These last two weeks have been rife with new DJ hardware and software news, but one of the biggest stories has been the revelation that Pioneer has (quietly) been working on their own DJ software. It’s called Rekordbox DJ, and the software only got the quickest of teasers a few days ago, but now we’ve got a few shots from DJ Expo in Atlantic City of the software running and in action.
That’s the first shot we saw – posted by Damien Sirkis (creator of Rekordbuddy, software that helps DJs move their metadata between DJ softwares). He notes on Instagram that there’s no real further descriptions of of the software next to it – the sheet on the table is nothing more than a description of what Rekordbox is now.
Worth noting: there’s no hardware being shown here alongside the software display. It’s just a video loop of the software on a plasma screen. We’re left wondering if there’s another piece of hardware in the works that Pioneer is developing specifically for Rekordbox DJ, or they’re going to just focus on compatibility on pre-existing hardware. Considering that Rekordbox is (for now) free, it would be a strange business decision for Pioneer (a hardware-only company until now) to not build the perfect hardware for it.
Rekordbox DJ: In Video
After some badgering, Damien uploaded a second post to Instagram – this time a pan over the screen showing the GUI. It looks a lot like, well, DJ software. See for yourself:
By request. #DJExpo2015 #PioneerDJ #Pioneer
A video posted by Damien Sirkis (@damiensirkis) on
We were able to get a few key features that weren’t known before:
- Colored + named cue points / loops (looks like up to at least 8 per track)
- Full-color waveforms
- Multiple waveform displays like Serato DJ (the one in the video is named “2Deck Vertical”)
- Waveform preview in the browse section (like in Rekordbox currently)
- 2 FX units with either 3 grouped effects or one single effect (similar to Traktor)
- FX can be assigned to decks 1, 2, 3, 4, Master, or the Sampler
- There’s a section to the right of the main browser window that might say “Related Tracks” at the top of it – if so, a good sign that a dynamic track recommendation system is coming to Rekordbox DJ (we’re still amazed NI hasn’t taken theirs from Traktor DJ for iOS and put it in the desktop app)
Rekordbox DJ’s Early Adopter Program
So we’ve only gotten a taste of what the software will be like so far – but Pioneer is promising that people who sign up to their Early Adopter program last week will be the first to use the software. We’re still waiting for our email, Pioneer!
Has anyone else seen shots of the software or gotten an email from Pioneer’s EAP? Let us know in the comments below!
