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…

The echo out is one of the first DJ tricks everyone learns: kill the track, echo it, then drop something new over the top. It works, but it’s also a dead end. The moment you trigger that echo, you’ve lost control of it… In this tutorial, I show you a simple alternative that gives you … Continued The post Stop Using Echo Out – Do THIS Instead (Way More Fun) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

When you’re planning a set, it’s tempting to jump straight into mixing – which tracks blend well together and how. But what actually shapes a great DJ set happens much earlier than that, and it all starts with the music you choose. In this free lesson from Ferry Corsten’s Trance DJing Masterclass, Ferry walks through … Continued The post Choosing Tracks For A DJ Set: Start With The Story, Not The Mix appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Ever set a hotcue you’re never meant to press? Sounds weird – but it’s one of the smartest ways to use your performance pads. In this quick tutorial, I show you how to use “marker” hot cues to flag safe points in long tracks where you can jump to the outro and shorten a track … Continued The post How To Use Marker Hotcues For Better DJing appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

The post The women who shaped the genres appeared first on Pioneer DJ. View the full article

If your DJ sets bore YOU, then how can you expect them to thrill anyone else? This lesson will give you ideas about what makes an unforgettable DJ set and how you can start having more fun both preparing for and playing sets people will talk about for days after. Get the TRANSITIONS TOOLBOX course … Continued The post How To Make Your DJ Sets Unforgettable appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

The post What do you wish you knew before you started DJing? appeared first on Pioneer DJ. View the full article

If you use hot cues to navigate your way through DJ transitions, you’ve probably hit this problem at some point: there’s a track that works in multiple transitions, but you’ve already used up all your hot cues setting it up for one of them. What do you do? You can’t add more cues, you can’t … Continued The post The Rekordbox Trick That Gives You More Hot Cues on the Same Track appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

AlphaTheta has withdrawn Rekordbox 7.2.12 from distribution after discovering a bug that can prevent tracks exported to USB from loading correctly on Pioneer DJ and AlphaTheta hardware – the third USB-related headache for the company in the space of just a few months. The version, which was only released on 17 March, has already been … Continued The post AlphaTheta Pulls Rekordbox 7.2.12 Over USB Export Bug appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

You’ve been practising your transitions, working on your technique, and hopefully things are starting to click as a DJ. But here’s the question nobody tells you to ask: how do you know if what you’re doing sounds any good? How do you know that you’re improving? The answer is to record your practice sets and … Continued The post Recording Your Sets: The Single Best Way To Improve Your DJing appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

If you’re a Rekordbox user who doesn’t own a DDJ-GRV6 controller, you’ve probably got a load of stock drum loops cluttering up your library. Delete them, and they just come back on restart – it’s a known headache. MixMasterG (the man behind DJCU and DJ Touch 1 Deluxe) showed us the fix, and we’re passing … Continued The post Why Rekordbox Drum Loops Keep Coming Back (And How To Stop Them For Good) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

We’re putting the finishing touches to something we’ve been working on for a long time – and we think you’re going to love it. Transitions Toolbox is a brand new course built around one simple idea: a “cookbook” of 50+ done-for-you, ready-to-use DJ transitions, tricks and routines that you can drop straight into your sets. … Continued The post Our Brand New DJ Transitions Course Is Nearly Here… appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Here’s a question: what do you do if your DJ software has real-time stems separation, but your controller has no way to control it? Maybe you’re running a DDJ-FLX4 with Rekordbox, and you can see the stems sitting right there in the software, but there’s nothing on your hardware to grab hold of them. Your … Continued The post Add Stems To Any Controller With DJ Touch One Deluxe appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

The idea behind Rekordbox’s Cloud Library Sync is brilliant. Your whole music collection – cue points, loops, playlists – all synced to the cloud, accessible from any laptop, any CDJ, even your phone. Prepare a set at home, finish it on your studio laptop, walk into the venue, log in, it’s all there. That’s the … Continued The post Should DJs Use Rekordbox’s Cloud Library Sync? Our Honest Advice… appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Most DJs assume energy and tempo are the same thing. Start low, build slow, and the BPM climbing through the night tells you exactly where you are on that journey. House DJs in the early days would start a night around 120 BPM and gradually push it up to 135 by closing time. Energy built … Continued The post Energy vs Tempo: Why BPM Doesn’t Tell The Whole Story appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Using VirtualDJ software on more than one computer? There’s a built-in feature worth knowing about. It’s called CloudDrive, it’s completely free, and it works with whatever cloud storage you’re already paying for. What is CloudDrive? CloudDrive lets you sync playlists and music from VirtualDJ directly to Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, or OneDrive. Once connected, those … Continued The post VirtualDJ CloudDrive: Access Your DJ Library On Any Computer – For Free! appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

