The future of (digital) deejaying…

As 2011 comes to an end we reflect on what the year brought to the worlds of nightlife and DJ’ing. Nightlife was relatively unchanged, except for the fact that radio/commercial “house” music came into it’s own (we still think most of that stuff is garbage and calling it “house” at all is a travesty), but digital really took a few steps forward in the world of the club DJ. Both in popularity and functionality.

Traktor Kontrol S2

The big move was with the all-in-one or “DJ in a box” controller. A MIDI controller featuring at least two decks, a mixer, and a built in soundcard. Truly plug and play for those just starting out in the digital realm (or starting out in the DJ world at all). The “DJ in a box” controller is just a few year fad though. Something more than acceptable for the DJ that brings all his own gear and plays all night in bars or at private parties, but you will never see clubs adopt any of these controllers, even the Pioneer’s, and pro deejays aren’t going to want to be lugging these things around and trying to find a place to set up in a booth that already has thousands of $$$ worth of superior deejay equipment in it.

CDJ 2000

No, while some are claiming those all-in-one boxes are the future they aren’t. Something else is going to bridge the gap between them and a more traditional club set up. Companies like the already club standard Pioneer have hinted at the future with what they are doing with the CDJ2000. The price is out of reach for most people but you don’t have to have CDJ2000′s at home to be able to play on them. The CDJ2000 can control the DJ’s choice of software (Traktor, Serato Scratch Live, Virtual DJ) via a new, advanced, protocol called HID (Human Interface Device) over USB, giving the CD player full control over the software’s functions, and they can also play music files without the DJ bringing a computer at all, but instead just a flash drive, via Pioneer’s new Rekordbox system.

As this technology goes forward CDJ-type controllers will continue to be standard in clubs and HID will be the standard of working/traveling club deejays. Sasha, for example, just ditched all his controllers and gear he would travel with and uses CDJ2000′s exclusively (until that changes)… The current CDJ900/2000 firmware already supports four CDJs connected (via Ethernet) if you are using Rekordbox. Just one USB cable and you are ready to go. For SSL or Traktor you can connect four CDJ2000′s via HID as well, you’ll just need a USB hub (until they update the firmware to allow the Link function to work with software other than Rekordbox).

Rane Sixty Eight

Going further than CD/MIDI/HID decks with built in soundcards are mixers with soundcards built in. These already existed with things like the Rane SixtyEight and the Pioneer DJM2000, but these products are limited (the Rane only works with Scratch Live and is ridiculously overpriced, and while the Pioneer’s soundcard will work as a MIDI controller for pretty much any MIDI software, it does not enable tactile control of any decks). A nice start but not quite there.

What we are about to see is what Pioneer hinted at when they released the DJM900 this year. This mixer really does it all with a fully functional 4/4 in/out soundcard that can be used by almost any DJ software in existence, but it also is Traktor Scratch certified, and also outputs timecode signals for use with any other timecode software.

DJM 900

It just makes too much sense. The future is showing up with nothing more than your laptop, headphones, and a USB cable. That’s it! No controllers (maybe people will still carry their own Kontrol X1-type mini controllers for control of software effects), no audio interface, no multicore cables, etc… No setting up anything. Open up your software (which will all work on the new players/mixers) and start playing. That’s it. That is the future of the club deejay. Oh ya, and CD deejays can continue to keep playing the way they still always have been (there’s A LOT of pro club jocks that still only play CDs). The DJ-in-a-box fad will be short lived and even though it seems popular now pro’s are not really adopting it now anyways (it’s more of a hobbyist/wedding/bar deejay thing). There is no doubt about it.

Of course the DJM900 doesn’t solve all the problems of the digital DJ just yet. There is still the issue of all the different platforms, not everything works together perfectly, and interoperability isn’t quite there yet. But until it does the future is already here for clubs that invest in a DJM900 and a Serato SL box as this will cover 99% of digital DJ’s in the world today. Laptop, headphones, and a USB cable! For clubs adopting this mixer/interface platform that is it!

Will the next generation, maybe 2012′s batch of new and cool shit, get us closer to interoperability the club/DJ world needs?

~Vivenite

P.S. I’m not saying it will necessarily be Pioneer that becomes the standard club controller, although I think it will be, but some other company may up their game enough and/or be first to market with it and they will be the next Pioneer.