtastic apps Socialmesh third party app MeshMap\u0026rsquo;s public map MeshCore-related\nOfficial website Official documentation Official MeshCore flasher Official MeshCore apps Official MeshCore map MeshMapper mapme.sh samuk\u0026rsquo;s awesome-meshcore document fork Communities\nCanadaverse Mesh NoDak (North Dakota) Mesh (awesome website with instructions and tools linked in it!) NHMesh Channel setup guide ","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/mesh-notes/","section":"Blog","summary":"Some personal notes about my experience with some LORA Mesh networks like Meshtastic and MeshCore. 📝🛜","title":"LORA Mesh notes","type":"blog"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/mesh/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Mesh","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/meshcore/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Meshcore","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/meshtastic/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Meshtastic","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Apr. 26 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tech/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tech","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/audiovisual/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Audiovisual","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/backline/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Backline","type":"tags"},{"content":"Howdy! 🤠\nIf you’re reading this, I assume you are either involved in some event or you’re curious about the subject! No matter what role you’re playing (if any), I\u0026rsquo;m sure this will be an interesting one. 👌🏻\nSo, sit down and get yourself a cup of coffee ☕️ (or tea 🍵). There\u0026rsquo;s a lot of things to go through.\nA bit of context # I’ll start by giving the context in which I am writing this to help understand where I\u0026rsquo;m coming from with some ideas.\nI have been a DJ and AV / stage technician for a long time, but my recent chapter began when I picked back up DJing and AV work in 2022. Since then, I was involved in:\nPerforming DJ sets at events (both furcons / festivals – CanFURence, Furnal Equinox, Furpocalypse, Anthro New England – and social meetups / clubs – FurXmas, Squeaky Cabin, LuckyDog) Supporting DJ backline and / or AV duties (mainly for LuckyDog and Squeaky Cabin but also counselling for other \u0026ldquo;normie\u0026rdquo; events at times) Organizing DJays (for FurXmas and Squeaky Cabin) However, every time I was discussing DJ coordination, I got surprised by how many people people were interested in the subject. I also noticed some recurring questions from DJays to event organizers that could have been addressed earlier in the process. And then there\u0026rsquo;s some stuff I wish were improved in events I was participating as a performer. 🫠\nSo, I’ll split this post in a few main sections that will be addressing different aspects of the whole process:\nDJ candidates request and selection Selecting and arranging talents Coordinating the backline for DJays Don\u0026rsquo;t forget to adapt accordingly if you want to follow my steps! These are written as general guidance to cover as many situations as possible! 🙏 Of course, the table of contents allows you to jump at any spot. So, don\u0026rsquo;t forget to use it for quick navigation! 🔍\nLooking for mixes to listen to? I publish my mixtapes in a podcast and I also have some demos available to listen if interested! 🎶\nCandidates request # Assuming the event organizing is already well under way and it is now time to think about planning entertainment for the guests. How to get started?\nFirst, let\u0026rsquo;s think about the event itself as it will be very helpful later on.\nGathering information about the event itself # This part is often done mentally in some implicit way but I want to write it here still as some details can be overlooked and it\u0026rsquo;s always useful to keep some notes close-by when interacting with potential artists to book.\nSo, here’s the questions or bullet points I would go through when I begin working on an event and organized in three different subjects. 👀\nEvent Lineup Operational These are the details that are specific to the event happening.\nName of the event\n(Self explanatory) Location (city and venue)\nWhere is it located? Is it in a hotel? A park? Maybe a club? Date and time\nWhen is it happening and when does it end? Kind\nIs it like a festival? A nightclub? Maybe a social meetup? Aesthetic\nIs there any style(s) to prefer or objective(s) to keep in mind?\nSome examples of event aesthetics I\u0026rsquo;ve been involved with Daytime Disco dance party in a outdoor market featuring local talents where everyone is invited to grab a coffee and dance Kinky dance night to get up close and personal at a club in kink gear Chill hangout evening on a terasse to socialize with other people over nice Melodic House vibes Hard Dance festival to get smashed into the ground with featured community artists These are the points specific to lineup building.\nSchedule(s) to cover Even though the event is ongoing from say 6PM to 12AM, maybe there\u0026rsquo;s only a need for DJays from 8PM to 12AM? Desired DJ set length\nThis depends on the atmosphere of the event but how long would it be desirable for each DJ to play? Set length ideas Shorter (~1h/slot) for artist-focused shows Longer (~2h/slot) for atmosphere driven nights Ideally not mixing both kind of lineups in the same event but can be done!\nNumber of DJ slots available\nDetermined by the schedule(s) total length divided by the desired running time. Quick example of an event I helped set their timeslots 6PM to 2AM ➡️ 8 hours of DJ sets ÷ 2 hours sets = 4 artists to book into a lineup\nThese are the other bits that must be known for operating the event\u0026rsquo;s entertainment.\nCompensation available for guest DJays\nCan vary depending on the event but important to note if there is a budget, fixed rates or specific accommodations for guest DJs (if any).\nA good starting point for smaller events is crediting the general admission and base services (like coat checking) as these are easy to absorb in operating costs. DJ gear provided by the house\nA bit more rare outside of big events, but if there is equipment available for use by guest DJays, it is important to keep note of it! Possibility to run complex / atypical setups\nCan live music be performed with instruments, Launchpads, keyboards and so on? Or maybe it’s preferable not to?\nOf course, this varies by event as some are looking for DJays only. Need for video material for animations\nThis is a bit less straightforward, but when there are visuals displayed on screens around performers, we usually have a logo from the artist to put up on screen alongside the event\u0026rsquo;s. Often, the artist will have their own animations to put on screens while they\u0026rsquo;re playing. So, knowing about that need will be handy later for backline duties. Get to know your event before coordinating with communities, partners and candidates! It makes everything flow much smoother! 