DJ Player has always set itself apart from the iOS crowd. Instead of working within the established guidelines, frameworks, and third-party options, Gábor Szántó just goes ahead and writes his own. And the many years of doing just that has culminated to this point. DJ Player Pro has been teased a couple of time, but now it’s available, and it’s hot.

DJ Player always did things differently. The interface eschewed the usual trappings and walked its own path. And that’s definitely still the case with DJ Player Pro. And in a pretty serious first, DJ Player Pro offers Stems compatibility. Only Traktor has that right now.

Anyway, a few words about the release:

DJ Player Pro stands on the solid foundation DJ Player has made. DJ Player was always the most advanced iOS DJ app on the technology side, but not sexy enough. And you know, DJs have huge ego, where attractiveness is a serious factor. DJ Player Pro has great focus on chic.

The most interesting improvements are:

1)  Innovative UI/UX seamlessly tied to iOS affordances.

Unlike other DJ apps, which require users to open/close panels when manipulating the waveform — DJ Player Pro makes the large waveforms visible as well as most controls available simultaneously (!), allowing for instinctual, instant and easy audio manipulation.

2) On the A8 CPU, DJ Player Pro runs and analyses faster than Traktor, Serato or even other laptop DJ software on the Retina Macbook Pro – meaning DJ Player Pro offers better than desktop-class performance on iOS.

3) DJ Crowdsourced Cloud.

Safe storage and instant access for cue points, loops and bpm data in the cloud. Instant track preparation with Cloud Community Power: if a new song has been prepared by fellow DJs, you can download the cue points already prepared out-of-the-box. Automatic data sync for all your devices.

4) The first iOS app with Native Instruments STEMS support.

Native Instrument’s new multitrack STEMS format on 4 decks on iOS with super low latency. 4 decks with 4 stems each -> 16 tracks with time stretching and advanced effects at 3 ms latency.

DJ PLAYER PRO — ALL CHANGE

While DJ Player is sticking around as a paid for option, it’ll be a lesser product than Pro, and will lack many of the new features that will be in the release version and those that will developed. But the Pro model is different and quite radical.

The DJ Player Pro app is free to download and use without any feature restrictions. But you’ll get regular nags to subscribe to the DJ Cloud part of the Pro offering, something that you’ll feel compelled to do because the nagging is really annoying. Essentially DJ cloud offers what Traktor DJ tried and failed to deliver — cross device syncing of data. That means loops, cues, BPM, beat grids, and key. Not only that, if you subscribe to the DJ Cloud, this data can be shared with the wider community so you get access to other user’s defined data too.

The interface is radically different to anything out there too, and does take quite a bit of getting used to. While you can fire it up and stab around, it’s way better to take some time to learn it. I compare it to Ableton Live in that it’s not so much a learning curve but a learning wall. But once you get to know it, the raw power and advanced feature set is right there. I suggest you do that right away to get the most from it. Here’s the manual.

But it’s Stems compatibility that is interesting. As you might expect, Gábor didn’t bother waiting for the official SDK, and reverse engineered the format himself — not just the split MP4 format but compressor and limiter support too. He says they sound identical to NI’s originals. Good work sir.

But why listen to me wibble on when you can grab it for yourself from the App Store for free.