djay for iPhone

CNET Editors' review

by: Jason Parker on April 26, 2011

Djay for iPhone and iPod Touch brings two turntables to your touch screen so you can beat match, scratch, and record mixes of music from your library. A unique interface lets you hold your iPhone sideways to view the turntables side by side, or you can switch to vertical and view a single turntable to adjust the EQ and BPM and get more screen area in which to work with your mixes.

Djay boasts a "hyper-realistic low-latency touch-screen interface," and we found that it definitely feels more precise than similar DJ apps in the category. As an added bonus, your cover art will show up on each record, making it easy to identify your music at a glance.

Along with the basic controls for selecting songs, playing, and crossfading between tracks, Djay comes with a few more controls that will come in handy for mobile mixing. You can match songs on your own and adjust beats per minute for smooth transitions or you can have Djay autosync BPM for you. There is even an Automix function to let the app mix your music automatically. The app recognizes your playlists as well, so just queue up a big playlist of dance songs, for example, and then let the app do all the transitions for you.

Among the many other features are the ability to create a cue point trigger to start the music on one track at a specific point; full visual waveforms, so you can pick out specific parts of a song quickly; and autocut scratching, which lets you use two fingers while scratching for beat matched cutting.

Overall, Djay for iPhone and iPod Touch is probably the best low-cost DJ app we've seen yet in the iTunes App Store. The unique screen orientation feature that lets you view one or both turntables makes mixing and fiddling with settings easier, and automated mixing and beat-syncing features mean that just about anyone can create a good mix.