DJ PROGRAM

[addy287]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone out there can tell me of any good DJ programs that i can downliad for free, any help would be appreciated.

[trentmeyer23]

Virtual DJ isn't bad, its not the best but it will do the job.

[xoom]

to be brutally honest mate you will struggle to find one for free ..... thats any good that is ...... reason being is this sort of software is extremely specialised and u know developers have to get paid ..... the best of the sorts that are out there that are in what i would say the affordable price range as there are a few that are totally priced up there as its to support clubs etc but yeah ur choices could be Dance v7 (formally known as dance ejay) or Sony Acid pro ..... both of these have shareware/demo version so download one and then see which you prefer ..... i used the first one for a while i had an older version i bought and found the loops and samples were perfect to gettting started and hey they are royalty free as well ...... u know its not a crime to actually have to pay for software .... lol ..... the internet has bread this "everything" must be free culture but u know im of the school of if it does the job then its worth the money.

[Foss]

This might seem like a silly question, but when you say 'DJ programs' I assume you want something for mixing music? Or are you after something for making music? I ask because the general misconception seems to be that a DJ mixes music and makes it.

Unfortunately, either way, you aren't going to get much for free. If its good, it costs money. Copies of software are always downloadable via torrents, etc, but of course I'd never actually recommend you pirate the software. It can be expensive (especially the music production software) but like xoom said, if its worth using, its worth paying for.

If you're looking to just mix tunes, go for Virtual DJ or Traktor. I found Virtual DJ to be more user friendly, but Traktor is better for external control so if you think later you might want to get an external USB controller to control your tunes, Traktor will probably be your better option. Either way, software is really no substitute for proper DJ hardware. I used Virtual DJ for years and it just doesn't compare to actually mixing with hardware. The techniques you learn to mix with software mostly don't translate when you start mixing with CD players or vinyl, and whatever you do avoid using the waveform in Virtual DJ, and thing like auto beatmatch functions. They take the skill out of the art, because you aren't doing anything except pressing play.

If you are looking to make your own music, the eJay series are a good starting point. Well, they were 10+ years ago when I started out anyway. I'm not sure what the eJay stuff is like nowadays because I haven't used it for years. When I used it (back in the days of Dance eJay 2) it basically gave you thousands of loops, and you could layer up to 16 of them together to create tunes. The downside, at least back then, is it wasn't much chop if you wanted to write your own loops, so when the time came that I decided I wanted to write everything from scratch I switched to a program called Fruity Loops, or FL Studio as its now called. This is a full blown studio program which lets you create your own sounds from scratch, make loops from them, layer them (much like in eJay) and even layer FX over them to create songs. It rivals (and personally, I think is far better than) much more expensive programs such as Cubase and Pro Tools, and is much more suitable for dance music production, although I also work with rock/metal and r'n'b artists and find it works great for that as well.

All of the above cost money to aquire legally, but are worth every penny. Good luck, and happy mixing.