Virtual DJ by Atomix

With over 33 Million Downloads of the Virtual DJ trial version on Cnet alone Atomix Virtual DJ is the by far most downloaded program on the market for DJ software. Virtual DJ 6 is currently the 17th most downloaded software application, of all software available at CBS © Download.com.

Virtual DJ’s weekly download rates of nearly 300.000 copies in perspective to the 6000 and something downloaded demo copies of Traktor Scratch Pro put Native Instruments to shame! Since Virtual DJ is the number one choice of many DJs it is definitely worth a closer look…read more in the following review and comparison of Virtual D.J. 6.12.

Virtual DJ Pro Version 6.1.2

The following article lays it’s focus on Atomix’s Virtual DJ Pro Software and will try to put it in perspective to it’s competitors.

If you want to download a free version of the software you can skip to the bottom of the page where you will find the download link.

Virtual DJ 6 – Insights

The Virtual DJ Pro 6 Software is suitable for PC and for Mac Users. The general features are comparable with the other leading DJ software systems on the market. You can control 2 virtual decks within the software. The software can be controlled via time-code vinyl, time-code CDs, through a midi controller, or with the computer’s keyboard and mouse. Virtual DJ makes it possible to mix and syncronize audio and video files – like music videos for example.

> Layout and Design: <<

The layout of Atomix Virtual DJ Pro 6 is very similar to most other DJ software as well and has been kept simple- you have the decks, the controls and the effect buttons in the upper half of the screen. The lower half belongs to the file browser which can connect directly to the iTunes library or the internet.
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The decks and file visualization
The audio files are visualized as wavesforms running a cross the screen above each deck to show you where you are in the track and what is coming next. Monitoring the wave form of the track provides much more information than just watching the time counter. You can see from the wave shape where the beginning is where the break downs are and when the track is coming to an end. This feature is most important for digital mixing because it shows you when you can start to mix in to a track and how much time you have left to mix out of it.
On top of the screen on large waveform is displayed showing both files playing in a different color.

The effects section and a sampler and looper have been placed to the outer left each deck on the right side is the pitch control. Cue, pause, the play button and a track sync button were placed beneath on Virtual DJ 2010.

The middle window is placed between the decks can be toggled between three different modes:
1. The Mixer window– the mode shows the eqs and the crossfader and is used for the actual mixing of the tracks.

2. The Scratch window – it has the waveforms running vertically across the screen. They can be dragged in real time with the mouse or controlled with an external controller to scratch the audio tracks that are currently playing.

3. The video window – three screens display the video files being mixed with one smaller window for each video file that is playing and one larger window that displays the sum of the mix with the video crossfader beneath. The videos are automatically adjusted to the speed of the tracks playing.

> How to play: <<

Using Virtual DJ 2010 is quite simple and the operation is much similar to using Native Instruments Traktor or Serato Scratch.

You load both decks by dragging a track from the browser window over onto each deck.

Then you press play on the first deck if you press sync and play on the other deck Virtual DJ automatically synchronizes the speed and the beat of the two tracks with each other.
By moving the crossfader from left to right now, you will mix the tracks perfectly in sync with each other. It doesn’t require any skills to blend two tracks in to each other with this method.

That was the easy way to mix. You can also mix the classic and old fashioned way with the pitch control and the cue function. Pre listening the track over the headphones you adjust the pitch of the second track manually so it matches the first track.

This way of mixing needs much more skills and training. It only makes sense though if you use external controllers, cd players or turntables with time-code vinyl to adjust the pitch. Doing it with only with a notebook takes out any fun of manual beat-matching.

> Virtual DJ Pro 6 – Features: <<

Support of HID- and MIDI-controllers:

Virtual DJ can be used with any controller and you can assign all the buttons, L.E.Ds, LCD displays of the controller to the function you want it to control.

Atomix has 40 USB controllers pre installed on the Virtual DJ software with an auto-mapping function that allows instant plug and play.

For controllers that are not included in the pre-installed list there a file can be created by the user with Virtual DJ’s own script language.

Netsearch

Netsearch is a new feature that implemented in Virtual DJ Pro 6 by Atomix. It allows you to crawl the internet for songs you are looking for, while you are playing.

The track or video can then be streamed directly from the internet. Pretty neat function.

If you don’t have an internet connection available in the club you can also download and cache the tracks at home and store them on your hardrive.

The Virtual DJ 2010 Netsearch is crawling are legally available. Netsearch is crawling promotion websites and other data bases. Atomix says it is collaborating with various sites to extend the availability of free tracks to it’s users.

This feature could come in handy parties but since the content is free and legal you will in many instances not find what you are looking for, especially if you play a more underground type of music style or if you are looking for currently charted tracks.

DJ Mixing Software