Back to Basics - DJ App roundup

As you may have noticed this blog has taken a turn straight into music creation territory on the iPad and iOS devices. My original intention was to focus on DJaying but after I got an iPad I realized I did a lot more creation than DJaying with the iPad. One big reason was the possibility of spilling drinks on the iPad, something I have done more than I would care to admit with my computer. I have pretty much solved this issue by using a ziploc bag to protect the iPad. The other big obstacle has been a lack of physical buttons, knobs and sliders on the iPad. This isn't a deal-breaker for me like it is for a lot of other controller obsessed djays I work with, but it isn't ideal either. In any case, I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the iOS dj apps in a little more depth and compare some of the best choices out there.

Sonorasaurus Rex: Ready for Prime Time? Eh... Almost.

You may have noticed that in my Sonorasaurus Rex review I give it a great review but declare it not ready for prime time. As the best available DJ software out there Sonorasaurus Rex still not ready to be my stand alone solution for DJaying. I have used it a couple times in backup situations in the real world but haven't depended upon it yet. It would actually probably serve quite well for a wedding DJ or something less stressful, but for real dance parties, the response isn't fast enough and the beatmatching capability isn't there yet. Sonorasaurus Rex is still the best overall package as far as DJaying on the iPad goes.

Touch DJ: Awesome idea but blown out on the iPad

As far as the little devices go, Touch DJ is probably the best DJ App for iPhone/iPod, as it actually lets you timestretch and do real beatmatching. It also has the coolest interface of the bunch as the interface essentially is the waveforms. You pinch and stretch to timeshift and line up the waveforms to beatmatch. It lets you split the output to two channels for cue monitoring and has made the biggest leap forward in interface design of the bunch. It includes effects, EQ and is generally really cool. Unfortunately, there is no iPad version yet and the interface is clearly designed for the screen of the smaller devices. When stretched to the iPad screen it gets kind of awkward and unruly. Aside from that, it is a really cool little DJ app and if it ever grows up, probably has the most potential of any of the ideas floating around out there for the DJ app space. The existing interface coupled with access to critical controls on the iPad screen would make this one really useful.

Quixync? Cool function, awful name

Another app with some potential for a DJaying solution is Quixpin DJ.  It also has a good interface for beatmatching that uses overlapping waveforms to really facilitate visual beatmatching. It even has a feature called "quixync" which while sounding gross actually is auto-beatmatch that is pretty accurate. It is also a iPhone centric app, but it is a little less awkward scaled up on the iPad than Touch DJ. However, it isn't quite as intuitive or innovative as Touch DJ so it is sort of a toss up between the two. I really like playing with Touch DJ and Quixpin and could see either of them fitting in my DJ setup prominently if they scale up to iPad size. 

A new player on the block which wasn't really up to par until its latest 3.0 release is DJ Mixer. It is an iPad app and FREE download totally worth checking out. I will review DJ Mixer in a later post as I have just started playing with it.

Sonorasaurus Rex
Touch DJ
Quixpin DJ
DJMixer 3 FREE!