DJ's: Is the iPad Winning?
I've got a few DJ gigs coming up in a few different styles. As we've covered here before, I've really opened myself up to doing just about any kind of gig. I've benefited from this completely. It's expanded my abilities, my listening, and the kinds of opportunities that come my way.
One of the upcoming gigs is a chill set, which is basically what I've been asking for. Rather than put everyone to sleep playing a bunch of my own music, I'm mixing in lots and lots of other things. It started with a provided chill house playlist. most of which I was familiar with.
Finally a meatball.
I've really gone down the rabbit hole comparing Algoriddim djay to my Denon Prime Go +, and I've got to say, for music that mixes this easily, there is no comparison. What an iPad-based djay rig can do versus my Denon stand-alone is remarkable. I've got the Reloop Mixture Pro, and for portability, usability, practice, and everything else, it is hands down easiest.
Total flow.
The other big surprise is that, as a lifelong Apple Music user—and occasional Spotify user for professional reasons—Spotify wins. When you load a playlist, the BPMs and keys are automatically calculated. There is so much prep work I don't have to do because of that.
Why can't apple just do this?
This sorting by BPM is honestly life-changing from a time and preparation perspective. All I really have to do is listen, pull things together, throw them in a playlist, and then hit a button.
Side note: I almost always sort by BPM. I never sort by key.
This is the setup: iPad, Mixtour Pro, Zoom L-6, and either an SP-404MKII or an EP-133 for side beats and samples. I'll probably use the SP-404 because I can pipe my phone in via USB-C and have a backup of my backup's backup.
Although I really do love being on the Denon, the technology on the iPad side is just out of hand. It'll be interesting to see where these deck-based software platforms take us. Maybe Pioneer and the traditional hardware ecosystem won't have a stranglehold forever.
For the mobile DJ—someone like me, a high-functioning amateur—this is truly revelatory.
I'm actually excited about sitting around making playlists, knowing that the admin work stops here.
Wowser.