🤓 Getting information about potential performers # This part is probably the most important because asking for all the needed infos right at the beginning will ease coordination a lot. So, here\u0026rsquo;s the questions I ask them divided by subject. Those usually apply no matter if I pro-actively contact DJays or if I receive applications passively. 🧑‍💻\nBase Performer Marketing Basic stuff that\u0026rsquo;s needed for communications and event registration management for example.\nPreferred name\nStrictly useful for internal communications with the candidate. Pronouns\nBasic gesture of respect to ensure proper communication. Name on registration (if different from preferred name)\nOnly asked when there’s a process to match registrations with candidates. Usually needed when we intend to credit their registration to the event. Direct contact info\nAny email, phone or social media (depending on what’s desired or appropriate) that can be used for contacting them or their manager directly. The main part of the survey or conversation with them.\nStage name for this event\nWhat name they\u0026rsquo;d like us to use for marketing and other public communications.\nPerformer bio\nOptional but helps understanding the performer’s context and is often useful for marketing purposes.\nMusic style to expect\nHandy for filtering and, again, marketing purposes!\nOther music style(s) comfortable to play (if any)\nMore useful for backup purposes than anything if coordinator is not taking on backup duties or there’s any need to extend their slot. It really depend on the level of stakes with the event. Some events just bring the next performers on stage early when someone\u0026rsquo;s missing and the DJ currently playing will run until that next act is ready.\nPromo / demo recording\nDepending on the platform used, it could be a file upload field and / or a text field to allow them providing a public link.\nDo not forget to mention required specs like length and file format! Do not provide a public cloud storage folder! It often allows seeing everyone who applied (bad for privacy) and allows applicants to delete other people\u0026rsquo;s demos!\nThis last bit is often optional and usually applies only if the event has a social media strategy involving guest performers on posts (like in mentions or collaborative publications).\nWebsite and / or social media pages\nFor @mentions and other links in the event’s posts. Social media manager’s contact (if any)\nUseful for coordinating marketing on socials as sometimes the artists have people hired to manage their social media accounts. It is really important that all the useful information are asked right at the start! Nobody wants to run after candidates for extra details later! ❤️‍🩹 What specs to request for demo tapes # When it comes to promo mixes, I request a live recording or a demo tape that is similar to what they\u0026rsquo;d like to play at the event. I personnally prefer evaluating them in scenarios like the one they\u0026rsquo;ll be in and live recordings are great for that. However, some will prefer giving a demo mix they crafted in studio and that is completely fine too.\nIn all cases, I usually request the promo tape to be between 45 and 60 minutes in length as a soft limit. Anything over that may not be listened in its entirity.\nOf course, all of this is mentioned when asking them to provide a demo recording to let the artist know about the process!\nWhat happens with bad quality or unplayable files? We consider artists to have some level of professionalism with their craft. This includes being able to record themselves with a good sound quality. That means:\nNo audio clipping Decent volume High quality encoding\n(MP3 @ 320 kbps / VB0 is fine and considered the bare minimum) How to collect that information from candidates # Personally, I prefer using a survey platform for gathering that information from DJays. It ensures the same questions are asked to everyone correctly and it brings back all of the answers in one place (usually a spreadsheet with columns for each question). 👌\nThe popular ones with furry conventions (but applies to other kinds of promoters and events) are Google Form, Microsoft Forms and SurveyMonkey depending on what they already have available as part of their internal software ecosystem.\nWhen I’m handling that by myself with no event-provided resources, I often use Tally. It’s free (within reasonable use) and has been pretty easy to use for me and has some neat features for inputs.\nCan\u0026rsquo;t this be an email template? Yes, of course! I\u0026rsquo;ve seen events ask their questions via email and it has worked well too! I just prefer not having to track down emails to gather data during selection process. 😅\nOnce you\u0026rsquo;re setup and ready, go out and talk to DJays that you are interested to book! Send them your survey / template if they\u0026rsquo;re interested!\nOf course, a public announcement from the event itself requesting for interested performers is also a good strategy! Multiple events do that to allow discovering new talents. 👀\nSelecting and arranging talents # Now, let\u0026rsquo;s assume there\u0026rsquo;s a pool of people that have shown some interest to play at the event and now begins the time to make choices. That is who to pick for the lineup and how to arrange them accross the lineup!\nBut first, let\u0026rsquo;s evaluate some demos. 🎧\nEvaluation and selection of performers # Usually, I\u0026rsquo;ll be going through a bunch of questions while listening to their demo material so that I don\u0026rsquo;t forget thoughts that come up while listening. Then, I\u0026rsquo;ll go over everything again some days later to have a fresh mind over it. ✨\nAgain, everything is divided in categories for better readability!\nBaseline Technical skills History These are for checking on a few things right at the start to ensure we don\u0026rsquo;t end up booking the wrong people for the event.\nPerceived music style and feel\nThis is not meant to knock down on people \u0026ldquo;mislabeling\u0026rdquo; their styles. Instead, it\u0026rsquo;s considering the fact that we\u0026rsquo;ll label some sounds slightly differently based on our own history and context. So, recognizing that, we\u0026rsquo;re bringing it back to a reference point which is the coordinator\u0026rsquo;s perception. This then allows for evaluating talents relative to eachother.\nLocation of origin This one is not always present but will be considered in events that focus on local talents or that have legal requirements about local content for example.\nAnything to report that goes against the event\nThis section usually does not see any notes as it rarely happens that undesirable people apply for an event. It is meant to prevent accidentally booking some types of people that are not welcome in the community and event after a basic check.