Hot Cues vs Memory Cues: when to use each.

Hot Cues vs Memory Cues: when to use each

The underlying difference: triggering or marking

The confusion comes from both being called “cue” and both saving a position. The real difference is how they are activated, and everything else follows from that.

• Triggering means the point produces an immediate result: press it and the track sounds from there.
• Marking means the point identifies a place you can go to: select it and the track moves to that point, usually paused.

A triggering point occupies a permanent physical or visual control. A marking point lives in a list. That is the entire architecture, and it explains why each type allows different numbers: pads are finite; lists are not.

What a Hot Cue is

A Hot Cue is a saved point assigned to a pad. In rekordbox, the manual describes its main advantage directly: when cue and loop points are saved as Hot Cues, they can be played instantly. Pressing a pad with an existing Hot Cue jumps the playback position to that point.

Documented details worth knowing:

• A Hot Cue can save a point or a loop. When it saves a loop, the manual says it appears in a different colour (orange in the rekordbox interface), so you do not confuse it with a point.
• With Quantize enabled, the Hot Cue is placed on the nearest grid beat when pressed. The same warning applies to all points: it may be slightly displaced from where you pressed.
• In Traktor, the CUE page gives direct access to eight cue/loop-in points per track, called Hotcues in the manual. Their behaviour depends on playback state: with the deck stopped they work like the CUE button, and holding a Hotcue plays the track from that point until release, when it returns to the point and pauses.

What a Memory Cue is

A Memory Cue is a saved point that does not occupy a pad. In rekordbox, it is saved from the memory cue panel, and the manual documents 10 cue points per track (and also 10 loop points).

Its recall behaviour is the key: selecting a saved point makes playback jump to that point and pause; you then press play to start it. That makes it worse for live triggering and much better for everything else:

• Navigating the track. Jump to a known point without dragging through the waveform.
• Counting towards a point. rekordbox can display the bars or beats remaining until the next memory cue, making the marker a visible countdown.
• Setting mixing points. The official rekordbox MIX POINT LINK workflow lets you select a mixing point from Hot Cues or memory cues interchangeably.

How many you can save

The figures depend on the mode and equipment, so state the conditions alongside them:

• Hot Cues in rekordbox: the manual documents up to 16 per track in PERFORMANCE (pads A–P) and up to 8 in EXPORT (A–H). It also warns that the available number depends on the DJ player.
• Memory Cues in rekordbox: 10 cue points per track, and 10 saved loop points.
• Automatic creation: in intelligent cue creation, the manual documents a choice between Hot Cues and memory cues, with limits of up to 16 Hot Cues and 10 memory cues.
• Hot Cues in Traktor: eight points per track on the CUE page.

In other words, the triggering type has a low, fixed ceiling; the marking type has a higher ceiling that is less costly to fill.

When to use each

Here is the reasoning, and it is a guideline, not a rule:

Hot Cues for:

• the entry point from which you will start the track live;
• the beginning of the drop or first section you want to trigger;
• a loop you trigger frequently;
• any point you need to touch without looking.

Memory Cues for:

• the track’s section map (where the intro ends, where it breaks down, where it returns);
• reference points for navigation during preparation;
• the exit point from which you want to start mixing out;
• points you want documented but will not trigger.

Preparation heuristic: reserve pads for what you trigger and use memory cues for reference. When a memory cue becomes something you trigger every time, convert it to a Hot Cue. And remember that with Quantize active, a marked point snaps to the grid: if you need the exact attack of a sound, turn it off first, as explained in Monitoring and CUE. For points you will loop through, the reference guide is Loops for DJs.

How they are organised in practice

Both types support preparation, and doing it saves time in the booth. Here is what the rekordbox documentation allows:

• Comments on points. You can add a comment to a Hot Cue for display, and the manual also documents adding comments to Hot Cues and memory cues created by analysis.
• Colours. A cue marker’s colour can be changed, and a Hot Cue’s colour can be changed from the pad itself.
• Comments and colours stay with the position. When Hot Cues are reordered by time, added comments and colours remain at their position on the waveform.
• Protection from overwriting. Automatic analysis can overwrite existing cues; an option prevents this.

A system that works and is used by many DJs: short Hot Cue names (“entry”, “drop”, “loop 8”), and memory cues named after their target section. The pad tells you what will play, while the list tells you where you are.

A guideline, not a law: the number of points does not measure preparation. Sixteen poorly chosen Hot Cues are worse than four well-chosen ones, because live, the wrong pad can be pressed just as quickly as the correct one.

Converting and sorting

rekordbox lets you reorganise both types, and both operations are documented with their limits.

Converting memory cues into Hot Cues. An option converts saved memory cues, in order, into available Hot Cues. Two manual warnings: conversion is unavailable if all Hot Cues are already occupied, and if there are more memory cues than free pads, only as many points as there is room for are converted.

Reordering Hot Cues by time. The sort-by-time option reorganises your Hot Cues (A to P) chronologically. Two important warnings: the operation cannot be undone, and added comments and colours retain their waveform positions after reordering.

That first warning explains a classic mistake: sorting pads by time moves points between pads. If you had memorised “pad 3 is the entry”, after reordering, pad 3 may contain something else.

Common mistakes

“It does not matter which I use: they are both cues.” It matters if you trigger live. A memory cue requires selection and a press of play; a Hot Cue sounds on pressing. At the critical moment, that difference is everything.

Filling Hot Cues with points you never trigger. Pads are the scarce resource. If you fill them with navigation references, you leave no space for the points you actually need to touch.

Trusting automatic cue creation without checking it. The official FAQ warns that CUE Analysis Hot Cues and memory cues use phrase-analysis information and may not land at the desired points, or may be fewer than expected if the track cannot be analysed, is very short, or has few phrases or bars.

Reordering Hot Cues by time after memorising them. Reordering is irreversible and changes which pad holds which point. If you have a memorised routine, do it before learning the routine, not afterwards.

Forgetting that Quantize affects placement. With Quantize active, the Hot Cue snaps to the nearest grid beat. If you need a sound’s exact attack, disable it before marking.