Under the hood
The KimiCue
Algorithm
Most auto-cue tools find where your track starts. KimiCue finds where your track drops.
That's a fundamentally different problem - and it's the one that actually matters when you're standing behind the decks.
Multi-signal detection
Amateur tools look at one thing.
KimiCue looks at six.
Amateur drop detection looks at one thing - usually loudness. That's why it gets it wrong.
KimiCue runs a multi-signal analysis pipeline across several layers of the audio simultaneously, combining them through a proprietary scoring formula tuned across real DJ tracks in real genres.
No single signal makes the decision. Every candidate drop point in the track is scored across all signals at once, weighted against each other, and ranked. Only candidates that pass every filter make it through.
Simple loudness detection
Finds loud moments. Gets it wrong on breakdowns, intros, and anything with compression.
KimiCue scoring pipeline
All six signals combined into one score per candidate beat. Highest score that passes all filters wins.
What goes into the score
Six signals. Every candidate beat.
Energy surge
Overall loudness shift at the drop
Real drops hit harder than the breakdown before them. KimiCue measures exactly how hard - not just whether the track gets louder, but by how much and how fast.
Bass return
Low-frequency layer analysed in isolation
A drop almost always brings the kick and bassline back in after a breakdown. The low-frequency layer is isolated from the rest of the track and analysed separately. Bass return is one of the strongest signals in the formula.
Spectral transition
Full frequency character shift
A drop doesn't just get louder - it sounds fundamentally different to what came before it. The full frequency character of the audio is analysed frame by frame and the transition is measured across the entire spectrum.
Onset density
Multiple elements arriving at once
Drops are defined by multiple sonic layers hitting simultaneously - kick, bass, synth, percussion all arriving together. KimiCue detects that clustering of new sound events.
Phrase alignment
Musical boundary check
Music is written in phrases. Drops land on phrase boundaries - bars of 16, 32, 64 or 128 beats. The algorithm scores candidates higher when they fall where a real drop structurally should.
Sustained energy
The drop has to hold
A moment that spikes and immediately falls is a false positive. KimiCue requires sustained energy after the candidate point before it will call it a real drop. This single filter eliminates the majority of false positives that simpler tools fall for.
Genre-tuned profiles
Same signals. Different formula.
The same audio signals mean different things in different genres. KimiCue uses individually tuned detection profiles for every supported genre - each one specifying different signal weights, different search windows, different phrase expectations, and different confidence thresholds.
These profiles were developed through analysis of real tracks across each genre, not estimated from theory. When you select a genre mode you're not filtering a list - you're switching the entire scoring formula to one calibrated specifically for the music you're working with.
Trance
Drop timing
Late - often after 90s+
Key signal
Long sustained plateau
Build lasts a long time. Drop defined by atmosphere and sustained energy, not an aggressive bass hit.
Drum & Bass
Drop timing
Early - ~30 seconds in
Key signal
Sharp aggressive bass hit
Fast-moving structure. Short intro, hard and immediate drop. Bass return signal is dominant.
Melodic / Progressive
Drop timing
Very late - often 3+ minutes
Key signal
Atmospheric energy shift
Build can last three minutes. Drop defined more by atmosphere and spectral change than by bass.
Techno
Drop timing
Gradual - 4–8 minutes in
Key signal
Slow incremental energy build
Long drawn-out structure. No single moment of drop - energy rises slowly over many minutes.
Auto Detect works from your track tags
Auto Detect reads the genre tag embedded in your track metadata and selects the correct profile automatically - so for a well-tagged library you don't need to think about it at all. Make sure your tracks are tagged correctly in Rekordbox before running for best results.
Studio-grade audio analysis
Built on professional signal processing.
KimiCue's signal processing is built on the same audio analysis foundations used in professional music research and studio tooling worldwide.
We work at a 22kHz sample rate with a 2048-point FFT window - giving us frequency resolution fine enough to isolate bass, mids, and highs as separate signals, not just overall loudness.
Beat tracking is performed against the full onset envelope of the track, not a simple BPM estimate - so the algorithm snaps drop candidates to real beat positions rather than theoretical grid lines. When KimiCue places a cue, it lands exactly on the beat, every time.
22kHz sample rate
Full audio fidelity for analysis
2048-point FFT
High frequency resolution - bass isolated from mids and highs
Beat-snapped cues
Cues land on real beat positions, not grid estimates
Onset envelope tracking
New sound events detected from spectral flux, not amplitude
Per-genre confidence thresholds
Pass/fail criteria tuned for each music style
Honest about what it does
We'd rather be straight with you.
Best on structured electronic music
Tracks without a defined drop - ambient, live recordings, heavily experimental music - may return a low confidence score and get skipped. That's by design. A skipped track is better than a wrong cue in your set.
Confidence score tells you when to check
After each run, KimiCue shows a confidence score for every track. High confidence is ready to use. Lower scores are worth a quick check before you rely on them in a live set.
See it before you commit - Dry Run
Run a full analysis in dry run mode first. It shows you exactly what the algorithm detected, track by track, without writing a single cue point. The best way to see the scoring on your own music before anything changes.
Why KimiCue
How it compares to Rekordbox auto-cue and other tools.
Genre Mode & Cue Template
Pick the right settings for your music.
Full guide
Settings, Serato, license - everything in one page.