Share DJay music library between Mac and iPad?

Questions
1

Hi,

I am completely new to DJay, I am trying out DJay Pro AI for Mac for seven days. One of the features drawing me here is the full featured iPadOS and iOS versions.

Is it possible to have a single music library that is shared across Mac and iPad using iCloud?

I would like a workflow like this:

  1. On the Mac, download MP3 files from a record pool (or rip vinyl/CDs) and store them on iCloud Drive.
  2. On the Mac, drag these MP3 files from iCloud Drive into the DJay “Music” library.
  3. On the Mac, analyze, organize in play lists, set cue points etc.
  4. Open DJay on iPad, and all of the songs and play lists are available complete with cue points, loops etc.

I have tried it on my 16" MacBook Pro (Catalina 10.15.7) and iPad Pro (iPadOS 14.1), but the library is not synced. The MP3 files on iCloud Drive are synced, and I can a play them in DJay for iPad by adding the files from iCloud Drive to “My Files”. But no playlists, cue points etc. are there.

Shouldn’t this work? Or is it not a feature of DJay Pro AI?

2

djay became my main app for the same reason. Unfortunately, making this dream workflow work is a little bit trickier than what I had imagined in the beginning. A few caveats to consider:

  1. I don’t put my files on iCloud Drive because there is no guarantee they’ll be available offline. There is no way to tell iCloud Drive to keep files available offline so you always run the risk that iOS decides to delete them.
  2. iTunes Match would be an ideal solution but it doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, neither in djay nor in general

That left me with option 3, local syncing (via cable or WiFi) of music through Music.app (née iTunes). I create my playlists in Music.app and they get transported over perfectly. This also makes sure your set cue points will appear on all other devices, thanks to iCloud.

Still, there is one caveat that remains: currently, not all settings are synced via iCloud; most strikingly the beat grids are omitted, plus you’ll always have to re-analyze your tracks on any new platform. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the future :pray:

There are a few caveats but I still very much like this setup. Most amazingly, I can now prepare my tracks on the go on my iPhone and later use these prepared tracks on my iPad. :heart_eyes:

Hope this helps you!

1 Like
3

Thanks for the explanation @djjoejoe (y)

I don’t want to use Music/iTunes for managing my DJ library.

I’ll stick with Serato for my main setup, but will keep an eye on DJay to see how it develops.

4

I’ve been using iTunes for years.
Works great
Dj joe joe is correct. Beatgrids have never clouded. Meaning if you have to correct the beatgrid on any song, you’ll always have to correct the beat grid on that song on all devices over time.
Still worth it.
Trust me, try it.

5

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