Laptop DJing – DJing with software running on a laptop, plugged into DJ gear for easy control – is the most popular way DJs play today, with controllers such as the Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000, Numark Mixtrack Platinum FX, and many others. But standalone DJing – using gear where you don’t need a laptop with you, taking your music with you on a USB drive – is also popular.
After all, this is the way most “pro” DJ booths are configured, with “standalone” media players and mixers like the Pioneer DJ CDJ-3000 and DJM-900NXS2, and this approach has trickled down to hobby DJ gear too, with “all-in-one” standalone DJ consoles such as the Pioneer DJ XDJ-RX3, Denon DJ Prime 4 and Numark Mixstream Pro all popular.
So which way is right for you? And if you’re doing it one way and thinking of switching to the other, what should you be aware of? In this article, we’ll look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and share some ways DJs are creatively combining both approaches, to effectively get the “best of both worlds”.
Learn to DJ using ANY set-up: The Complete DJ Course