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How to Set Cue Points Automatically in Traktor Pro (Hotcues and Loops)

Updated · by the MixGoat team · Tool: Cues & Loops

Short answer

Traktor Pro 4 does not place hotcues for you. Analysis sets one Grid marker (the beatmarker), Preferences → Loading can cue the deck to a Load marker, and Autogain adjusts level, but the eight hotcue slots stay empty until you press Store in the deck's Advanced Panel. To fill them across a collection, run an automatic cue detector and write the result into collection.nml: MixGoat's Cues & Loops tool scores cue positions on your computer, lets you cap hot cues and loops, and saves them into the newest Traktor folder's collection.nml after backing it up to collection.nml.bak. Traktor keeps cues and loops in the same eight slots, so set Max hot cues plus Max loops to eight or fewer. Detection is free; saving is the GOAT step.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Know what Traktor already automates

    Analyze a track (right-click → Analyze, or let Preferences → Analyze Options analyze on import) and Traktor writes a Grid marker at the first detected downbeat plus BPM and key. If "Store Beatmarker as Hotcue" is on in Analyze Options, that Grid marker takes hotcue 1, so turn it off before a bulk cue run. Preferences → Loading → "Initially cue to Load Marker" jumps a loaded deck to the Load marker, and Preferences → Mixer sets Autogain on load. Nothing here looks at the music for drops or breaks.

  2. 2

    Understand the six cue types and the shared slots

    Open the Advanced Panel (Preferences → Decks Layout → Show Advanced Panel), pick the CUE tab and the dropdown next to the cue name lists Cue, Fade In, Fade Out, Load, Grid and Loop. All six are CUE_V2 entries in collection.nml, distinguished by TYPE 0 to 5, and any of them can be assigned to one of eight hotcue slots. That is the real limit: a Loop stored on a pad uses the same slot a Cue would, and Traktor Pro 3 and 4 both stop at eight.

  3. 3

    Quit Traktor and load tracks into MixGoat

    Traktor rewrites collection.nml when it exits, so anything written into the file while it runs is overwritten. MixGoat checks the process list and refuses to save with a "close the app" message until Traktor is gone. Open MixGoat → Prepare → Cues & Loops and add files, a folder or a playlist; the files must be ones Traktor already has in its Track Collection, because MixGoat updates existing ENTRY elements rather than importing new tracks.

  4. 4

    Set Max hot cues and Max loops so they total eight or fewer

    Under "Save cues as" leave Hot cues: the Memory cues option is Rekordbox-only and Traktor always receives hotcues. Then split the eight slots, for example Max hot cues 5 and Max loops 3, or 6 and 2. MixGoat gives cues their pads first and loops the remaining ones; a loop that finds no free pad is still written as a TYPE 5 entry without a slot number, which Traktor shows in the cue list dropdown but not on a pad. Sensitivity (Generous, Balanced, Strict) and Min distance in bars work the same as for other apps.

  5. 5

    Turn on the Traktor target and save

    Under "Write cues & loops to", switch on Traktor. MixGoat looks in ~/Documents/Native Instruments/ (Documents\Native Instruments\ on Windows), picks the newest Traktor* folder by name, so Traktor 4.2.0 wins over Traktor 3.11.0 if both exist, copies collection.nml to collection.nml.bak and rewrites only the Cue and Loop entries for each track. Grid, Fade In, Fade Out and Load markers are left untouched. If no folder holds a collection.nml you get "Traktor not detected. Install it and run once to create the collection." Saving is the GOAT step; detection and review are free.

  6. 6

    Open Traktor and check the pads

    Launch Traktor: it reads collection.nml at startup and the new hotcues appear on the pads and in the Advanced Panel cue list. If a track still looks empty, right-click Track Collection → Check Consistency or reload the track into a deck. To undo, quit Traktor, rename collection.nml.bak back to collection.nml and relaunch.

What Traktor's automation actually gives you

Traktor's analysis is about tempo and level, not structure. The Grid marker anchors the beatgrid; in Traktor Pro 4 the flexible beatgrid can add further grid markers on tracks with tempo drift, and all of them are TYPE 4 entries that MixGoat treats as Traktor-internal and never rewrites. The Load marker is a position, not a musical event, and Fade In and Fade Out markers only do something when "Activate Fade In & Fade Out Markers" is on under Preferences → Loading and the deck is in cruise mode. So a freshly analysed collection has a good grid and no hotcues, which is why so many Traktor users end up with pad 1 on the first beat and nothing else.

Traktor Pro 3 behaves the same way; Pro 4 adds the flexible beatgrid and per-hotcue pad colours. Neither has an equivalent of Rekordbox's memory cues: a cue either has a hotcue number 1 to 8 or sits unslotted in the cue list, reachable through the Advanced Panel dropdown and the previous and next cue buttons.

How MixGoat writes into collection.nml

Each track in collection.nml is an ENTRY whose LOCATION holds the path and whose CUE_V2 children hold the cues. MixGoat matches your files to those entries by path, backs up collection.nml, then replaces the TYPE 0 (Cue) and TYPE 5 (Loop) entries with the list you reviewed while keeping TYPE 1 to 4 (Fade In, Fade Out, Load, Grid) exactly as Traktor left them. A loop is written as a TYPE 5 entry with a START and a LEN in milliseconds; a cue has LEN 0. Hotcue numbers are assigned per track from position order, and colours follow the standard slot order (red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, purple, pink) in Pro 4.

Two consequences. Saving a track with an empty cue list clears its Cues and Loops, never its grid. And because entries are updated in place, a track not yet in your Track Collection is skipped: import it into Traktor first, quit, then save from MixGoat.

Doing it by hand in Traktor, if you only have a few tracks

With SNAP on in the global section, play to the moment and press an empty numbered slot in the Advanced Panel CUE tab or the pad on the controller; Traktor stores a Cue. Set a loop first and switch the dropdown to Loop to store the loop on the pad instead. The name you type becomes the NAME attribute in collection.nml and shows on Kontrol S4 and S8 displays.

Fill your Traktor hotcues with MixGoat

Free on-device detection. Saving into collection.nml is part of the GOAT plan.

Fill your Traktor hotcues with MixGoat

Frequently asked questions

Does Traktor Pro 4 have automatic hotcues?
No. Analysis sets the Grid marker, BPM and key, and Loading preferences can move the deck to a Load marker, but hotcues 1 to 8 are only stored when you press Store or hit a pad. A detector such as MixGoat's Cues & Loops fills them from the audio and writes to collection.nml.
How many hotcues does Traktor allow per track?
Eight, in both Traktor Pro 3 and 4, and the eight slots are shared between cues and loops. You can store more cues than that, but the extras have no hotcue number and only appear in the Advanced Panel cue list.
Why is hotcue 1 always the grid marker on my tracks?
Preferences → Analyze Options → "Store Beatmarker as Hotcue" is on. Turn it off and future analyses keep the Grid marker unslotted, leaving all eight pads for cues and loops.
Will MixGoat touch my beatgrid or fade markers?
No. Grid, Fade In, Fade Out and Load markers (CUE_V2 TYPE 1 to 4) are treated as Traktor-internal and are preserved unchanged. Only Cue and Loop entries are replaced, and collection.nml.bak holds the previous file.
Is this free?
Detection and review are free on every plan. Writing the cues into collection.nml is part of the GOAT plan, as is saving loops.