PCDJ 2015 | Year In Review

PCDJ is capping off year 16 of DJ and entertainment software technology innovation. A year that included a couple world-firsts.

We saw the launch of major core-upgrades to our professional DJ software solutions, DEX 3.5 and RED Mobile 3.5, which included Pulselocker support — the first streaming service built just for DJs with over 44 million tracks and unlimited offline playback.

Karaoki, the most mature member of the PCDJ software family, received many free upgrades too, with beta testing of the game-changing KaraoQ360 system now well underway.

Being with PCDJ since I was a green, fresh-faced 21-year-old who had previously only DJ’d with vinyl has taught me crate-loads about the DJ software space and the DJs who use our products.

Our crew has always prided ourselves on customers being able to pick up the phone and talk to us. Throughout the last decade and a half I’ve often taken sales and customer service calls personally. I feel it’s one of the best methods to get a solid feel for how our customers and fans view our brand, and how they interact with our products. I enjoy those chats, as we have some truly engaging and sharp DJs/entertainers using our products – and without them and the tremendous amount of feedback they provide, we simply wouldn’t be able to compete and continue to share with the world our wonderful toys.

But let’s be clear: In our business if you’re not constantly innovating and continuing to push the boundaries of live performance software technology you’re already yester-years news.  Let’s take a look at a couple accomplishments we’re proud of in 2015.

Here are some notable highlights this year. In the coming week we’ll follow this post up with a look forward to what’s to come in 2016 for our PCDJ product line:

DJ Software: Launch of DEX 3.5 and RED Mobile 3.5

DEX 3 launched a little over a year ago. It was a total re-write of the previous DJ mixing software platforms and came equipped with a new user interface, custom sound and video mixing engines and support for many of the top DJ controllers on the market.

DEX 3.5 and RED Mobile 3.5 are significantly more polished now, and sport new versatile and modern skins (GUI) with various modes. Both upgrades come with Pulselocker streaming baked in, providing users online/offline access to a catalog of 44+ million tracks in all genres, from major and independent labels. Pulselocker integration is a worlds-first for DJ software, a commercially legal subscription built just for DJs.

Two weeks ago we launched DEX 3.5.5 with automatic key detection, allowing users to mix tracks harmonically without key-clashing. The BPM engine has also been upgraded, so all beat-aware functions are more precise.

A few additional DJ controllers from top brands such as Numark, Pioneer DJ, Denon DJ, Reloop DJ and Hercules are now supported, providing users various new options for tactile hands-on control.  View the updated supported DJ controller list here.

Keep our blog bookmarked, as we have upgrades and features on the way that we think DJs are going to love.

 

Karaoke Software: Karaoki Updates and KaraoQ360

PCDJ created the first commercially sold professional karaoke software in 2003. It had a relatively humble beginning; a basic karaoke plugin for our DJ software at the time (BLUE, RED and FX VRM).

Karaoki just turned 8 and has users in over 56 countries around the globe. It’s a top-seller and for me the reason is clear. When you have a lead developer that he himself is as committed to hosting karaoke professionally as he is to creating world-class karaoke software what you end up with is a robust and truly thought-through product. Just as I take notes on a call with a customer, Alan interacts with Karaoki users on our forums. Some of the features we added or tweaked this year came from users that posted requests that came in-line with our own development goals.

This year Karaoki introduced a host of new rotation modes for better singer and song management, a number of performance improvements to improve overall speed-of-use, and are nearing the release of KaraoQ support and KaraoQ360 — a remote request platform that ‘talks’ directly to Karaoki that’s so much more than just that. Users can tip the KJ, pay for bumps in rotation and the venue can even utilize the system for point of sale.

KaraoQ360 will be the first complete end-to-end karaoke platform for KJs and venues, creating a truly social music experience for patrons and performers, instantly upgrading any night of karaoke.

Again, stay tuned into our blog as more info on KaraoQ and KaraoQ360 will soon be published, including what it means for existing Karaoki customers.

 

We’d love to hear from you – what would you like to see from PCDJ in 2016?  Leave your comments and suggestions below!