Apart from its video capabilities, Virtual DJ has been lagging behind in the headline features department against Serato and Traktor for a little while. That’s all been blown out of the water with the news that Virtual DJ 7 – currently in beta and previewed at the Atlantic City DJ Expo 2010 – can handle up to 99 decks, configurable by the user.
Now it makes more sense that the American Audio VMS4 and the Denon DN-MC6000 – two heavyweight four-deck controllers – are happy to align themselves with Virtual DJ, as it seems that the new version of the software wil have the ability to fully utilise all of the features these next-generation controllers have to offer.
I DJed in clubs happily with Virtual DJ for many years so despite what some may tell you, this is a contender in the DJ software market – something seemingly borne out by this latest release. The fact that it is still the only one of the big three that happily handles video means it still has its niche, and it will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next year to eighteen months as the new version establishes itself in the market.
Further improvements
Other improvements supposedly include better timestretching, and an intriguing “line in” in the sound config complete with waveform display and BPM, FX etc – does this mean you could plug a CD player or iPod into an IN on a compatible soundcard and manipulate it as an extra source from directly within the program? Great fun if it does…
Do you think Virtual DJ is a serious contender or just a toy? Are you going to wait for this or go with another four-deck solution? Let us know.
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Phil Morse