\nTypical shielding check Nazis and transphobes are not welcome. Therefore, we make sure we don\u0026rsquo;t end up booking one by accident.\n#TransRightsHumanRights #NazisFuckOff\nHere, we\u0026rsquo;re rating how skilled the performer was in the recording. We go over different skills on a scale of 1 to 3, higher being better. Of course, I always note down some comments about each rating as it helps comparing and explaining during discussions.\nBasic DJ skill check\nUsually kept at high score but serves as a gate that knocks down points for DJs that regularly misses their beatmatching or other base skills. Any accidents or mishaps that are one-offs (and not numerous) are tolerated. Music selection\nChecking on if the music played made sense and enabled the mix to flow nicely. Mixing / Transitions\nLooking at how good were the transitions between songs and if there was any surprise that came up during listening (routines, unexpected turns, etc). SFX usage\nVerifying if the sound effects used made sense in the mix. Also, if any of them felt out of place, overdone or unbalanced (too loud, out of sync, etc). When none are perceived / heard, defaults to a medium rating to allow candidates that use SFXs creatively (and sounded great doing it) to stand out. Overall fit with the event\nOf course, rating if the style sound appropriate for the event we\u0026rsquo;re looking to build. Incoroporating yearly themes are not always considered as this has forced some DJays to play songs that actually felt out of place or were just not good. About the lack of specific ratings like harmonic mixing, set phrasing and beatmatching These used to be in the selection questionnaire but with time and experience, I noticed that being strict on mixing \u0026ldquo;in key\u0026rdquo; killed some sets for example. I also found that being rigorous on phrasing often prevented some DJays to bring surprises to the crowd. And then, whenever we\u0026rsquo;re looking at DJays that don\u0026rsquo;t play electronic music (Funk, Disco, Metal, etc), being strict on beatmatching hability kind of defeats the soul of the songs being played by humnans. That is that humans are not robots playing perfectly in time. It is normal for the Bee Gees to get carried and play faster a bit when approaching the chorus of their song \u0026ldquo;Tragedy\u0026rdquo; for example.\nThis section only happens if the candidate already played at this event before. It serves as a way to steer toward candidates that were the most appreciated in past editions of the event and also to prevent selecting the same performers for many years in a row. The rating is also on a scale of 1 to 3 where higher is better.\nPerception from attendees\nChecking if they were appreciated by the attendees of the event. We don\u0026rsquo;t want to book someone that didn\u0026rsquo;t fit or was not liked by the guests.\nPerformance quality\nNoting if the artist delivered a good show at the event in the past. Of course, extraordinary mishaps that may have happened that could have negatively impacted their performance are ignored here. It\u0026rsquo;s pretty rare to have a bad note here unless we ended up booking the wrong person for the event or they were a no-show.\nPerception from staff\nThis one is meant more as a defence line against disc-jockeys that are particularly unenjoyable to work with. We value our staff and we want to keep their working environment sane and safe so that we can keep doing that event next year. It\u0026rsquo;s pretty rare but it still happens sometimes and when it does, we usually give a year or two of pause before booking them again. It allows some time for things to change on both sides of the equation.\nBooking years streak\nThis is the gate used to prevent booking the same people continuously. Every consecutive year the DJ played at the event prior to last edition deducts a point.\nIt is meant to allow playing up to two years in a row and discourage booking the same people every time. Showing up under a different alias or in a different formation (b2b with friends for example) does not count as consecutive years.\nNum. years played Rating 0 year (never played) 3 (slightly boosting newcomers) 1 year (played last year only) 2 2 years in a row 1 3+ years in a row 0 Of course, there are cases where an exception can be warranted here. Those are usually only granted to attendees\u0026rsquo; favourites when there is a limited pool to select from.\nIn the end, we want to book the right DJs for the right event. Nobody (including artists!) will have a good time if they end up somewhere they don\u0026rsquo;t fit in! 🙏 Lineup building # This part is probably the other step that can vary greatly from one coordinator to another. Personnally, I found myself stuck in some events where the lineup I was part of felt aimless because we didn\u0026rsquo;t have much coherence between DJs relative to each other. There have been other times where I found that delaying booking a significant part of preferred acts aided a lot giving the lineup more of a theme by giving us time to change ideas before contacting people.\nSo, the recipe I found that worked the best for me and some colleagues so far is to gradually go through the most interesting disc-jockeys to book and get them confirmed to start building the lineup. These will serve as headliners for the event. At this point, marketing (if any is needed) can already begin to announce their performance at the event.\nAbout marketing strategies talked here Of course, events were DJays are playing more of a background role will have a different marketing strategy and might even ommit mentioning DJays. So, I\u0026rsquo;ll be continuing to talk about the marketing aspect as if it was an event the DJs would be headlining (foreground role).\nOnce we got some preferred DJays booked, we can continue building the lineup. The rest is often considered as support acts (even if they play after a headliner). Which means that, depending on who is confirmed, we start contacting other preferred candidates that would fit best with the partial lineup we\u0026rsquo;ve got started. Then we insert them where appropriate on the schedule if they\u0026rsquo;re still available. 📝\nOf course, there will often be other factors taken in consideration when building the schedule.\nMix of veterans and amateurs being booked at the event In those cases, I\u0026rsquo;ll want to prevent grouping artists of each category (veterans and amateurs) together in the lineup if possible. That will help elevate the new acts during the show and feel a bit more at ease performing at the event.\nOf course, that depends on the nature of the event and what\u0026rsquo;s actually possible. Festivals will usually have new faces as support acts, which bundles the veterans together and upcoming artists together too. On the other hand, club nights often have more space for manoeuvering the lineup and will often have upcoming acts between veterans.