Hello everyone,
I created this new topic to keep the discussions from Djay 6.0 dream features? on topic. I’ll move all relevant posts from that topic over here so we can continue this interesting debate. Thanks!
All things that make life easier for DJs. But ultimately, you’re automating the last thing that remains that makes a good DJ.
Back then, there was only vinyl, so if you wanted to be a DJ, you had to invest a lot of money. Then came the CD, which made things easier because you could simply copy it. But you still had to go to the trouble of manually beatmatching.
Then came MP3 and other digital music formats, the sync button, and other conveniences, and suddenly anyone could call themselves a DJ. And with features like automix, we haven’t even had to worry about transitions for several years now.
What’s a gig like that all about? Ultimately, it’s not about technical perfection or great performance, but about giving people a good time. That includes having a feel for the audience, recognizing what to play in certain situations to keep the energy going, and also knowing what not to play. That’s what still distinguishes a good DJ from a less good DJ. And with features like that, AI is taking over that role too.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see what the future holds for us and I’m looking forward to it. And of course, I also think it’s good to have less work to do in preparation, but at some point we have to ask ourselves how important the DJ as a human being actually still is.
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I completely understand where you are coming from here. I’ve heard quite a bit over the years about auto cue points, cue points generated by the tool for first beat, drops, mix out points. But if AI were to do that kind of thing, then when am I taking the time to learn the track and how it has been put together? That way learning some creative ways to mix with it?
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In general, the more one relies on AI, the less the person will be inclined to learn and put effort into truly learning the craft and art of DJ’ing. Like mentioned before, everyone wants to be a creative nowadays and claim that they are once they learn to push AI driven features that does the work automatically for them. While I’m cool with everyone and anyone wanting to be a DJ, it is sad to see how the art of dj’ing is being lost due to the quantity of these auto-features which makes people think that they now are a DJ just because they rely heavily on these auto AI features vs the quality of a true DJ who spends the time thinking about his sets and mixes, and puts forward effort to prepare and practice for his/her events. It’s a mixed bag without a doubt and something that will continue to blur the lines of a true DJ vs a AI Feature DJ who relies mostly on AI powered features. It is an endless debate. Everybody wants to be something in an instant nowadays, and the impatience of people not wanting to take the time to learn and master, in this time of age continues to grow, hence the hard push of having AI to do allot of the work for them.
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The fact that anyone can and wants to do this is one thing, and that’s perfectly fine. New possibilities also open up new avenues. The other thing, however, is that many people are not just bedroom DJs, but also want to earn money from it. How long do you think this will continue to work? Why should anyone hire a DJ for a lot of money when they can do it themselves with little effort using AI-supported software? I think we can be glad that many people out there don’t even know what’s possible. At many events, you could basically just play a Spotify playlist - even today.
But we can’t prevent it, and that might not be a good idea anyway; it’s always moving forward. Technological progress has always cost jobs, and yet none of us would want to go back. And who knows what’s coming next… 
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To me, “real DJs” are simply passionate about music and eager to share that passion, no matter if they can mix, scratch or finger drum. It’s that love that really gets them going and attracts an audience.
IMO AI will not be able to replicate your unique personality, how you interact, or your enthusiasm to get a party started and going…
Anyway, I’m still looking for visionary ideas. Drop them here please. 
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Not everybody wants to be a dj.
A.I. is a tool, like back in the day a mixer was, to be able to mix two songs together.
Dreaming = everything is possible / no fear / joy
A DJ has the freedom to present music in his or her own way, the crowd has it’s freedom to dance to it or not.
I once had a fan tell me: “I really liked your demo better than your record”. I was surprised, but i asked him if still had it, he said yes and made a copy of it on cd-r. (I actually had to buy an external dvd player for my mac to be able to rip it) .
Beautiful things happen, the moment we have the courage to be open for anything.
Ow one more thing: A.I. in the hands of creative people, wonderful. And again it all depends what ‘creative’ people do with it.
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If you’re a hobbiest DJ and your sole intention is playing music at home etc then great, you do you, no problems. However anyone who is looking to forge a career in DJing and earn their living from it, if you aren’t wide awake to what is happening here, you really need to start opening your eyes.
The more automation you demand, the less work you the person wants to do is going to do nothing but accelerate the process of replacing a human being with a machine. Yes there will be a demand for a physical person to be stood behind the decks at large raves and dance music events, but the bread and butter bar gigs, weddings, birthdays, corporate parties will be gone.
