Regulars here will know the name Gábor Szántó. He’s the very smart guy behind the technical marvel that is DJ Player for iOS. He’s also a bit of a lone wolf, shunning such things as APIs and help from other people, and has created a fully handcrafted app that does things in its own sweet way with Gábor’s own vision of what DJing on the mobile platform should be.
But not everyone gets his vision, or indeed agrees with it. So Gábor set up a Slack channel, firstly to connect DJs around the world, but also to get some input into making DJ Player a better fit for everyone. And the result of that Slack channeling is DJ Player 9.
Here’s some words from the man himself:
DJ PLAYER 9.0 IS BOTH CLASSIC, MODERN, FULL STACK AND CROWDSOURCED
The upcoming major version of DJ Player Professional will support two major interface options: Classic and Modern.
The Classic interface builds on the legacy of DJ Player 7 with focus on contrast, handheld usage for smaller screens and DVS + portablism.
The popular minus-plus transport controls of DJ Player 1-5 arereturning too. It supports all new features introduced since DJ Player 7, including STEMS.
The Modern interface continues the direction of DJ Player 8, but the over-the-waveform controls are removed, because they were too confusing for many users.
Every interface has a dedicated FX screen for each deck. The FX screen has 3 fx pads, plus a combo option for more interesting effect combinations.
The waveform displays are improved to provide better track structure overview and beat localization. Some beta testers say that they have never seen a better looking and more detailed representation in any other DJ software before.
Users can switch between the user interfaces with the yin-yang symbol immediately.
FULL STACK
The improved look and the wast number of new controls doesn’t mean reduced performance, the app runs as fast as before. The frame rate is 60 fps still, down to the 5.5 years old iPad 2. The quality of the graphics is not reduced for older models: the iPad 2 receives the same blurry-glass look with DJ Player, a feature Apple could not deliver with iOS.
DJ Player offers smoother performance (such as faster track analyzation) than desktop DJ software. Because DJ Player Pro is the only full-stack DJ software in the world. What’s that?
Imagine how a middle-class car is manufactured. It’s assembled from many components, mostly made by third-party suppliers. The result is good enough to get people from A to B every day.
DJ software is similar. Developers use many components by third-party suppliers, such as time-stretching, effects or features of the operating system. The result may be good enough for A to B mixing.
DJ Player Pro is different.
It doesn’t have any third-party parts. Every single component is researched, developed and fine-tuned in-house. This unprecedented level of integration allows DJ Player Pro to provide better performance, better responsiveness and cleaner sound than any other DJ software or shiny $$$$ mixer.
In other words, DJ Player Pro is your Formula 1 car for the DJ world.
CROWDSOURCING
DJ Player is backed by the #djtechnology community on Slack (http://djplayerpro.com/community), which has 1032 members and growing.
DJ Player 9.0 was designed using the #djplayer9_plan/#djplayer9_beta channels. Every member of the DJ Technology Community was invited to comment and discuss the plans, test the betas and move DJ Player forward.
The discussion was really interesting and spinning sometimes on unexpected topics (such as niche features). Some users were even creating custom mockups. A few members were shy to share their thoughts on a public channel, but sent very long and detailed emails about bugs, wishes and ideas.
#djplayer9_plan participants came from 45 countries in 11 different timezones, and i’m very, very, very proud of them!
Thank you very much for all members of the community for the most valuable feedback! Enjoy DJ Player 9.0 and keep the conversation going, as no “point zero” version is perfect, and not every reasonable wish could be implemented.
Gábor Szántó
creator of DJ Player
To supplement this extensive tome of words are a selection of screen shots below to show what DJ Player 9 is all about.
YOU TALKED — HE LISTENED
So Gábor has talked to his customers directly, and importantly listened. Adding the classic mode probably rubbed him up the wrong way, but it’s better to make the app accessible to more people and not exclude those that might want jogwheels on screen. NI tried to impose their vision on the scene, and that’s not been received especially well by everyone. Choice is good, and that’s what DJ Player now offers.
But there’s considerably more to DJ Player than adding some jogs on screen, and the relative simplicity of the screenshots belies the actual power and performance of DJ Player. I would suggest digging beneath the surface and seeing just what can be done. Advanced MIDI, DVS, and Stems support are just a few of power features that others lack right now.
GALLERY
