Download DEX 3.20 Now: Advanced Features for Tracks Mixing with Beats, Bars & Beat-Grid Tools - Available Immediately!

Download DEX 3.20, now with advanced Beat-Grid Editing!

DEX 3.20 is here and we’re talking beats, bars, beat-grids, beat-grid editing, BPM, and all things rhythm. First, we’ll need to break down the basics of music theory for DJs.

Nearly all modern music is made up of ‘beats’. When a track is 128 BPM it literally means that there are exactly 128 ‘beats per minute’ (beats in a minute). That’s a ‘beat’.

A ‘bar’ is also known as a measure and consists of 4 consecutive beats — at least that is the case with 99% of commercial music available (which is 4-by-4 [4:4]). This equates to 4 beats-per-bar with each beat representing a 1/4 note. Great, so why do you need to know this and what does this mean for DEX 3.20 and the DJs that use it?

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New in DEX 3.20: Automatic Down-Beat & Bar Detection

DEX 3.20 is now equipped with automatic down-beat and bar detection. The ‘down beat’ is the first beat in each bar/measure; it marks the starting of a bar. You’ll notice that the ‘down beat’ indicator showcased in the beat-grid (waveform area of the deck) is slightly thicker than the usual beat markers.

The first down-beat (marked automatically DEX 3.20 or by yourself) is numbered ‘1.1’. The first number is the bar number and the second number is the beat number (Bar.Beat). Visually, this specially chosen down-beat is red.

A ‘beat-grid’ consists of all the ‘bars’ and ‘beats’ of a track that you can experience in a visual way as a grid.

DEX 3 has always automatically detected the beat-grid but at times it may not get it right. Breakbeat tracks and downtempo tracks, for example, may be calculated incorrectly at times. In previous DEX 3 versions if the calculation was incorrect, you couldn’t do much about it. That’s no longer the case with DEX 3.20.

Here’s an overview of the freshly added ‘beat-grid editing’. This powerful new feature allows you to properly set the beat-grid and BPM of tracks if DEX 3.20 doesn’t calculate things correctly. Why should you care? A major benefit of a properly calculated beat-grid is much better BPM Sync – looking tracks in step for quality beat mixing.

How is it Done?

Steps to correct the beat-grid of a track:

1. Select the first down-beat in the track. This will usually be the first energy-intensive beat (IE: the first drum kick). To do so, you need to move/drag the waveform to the play position and hit the set ‘DownBeat’ button
2. Move/slip the beat-grid left/right until the down-beat marker is aligned perfectly with the beat in the waveform
3. Adjust the beat size until the next beats align correctly with the beats from the waveform — while you adjust the beat size the BPM value also changes.
4. Repeat the step above (3) as many times as needed to correct the alignment throughout the whole song (for varying BPM tracks, this is a major plus). Start by scrolling slightly past where the initial down-beat was. Then advanced a bit more (around 20-30 seconds at a time) and re-adjust the beat size. Advanced all the way to the end of the track and correct the beat size as you go
5. That it. That’s how beat-grid editing works for a track in DEX 3.20 (and up). For songs that have a varying dynamic tempo (such as live-playing bands) or different parts/sections that have a different BPM/beat-grid you can add as many beat-grids throughout the track as you’d like

New, Changed, and Fixed in DEX 3.20

• Advanced beat-grid editing (including multiple beat-grid zones/sections for dynamic/changing tempos)
• Automatic BAR (measure) detection and down-beat detection
• Showing iTunes/Music artwork including for DRM protected or cloud tracks (Mac only)
• Progress bar when processing for AIUnmixEQ (splitting the track into stems)
• Download tracks improvements for Party Tyme Karaoke (Muvika)
• Added Samples section (6 samplers) for the LYRX skins
• Stripes are now optional (eg. can be deleted without a need to re-analyze the track) and are much smaller (eg. ~100 KB/track now vs ~600 KB/track before)
• New skin actions: deck_bpm2, deck_pitch_key_label2, deck_beatpos2, deck_barpos, deck_barpos2, deck_bar_beat_pos, deck_edit_bpm_value, deck_edit_bpm_downbeat, deck_edit_bpm_movel, deck_edit_bpm_mover, deck_edit_bpm_double, deck_edit_bpm_more, deck_edit_bpm_less, deck_edit_bpm_half, deck_edit_bpm_remove_grid, deck_edit_bpm_add_grid, deck_edit_bpm_choose_grid
• Added beatcolor, downbeatcolor, chosendownbeatcolor attributes to sound display
• Removed setting: Use Steady BPM Detection (always enabled by default now)
• Multiple bug fixes and optimizations

Download DEX 3.20 Update

Not a DEX 3 user? Download Free Trial

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you receive this warning “setup_dex3_3.20_macOS.pkg can’t be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software. this software needs to be updated. Contact the developer for more information” when installing to macOS Catalina or above, please follow the steps on Apple’s website to install DEX 3.

Have questions about the latest 3.20 version of our Top DJ software? Please leave them in the comments section below!

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