Do you honestly believe a bride and groom or events manager are going to continue paying some guy £2000 to stand at the door vaping whilst his computer auto mixes the next record in? when there exists perfectly good software to do it all for free (or a small monthly subscription).
People can paint this as ‘its a tool to help creative people’ all they want, but the harsh reality is as soon as the people who are paying the money get wind of it, it’ll be used to get rid of the person behind the decks. 99% of people at any venue or event dont care who or what the DJ is, they just want to hear their favourite music.
Streaming services are already data mining this music at an alarming rate, they know who you are, what ethnicity you are, how old you are, where you live, what music you listen to. Plug that into a computer at a bar or wedding venue with some basic demographic information and the music is curated for the guests, with a simple app for requests, and some fields to fill in for first dance/birthday song or whatever.
DJs owe it to themselves to invest their full time and energy into learning the craft and having intimate knowledge of their music without the help of a computer. Ive done my time, 24yrs and well over 1000 paid gigs (as a sideline to my day job) so i dont really care what happens to industry, im happy to just mix at home and play the odd gig with my 7” record collection, but this should be a stark warning for any of those people begging for more and more AI features on internet forums, its the classic Turkeys voting for Christmas.
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I agree with you in part. DJ software is involving all the time. Algoriddim have been leading the way for years and pushing the envelope. Software advancements are here to stay and Algoriddim I hope will continue to lead the way.
Us as djs can choose to use the tools or not that djay pro has. Us DJ’s are now entertainers with the C light shows we provide and create amazing experiences for our clients. Having great tools at our disposal will only add to the experience and will increase our revenues if used properly. Even now we can have a singer or sax player at our events and at the drop of a button we can take vocals out or percussion. Now as time goes on the stem separation will only get better.
if there will be AI incorporated into the workflow to assist with song recommendations then I’m all down for that or to assist with word play transitions, then great. It all adds to the experience for our clients and increases our revenues. Technology is only going to get better and more advanced so why not embrace it.
I work in system support in the logistics sector. We had a group of people who continually complained about having to manually pick these remote orders using a virtual hand held terminal, they said ‘why do we have to do this manually’. So the company developed a robot to do the picking for them, then made them all redundant.
The same thing is happening here, you can believe that all this automation is ‘just a tool’ and ‘why not embrace it’, but im telling you now, as soon as someone puts it all together in a single package, the days of a human DJ are gone, the people who are paying the money dont care, they just want music and the best value for money they can get, which will be software doing the DJing.
Lets compile all the automation features together then you tell me if you think there still needs to be a person involved:
- Auto Beat gridding
- auto cue markers
- markers for different components of the track
- auto mix in and out points
- auto key detection
- energy levels
- auto gain
- sync
- auto crossfade
- auto EQ
- automatic lighting
What does that leave the person doing outside of standing there looking like they are doing something?
Not sure what customers you get but my clients are willing to pay for the experience. All that you’ve listed there is all ready here now. We can choose to use them or not. For example vinyl days DJs used a piano to find the keys of certain tracks to learn which ones went harmonically. Sasha used a piano all the time to get the key.
nowadays we have tools like Mixed in Key. I think we can all agree is a useful tool. Now MIK can drop in cue points if you want it to. The point being if you want it to. Same with most tools use or don’t use them, like sync for example. It’s there to help a dj but only if they want to. Which ever we do we still need to play the right track in the right moment and create an experience. Technology can help to some degree but mostly that’s down to us.
Im not saying there aren’t useful tools out there, i certainly wouldnt be able to key match my own music by ear, using a piano, so the computer doing that is great (if key matching whilst DJing is your thing). They are all there but currently they havent been bundled together in a single package, when you add them all together, coupled with the fact DJs seem to be begging for more and more of it, and less and less work to do, it is taking the whole industry into a bad place.
As i said i dont have ‘clients’ as ive always just played gigs as a side to my day job. Ive worked primarily at bars and dance music events and ive done my time, so for my own personal role i dont really care where the industry leads. I also said that im talking about people who think they want to forge a paid career in DJing.
Anyway, ive said everything that needs to be said, good luck to all the people hoping to earn a living from the industry, because believe me, you’re going to need it.
