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TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT ALGORIDDIM PRO DJAY

Algoriddim step up their game...

Algoriddim's djay is a name that is best known for the rather excellent iOS app, which has gone from strength-to-strength, even winning an Apple Design Award in 2011, but this software has actually been around since 2006 when it was first released for OSX.

The ethos behind djay has always been to make a DJing platform that is fun to use and very easy to learn, as well as being easy on the pocket. It has been marketed towards casual mixers and the "mix curious", but that is about to change.

The latest incarnation of djay, djay Pro, is clearly aimed at taking this software out of the amateur leagues and into the majors, which means taking on the big boys like Serato and Traktor.

Algoriddim are making the bold claim that djay Pro is a complete toolkit for performing DJs, but does this software have what it takes to make it in the cutthroat world of professional DJing?

The biggest game changer that djay Pro has on offer is without doubt the fact that it has Spotify integration, something that is going to be of huge interest to DJs both new and old.

Not only does this mean DJs have access to over 20 million tracks but thanks to the slick job Algoriddim have done, all of these tracks have BPM and key information already entered. A slight fly in the ointment is that the audio quality is not fantastic, as tracks streamed from Spotify are encoded at 96 kHz using the Ogg Vorbis format.

While acceptable for parties and possibly bar gigs, it just won't cut the mustard on the kind of soundsystems found at big clubs.

Another nifty trick up djay Pro's sleeve is the Echonest powered recommendation feature, which suggests which tracks should be played next choosing from tracks stored on user's computers, as well as from Spotify's library. It also works very well with iTunes, with all of the relevant data associated with tracks displayed within djay Pro.

Best of all, there is no need to import the tracks from iTunes — it works seamlessly from the moment djay Pro is first opened.

When it comes to the business of mixing, DJs can choose from either the traditional two decks and a mixer layout, which djay is famous for, or a waveform view which supports up to four decks.

Djay Pro also has the bases covered when it comes to effects, with a decent selection available from the get-go, and more advanced effects available as a paid upgrade. A generous amount of loop controls are also on offer including Bounce, which is similar to Serato's Slip Mode.

Manual looping and pad looping assigns loop length and filtering to an X-Y pad control. Three cue points can be assigned per track, and there is also a sampler section available, which has 12 sample slots on offer.

Djay Pro has kept all of the best features of the original djay software and added an awful lot of very cool new features, some of which are groundbreaking enough to potentially ensure that DJs will flock to this software and ignore other titles completely.

However there are some features missing in djay Pro that are standard for Traktor and Serato, such as DVS vinyl support, which means the old skool are more likely to stick with what they have, while the newcomers eat up djay Pro and all it has to offer them.

Overall djay Pro is a great piece of software that manages to pack in a lot of very slick features while keeping the price very low. This software is very easy to use and could be the perfect way for users to take their first steps into the world of DJing, especially given the huge music library on offer from Spotify.