The days when the mainstays of DJ equipment were no more than a mixer and something to mix have long since passed. These days, having DJ equipment with the best technology is one of the most important parts of becoming a successful DJ, and if a you don’t keep up with the pace, you are likely to end up as obsolete as an eight-track player.
As it turns out, one of the most important advancements in DJ equipment in recent memory may be an item that was only just recognized for its use as DJ equipment at all: the Apple iPad. Using an extension of the interface Apple created with the iTouch and iPhone, the iPad is just what its name suggests: a tablet-shaped screen with dimensions slightly smaller than a piece of paper which that the user interacts with via a touch screen.
As a piece of DJ equipment, the iPad has the functions of several items that DJs already use. It naturally contains mp3 functions, which have long since replaced the CD as most DJs’ primary sources of music. There are also applications for the iPad that act as mixers, allowing the DJ to create the freshest of beats with just a touch of a finger.
Perhaps most excitingly, the iPad has an application that replaces one of the most antique, yet perhaps most important pieces of DJ equipment: the turntable. While there are computer programs that can create the same effect as a turntable, the iPad’s touch screen allows DJs to interact with the music in a way that is much more comparable to real turntables than can be found using a mouse on a laptop. Thus, armed with an iPad, a DJ can scratch out a funky sound on a device that has a feel similar to a real set of turntables without the trouble of having to lug them around. And this is to say nothing of the money saved by not having to destroy in the music played process of scratching it.
More specifically-designed pieces of DJ equipment are also becoming more and more digital, chief among which is the mixer. For example, the Sixty-Eight mixer, developed by Rane, is the first mixer that can sync together two laptops using Scratch Live, one of the turntable-emulating programs mentioned above. While this may not seem like much, this advance in DJ equipment makes this digital alternative to real turntables that much more appealing, because it lets a DJ create the kind of complex beats that can only be made using two units at once. The Sixty-Eight also features four USB ports, which makes it much simpler for multiple DJs to use the same mixer by simply unplugging their laptops when someone new takes over.
Another piece of DJ equipment that has made recent advances is headphones. For example, the HDJ-2000, produced by Pioneer, offers extremely high-quality and high-fidelity sound while also being comfortable enough that DJs will not be distracted by itching ears in the middle of a set. While headphones might not seem like an especially important piece of DJ equipment, their ability to let a DJ sample different tracks as clearly as possible in a very noisy environment is a key consideration for anyone striving to be a top-tier DJ.
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