The world of digital DJing has grown massively over the years. Now more and more music lovers are able to buy a laptop and the latest version of Virtual DJ and learn to mix and match their favourite tunes from the comfort of their home, house party or even further afield.
Old-school DJs argue that some of the skill has been taken out of the human hands - and vinyl is slowly being replaced by the MP3; but we feel both styles are growing together, and have compiled a list of 7 reasons how being a digital DJ can help (or hinder) your mixes.
1.) Sync button
Previously, DJs would only be able to listen to both tunes at the same time to match the BPM; now, the incredible "sync" button on your DJ controller will automatically give both tunes the perfect beat match. Also, by taking away the manual effort of syncing your music, it frees up your time to be more creative with the mix - but be careful, you should be able to beat match by ear just in case your computer makes a mistake! They are only machines after all.
2.) Looping
Looping originally came in with CDJs, but with the growth of digital DJing it's now far easier to manage. All you need is the right DJ software and you can have a perfect beat matched and looped sections of your track for however long you need them. DJs can now creatively mix elements of songs and sample favourite sections - however, you'll still need to understand music and your tunes - you don't want to loop songs that just don't work! 
3.) Waveforms
Waveforms are visual representations of your music - coloured differently to show the frequencies and volume. When they are overlaid or next to each other - you can see your tracks playing together which gives you instant sight on where the beats are, what they sound like and how much time you have left! Be careful not to sit and stare at it though, you still want to be able to build an atmosphere.
4.) Instant downloads
Gone are the days of lugging your vinyl bag around with you to every gig - with instant downloads you don't even need to turn up with any music (but we would never advise this). If you end up playing a club and someone requests a tune or you want to play one you haven't got - you can go and buy it online and drag it over to your software! Some software even has online music stores built in to it for even faster results... We don't recommend working off the cuff every night though, as the internet is always unpredictable.
5.) Instant search
Choose your favourite tunes instantly with the instant search option in your DJ software. Now you are able to stay engaged with the crowd rather than hunched over a vinyl bag - be sure to try and work out your set beforehand though, searching and beat matching for random tunes will always lead to time wasting and you want to appear as prepared as possible to the crowd and your promoter.
6.) Autoplay
What we in the industry would call a fail-safe. All you need to do is drag all the tunes you want to hear into a playlist on your DJ software and click "autoplay" and the computer does all the work for you. Now, if you're serious about DJing we never advise to use this as a standard option - it will be good in emergencies or a quick gig at a friend's birthday that you want to enjoy too; but the mixing will never be as good as human creativity and a paying crowd will realise this.
7.) Keylock
Keep your tunes in the same musical key with the the keylock button. Now you can play tunes as fast or slow as you like without risking the lows and highs changing and ruining the mix. Your sets can now become more adventurous with more tempo changes than would otherwise have been possible with analogue systems.
As with all aspects of digital DJing, these tools in the right hands will enhance your skills and sets to no end - but without the knowledge to support them you could end up doing more harm than good! Take time to learn the art and understand these features before you rely on them, and you'll have a great partnership for years to come.
