Camelot wheel in Serato

How to show Camelot codes such as 8A in Serato. Where Show Key As lives, which notations Serato names, and how to sort by key.

Serato can show a key as a short code, such as 8A or 9B, instead of a name such as A minor. DJs call that code system the Camelot wheel. A number and a letter make the next track easier to spot.

Camelot notation is a number from 1 to 12, then a letter. A is the minor ring. B is the major ring. The same number with the other letter is the relative major or minor, the major and minor that share a key signature. 8A and 8B are that pair, not the same key. The Camelot wheel maps all 24 codes. On that wheel, 8A is A minor.

Serato does not use one menu on every app. The notes below stay with the page that names each control. Where a page does not print the menu, open it and read the names yourself.

Turn on the code in the app you use

In Serato DJ Pro the choice is on the Setup screen, Library + Display tab, under Show Key As. Serato's library page says that option picks which key notation the library shows. The track display page says the deck shows the key tag of the loaded track, and that the key display setting is changed on the Library + Display tab of Setup.

The library page does not print the names inside Show Key As. Open the menu. The Key Shift page uses the same Setup screen, and it calls the tab Library & Display. The one name that page prints is Original Key. Original Key shows the key tag already written on the file. That page does not say the menu also lists Camelot. If Camelot is in your menu, that is the code. If it is not, the apps below are the ones whose own pages name Camelot.

Show Key As is a display choice. The library page describes what you see. It does not say the menu rewrites the file.

Serato Studio names three formats. Open Setup from the cog at the top right, then the General tab. Show key as can be Camelot, Classical, or Open-Key. Classical is the default. The page does not print a sample of each spelling, so change the menu and read a track you know.

Serato's note on the DJ Lite 4.0 library says you can display keys in Camelot or Alphanumeric. It calls those displays familiar additions in Lite, and it does not name the clicks or define what Alphanumeric prints. Analyze Key, on the Lite preparing page, is a different switch. It writes a key while files are analyzed. It does not choose the spelling.

Serato DJ for iOS 5.0.0, in the release notes of 20 October 2026, lists Show key as with three choices: Classical, Open Key, and Camelot. The notes put that line with Key Analysis. They do not name the screen, so look for Show key as in the app.

Serato Sample is separate. Alt-click the key value. The shortcuts page says that click changes the format among classical, Camelot, and Open key.

Open Key, Open-Key, and Open key are Serato's name for a third notation. These pages do not print its chart.

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Put a key on the track first

A blank Key cell means there is no key tag yet, or the column is hidden. A key tag is the key text saved on the file. The next section turns the column on. This section is how the tag gets written.

In Serato DJ Pro, check Set Key before you analyze. The analysis page says that option sets a key value while files are analyzed. The preparing page says Set Key detects a key and adds key tag data. Re-analyzing with Set Key checked overwrites a key you typed. A locked file does not get a new key.

Disconnect the hardware so you are in Offline mode. The Analyze Files button then sits above the library. That button only analyzes files that have not been analyzed yet. To run a crate or a folder you choose, drag it onto Analyze Files. The preparing page calls that drag a way to force those files through analysis.

The Pro 4 overview says Analyze Files, when the options are on, detects the musical key. It also says the key tag can be typed in the Key column, or detected when you analyze with Set Key checked. Double-click a field in the library to edit it. Filename, length, size, bit rate, and sampling cannot be edited. In versions 3.3.5 and below, Protect Library in Setup has to be off or the edit is blocked. A read-only track shows a locked icon.

If the file already has the key you want, turn Set Key off in Analysis Settings while you are in Offline mode. Then set the display to Original Key, so Serato shows the tag on the file instead of replacing it. The Key Shift page is the one that names that pair of steps.

In Serato DJ Lite, check Analyze Key so a key value is added when tracks are analyzed. Drag a track, a selection, or a crate onto Analyze Files to re-analyze. Locked tracks are skipped.

On Serato DJ for iOS, press and hold a track and choose Analyze. Edit, on that same menu, opens a sheet where the key can be changed. The library page says some fields stay gray, and its examples are the name and artist of a streaming track, and the BPM of a tempo-locked track.

