(#1?) djay2-competitor now compatible w Reloop Beatpad... New ideas?

Old Forum djay for iPad
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I’m a longtime user of djay/djay2 enjoying it a lot and it has definately taken my mixing to new levels. It’s a good tool!

The last days I’ve been playing around with the latest version of DJ Player on my Reloop Beatpad.

Some things strikes me as very good, or better (i won’t mention the areas where djay2 still “wins”, like the buy-in-app effects for example)

For example:

* the library gives place to all of the title by using two lines instead of one as djay2 and you can sort on comments (comments are displayed).

This makes it possible to actually see which remix it is… something that is, of course essential for a dj, how can you not know what track you are going to play?

* when the track is playing you can also see all of the artist/title

* The current effect in use is displayed without having to open an extra window

* The loop size is displayed withot having to open an extra window so you can easy and fast see the current size and change it

* the recorded set is exported together with a textfile containing all the tracks and their position in the mix, a very good, and timesaving idea! Unfortunately it doesn’t come with bpm and key, but i’m sure it would be easy to add

* The sensitivity of the gain works exact, like as if i can feel that i’m in perfect control of every tiny little adjustment,

* Accurate sound level meters helps, showing red when distorsion occurs.

Eventhough they are super-sensitive i think i can master setting the “so essential for a great mix” levels with some training eventhough i am not using the autogain.

In djay2 on the reloop beatpad i sometimes feel that the gain control is not reacting fast enough and it’s not precise.

It’s difficult to explain, I’ve said it before on various forums… but no response and no comments anywhere yet. I could be wrong, but i definately felt a difference when playing with dj player

There still seem to be some problems with the mapping of the looping of dj player on the reloop beatpad, but thats probably a bug (i think?)

I’d say that for now it’s equal to, or even beats the djay2 on reloop beatpad, and i’m going to give it some spins with real sets.

I’m a paying and happy customer of djay2 i should add.

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I’ve also had a play. But I’m having trouble keeping tracks in sync even with beat match. Tracks tend to drift apart and not stay in perfect sync (syncing beat grids of both tracks). Am I missing anything?

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There are some features in here I wish Djay 2 had. Manual BPM entry for example. However the UI is terrible of that app, although everything works very snappy. Maybe if Djay 2 and DJ Player had a baby…

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I understand your arguments djts2, maybe I was a little fast to judge DJ Player. I am a UI designer / software developer by profession so maybe I’ll help him out a little. I agree with some of the choices they made in DJ Player and will try it out since I am experiencing some basic flaws in Djay 2 — unable to achieve sync at times, wrong BPM analysis, loop doesn’t snap to the beatgrid. Is there a possibility to record your sets in DJ Player?

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dJ Player still lacks Spotify integration unfortuonately.

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I took a look at the program. I don’t have my beatpad at the moment. I tried it with Deezer.
I don’t think Deezer works as comfortable as Spotify. I wil have a look at it another day. I like the idea you can upload your own music unlimmited. When it’s easy to create playlists from my personal uploads, it’s worth looking in to.

Perhaps it’s a good emergency dj app, for if Djay brings another update, that makes my beatpad useless.

Thanx for the tip.

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I would absolutely not go so far as to say it’s terrible.

I’d say that the UI is more “demanding” for the user than djay2 for example, which is the case for a lot of great software applications, but when you dig a little deeper into it as i have the last days, you’ll see that there is some logic behind the way it’s built and it’s actually easy to reach all the functions. It has a learning curve. yes

And… ok… it might not look the most pretty, but to me that comes way down the list of what is important in a tool like this.

Function is always first. I love djay2 and i’m using it a lot also, but they rarely upgrade the software and it seems like they do not listen so much to what we as users say here on the forum and that can never be an advantage.
There are no regular upgrades and a lack of a visible plan of how the product is going to develop. Everybody wants to know what new functions are planned???

On DJ Player i had a problem with how the looping were supposed to work on the reloop beatpad (i thought it was an error but it turned out it’s working just as it was supposed to), but a quick email to the developer explained everything clear and he even asked me for more input, wanting to improve his software.

I love the crisp and exact control i get of all the levels and the tightness of the effects and the filter.

It feels like i’m mixing on a Mercedes compared to on a Hyundai. I do not know if that’s a very great analogy, but the controls react so fast and sharp that the resulting mixes are clearly different. I’m sure the function of seeing the incoming levels on exact meters also helps.

Perhaps the next version of the beatpad will have more than five white leds for levels (please…) cause it’s simply not enough to make a real good mix!

djay2-developers, keep up the good stuff! You have a great innovative application and it’s working fine, but the competitors is coming closer and closer now, especially since reloop beatpad is such an awesomely cool controller…

I definately recommend peope to try dj player and compare the experience… DJ’ing on the ipad is the future, i think

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yes, it’s possible to record the sets. And the app saves a textfile with indextimes for each track in the set. It’s really useful to have for example when making a cd adding cue-marks

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I don’t know about that. I never use sync, always do everything manually like i used to do it on the decks and i haven’t had any problems with either djay or dj player. I suppose if you totally rely on automatic syncing it will take some grid-editing and extra analyze/preparation, but that’s how it’s always been in one way or another. The more prepared you are, the more you know your songs and the better your performances will be, no matter what tool you use. Sync should never be default i.m.h.o, it should be something that you can enable if you really have the need for help. You said that you have had only a play with dj player. i think you should try and use it at least for some time and see if you can get it to work. it is a very powerful tool. I guess that you are mixing house or techno and if you do you will appreciate the superfine control of the gain-levels needed for ultrasmooth blends

I agree with the need for some kind of recommendation engine mainly to save time if you are not familiar with your library of songs, it’s a feature both of these two applications will have to implement in the future to take them to the next level i.m.h.o

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