VirtualDJ has added an AI-powered feature called ShoutOut. Type in any phrase, hit generate, and it turns it into a spoken DJ drop in a choice of voices and styles – and it can even pull the vocal out of the track that’s playing and drop your words in its place.
I’ve not seen this in any other DJ software. You click the ShoutOut button at the top of the screen, type something like “You’re in the mix with DJ Phil Morse”, pick a male or female voice and a style, and a few seconds later you’ve got a drop ready to go. You can preview it in your headphones first, then fire it over the music.
The styles are Shout, Talk and Sing. Shout is the classic hyped-up drop, Talk is calm and almost radio-like (I liked that one), and Sing… well, I couldn’t get it to sing anything. It just says the words a bit more expressively.
The clever bit
Set ShoutOut to the Stem Swap mode and it removes the vocal from the playing track using stems, plays your drop where the singer was, then carries on. So your words never fight with the original vocal, and you don’t have to time your drop around it. You can also choose a normal talk-over, or just have it play straight.
You can also save any drop straight to the sampler, and VirtualDJ’s scheduler can then fire it automatically – “last orders at the bar” ten minutes before the bar closes, say, without you having to remember. Build a set of drops for a particular venue or event, and they’re ready every time you play there.
Shout-out, or instant DJ drops?
I’m not convinced by the name. When people hear talking in a DJ set, they look up to see who’s talking, and if the DJ is stood there with their mouth shut, it’s a bit weird. For announcements, dedications and last orders, pick up the mic! (No mic? Plug your headphones into the mic socket on your controller and talk into one of the earpieces – it works.)
But for drops like “You’re in the mix with…”, which nobody expects a DJ to say live anyway, it’s great. Call it “instant DJ drops” and it makes a lot of sense, especially for mobile DJs, who are VirtualDJ’s core users and exactly the people who’ll want custom drops for different gigs.
My other gripe is the voices: I listened through them all and they’re all American. Some British, Australian or Indian accents would make a big difference.
Pricing and availability
VirtualDJ 2026 Part 3 is available to download now. VirtualDJ is free if you’re not earning money with it and don’t use a controller or mixer, a Home licence for entry-level controllers is $4 a month, and Pro is $19 a month. Atomix hasn’t said which licence ShoutOut needs. Part 3 also adds AI Scripting, which writes VirtualDJ scripts from plain-language descriptions, and I spotted Spotify in the browser too.
Is it any good?
As an instant drop maker, yes. Stem Swap and saving to the sampler are the highlights, and it’s typical VirtualDJ – doing something nobody else has thought of, and doing it pretty well. I’d like to see the Sing button actually sing, though, and some non-American voices.
As for the Shout style itself, it’s not for me. I’m too British!
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