What is Digital DJing?

Digital DJing (or CPS DJing as it's technically called) is the art of playing or mixing using a computer.

There are several advantages to digital DJing:

• Your setup takes up very little space. This is preferable to lugging around a crate of vinyl or even a couple of cases full of CDs (and possibly your decks!) to each of your gigs.


• You can search through your music and load music into one of your decks in a couple of seconds, rather than a few minutes it might take you to go through your record or CD collection.


• Current DJ software gives you a lot more information on the structure of your music than hardware-based players such as CD and/or vinyl. On most DJ software you can see the waveforms and the beats, so you can quickly cut to a breakdown and be alerted when a track fades out. Current leading DJ software products are : Traktor and Virtual DJ. DJ software also gives you features such as precise looping, sampling and FX controls.


• DJ controllers are available that allows you to control your DJ software with high precision, and can be customised to your personal choice.

• You can use products such as Sereto Scratch to hook up your decks (vinyl or CD) to your laptop, so you can mix MP3s on your decks.

There is are two main disadvantages:

• A lot of DJing is about the image - it's a performance and the crowd expect you to be looking like you are doing something when you are up in the booth. In clicking on a laptop, you lose some of the showmanship of traditional DJing.
• Some older DJs and club promoters look down on digital DJing, and it may be difficult to land a residency at your club if this is the case.

Whatever your opinion, Digital DJing is here to stay. Professional DJs cannot afford to ignore it any longer. Stay tuned for what you need to know about this new and exciting way of DJing.