Camelot Wheel Explained: Harmonic Mixing Rules and a Key Chart

Harmonic mixing means playing two tracks together whose keys fit, so the blend does not clash. The Camelot wheel is the shortcut most DJs use for it: instead of remembering which keys are related, you read a code like 8A and move by simple rules. The system comes from Mixed In Key, which calls it the Camelot Easymix System, and DJ software shows the same codes: rekordbox, for example, can display keys as "Alphanumeric (such as 1A and 2A)" instead of key names.

How the codes work

Every key gets a number from 1 to 12 and a letter:

• A is a minor key, B a major key.
• Neighbouring numbers are keys that share all but one note.
• The same number with A and B is a minor key and its relative major, which share every note.

The numbers wrap around: after 12 comes 1 again, like the hours on a clock.

The three moves that stay in key

Mixed In Key's own guide gives the basic rules:

1. Same code. 5A into 5A.
2. One step up or down, same letter. "5A can go to 4A, 6A or 5B smooth as a knife through butter."
3. Switch the letter, keep the number. "8A goes with 8B because the number 8 is the same."

That gives every track three safe partners besides its own code (four options, counting the same key): one step either way and the other letter. The guide also describes moving "clockwise or anti-clockwise around the wheel" through a set, and bigger jumps (such as 3A to 9A) as a deliberate, dramatic effect rather than a smooth blend.

Key chart: all 24 keys

Each key has two spellings: B♭ minor and A♯ minor are the same key, 3A. Tags and software may use either.

Modes: where a dorian or mixolydian track sits

A key tag can only say major or minor, but plenty of electronic music is modal. A mode is placed by its notes, not by its first note: D dorian uses the notes of C major and A minor, so it mixes like 8A, not like D minor (7A). If your software shows a different code from the one in the file name for a modal track, this is usually why.

Why changing the tempo can change the key

On a turntable, or a deck without key lock, speeding a track up raises its pitch. One semitone is a factor of about 1.0595, so a tempo change of roughly 6 % moves the track by a semitone, and on the wheel a semitone up is seven steps: 8B (C major) becomes 3B (D♭ major). A mix that was in key can stop being in key.

rekordbox's manual describes the fix: with Master Tempo on, "the pitch of the track does not change even when you change the playback speed", and when Master Tempo is off, the key it displays changes with the tempo. If you mix by Camelot codes, keep key lock on, or keep tempo changes small.

Camelot codes in Aleatoria

• Tracks from the procedural (synthesizer) engine are written in a key you choose (or the engine picks), so their key is known, not detected: it is in the tags and, as a Camelot code, in the file name (for example Night Drive (124 BPM, 8A).mp3). A modal track is tagged by its notes, as above, so the tag and the file name agree.
• Tracks from the AI model carry no key tag, because we do not measure keys. Let your DJ software analyze them.
• The library can answer "What mixes with this?" for any track with a key or a tempo: it lists your tracks with the same key, one step on the wheel or the relative major or minor, and a tempo within ±6 % (half and double time count too). An AI track is matched by the key you asked for, which is not measured.

More about how the tags are written and what each DJ program reads is in our guide to BPM and key tags, and the DJ features are on the AI DJ tools page. Pick a key and render a track in the studio.