TouchDJ – DJing On The IPhone

By Muxx - December 3rd, 2009 - News - View Comments

I’m a bit of a gear head. I love new technology, hardware and software. There’s always new gear and cool programs that I want to try out.

When I saw that the IPhone now had a DJ app I thought it would be worth mentioning if you’re interested in DJ software and apps.

Introducing… TouchDJ.

TouchDJ

This is the first, full on DJing app for the IPhone – what a perfect platform could you not agree more? You get the full on touch screen of the IPhone which is a great way to interact with the app.

You can do just about anything in relation to DJing: mixing, scratching, eqing and it allows you connect some speakers as well.

Although I’m a bit skeptical about how well one could use this app for DJing, I must admit it looks very tempting to invest in an Iphone (since I need a new phone anyway).

Although the TouchDJ won’t be able stand on the same levels as a pair of decks, I’m sure many will find it useful in their sets or if they just want to have fun.

Let’s look at the features

The overall interface of the app looks very sleek and easy to use. The IPhone uses touch, obviously, which allows you to rock the tracks back and forth like vinyl or CDs. You’re able to control the tracks like you would in DJing.

TouchDJ uses a thing called “Visual Mixing” which breaks up the tracks visually so you can see the bass separated from the mids and his. TouchDJ claims you’ll be able to mix without headphones (wait for that train wreck!) which seems a bit out there but I’m sure you could get good enough with it to do so.

It does come with a beat sync feature but we all know this is a big foul for DJing. If you really want to DJ correctly, you need to know how to beatmatch.

The best part of TouchDJ is that you get to use your MP3s. Sometimes vinyl can be restricting depending on your area or how much you can invest but everyone is able to get a hold of MP3s through places like iTunes.

The biggest concern I had when checking out TouchDJ was how it would be able to play back the sound and mix with headphones because the IPhone only has one stereo out port. My question was answered when they showed how you can hook up a splitter and connect headphones and speakers – nice!

The one major drawback of TouchDJ is that, at the moment, you’re not able to import your iTunes music straight from your phone. You’ll need additional software to place it in the TouchDJ music library – bummer.

So, enough of me yapping about it, we all know you skipped over this just to watch the videos, so check em out below.

TouchDJ videos

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What do you think about the TouchDJ, worth it? Not worth it?

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  • OK for a quick review just on the mixer features.

    EQs are terrible... when you cut the lows it cuts a lot into the mid-range frequencies so it's really no good for killing bass effectively during the mix. But the FX slider is nice.

    It's hard to manipulate all three EQ ranges at once on a single channel because they are so close to each other, but grabbing one EQ from both channels lets you effectively multitask between them.

    Pitch bend works well.

    The flashing beats visually on the wavelength do help a bit with the beatmatching and half-way make up for having no BPM counter... but if you know your music you can manage anyway.

    That's all I wanted to say off hand without writing an article on this! I think it's still worth it in the end if you find yourself away from your decks and wanting to practice some mix ideas.
  • Muxxex
    Thanks a ton Psyence for a follow up on this.

    You cleared up a lot of the concerns I had about it. When you think about the fact that you're taking two large turntables and a mixer then trying to cram them down into an IPhone it seems like it would be dead in the water from the get-go.

    I highly doubt you're going to see anyone professionally mixing with this but I bet it would be really great for road trips and just in a small house party environment where you're mixing more for ambiance instead of trying to be the show.
  • I'm probably going to give in and end up buying this so I can practice mix ideas on the go... see what tracks blend well so I can make a playlist anywhere... but I personally wouldn't record my sets on it. I'll let you know what I think (if I get it)!
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