Get your groove on with djay

djay logoSuppose you’re a hard-working business assistant who works in a cubicle at a big name company and you have a secret knack for dj-ing.  You’re afraid to show off your talent to everyone, but your best buddy from college shoots you a text saying that he needs you to be his dj for his birthday party.  You’re ecstatic but then you realize that you have no dj equipment whatsoever.  No need to fear, djay is here!  djay is a reliable and easy-to-use dj software that allows you to mix and match different songs and make an awesome jam straight from your Mac.

When you open the program, you’ll be amazed at the impressive interactive dj turntable.  It looks very similar to a real turntable.  Furthermore, it is very simple to use.  On the right hand side of the window, your entire iTunes music list will appear.  All you have to do is select a song and drag it onto the turntable, depending on which side you drag it to.  From there, you can control the speed and sound of your song.  Each table has volume, pitch, and speed controls, knobs that adjust the frequency of the song, and even buttons that create awesome sound effects to your tracks.  The only two sound effects available are the echo effect and the reverb effect.  You can transition between both tracks and you can even scratch your records back and forth, just like a real dj.  Additional features include the ability to record your tracks and you can even turn on your mic and get the crowd pumping…or maybe you’d like to show the Frank Sinatra side of yourself.

djay screenshot 2

After I tested the product, I was very pleased with the interface and its unsurpassable simplicity.  However, I was a little disappointed because some songs on the playlist have a lock icon next to them.  Although I dragged a song with a lock icon to the table, I noticed certain djay screenshotdiscrepancies.  Unlike a song without a lock icon, I can’t scratch the record, it doesn’t transition very smoothly between tracks, and I can’t add echo or reverb effects.  I believe a reason for this is that the songs purchased from iTunes have the lock next to them, so perhaps iTunes doesn’t want any major changes done to the track or else that would be a form of copyright infringement; this is only an assumption, though.  The bottom line is this: if you want to make the most use of the features in djay, use songs that you either downloaded from a CD or songs you downloaded from third-party websites.

If you download the software from the website, you’ll have a trial period of only 10 days to test it out, but after that, you have to purchase djay for $49.99.  Also, djay is only compatible with Mac computers.  In summary, djay certainly didn’t disappoint.  It’s an excellent, fun, and hands-on program and I believe that this program deserves some sort of recognition by aspiring and current dj’s.

Comments

Seth SmithMay 9th, 2009 at 7:12 am

Excellent review tony! As usual you produced some great work! I love having your write here, you really are such a help!
Thanks

Anders from algoriddimMay 9th, 2009 at 8:04 am

Hey guys, thanks for the great review!!

Here’s a little clarification about the lock icon: the lock icon indicates DRM-protected songs bought from the iTunes Music Store. As noted in our FAQs, you can play these songs, but there are some technical restriction imposed by Apple’s DRM. Basically the DRM doesn’t give us low-level access to the songs, so we can’t mess with the audio data itself and we’re stuck with the audio effects Apple provides.

Note that “iTunes Plus” songs don’t have any restrictions and play just as normal MP3 or AAC files. AFAIK by now all songs in the iTunes Music Store are iTunes Plus, so you can keep buying your songs from there and get the full feature-set in djay.

And don’t forget to try our multi-touch trackpad support on your Mac notebook. You can actually scratch songs on your trackpad, crossfade between songs with a swipe and much more! There’s more info on our website: http://www.djay-software.com/features/multitouch

Thanks again!

Tony IliakostasMay 9th, 2009 at 9:13 am

Yeah, I had a feeling that the locked icon had something to do with the DRM-restriction that iTunes had. But I had plenty of songs which didn’t have the lock so it’s all good. And regarding the multi-touch trackpad, I wouldn’t have known about it since I’m running the old-school 1st Gen. Macbook, but that’s fantastic. Glad you enjoyed the review!

AlphageekMay 9th, 2009 at 9:25 am

Class Review. I am so going to downloa this app now. I love editing and playing around with music. Im at the moment watching Seth Live!! :)

Anders from algoriddimMay 9th, 2009 at 9:32 am

Tony: most of the trackpad support (including scratching and cross-fading) actually works on all Macs supporting two-finger scrolling, including 1st gen. Macbooks and even newer iBooks and PowerBooks! Just put the cursor on one of the turntables and give it a try.

techcomputernerdMay 9th, 2009 at 9:43 am

Brilliant app review

MacRadgeMay 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am

I am using djay for quite some time now and it is my favorite app by far! I have a USB sound card attached for pre-cueing and it really works just great.

AndrewBoldmanJune 4th, 2009 at 8:30 am

The article on antibiotics are very good.



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