Like I said… this will be an endless debate when it comes to AI. haha. The truth is that it’s here and the world is racing to get the most AI in their software / hardware as possible to make it more accessible to everyone and anyone. It definitely is gonna continue changing the landscape of all industries around the world whether we like it or not. So all we can do is do the best we can with the tools we have now and adjust.
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The problem with AI is the performance.
On macs we have Apple Silicons, i.e the chips are already designed to have AI features.
The issue is then how powerfull chips iPads and iPhones have.
On intel and amd pc’s, we need to use graphics cards for AI stuff to get similar perfomance as on apple silicon chips.
Yeah a lot of issues to be solved on technical implemntation side.
The problem with AI is that many devices might require optimized software for just that hardware.
Just my 2 cents
Okay, I’ve moved over what I think are the main posts relative to this debate. I hope that helps!
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Yes, but not because of the DJing itself, but rather so that people will continue to be willing to pay the exorbitant prices. Don’t get me wrong, the acts that perform there deliver a solid program - but mostly without any surprises. And that seems to me to be the easiest thing to replace.
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Yes, until even the last person realizes that they can create most of this experience themselves, and for significantly less money. Of course, as a person, the DJ can still contribute “more” to this experience, but is it so much more that it’s worth the extra cost? I believe that in the future, more and more people will answer this question with “no”.
But that’s the only thing that remains. And even that will change faster than some people think.
That’s easy: since the iPad with M1 came out, it’s been more than powerful enough, at least for what AI currently offers in terms of support. Requirements will certainly increase in the future, but these devices still have room for improvement.
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Some argue the money part…. but that is always going to be there: are you bringing a sax player? Do you have confetti? Lights? DJ Websites hosting dj’s that will play almost for free… “We don’t have a lot of money” 
A.I. according to Algoriddim already gave us the best sync, that means you can drop that request so much faster and mash it up: mix Elvis’ vocal stems with some kickass beat to have both grandpa and grandson smiling on the dancefloor. A DJ is just one person, playing music like a complete band is on stage. I say we need all the help we can get. I went from pressing my own vinyl so i could scratch with my own samples to DVS, and suddenly i could change from preset samples on vinyl to anything, even sample the voice of a person in the crowd and scratch with that.
But all that is already possible.
A.I. Library management however would be a game changer for so many dj’s around the planet.
Obviously for open format dj’s. Especially when you’re being paid for gigs. Just imagine how prepping would be. I’m sure i can be done in small steps as well.
A.I. Sonification
Bringing older recordings closer to the modern mixed songs.
(“Bridging the gap between eras by sculpting the EQ, opening up the soundstage, and thickening or thinning the overall sound of the original recording.”)
Algoriddim uses what it has learned from the smart beatgrid and stem separation to get the sound of the individual stems like drums, bassline, vocals from two tracks closer together.
So no more huge energy gaps when you move from tech house to disco.
A.I. Performance Timer
You can set start and end time of the gig: A.I. can help you with: prepping how much songs fit in the intro, how much songs for dinner, peak time bangers how many for what amount of time.
It will help you with prepping but also has a live component, letting you know you just wasted a good song….. whuahah nah just kidding but you get where i’m going.
A.I. Visualizer
A new programmable visualizer that can display text and photos. This way you can hookup any display to your computer and have Djay Pro act as presenter of information like “the buffet is open” or 10 minutes to New Year.
A.I. GOD is a DJ
Djay built-in A.I. ‘GOD mode’ dj judges you as if your time has come.
When activated this function will keep track of each transition you make and you will be able to replay them later.
Each transition will have been judged by the A.I. GOD as: Excellent, Good, Mediocre, Just Bad.
You can also use this replay transition function to mark the two tracks as “Related Tracks”.
That’s the only thing that defines a DJ IMO.
I don’t think AI can replace a DJ, simply because it can’t read a crowd. I never lock my sets in advance; at most I prepare a loose preselection of tracks. Which record I play next can change literally in the final seconds. I’ve swapped tracks right before the current one was ending because I suddenly felt that a different choice would completely lift the room. Those are real close calls — seconds before the deck runs out.
AI has no real sense of vibe or energy. For me, DJing is all about making decisions in the moment, especially when it’s prime time. Reading the room, reacting to the audience, feeling that interaction — that’s what real DJing is about IMO. And that’s exactly what makes the difference between a solid set and an unforgettable night.