\nHalf of the lineup fits one main style and the other half fits another It can happen that say out of all the artists that are being scheduled, half of them are from one genre umbrella and the other is from another one. Like House and Uptempo.\nWhen that happens, there\u0026rsquo;s usually an incentive to keep DJs from the same umbrella style together as it serves to create chapters or phases through the event.\nThe point really is to have a great show to present to attendees and the coordinator\u0026rsquo;s judgement is needed to fill the gaps when there\u0026rsquo;s any. 👀 Coordinating the backline for DJays # Now, this section is probably the easiest and quickest to work through if there isn\u0026rsquo;t already a dedicated AV / backline tech. However, when that is taken care of by the coordinator, it can be a bit difficult to do when not technically inclined with audiovisual technology.\nSo, I\u0026rsquo;ll start by highlighting the fact that DJ backline is the role that bridges the gap between the AV world and the disc-jockeys. It ensures that artists get connected and powered up to play and it also allows AV to prepare for welcoming DJ setups adequately into the show\u0026rsquo;s ecosystem.\nTherefore, there are obviously some questions to go through with disc-jockeys! And for that, some events will ask them right from the start in the same form as when requesting initial details from candidates. Although, I found that the situation changed often enough between that initial contact and the moment AV begun planning their gear. So, it warranted asking those details a bit later in the process for me. Also, side note, it accidentally improved the sentiment that some beginner DJays had when applying. Like, they didn\u0026rsquo;t feel like they might be discriminated for their setup. 💡\nSo, here are the few questions I like to ask DJays once we have a lineup that\u0026rsquo;s mostly confirmed already. Again, I like to split them by theme and the same strategy as before when requesting candidate infos definitely can be used. Meaning, a short survey or an email template to fill out is still good.\nOperational details Personal DJ setups House gear setup These questions are meant to know the kind of setup each DJ will be using in general and will decide which page of questions the DJ will land on.\nStage name\nSimply to match the data with each DJ. Using own equipment or using house-provided equipment (if available)\nThis one\u0026rsquo;s pretty easy. \u0026lsquo;Just checking if they\u0026rsquo;re bringing their own DJ equipment (assuming this is allowed) or if they\u0026rsquo;d prefer using the house provided gear (if there\u0026rsquo;s any available). Link to performance visuals and logos\nIf there\u0026rsquo;s visuals displayed on screens at the event, allow artists to give a link to download them. It also must be mentioned that they can contact us directly (who and how) if they cannot host the contents behind a link to arrange something. This page would be asked to DJays only if they\u0026rsquo;d answered to be using their own personal equipment and is meant to gather all of the useful information for AV to prepare.\nMake and model of mixer / console / controller\nI found it was easier to check directly the I/O specifications of their hardware than asking them to provide us all of the details.\nThere will be artists who aren\u0026rsquo;t tech savvy and won\u0026rsquo;t know anything about their equipment and that is fine. We\u0026rsquo;re just trying to accomodate and help them.\nMain audio outputs\nIf it is preferred to go the route of asking DJs to provide connection details, we\u0026rsquo;d make it a radio button list with a choice to select.\nTypical connections 2*XLR 2*JACK-TRS 2*RCA Booth audio outputs (if known)\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t always possible to use depending on the show\u0026rsquo;s setup and also the performer\u0026rsquo;s hardware. But it is handled the same as the previous question. It is meant to allow them to use their Booth audio outputs and controls on stage.\nNumber of needed power outlets\nUsually it would be only one, but we prefer to ask as sometimes they won\u0026rsquo;t have their own powerbar to power multiple devices at once.\nController DJays usually need two power outlets One for their computer and the other for the controller.\nThese questions are really aimed at gathering info on how they plan to use our own DJ gear during their performance as some details may have a great impact on setting up. Of course, please adapt to the gear that is provided.\nPlayback library medium\nUsually a radio buttons list containing all of the ways they can / are allowed to use to play on the equipment.\nExample of a fully available AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ They\u0026rsquo;d have the following options to choose from.\nUSB thumb drive on the unit (usual setup) Laptop with Rekordbox\u0026rsquo; Link Export mode over the network Laptop with Rekordbox\u0026rsquo; Link Export mode via USB Laptop with Rekordbox\u0026rsquo; Performance mode via USB Check out their instruction manual for the unit for more information.\nAdditional equipment / special request (no promises on possibility)\nAgain, that is one question that will depend on how the event and the technical side of things is organized and what is actually possible to do.\nBut this usually serves as an opportunity for some DJays to mention they\u0026rsquo;d like to plug in their drum machine or have an effects processor added to the setup (like the AlphaTheta RMX-IGNITE) for example.\nThis is crucial to get these details for a smoothly operating show with minimal setup times. ❤️‍🩹 Once all of that is gathered, it\u0026rsquo;s time to check with AV about those. Depending on the results, it may be needed to get back to some artists and see with them for a solution.\nWanna help the beginners with getting their USBs ready for Rekordbox hardware? I wrote a whole guide on prepping USB sticks for use with RB hardware in standalone mode. \u0026lsquo;Might be worth sharing it with them. 😉\nLineup is built and backline is ready, now what? # That\u0026rsquo;s it! Keep going with your team and go make the event with everyone! 🎉\nThere was a lot of things to cover here but I hope I made it easy enough to follow. I began writing this after a friend of mine prompted me for tips on how to organize DJs as a complete newbie. But as I was writing my response for them, I realized I was doing a lot of things mentally and a lot of things were implicit for me. Therefore, I wanted to note them down for sharing later and allowing people outside of the sphere to understand and follow the processes. Sometimes, it\u0026rsquo;s the little things that spark other bigger things. ✨\nBy the way, if you got questions about this whole thing, poke me on any of my socials! And if you found something that isn\u0026rsquo;t right, don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to open an Issue or even a Pull request to suggest changes and I\u0026rsquo;ll check it out. 💛\nNow, go inspire people and get your event going. 