DJ Forum

Below is a list of useful links for the best DJ gear, controllers & software. Please reply to this topic if you find any other useful links ... Year Links 2025 5 Best Pro DJ Controllers (Learning To DJ) Top 5 DJ Controllers Under $600 (Equipboard) Best All-In-One Standalone DJ Systems (Digital DJ Tips) Best beginner DJ controllers 2025 (Music Radar) Best DJ Controllers (The DJ Shop) Top 7 Best DJ Controllers of 2025 (Product London) 2024 Best DJ controllers 2024: Hands-on control for Serato, rekordbox, Traktor and more - our expert picks Best DJ Gear 2024: 11 best DJ software for mixing and playlisting in 2024 Best DJ plugins of 2024: Free software and apps for DJing…

Reading a crowd as a DJ means observing how people respond to your music and adjusting your track selection, energy and direction in real time. This ability to look at a crowd of people and figure out what they want is one of the most important skills out there and is what separates a great […]View the full article

Got older tracks you love but can’t play because they just don’t hit hard enough on a modern dancefloor? The drums are weak, the kick doesn’t punch, and dancers don’t respond. That’s the problem a redrum solves – and with stems, you can do it live, right in your set. In this free lesson from … Continued The post Live Redrums: How To Make Any Track Hit Harder Using Stems appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

The post From EFX to RMX, we explore the evolution of our DJ effectors appeared first on Pioneer DJ. View the full article

The latest update doubles down on creative visuals, smarter BPM control, and enhanced lyric intelligence for DJs. VirtualDJ continues its steady evolution with the release of VirtualDJ 2026 Part 2, an update that leans heavily into AI-assisted performance, all while keeping the needs of hands-on DJs front and center. Rather than chasing automation for its [...] The post VirtualDJ 2026 Part 2 Expands AI-Driven DJ Tools appeared first on DJ LIFE Magazine. View the full article

VirtualDJ has released another major update to its software, adding AI-generated visuals, improved lyrics detection, and – most interestingly for us – a long-teased “Fluid BPM” system with a BPM Stabiliser designed specifically for DJs who mix without the sync button. Truly reliable auto beatgrids Reliable variable beatgrid analysis has been a hot topic since … Continued The post VirtualDJ Gets Fluid Beatgridding & AI Video Visuals appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Ever wondered what everything does on the back of a professional DJ mixer? What plugs in where? Why there are so many different kinds of sockets? You’re in the right place. Understanding mixer connections helps you work with any DJ gear, in any venue – controllers, CDJs, all of it. Professional mixers contain pretty much … Continued The post DJ Mixer Inputs & Outputs: Every Connection Explained appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

With thousands of new tracks released every week and millions already out there, building a quality DJ music collection can feel overwhelming. How do you go from “all the world’s music” to having the right tracks ready for your next gig? The answer is our Playlist Pyramid method – a simple, systematic approach we’ve taught … Continued The post The Playlist Pyramid: From Music Discovery To Great DJ Sets appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

TrackSniff is a new web-based AI tool that does something Shazam can’t – it analyses entire DJ mixes and returns timestamped tracklists. The service actually launched in August 2025, but it only just came to our attention when one of our students flagged it for us. The idea is that you paste a YouTube, Mixcloud, … Continued The post TrackSniff Is A Shazam Alternative Built For DJ Mixes appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Want to see how a legend organises music? In this free lesson from DJ Jazzy Jeff’s How To DJ Right (just one of the full suite of DJ and production courses you get with an All-Access Pass), Jeff opens up his Serato library and walks us through how he thinks about genres and styles – … Continued The post DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Genre System: How A Legend Organises 40 Years Of Music appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

If you’ve ever switched from a DJ controller to CDJs and found yourself accidentally triggering tracks when you just wanted to preview a hot cue, you’ve discovered one of DJing’s most confusing quirks. It’s the difference between gated and normal hot cues, and it can really trip you up if you don’t know what’s happening. … Continued The post Gated vs “Normal” Hot Cues: Why They’re Different On CDJs & Controllers appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

London’s iconic Ministry of Sound club reopened its main room – The Box – on 30 January as part of its 35th anniversary celebrations, after replacing its instantly recognisable Martin Audio sound system with a new KV2 custom rig, controversially now fully integrated into the room’s structure. This move alone was definitely risky: the iconic … Continued The post Ministry of Sound Reopens After Risky Main Room Rethink appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

If you’re a Rekordbox user who’s been tearing your hair out because your auto loops won’t line up properly – even though your beatgrids are perfect – we’ve found the problem, and more importantly, the fix. This isn’t about using quantize to keep your loops tight during performance. This is a specific bug in Rekordbox … Continued The post Rekordbox Auto Loop Bug & How To Fix It appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Every turntable released since the Technics 1210 MK2 has tried to copy its layout, feel, and legendary build quality. Technics got everything right with this one, as the Mk2 remains the most sought-after version (later models arguably didn’t improve things). While hi-fi enthusiasts use these turntables to carefully place vinyl and kick back to enjoy … Continued The post 7 Technics Turntable Hacks Every DJ Should Know appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Scrolling through thousands of tracks trying to find what to play next? That’s no way to DJ! The solution is simple: stop thinking song-to-song and start organising your music into “minisets”. In this free lesson from our Mixing For Mobile & Wedding DJs course (just one of the full suite of DJ and production courses … Continued The post The “Miniset” Method: Organising Music For Better DJ Sets (Free Lesson) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Ever watched a DJ cutting channel faders in time with the music and thought it looked too difficult? That technique is called a “fader cut”, and while it looks cool, mastering the skill itself is pretty straightforward. We break it all down in this tutorial. If you want to add some “flash” to your next … Continued The post How DJs Use “Fader Cuts” To Elevate Their Sets (Free Lesson) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Since its release, DJ Studio has occupied a great sweet spot in the DJ software world. It’s designed to make DJ edits, mashups and mixes, without the extra production complexities of a full-blown DAW like Ableton. Instead, it’s always felt like something that was designed by DJs for DJs, and its workflow and tools really […]View the full article