The gain controls on your mixer – also called trim or level – sit right at the top of each channel. Most controllers have them, yet loads of DJs never touch them. That’s a shame, because understanding what they do and getting into the habit of using them will make your mixes smoother, give you … Continued The post Your DJ Mixer’s Gain Controls: Three Tips You Need To Know appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Lexicon, the popular DJ library management tool, has released version 1.10 – an update that developer Christiaan Maks describes as one of the biggest yet. The headline feature is full support for Serato’s new 4.0 database format, but there’s a lot more packed in here too, including a new visual Track Timeline, play history tracking, … Continued The post Lexicon 1.10 Brings Serato 4.0 Support, Track Timeline & Play History appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Yes, you can absolutely learn to DJ online because the technical core of the craft, including beatmatching, phrasing, and software navigation, follows clear patterns that translate perfectly to video. While a screen cannot simulate the physical energy or unpredictable environment of a live crowd, it is the most efficient way to master your gear and […]View the full article

Beatport has just confirmed that Beatsource will be fully merged into its platform, bringing these two huge DJ platforms together into one single service. These are two of the biggest names out there in the DJ music world, but for a while, they’ve started to overlap, and there’s been a fair bit of confusion between […]View the full article

That tangle of mystery cables stuffed behind your gear isn’t going to sort itself out, but this practical guide is a good starting point. No more guessing, no more Googling – we answer all the questions you’ve ever had about DJ cables, from “Will this shock me?” to “Why won’t my turntable stop buzzing?” (and … Continued The post DJ Cables Explained (No More Guessing!) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

If you’ve ever shown up to a gig and realised you’ve left your USB at home, you’ll understand exactly why cloud DJing is such an attractive idea. What if your music was just there? Log in on the hardware and it’s all waiting for you. No USB to prep, carry, forget, or corrupt. Engine DJ … Continued The post Engine DJ & Dropbox: Can You Really DJ Without USB? appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Beatsource has confirmed it is shutting down as a standalone platform and merging fully into Beatport, creating a single DJ-focused streaming and download service. Beatsource subscribers are being contacted now and will be invited to transfer their accounts over the coming months – after which, access to Beatsource will be permanently terminated. We predicted exactly … Continued The post It’s Official: Beatsource Is Merging Into Beatport appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

As promised at launch, Rane and Serato have announced Serato DJ Pro support for the Rane System One, the motorised standalone DJ system. The integration uses the System One’s OmniSource architecture to let DJs switch between Serato DJ Pro and standalone sources without interruption – meaning you can have a track playing from USB on … Continued The post Rane System One Now Seamlessly Supports Serato DJ Pro appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

If you’ve got a standalone Engine DJ unit (like the Rane System One or Denon DJ’s standalone range), here’s a tip that’s going to make your home set-up a whole lot simpler. No USB drive or cables needed – your laptop doesn’t even have to be in the same room! Exporting to a USB drive … Continued The post How To DJ From Your Laptop on Engine DJ Gear (No USB Needed!) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

RANE and Serato have just confirmed that Serato DJ Pro is now officially supported on the RANE System One. Sadly, this isn’t standalone Serato built into the unit, and you still need a laptop running Serato DJ Pro. Instead, what’s changed is how Serato now sits inside the System One’s OmniSource workflow. Plug your laptop […]View the full article

The Global DJ Census 2026: Click here to access your free report! Has Serato reclaimed the top spot in DJ software? Are more DJs livestreaming? And just how many are using AI in their DJing? The answers (and much more) are in the results of our 2026 Global DJ Census, the biggest and longest-running DJ … Continued The post 5 DJ Trends To Watch In 2026 (According To 22,000 DJs) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

You know that bit of a track you’re still humming the next morning? The part someone’s trying to sing back to you at the DJ booth when they request it? That’s the hook – and according to our tutor James Hype, it’s the single most important element of any club banger. In this free lesson … Continued The post What Is a “Hook” And Why Does Every Club Banger Need One? appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Not so long ago, digital DJs had no music streaming option at all. If you wanted to DJ, you needed the music files – downloaded, bought, or ripped – on your computer or USB drive. That was it. Things have changed – fast. Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Beatport, SoundCloud, and more have arrived on DJ … Continued The post Why Serious DJs Still Buy Their Music (And Don’t Rely On Streaming) appeared first on Digital DJ Tips. View the full article

Alan D. Oldham, better known as DJ T-1000, carries the history of Detroit techno in everything he makes. His new EP Ghosthack bridges that legacy with the immediacy of modern production. The music feels tactile and deliberate, reflecting a workflow that has never lost its connection to physical control. At the center of that process is Maschine. For Oldham, it’s the hub that keeps his creativity anchored. The pads, sequencing, and portability all allow him to move fast while staying grounded in rhythm and feel. Ghosthack came together through this direct, instinct-driven approach, merging old-school grit with modern precision. From his early analog sessions in Detroit to …