🚀 ","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/guides/dj-lineups/","section":"Guides","summary":"I give some tips on how to select and manage DJays for events and managing the lineup and backline. It’s more complex than it sounds. 😅","title":"DJ lineup booking and building","type":"guides"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/djing/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Djing","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/event/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Event","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/guides/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Guides","type":"categories"},{"content":"Probably the biggest section of content on here where I share all the details of some processes and work. Often used as some knowledge repository to link people to. Have fun reading through them! You might just learn a thing or two! Or maybe that\u0026rsquo;ll serve as some bedside reading. 📚\n","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/guides/","section":"Guides","summary":"Probably the biggest section of content on here where I share all the details of some processes and work. Often used as some knowledge repository to link people to. 📚","title":"Guides","type":"guides"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/music/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Music","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Feb. 7 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/organizing/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Organizing","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Dec. 31 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/rekordbox/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Rekordbox","type":"tags"},{"content":"Hiya! 👋\nWelcome to my guide on getting prepared to use standalone Rekordbox hardware (CDJs, XDJs and whatnot) on stage. ✨\nI\u0026rsquo;m an IT professionnal by day who did a lot of AV and DJ work over the past 10+ years. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen a lot of DJays panick on stage because their USB key didn\u0026rsquo;t work or, especially, the players behaviour was not like what they use at home. 🫠\nSo, this page aims at helping you not ending up in a similar situation and that gives me the occasion to point out a few things that are easily overlooked. Hopefully you\u0026rsquo;ll find something helpful in there. 💝\nThis guide is structured in two main parts:\nUSB drives, which is more focused on the hardware side of things (so, the USB drives themselves) Rekordbox app and DJ settings, which takes care of the software (Rekordbox) side of things (there\u0026rsquo;s a lot of useful stuff there!) Of course, the table of contents allows you to jump at any spot, so don\u0026rsquo;t forget to use it for quick navigation! 🔍\nLooking for mixes to listen to? I publish my mixtapes in a podcast and I also have some demos available to listen if interested! 🎶\nUSB drives # I want to start with the hardware side of things as it is the main cause of issues for DJays I have supported over the years. It is also hands down the most difficult part to understand and follow for a lot of people. Even I, an IT guy, sometimes feel overwhelmed searching for a good USB key. So, that gives an idea of how complex things can get. 😅\nDevice performance # I noticed there\u0026rsquo;s a few things that can happen with underperforming USB keys and I had to handle DJays that were panicked because of those. Most of them aren\u0026rsquo;t really show stoppers but they definitely negatively affected the DJays\u0026rsquo; (or my own) performances.\n📩 Slow export / transfer speeds with Rekordbox\nFrustrating when adding \u0026ldquo;that new track that just came out\u0026rdquo; right before leaving for a set. 🔍 Slow library searching / browsing speeds on decks\nAlso anxiety inducing when needing to find the track really quickly during a set for a last minute idea. 📤 Slow track loading speeds on decks\nEspecially relevant when loading and scrubbing in the next track pretty late before the next transition. 🥶 Playback freezes on decks (vibe killer)\nLess common but it can happen when the USB key can\u0026rsquo;t keep up with the decks playing through the song. ☠️ Corrupted / incomplete recordings on standalone systems\nWhile the recording feature is reserved to all-in-one units, it\u0026rsquo;s still heart wrenching when a sick set\u0026rsquo;s recording is unusable. In short, please get a good one. A badly performing USB key is anxiety inducing and frustrating. Shopping for a USB key # It\u0026rsquo;s actually pretty easy as it turns out! Here\u0026rsquo;s the few specs to keep in check that will take care of the issues.\n✏️ 4K random write speeds (most important)\nThis has an impact on exporting a library from Rekordbox on desktop to the USB drive and even recording a set to some extent. 🔍 4K random read speeds\nThis helps when searching and browsing for tracks on players as it\u0026rsquo;s a lot of random small data reads in device libraries databases. 🎞️ Sequential read speeds\nWhile this one is usually fine, it does improve the tracks\u0026rsquo; loading speeds as seen by the waveforms gradually appearing on screen in sequence. 🏬 Local shops\nIt doesn\u0026rsquo;t affect performance, but the ability to get a new drive from a local shop in emergency hours before playing is heavily underestimated. It also helps against counterfeits sold online. Basically, just get a USB flash drive that is tested for ≥100 MB/s of random 4K read and write speeds. Portable SSDs are discouraged! Players and mixers are likely not providing enough power for running external / portable SSDs with them.1 Please, do not consider using these without providing additional / external power to the storage device.\nWhat do I use To date, I\u0026rsquo;m using a Kingston\u0026rsquo;s DataTraveler Max and it is my recommendation at time of writing this.\nIt has good specs for relieving my own and my friends\u0026rsquo; anxiety during Rekordbox exports with its ~200 MB/s random 4K speeds. It\u0026rsquo;s also available at the most present computer stores in my area (Canada Computers, Best Buy and Addision Électronique), which has been handy a few times already. ❤️‍🩹\nPartitioning schemes # This one\u0026rsquo;s pretty simple as there\u0026rsquo;s only two. Here\u0026rsquo;s a small breakdown of them.\nMBR Preferred Oldest of the two but widely supported with devices other than DJ equipment. Its limitations won\u0026rsquo;t be relevant anytime soon for external storage. ✔ Compatible with all Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta equipment (and also many other non-DJ stuff) ✔ Supported for equipment firmware upgrades ❕ New disks often don\u0026rsquo;t ship with it nowadays ❌ Partition sizes are limited to 2 TB2 GPT\nNewer of the two with limitations much higher than MBR. ❕ Only compatible starting with the XDJ-XZ and often needs a firmware upgrade to support it ❌ Unsupported for equipment firmware upgrades ✔ Most disks are shipped with this scheme these days Please use the MBR partitioning scheme for external storage. Switching between partitioning schemes A disk utility on a computer is required to switch between partitioning schemes. All operating systems include one and searching for \u0026ldquo;disk\u0026rdquo; will bring it up. However, depending on the specific utility, it may be needed to delete all partitions first before attempting to switch.