Well, this isn’t the news any of us wanted to hear today. According to a report from Create Digital Music (CDM), Native Instruments – the Berlin company behind Traktor – has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings in Germany. This essentially means decisions about NI’s future are now out of the hands of its executives and owners. … Continued The post Native Instruments Insolvency Proceedings: What Now For Traktor? appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

All those knobs, faders, and buttons can make your DJ mixer feel pretty overwhelming. But here’s the truth: you only need to grasp a handful of things to get mixing. In this free lesson pulled from our Complete DJ Course (just one of 22+ courses inside All-Access Pass), we break down your DJ mixer’s basic … Continued The post DJ Mixer Basics: Everything Beginners Should Know (Free Lesson) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Hercules has just dropped the DJControl T10 at NAMM, and we got an exclusive chance to give it a hands-on tryout on the show floor. The big headline news is those huge 10-inch motorised platters. While we’ve had plenty of motorised controllers before, like the DDJ-REV7 or Rane One MKII, this takes things to a whole […]View the full article

There’s a view online that keeps coming back: if you need DJ lessons, you probably shouldn’t bother DJing at all. The skills are simple enough to figure out yourself, and anyone with real potential will pick it up after a couple of YouTube videos and some time messing about with software. If it hasn’t “clicked” … Continued The post Why You Should Learn To DJ (Even If You Never Plan To “Make It”) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

The post How to navigate the thriving world of “open decks” appeared first on Pioneer DJ. View the full article

AlphaTheta and Pioneer DJ always have one of the biggest setups at NAMM, complete with a fully functioning DJ stage. This year, Laidback Luke, Mix Master Mike, and Netsky all performed throughout the convention. But at NAMM, the spotlight is mostly on the products. AlphaTheta brought out its full range of kit, from its Euphonia rotay mixer to its flagship CDJ-3000X players to all-in-one DJ units. Three items in particular that were catching a lot of eyes were the DJM-V5 mixer, the RMX-IGNITE effects unit, and the SLAB Serato studio controller. The DJM-V5 and the RMX-IGNITE were actually linked together on one table with a pair of CDJ-3000Xs. An AlphaTheta rep was always c…

With not much changing in DJ hardware throughout 2025, some of the biggest developments in DJ tech last year were in software. (That’s started to change with NAMM in early 2026, but that’s another story…) In this roundup, we look at the state of play with the big names, and examine some of the trends … Continued The post DJ Software: Who’s Leading The Way In 2026? appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Hercules has teased the DJControl T10 at NAMM 2026, a new DJ controller featuring 10-inch motorised jogwheels – the largest motorised platters ever seen on a controller. Positioned under $1,500 and bundled with a Serato DJ Pro licence, the T10 represents Hercules’ most ambitious attempt yet to bring turntable feel to the controller market. In … Continued The post Hercules Unveils DJControl T10 With 10″ Motorised Jogwheels appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Reloop has announced the PTB-2, an ultra-compact 2+1-channel DJ mixer designed specifically for portable and truly mobile DJ set-ups. The mixer features an integrated USB-C audio interface with djay Pro DVS support, Bluetooth connectivity, and – crucially for portablists – the ability to run entirely from USB-C power, meaning no mains outlet required. The PTB-2 … Continued The post Reloop PTB-2 Mixer Brings DVS & Bluetooth To Portable Set-Ups appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Reloop has announced the RP-5000 MK4, the latest iteration of its direct-drive turntable pitched as a price-conscious model for working DJs. The German company says it has redesigned the chassis and developed a new brushless DC motor, while keeping the familiar layout that RP-series users will recognise. The headline spec is 2.5kg/cm starting torque from … Continued The post Reloop RP-5000 MK4: Updated Direct-Drive Turntable Arrives appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

With an industry-standard torque, a refined brushless DC motor and a slew of features to reduce wow and flutter, the RP-5000 MK4 is a bold new turntable from Reloop. It’s a tactile, old-school bit of kit that’s learnt some new tricks – and it could be the mid-range turntable you’re looking for. While Reloop is known for its reliable turntables, the RP-5000 MK4 builds upon the company’s formula, optimising and enhancing legacy features. The result is a machine with glimmers of club-standard quality, with its 2.5 kg/cm torque, an intuitive new layout and a refined chassis... The post Reloop launches high-spec turntable, the RP-5000 MK4 appeared first on MusicTech. View the …

A new Engine DJ–powered flagship merges motorized platter control with true laptop-free performance for open-format DJs. Rane has officially raised the bar for open-format DJs with the launch of the SYSTEM ONE, the world’s first motorized standalone DJ system. Marking Rane’s first hardware to feature onboard Engine DJ, SYSTEM ONE delivers a powerful blend of [...] The post Rane SYSTEM ONE: The World’s First Motorized Standalone DJ System appeared first on DJ LIFE Magazine. View the full article

DJ effects are more than just tools for decoration – they are essential instruments for shaping the energy and flow of a performance. At their best, effects allow you to add your own sonic signature to a track, turning a standard transition into a memorable moment on the dancefloor. Understanding DJ effects in greater detail gives you the power to manipulate tension and release with precision. Whether you’re using a subtle high-pass filter to blend two basslines without clashing, or an aggressive “stutter” to signal an upcoming drop, effects help you communicate your creative intent to the audience. Learning the “how” and “why” behind these tools means you can move beyond…