Show the Key column, then sort

In Serato DJ Pro, Key is a library column and it can be off. Click the triangle at the top right of the library, under search, or right-click any column header. Turn Key on. Drag the header if you want it next to the title or the BPM.

Click the Key header to sort. Click it again to flip ascending and descending. The columns page does not say the sort follows the wheel, so do not expect 8A, then 9A, then 10A just because you clicked the header. Tracks that share a spelling sit together.

A second sort is optional. Hold Ctrl on Windows, or Command on a Mac, and click another header. Serato's sorting page uses BPM, then Key, as the example. Hold Ctrl and Shift while clicking that second header to turn the second sort off. The columns page names Ctrl for that step.

Custom Crate Columns, on Library + Display, lets each crate keep its own columns. When it is off, every crate uses the columns from the All crate.

On Serato DJ for iOS, open the menu marked with three dots on the track list, choose Sort by, then Key. BPM & Key sorts by tempo first and key second. Every crate shares that sort, and the app remembers it. Sort Order reverses the direction.

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Pick the next track from the code

Read the code on the track that is playing. The smooth moves are the same ones Sonata marks In key.

The same code, such as 8A into 8A. The key does not change.
One number up or down, same letter, such as 8A into 7A or 9A. One number up is a perfect fifth, seven semitones. On the wheel, 8A to 9A is A minor to E minor. It is a small lift.
The other letter, same number, such as 8A into 8B. That is the relative major or minor.

Two numbers up, same letter, is the move DJs call an energy boost. 8A goes to 10A. Sonata flags it as a key clash. It can work when you want the room to notice a new key. It is a choice, not the ordinary step. The energy boost guide separates that jump from the one-step fifth. Is harmonic mixing necessary? is when a transition can leave the wheel on purpose.

The wheel is a circle. From 12, one step on is 1, and the other way is 11. The key checker answers any two codes.

A matching code is a reason to try the blend. Vocals, basslines, and tempo still have to agree. If the tempos are far apart, plan a cut rather than a long overlap. A library BPM at half or double the count you mix at will make a close pair look far apart. Why is my Serato BPM wrong is that check. The same codes in rekordbox are in Camelot wheel in rekordbox.

Keylock is not the notation

Keylock keeps the song's pitch when you move the tempo. Serato's Keylock page says it turns itself off while you scratch, so the scratch sounds natural. F5 toggles it on the left deck. F10 toggles it on the right. It does not choose Camelot, Classical, or Open Key.

On the Pro 4 screen, that same control becomes the Pitch 'n Time DJ toggle when Pitch 'n Time DJ is enabled. Show Key As is still the notation. Keylock is the pitch.

Key Sync is a third control, and only while Pitch 'n Time DJ is on. The support page says the expansion is required, and that Key Sync and Key Shift stay off while it is disabled. Analyze with Set Key first. Without a key tag, Key Sync is not available. A blue Key Sync button means Serato treats the shifted key as suitable. Clicking it finds a compatible key closest to the current one, by the circle of fifths, the ring of keys a fifth apart. The page says that result may not be the same key as the other track. The shift is a pitch change on the deck. It does not rewrite the code in the library, and the page does not list which codes it treats as compatible. You still pick the record.

Colour is separate again. In Serato DJ Pro 3.5.5 and below, Colour Key Display on Library + Display paints keys by their place on the circle of fifths, which is the keys a fifth apart, in a ring. A key Serato does not recognize stays uncolored. The Key Shift page says the deck key uses the colour of the Camelot wheel, like the library column, and that Colour Key Display lives on that tab. Colour is not the code. A painted name can still be Classical.

Read the codes against your own files

Sonata reads the key from the files you add, suggests an order, and flags a clash. It does not decide the set, and it does not transpose a track to hide one. You still pick the record.

For one file, the BPM and key finder reads the tempo and the key in the browser. Your tracks stay on this device. They are never uploaded. The first mix is free, up to 10 tracks, and it does not ask for an account.

Sources

Sonata is not affiliated with Serato.

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