\nFile systems # This one has a little bit more possibilities and has led to some confusion from a few friends of mine. So, here\u0026rsquo;s another breakdown for these.\nFAT16\nOldest of the bunch and likely not accessible depending on the disk formatting utility. ✔ Compatible with all Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta equipment ✔ Supported for equipment firmware upgrades ❌ 4 GB maximum partition size (Not very useful nowadays!) ❌ Least resistent to data corruption FAT32 Preferred Most common partition format but may not be accessible via Windows\u0026rsquo; disk formatting utility without an update. ✔ Compatible with all Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta equipment ✔ Supported for equipment firmware upgrades ✔ 2 TB maximum partition size ❕ Not very resistent to data corruption but still better than FAT16 exFAT\nNewer partition format that is better suited for flash memory3. Most flash drives ship with it today. ❕ Only compatible with \u0026ldquo;recent\u0026rdquo; hardware (XDJ-XZ and later) and may require a firmware update to support it ❕ Only supported for firmware upgrades on recent devices4 ✔ 256 TB maximum partition size (Not gonna hit that anytime soon!) ✔ Most resistent to data corruption of the FAT family (lol) but please eject your drive before disconnecting still5 HFS+\nOld format reserved to Apple computers that was replaced by APFS later on but is still supported for playback in Pioneer DJ\u0026rsquo;s support documents6.\nIt is noted by Pioneer DJ that some characters of some languages can render tracks unusable on some devices like the XDJ-RX37. ✔ Compatible with all Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta equipment ❌ Unsupported for firmware upgrades ✔ 8 EB maximum partition size ✔ High data corruption resiliency Prefer using FAT32 as the partition format unless more tech savvy or really need to. Little hint that Rekordbox will show with unsupported formats If a storage device is connected but uses an unsupported filesystem, Rekordbox shows a 🚫 icon next to it to indicate that it is unusable for DJing and prevents exporting to it.\nHow I go about this Since I\u0026rsquo;m also an AV / stage tech, I actually have two different USB keys for different purposes.\n💽 DJ drive MBR exFAT I carry this one at events I am performing or backing up as part of my DJ kit.\nIt has my actual performing DJ libraries and serves as my recording target (when possible).\nIt could be FAT32 but exFAT has been useful for recording extended sessions and its enhanced corruption resiliency have worked well for me so far.\nAlso, since I only perform on \u0026ldquo;recent\u0026rdquo; hardware (OPUS-QUAD, XDJ-AZ, CDJ-3000/X…), exFAT support never was an issue for playing anyway. 🛠️ AV tech drive MBR FAT32 I carry this one as part of my AV tech kit I bring to events I am supporting even if only taking care of the DJ backline.\nIt contains the latest firmware of all of the players I usually support in events (hence the FAT32 format) and there\u0026rsquo;s also a basic but still good selection of my library for testing purposes and some light DJing.\nIt also contains other stuff like showfile templates and whatnot for lights, sound and stuff but these are out of scope for this guide. Rekordbox app and DJ settings # This is the part of the preparation ritual that I really want to bring attention to because it has a lot of useful features that saves a lot of time for everyone and helps DJays feel more comfortable with the hardware pretty much instantly upon loading up their profile. I\u0026rsquo;m tempted to say that this is the most underrated and overlooked part of preperation but the impacts of having a good storage device hardware-wise makes it a tough call for me.\nDevice libraries # Device libraries are databases that goes on USB drives alongside the actual audio files. They contain all of the metadata like song title, artist, bpm, key, beatgrid, cues and so on but also the playlists and session histories too. So, it\u0026rsquo;s basically the heart of the library and without it, we\u0026rsquo;d just have audio files and not much else.\nHowever, since we are in a transition period between two formats, I want to bring attention to their existence so that they\u0026rsquo;re not forgotten.\nDevice Library\nThe OG / old database for Pioneer DJ equipment.\nIt was known to be slow and limiting for newer hardware that were coming out over the past years.8\nIf the equipment is branded with the Pioneer DJ name, it likely uses it. OneLibrary\nThe shiny new database for AlphaTheta equipment.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s faster, more efficient and takes advantage of the higher processing power of recent players.\nIf the equipment is branded with the AlphaTheta logo, consider it requiring this new database format since it debuted with the OPUS-QUAD all-in-one system. Both can coexist on a same USB key and won\u0026rsquo;t take much space nor processing power and export time to do so.\nThey can be found by opening the 🔌 Devices panel on the left and then expanding the storage device in the list. 🔍\nThankfully, since Rekordbox 7, both databases are populated and kept in sync by default on new USB drives. So, no need to manually request exporting to also the new database when bringing out a new playlist. ❤️‍🩹\nPlease do not cancel exporting the new database. It will be needed for newer devices. 🙏 By the way, AlphaTheta maintains a handy table (archive) showing which devices support what library format. Lexicon DJ also has a very good write up (archive) breaking down all of the technical details between the two libraries if interested to learn more. ✨\nOnline music services in library # Paid subscription is required for track metadata sync While it\u0026rsquo;s possible to access streaming services on standalone players, it is required to have the CloudDirectPlay feature available to sync track metadata like hot cues, beatgrids and whatnot between the desktop app and the players. This feature is only available for paid subscribers of Rekordbox with a plan that includes the Cloud Library Sync feature.\nUsing music streaming services is possible in standalone mode, including having access to playlists and hot cues. It\u0026rsquo;s a bit obscure however how to enalbe that, so here are the steps for it.