Camelot in one paragraph
The Camelot wheel renames all 24 musical keys as a number from 1 to 12 plus a letter — A for minor, B for major. 8A is A minor; 8B is C major. From any position, three moves are safe: +1, −1, and switch the letter at the same number. That is the whole system, and it is why DJs use it instead of key names: you do not need to know the relative minor of E♭ major, you need to know that 5B sits next to 5A.
The wheel, drawn
A code on its own only helps if you already hold the rule in your head. The ring makes the rule visible — your key filled, its neighbours lit — so the next track is something you read off a picture. No second app, no chart taped to the monitor.
The same wheel is drawn in the app, in the plugin, and here.
A wrong key is a wrong code
The Camelot position comes from the key, so everything that affects the key affects it — and this is where most Camelot workflows quietly break.
A pack recorded off concert pitch will read as the neighbouring key in a tool that assumes A = 440. One key over is one or more Camelot positions over, which means the mixing rule you are following is pointing at the wrong three keys, and you will not find out until something clashes in a set.
DropWave measures the tuning before deciding anything, reports the deviation in cents, and shows a confidence band — so you know before you build a set around a position.
The full mapping
| Camelot | Minor key (A) | Camelot | Major key (B) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | A♭ minor (G♯ minor) | 1B | B major |
| 2A | E♭ minor (D♯ minor) | 2B | F♯ major |
| 3A | B♭ minor (A♯ minor) | 3B | D♭ major |
| 4A | F minor | 4B | A♭ major |
| 5A | C minor | 5B | E♭ major |
| 6A | G minor | 6B | B♭ major |
| 7A | D minor | 7B | F major |
| 8A | A minor | 8B | C major |
| 9A | E minor | 9B | G major |
| 10A | B minor | 10B | D major |
| 11A | F♯ minor | 11B | A major |
| 12A | C♯ minor | 12B | E major |
Using it
As a DJ. Read the position of what is playing and pick from the three lit ones. +1 lifts, −1 relaxes, switching letter changes the mood without changing the notes.
As a producer. Same problem in a different order: session in 8A and the loop is 9A? Drop it in. It is 3A? Five steps away — pitch it or leave it.
Filing a library. Camelot codes sort usefully in filenames in a way key names never will — 11A lands next to 11B and 10A in a directory listing.
Related
Key finder · Key & BPM finder · A producer's guide to the Camelot wheel · Camelot documentation