Virtual DJ 6 Software Review

In testing this software, I wanted to put Virtual DJ through some really heavy stress, to see how far I could push it. I did functions that most likely no one would ever do while at a live show. I surfed the internet and downloaded files. I chatted on Yahoo! Messenger with a friend for an entire set. I unplugged the USB MIDI controller I was using, plugged in a USB flash drive, copied a file to it, then plugged the controller back in. I even put a DVD into the computer, copied video files to the external hard drive, renamed the files and ejected the DVD. All of these things were done while Virtual DJ played two videos at once during a live performance at a club. I can proudly report that there was not one single crash, glitch, skip, or anything. The songs just played like the computer wasn’t doing anything else in the background. I was blown away by the fact that the music never stopped no matter what I did with the computer.

Virtual DJ was working great with a mouse doing everything. But I wanted to DJ like I was using traditional CD/DVD players and not use the mouse for the basic mixing functions. This is where things got really complicated. With other DJ software, setting up a new MIDI controller was pretty easy. You find the function you want in a list, click auto learn, and use the slider, knob or button and you’re done. Not so fast with Virtual DJ. There is a scripting language that is used to set up MIDI controls known as VDJscript. To find out more about this, the company’s website has a wiki to learn all of the commands needed. A simple command like “play” is setup by pressing the button and typing the word “play” in the Action area. That is fine for some of the one button actions and the crossfader, but most anything else needs a longer commands that need the website to explain how the code is written for that. Seems that a general understanding of computer programing is needed to set up a controller with all of the things a DJ would need to mix without using the mouse. This was a real let down for me with Virtual DJ. This should be much simpler to set up. While this does open up the software for endless possibilities for how to configure a controller, I can’t see how the average user will be able to set this up on their own. Having a controller with a mapping that is already provided by Virtual DJ seems to be the best way to get away from the mouse.

Virtual DJ is an amazing piece of DJ software. It is very easy to get up and running mixing audio and video. The sound quality is punchy, the picture quality is clear, the beat matching is flawless, and stability is unstoppable. For my entire experience to be fully complete, I feel I needed to buy a different controller and video mixer than the ones I already owned. But this may a be a testament to how expandable this software really is.

If you are in the market for a new video mix setup, Virtual DJ will do the job just as well as the larger hardware solutions. Make sure to plan the audio card, video output and controller in advance, and you will have a killer system ready to rock any party.