\nOpen the My Page window by clicking on your RB account name in the top right corner In the new window that opened, switch to the LIBRARY SYNC tab Scroll down and enable Use rekordbox CloudDirectPlay. Exit out of the My Page window and open the Devices panel on the left sidebar Select the storage drive to use and click the Auth ☁️ at the end of its name Now export your playlists to the USB stick! Your online tracks will be ready for you on the decks. 🔥 Please use offline playback as much as possible Please do not rely on streaming services for your on-stage performances. Internet access on stage is not common and often not possible to have. Therefore, having most of the content offline is still the way to go for performances with high stakes at play.\nStorage identification # Fun fact! USB storage devices can be labeled on Rekordbox! And that label shows up on players and Rekordbox itself!\nIt\u0026rsquo;s very useful during B2Bs and when somone forgets their disk on a player and it\u0026rsquo;s really easy to set up too! ✨\nI believe it\u0026rsquo;s one if not the most overlooked / unknown feature when preparing since Rekordbox doesn\u0026rsquo;t prompt users to set this up. And it\u0026rsquo;s really easy to access too!\nOpen the Devices panel Select the storage drive in the list (click on its name, not any of the libraries that are under it) Set the Device name, OneLibrary background colour and Device Library background colour (Optional) Set a custom picture to display on jog wheels\nIt can be toggled ON / OFF right from the SOURCE menu on players afterward. So, I suggest putting one anyway in case that becomes useful or fun. 😉 The elements may appear slightly differntly in Performance Mode but the features are still all available in that mode too. Simple as that! 🎉\nIn my case, I have my DJ drive named \u0026ldquo;Camp\u0026rdquo; and set to \u0026ldquo;Yellow\u0026rdquo; for my library colours. But, for the sake of easily differenciating my USB keys I explained earlier, my AV tech drive I mentionned earlier is named \u0026ldquo;Camp (backline)\u0026rdquo; and with orange library colours.\nGet creative with them! I\u0026rsquo;ve seen some DJays put their email address or social media username as their device name (like bsky@camp.jackle.ca) which is very handy in case it gets lost / forgotten! 🪪\nActually, I think I\u0026rsquo;m gonna do that after writing this article. 👀\nI\u0026rsquo;ve also seen some other DJays on socials who would have huge DJ libraries and they would spread said library accross multiple devices. Then, they\u0026rsquo;d use the name and colours to differentiate between their different music libraries / USB drives.\nSo, as an example, it could be split by style (House, D\u0026amp;B, Dubstep, etc), by time / era (Current, Archive, Oldies, etc) or even by set type (Main, Warmup, After, etc). 🏷️\nOf course, there\u0026rsquo;s also people that just put a joke on there. I used to have \u0026ldquo;owo\u0026rdquo; as my backline drive and \u0026ldquo;èwé\u0026rdquo; as my DJ drive with funny pictures on the jog for each of them. 🌚\nReally, just put whatever suits your needs the best. What matters is that devices are identified. ✨ USB DJ settings # This part is also overlooked often by DJays even though they successfully ID-ed their USBs. It\u0026rsquo;s so important tho! 😅\nIndeed, Rekordbox allows to configure a bunch of performance settings to save right on the USB key. Meaning that once hopping on stage, after the USB drive is plugged in and shown in the SOURCE menu, it is possible to load the DJ settings that were configured at home on Rekordbox. Neat!\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a little tour of what can be changed there. Every important tab to configure are marked with a ❕.\nGeneral ❕ Category Sort Column Color ❕ My Settings ❕ This one has all the essentials to at least get started including:\nWaveform colour, position and divisions Songs\u0026rsquo; key display format In my case, I have selected 3Band as my preferred waveform type and a few other options. That\u0026rsquo;s the \u0026ldquo;views\u0026rdquo; to make available on the players when at the library\u0026rsquo;s home.\nThe configuration settings are burried under a few menu depths, if available at all, so it\u0026rsquo;s important to set this beforehand. 😅\nHere, I have added the MATCHING, KEY, BPM, RATING and DATE ADDED views and ordered them in a way that I am happy with. Less crucial of a setting to set but, again, getting new ones shown on device is a bit hard. I suggest to set this in advance to not loose time with that on stage.\nI have set my sorting methods to include KEY, BPM, RATING, GENRE and DATE ADDED as they\u0026rsquo;re the most useful for me. This chooses what information is displayed next to track names when browsing the library. I don\u0026rsquo;t think it\u0026rsquo;s possible to rearrange that on device. So, please also set that in advance.\nI personnally set it to RATING since I use it as a way to tell the energy of tracks. Just make sure that the Color tags are named the same as in Rekordbox\u0026rsquo; application preferences. Once in the mix, that\u0026rsquo;s easy to forget what each colour meant otherwise. 😅\nIn my case, I use the Color tag as a way to identify in which occasion I\u0026rsquo;d see myself playing a track. This is probably the most crucial part if DJing with different settings than the default ones. It shows what DJ settings are currently saved in the USB key and that\u0026rsquo;s these settings that will be possible to load later on.\nAnd indeed, nothing can be changed there most of the time because it is only reflecting the Rekordbox app\u0026rsquo;s DJ Settings preferences. And of course they don\u0026rsquo;t give you a button to access them quickly. 🫠\nSo, open Rekordbox\u0026rsquo; preferences and navigate to the DJ Settings page to change them. 🙏\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t get the whole list in the screenshot but there\u0026rsquo;s a lot of settings there. Indeed, there is a bunch of stuff there and, of course, it will not backport new features to older devices (like RGB waveforms that are absent on CDJ-2000NXS(1) and older). But it still sets the whole kit up to be ready to play quickly.\nPlease take the time to go through My Settings. It\u0026rsquo;ll be ever useful. 😇 To learn more about each individual setting that\u0026rsquo;s available on different CDJ models, check out Chris M\u0026rsquo;s CDJ My Settings Guide on HotCue DJ. He also has an accompanying video on YouTube (archive) for it.\nLoading \u0026ldquo;My Settings\u0026rdquo; on players # Once a storage device is set up with the desired settings, there\u0026rsquo;s three ways to get the profile loaded on players. ✨\nBy pressing the MY SETTINGS LOAD button on the right in the SOURCE menu By confirming YES to the Sync with My Settings? popup that shows after entering a library from a USB key By pressing the LOAD button in the MY SETTINGS section (in the library\u0026rsquo;s box on the right) of the SHORTCUT menu Go out and play # That is all! 