Development Update #4 - December Delights!
Noah Feasey-Kemp
Hello DJ.Studio family!
As the winter chill settles in, we're thrilled to bring you the warmth of our Development Update #4! Grab a blanket, load up a DJ.Studio Community Mix, and tuck in to our recent news.
'Tis the season of hustle and joy at DJ.Studio, where our team of elves have been vigorously crafting and coding in their workshop these past months.
We're excited to announce a sleigh full of enchanting new features - poised to unwrap in the days to come!
Stay tuned to discover the magic we've been brewing, and what delights are just around the corner for DJ.Studio...
First, a Huge Thanks to YOU!#
If you've checked your inbox recently, you've likely seen our heartfelt message expressing gratitude for your invaluable role in the DJ.Studio journey.
Since DJ.Studio’s public launch in May, the response has been nothing short of phenomenal, with over 75 thousand users joining us on this adventure!
This incredible journey has only been possible because of you - your time, your feedback, and your genuine love for DJ.Studio. The entire team is profoundly grateful for your active participation and open communication.
Following our Thanksgiving email, we were overwhelmed with even more love and warmth from all of you. Your messages touched our hearts. We've poured our passion and energy into this project, and witnessing the positive impact it has had on the community is truly inspiring.
Thank you for being our constant motivation and for cheering us on. We want you to know that we are fully committed to reciprocating the love you share with us - back to the software and, most importantly, back to you.
Thanks for making DJ.Studio what it is!
Recent Updates & New Features#
We’ve been working extra hard recently to bring more features to DJ.Studio. With the development team running at about 25 people, we’ve been able to make some serious progress.
Here are some recent upgrades you’ve been enjoying over the past weeks:
- New: Advanced Sample Lane Integration
Large improvements to the sample track system
You now have a powerful sample system, with timeline controls similar to other DAWs. This lets you create samples from tracks, or import additional audio files.
You can apply effects to samples individually (and automate them).
Coming Soon: A cross-project sample library.
New: Offline Mode -You can now run DJ.Studio without an internet connection. This was one of the most requested features of the last month, enjoy mixing on the train!
New: Rekordbox Hot-Cue Integration - Mixes exported to rekordbox can now include hot-cues for all transition start/end points. This makes it easy to see when you need to start the next song and shows you exactly how you had your transition arranged in DJ.Studio. This is perfect for preparing mixes in the studio and sending them over to your live DJing rekordbox setup for a performance.
See it in action here: rekordbox hot-cue demonstration.Improved: Performance: We spent some time refining several internal elements to increase the performance and speed of the software, particularly for the import and export process.
Countless Fixes - Too many to list here, but see the full list on news.dj.studio
In The Pipeline…#
As always, we have many exciting updates planned for the near future:
Some things to look forward to include:
Sharing & Community Overhaul
A more advanced community-sharing page
Discover other DJ’s mixes, like, comment, check out their profile
Upgrades to the community section and profiles
Updates to YouTube sharing
Effects System Upgrade
More effects
Detailed effects controls
Better automation
VST support
Video Engine Upgrade
Shadertoy Integration - over 30,000 unique animations to use in your videos
Video timeline editing
Interface Improvements
Changing infrastructure for support of analysis of tracks on your local file system and other future features - this makes way for performance upgrades later down the line.
Streamlining user interaction
Improving: Beatgrid Algorithm - Our beat detection and gridding system is being upgraded, making it more accurate and easier to adjust. It will work with unquantized music, correcting a drift of ~5 bpm. Great for wonky live disco records!
A voiceover lane - an extra lane for adding voiceovers and vocal jingles to your mixes.
“Legalize” mode - make your online mixes legal by buying and downloading streamed tracks with minimal effort thanks to our new legalize tool!
Stable & Experimental Modes - We are working towards a mechanism where we can release an ‘Insider/Experimental’ version of DJ.Studio, where you, as a customer, can choose if you want to switch to the newest experimental version - or roll back to the ‘Stable version’ which has been around for a while.
Better Education and Tutorials - We are upgrading our academy and creating more video guides, so you can get information about how to use DJ.Studio more easily.
After our recent feedback survey, we have identified several key areas to improve. We will share our end-of-year report later in December explaining this in full detail!
DJ.Studio Goes To ADE! #
In October, DJ.Studio attended ADE: Amsterdam Dance Event - it was a lot of fun!
Throughout the event, we curated a series of engaging activities, from insightful masterclasses to collaborative sessions and gear lab demonstrations.
It was a pleasure to reconnect with familiar faces and extend a warm welcome to new enthusiasts of DJ.Studio. Thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by and say hi!
For a candid look at our ADE journey, check out our summary video:
Some highlights of ADE included:
A masterclass with DJ.Studio collaborators, including Laidback Luke, Helen Sartory from Beatport, and Evan Sacks from 1001tracklists.
A masterclass with Siebrand Dijkstra, DJ.Studio’s inventor.
Demonstrating DJ.Studio to ADE attendees in the Gear Lab!
Two parties! The Top 101 Producers, and Future of Dance, celebrating a diversity of leading and emerging DJ talents.
Midtown Jack coming over from Australia to help out!
See you at ADE 2024?
Audio Developers Conference (We’ve Been Learning!)#
In November, members of the team traveled to London for ADC23 - the Audio Developer Conference.
As the name suggests, this is a meeting of the minds in the audio developer scene. It was an opportunity for the team to meet like-minded skilled audio devs, and share knowledge, tips, and secrets.
This gave the team a chance to discover cutting-edge technology and powerful new algorithm concepts that we can integrate into DJ.Studio in the coming months.
Some topics we investigated included:
VST Support
Stem Separation
Mastering Tools
Spectrum Analysis
Under the Hood Optimization
Our developers learnt a lot of useful knowledge which you’ll be seeing come to DJ.Studio soon!
DJ.Studio Discord Server#
In early November we opened our own DJ.Studio Discord server, so we can chat with the community.
Join the DJ.Studio Discord Server and say hi!
Everyone has been helping each other out, and connecting with you has been great. We have a mix-sharing thread, general chat, introductions, feature requests, a help forum, and more.
Suppose you can’t find what you need on the DJ.Studio User Manual and our live support team are unavailable - you might be able to get some help in Discord.
Soon we are opening a Beta Tester Discord Thread. Here we will share access to Beta Features, allowing you to give feedback on upcoming features before we put them in the main software!
Youtube Channel Upgrades#
We’ve been focussing more on creating content for you to learn how DJ.Studio works, helping you to create mixes faster and easier.
Our new videos demonstrate new features in DJ.Studio, give tutorials on how to use the software and show you how to overcome issues.
It’s one of the best places to learn about the software. Make sure you subscribe to stay updated!
Here are some of our favorite new videos on the channel:
New series - Fix The Mix
The legendary DJ Carlo also made a video about us! The ChatGPT of DJing is here.
World Techno Day Ultimate Mix#
To celebrate World Techno DJ Day (December 9th) we want you to share your favorite Techno track so we can make the Ultimate Techno Mix for you.
Leave your tracks here:
Closing Thanks#
As we wrap up this December Development Update, we want to thank you all once again for your engagement and passion for DJ.Studio.
The team has been overwhelmed with positivity from the users and is incredibly pleased to have brought value to so many DJs and music lovers.
Thank you for your continuous feedback, active participation, and unwavering inspiration.
As we bid farewell to 2023, we eagerly anticipate the twists and turns that 2024 has in store for the DJ.Studio adventure.
Wishing you all the best for the remainder of the year!
~ The DJ.Studio Team 💛