Cross DJ Review

I’ve always loved music, and trance has been a favorite genre of mine. Listening to DJ’s like Armin Van Buuren or Markus Schulz as they rock out their weekly shows, A State of Trance and Global DJ Broadcast, has always made me interested in becoming a DJ and mixing music at clubs. I’ve never pursued that avenue, though I have created many sets of music in the past with the use of various DJ programs. So, when I saw Cross DJ on the iPad, I immediately became interested in trying it out as well.

Cross DJ is set up for DJ’s who enjoy any genre of music. It features two decks, along with all the options people need for mixing music; EQ to adjust the bass, treble, and mid, along with slide buttons that allow you to match the beats of both songs. As a fan of trance, I’m more interested in mixing my songs together, creating a smooth transition for easy listening. I’m not big on using any of the sound effects or scratching, though those options are available and do work rather well.

I sucked at DJing when I first began as it took some time to get a good feel for the music and the beats. Beat matching is everything when it comes to mixing and this app ensures that DJs do a good job of mixing and matching up the beats of both songs with the use of the beat matching buttons and sync option. I did struggle with beat matching, though, but I’m currently without a high quality pair of headphones. Plus, I haven’t mixed any sets in years...I’m off my game! Even so, it was quite a challenge to mix a few songs.

Cross DJ is a fantastic program to have on the iPad as people can mix their music and do their thing from anywhere, and it’s especially great since most people should have their entire library right on the iPad. People can record a set and add a title, description, and cover image to it, along with uploading it to SoundCloud for sharing.

Cross DJ also allows DJ’s to edit the audio output mode, so instead of just hearing what’s being played from the headphones, users can change it to split mode so that they hear what’s live on the left ear and what’s cued up on the right ear. This is another important option for when it comes to mixing music. DJ’s can also set up loops and hot cues as well, with ease, for when prepping their songs.

Cross DJ is the first DJ program I have used on the iPad, and I’m certainly impressed by it. It has a very easy to use interface and shouldn’t take people long to navigate their way around the decks.

Here is a sample recording I made and uploaded to SoundCloud. As an example, I used all the sound effect options at the beginning (including the annoying ones), mixed two songs, and closed it out with style.

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