🎉\nThere was indeed a lot of stuff in there but hopefully that was made digestable and, especially, easy to navigate to the info chunks that was interesting for you. Of course, if you have any question about this, poke me on any of my socials. If you found something that could be corrected, don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to open an Issue or even a Pull request and I\u0026rsquo;ll make sure to check it out. ✨\nNow, go make people dance. 🕺 \u0026ldquo;The following may also be the cause of the problem; If you\u0026rsquo;re using HDDs that consume more power than the USB port can provide; […]\u0026rdquo; — AlphaTheta @ OMNIS-DUO support document\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n\u0026ldquo;The 2-TB barrier is the result of this 32-bit limitation. Because the maximum number that can be represented by using 32 bits is 4,294,967,295, it translates to 2.199 TB of capacity by using 512-byte sectors (approximately 2.2 TB). Therefore, a capacity beyond 2.2 TB isn’t addressable by using the MBR partitioning scheme.\u0026rdquo; – Microsoft @ Learn Windows Server support document\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n\u0026ldquo;ExFAT was made to be very portable and optimized for flash drives. It’s lightweight like FAT32, but without the same file size restrictions.\u0026rdquo; — John Bogna @ PCMag Labo\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n\u0026ldquo;When updating the unit\u0026rsquo;s firmware, use a USB storage device formatted in FAT, FAT32 or exFAT.\u0026rdquo; — AlphaTheta @ CDJ-3000X support document\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n\u0026ldquo;[…] operating systems don’t always finish their behind-the-scenes work the moment your progress bar disappears.\u0026rdquo; — CORSAIR, the PC components manufacturer\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nThe support documents about partition formats support on the CDJ-3000X player, the XDJ-AZ all-in-one console and the OneLibrary device library (formerly Device Library Plus), released over a month ago, mentions HFS+ today.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n\u0026ldquo;When using an HFS+ format USB storage device, music files that use Hangul characters in the file name, artist name, or album name can\u0026rsquo;t be loaded. In this case, use FAT32 formatted USB storage devices.\u0026rdquo; — AlphaTheta @ XDJ-RX3 support document\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n\u0026ldquo;The old Device Library database is just that – old, slow, and limiting for modern hardware. So to support new gear, a new database was needed – and that’s what Device Library Plus is.\u0026rdquo; — Phil Morse @ Digital DJ Tips news blog\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n","date":"Dec. 31 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/guides/rekordbox/","section":"Guides","summary":"I lay out all of the tea on how to get a nice a USB drive for DJ-ing and how to make CDJs/XDJs use your own settings for performing. A true anxiety reliever. ❤️‍🩹","title":"Rekordbox USB drive preparation","type":"guides"},{"content":"","date":"Dec. 13 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/homelab/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Homelab","type":"tags"},{"content":" 10.0.0.0/8 # Private 172.16.0.0/12 # Private 192.168.0.0/16 # Private 100.64.0.0/10 # Tailscale fd7a:115c:a1e0::/48 # Tailscale 100.89.137.0/20 # Default Pangolin subnet ","date":"Dec. 13 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/notes/cidrs/","section":"Notes","summary":"","title":"Intersting network CIDR ranges","type":"notes"},{"content":"","date":"Dec. 13 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/life/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Life","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"Dec. 13 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/notes/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Notes","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"Dec. 13 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/notes/","section":"Notes","summary":"","title":"Notes","type":"notes"},{"content":"Hi there! Welcome to my new blog! ✨\nI intend to write a bunch of things here like notes, guides or whatever. I will also be using it as a replacement for my severely neglected Carrd-hosted portal that was linking people to my pages.\nWhile this is a personal site, I hope you\u0026rsquo;ll find something interesting in there. 💛\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s new compared to my previous Carrd-hosted site # That new setup has quite a few advantages from a visitor\u0026rsquo;s point of view.\nBlog area with articles that are open source 📰 Dark mode 🌚 Much faster loading speed / lighter on resources ⚡ Not affected by AWS downtimes 🔥 (lol) And from my side, the changes are even more impactful.\nNo more scatered Notion pages that are impossible to find for others 📚 Text (Markdown) files as source for articles (alike Obsidian Publish (archive)) 📜 No more slow and clunky editor 🛠️ URLs that follow standards1 🏷️ Open source software stack2 🔍 Freedom of hosting platform 🚀 No more subscription fees 💸 Sanity preserved ❤️‍🩹 In the end, we\u0026rsquo;re all winning and I\u0026rsquo;m motivated again to maintain this website. 🏆 If you wanna do a Hugo website too, I recommend checking out Christian Lampa\u0026rsquo;s tutorial on Hugo (archive) which has been the template for this website. 📺\nOf course, feel free to check its source code and use it as inspiration for your own! ✨\ncampfred/yap My blog\u0026rsquo;s content, powered by Hugo! ✨ Shell 1 0 In the meantime, I wish you a nice day and hope to see you again soon! Also, feel free to go check out my socials as I\u0026rsquo;ll be posting my new articles there too and maybe even my podcast \u0026ldquo;Listen with Camp\u0026rdquo;. 🎶\nCarrd doesn\u0026rsquo;t actually use /paths/ in web addresses for navigation, it has a sections (archive) concept that uses #ids which is not really a standard way of doing even if it works.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nHugo (archive) is an open source static site generator written in Go.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n","date":"Dec. 13 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/welcome/","section":"Blog","summary":"Welcome to my new blog! This one’s a beeg improvement over my previously Carrd-hosted site and it is also open source. ✨","title":"Welcome!","type":"blog"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/bookmarks/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Bookmarks","type":"categories"},{"content":"Here\u0026rsquo;s a few sites I like to use for network speed tests either at home or at relatives\u0026rsquo; homes when troubleshooting things.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/notes/speedtests/","section":"Notes","summary":"","title":"Network speed tests","type":"notes"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/speedtests/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Speedtests","type":"series"}]