Library & files
Export mode
Export mode is the state in which DJ software acts as a preparation tool — organising, analysing and writing to a device — rather than playing anything. Performance mode is the other state, where the same software plays.
In practice
Prepare in export mode, play from a stick. Playing off a laptop over the link makes the laptop the thing that can fail.
Do the whole preparation pass in export mode — analyse, grid, cue, tag, build the crates — and then write two sticks. Keep the link path as a fallback rather than a plan, because it adds a laptop, a network cable and a driver to a chain that otherwise has none of them. If you do intend to play linked, tell the venue in the advance: a booth with no spare ethernet port or no space for a laptop is a problem best discovered by email.
Export
The preparation mode
Performance
The playback mode
Stick first
The fewest things to fail
Where these come from: How the Rekordbox mode split behaves — documented application behaviour, not catalog figures.
Why it matters
The two modes exist because they need the audio hardware differently, and choosing the wrong one is why a menu you were using yesterday has vanished. Preparation and playback are genuinely different jobs and the interface changes to match.
Export mode is also where linking to players from the computer lives, which is the third way to play: not from a stick and not from a controller, but with the players reading your laptop’s library over the network. It is convenient in a booth where a laptop is welcome, and it makes your laptop a single point of failure.
Frequently asked
Why has a menu disappeared in Rekordbox?+
You are probably in the other mode. Export and performance expose different features because preparation and playback are different jobs, and the interface changes to suit.
Can I play straight from my laptop to the CDJs?+
Yes, over the link, and it works well in a booth that has room for a laptop and a spare network port. It also puts a computer in a chain that could otherwise have none.
Do I need export mode if I use a controller?+
Only for preparing sticks. If you never play from a media player, performance mode and your controller are the whole workflow.
Related terms
USB prep
USB prep is exporting the tracks, grids, cue points and playlists you need onto a drive a club player can read. What is not exported does not exist once you are behind the decks.
Two USB sticks
Bringing two identical prepared USB sticks is the standard club precaution. Sticks fail, get left in players and get taken by mistake, and the second one turns any of those from a disaster into a pause.
Device library
A device library is the database written onto a USB stick alongside the audio, holding the playlists, cues, grids and search index the player reads. It is a separate export from your computer’s own library.
Pro DJ Link
Pro DJ Link is the Ethernet network that joins several players and a mixer. One USB stick feeds every deck, the players share tempo and beat position, and lighting or recording software can read the whole rig from one connection.
Explore: Rekordbox USB checker · USB prep · Pro DJ Link · All DJ terms