The Harmonic Set Plan

Mix in the key the crowd will actually hear: every tag read twice, every pitch change worked out to the key it lands on, key lock set where the arithmetic says, and each blend, echo and file planned at the set's tempo

Sonistic's free DJ Mix Harmonic Key Calculator lists the Camelot codes a track mixes with, in the key the track was recorded in. Its BPM / Tempo Calculator knows the tempo and nothing about the key, and the two never meet. On a deck with key lock off, matching a tempo changes the pitch: a track pushed about 6% faster plays a semitone higher, which is 7 codes round the wheel, so the key calculator's answer is about a key you will not hear. Writing this plan we also fixed the site's MIDI converter, which named 20,000 Hz as MIDI note 135 (notes run 0 to 127) and claimed most software calls MIDI 60 C4. The plan reads every key and tempo tag twice (half and double time included), works out each track's pitch change at your set's tempo and the key it lands on, marks the key lock line at 2.93% faster or 2.85% slower, and checks every transition in the key you will hear. In the worked crate held at 126 BPM, all 6 transitions pass on the file keys; with key lock off only 4 do, and key lock on the 3 tracks past the line brings back all 6. It then counts blends in bars (32 bars at 126 is 60.95 s), resets hand-set echoes at the mix tempo (a dotted eighth set for 120 lands 142.86 ms late by the 8th repeat at 126), and sizes the crate in bytes for two sticks. Every figure is computed from Sonistic's own calculators; the crate, tempos and free space are examples, and no real track is named. It quotes the WHO's safe listening lines and tells you to wear earplugs; licensing is a legal matter it does not cover, and nothing in it is legal advice. Included: 24 printable pages with 7 steps, four working pages (crate sheet, transition card, set run sheet, stick sheet), a key-shift table for all 24 keys, a quickstart, and a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in our calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Step 1: every key and tempo tag read twice, half and double time checked, with Open Key beside Camelot
• Step 2: what a pitch change does to the key, from 8% slower to 8% faster, in semitones, codes and cents
• Step 3: the set's tempo first, and every track's pitch change and heard key worked out at it
• Step 4: every transition checked in the key you will hear, and where key lock has to go on
• Step 5: blends counted in bars and timed in seconds at six common tempos
• Step 6: hand-set echoes and LFOs reset at the mix tempo, with the drift by the 8th repeat
• Step 7: the crate sized in bytes against a stick's free space, and copied to a second stick
• Four working pages: crate sheet, transition card, set run sheet, stick sheet
• A reference table: all 24 keys with Open Key, the codes each mixes with, and the key one semitone up and down
• A quickstart, and a personalised sheet worked from your own calculator inputs

The plan picks up where the free DJ Mix Harmonic Key Calculatorleaves off. The calculator lists the codes a track mixes with in the key it was recorded in; the plan works out the key each track will actually play in at your set's tempo with key lock off, marks where key lock has to go on, checks every transition in those keys, and times the blends, hand-set echoes and the stick you carry. Every figure in it is an example for you to replace.