The launch of DEX 4 marks a major leap forward in professional DJ software, especially when it comes to hands-on creative control. Whether you’re rocking a packed dance floor or curating a chill lounge vibe, having intuitive and responsive tools makes all the difference.
Among the many new features introduced in DEX 4, three stand out for DJs who love to get tactile and experimental with their sets: Loop Rolls, Slicer (including Looping Slicer), and Pitch Play.
These features go beyond traditional mixing—they’re all about live remixing, building energy, and keeping your set fresh and unpredictable. Let’s take a deep dive into each one so you can start taking full advantage of them in your workflow.
🔁 Loop Rolls: Add Energy Without Losing Position
Loop Rolls are one of the most powerful tools in a modern DJ’s arsenal. With this feature, you can create seamless looping effects that snap to the beat and instantly roll back to the original track position when released—without missing a beat.
In DEX 4, Loop Rolls are fully quantized and designed for tight responsiveness, especially when triggered via the performance pads on a supported DJ controller.
What Loop Rolls Let You Do:
- Temporarily loop a portion of the track while the playhead continues in the background
- Release the loop to resume normal playback from where the track would have been
- Use it to create live build-ups, transitions, or momentary breakdowns
- Combine multiple roll lengths to add rhythmic variation mid-set
- Use with vocals or drum loops to highlight or repeat phrases in a musical way
Key Benefits:
- Keeps the energy moving while offering real-time control
- Ideal for breakdowns, fills, and beat juggling
- Offers non-destructive looping—you’re never losing your place in the track
- Works in perfect time with the beat grid, ensuring clean, on-beat execution
🔪 Slicer & Loop Slicer: Chop, Rearrange, and Remix in Real Time
If you’ve ever wanted to remix a track live, this is your feature. The Slicer and Loop Slicer modes in DEX 4 allow you to slice up a section of the track into beat-length segments that you can then trigger manually, remixing the playback order on the fly.
Think of it as live finger drumming with your track—every beat becomes a playable slice.
Slicer Mode Overview:
- Slices up a moving section of the track (usually 8 beats long)
- As the track plays, the slicer window shifts forward
- Each pad on your controller corresponds to a slice in that window
- Trigger slices in any order to remix in real-time
- Playback automatically resumes in sync with the next beat once a pad is released
Loop Slicer Mode Overview:
- Works just like Slicer mode—but loops the sliced section instead of advancing
- Ideal for looping creative segments and repeatedly re-sequencing them
- Keeps you locked in a loop until you’re ready to move on
- Useful for crafting build-ups or deconstructing a hook
Key Benefits:
- Instantly remix tracks without needing stems or multitracks
- Create unexpected beat flips and remixes live
- Add rhythmic complexity with chopped vocals or percussive elements
- Fully quantized for tight timing, even during rapid pad triggering
Best Use Cases:
- Live mashups and transitions between tracks
- Adding a hip-hop-style performance feel to your set
- Spontaneously remixing a chorus or hook
- Engaging the crowd with familiar elements chopped in new ways
💡 Pro Tip:
Use Slicer mode on instrumental breaks and Loop Slicer during vocal drops or chorus sections. Try layering both on separate decks to create full-on live mashups.
🎼 Pitch Play: Musical Expression from Your Hot Cues
Pitch Play is where DJing meets musicianship. This feature allows you to trigger a hot cue at different pitches, essentially turning it into a playable musical note. Whether you’re triggering vocals, synth stabs, or kicks, you can shift the cue point up or down semitones to create melodic runs or harmonized effects.
DEX 4’s Pitch Play is designed to be both intuitive and musical, and when used with a DJ controller that has pitch-assigned pads, it opens up a whole new world of creative mixing.
What You Can Do with Pitch Play:
- Trigger a hot cue at different keys (up or down in semitones)
- Perform melodic riffs using a single sample or vocal hit
- Create harmonic transitions between songs
- Drop in tuned fills that match the key of your track
- Build your own remix phrases on the fly
Key Benefits:
- Turns any hot cue into a melodic instrument
- Adds musicality and harmonic depth to your performance
- Perfect for DJs who also have a background in production or keys
- Works with vocal chops, instruments, drums, and more
Customization Options:
- Set the root key of your cue point
- Adjust the pitch range (±1, 2, or more semitones)
- Use key lock to maintain tempo while shifting pitch
- Map specific semitones to individual pads for quick access
💡 Pro Tip:
Use Pitch Play to lead into key changes or to harmonically bridge two tracks in different keys. It’s also great for turning one vocal snippet into an entire chorus of pitched elements.
🎛️ Why These Features Shine with a Controller
While all of these features are accessible via keyboard and mouse, they really come alive when used with a compatible DJ controller. Here’s why:
Muscle Memory
- Performance pads on your controller let you trigger rolls, slices, or pitch cues without looking at the screen
- This frees you to focus on the music and crowd
Speed and Precision
- Loop Rolls, Slicer, and Pitch Play require fast, accurate triggering—pads are the way to go
Instant Feedback
- LED feedback and parameter control on your controller means you’re always in sync with what’s happening in the software
Tighter Integration
- DEX 4 natively supports over 100 controllers (including the new RANE Four, which is, at the time of this blog article, the best mapped controller for supporting all of DEX 4’s new features.)
- No mapping headaches—just plug in and go
Final Thoughts: DEX 4 Is Built for Creators
Loop Rolls, Slicer, and Pitch Play aren’t just bells and whistles—they’re tools for DJs who want to push boundaries and deliver performances that go beyond “just playing tracks.”
Whether you’re using them to energize a buildup, remix on the fly, or add harmonic movement to your set, these features are built with expression in mind. And when paired with a solid DJ controller, DEX 4 becomes less of a mixing app—and more of a performance instrument.
So go ahead. Get your hands dirty. Trigger, slice, pitch, and roll your way to something completely new. That’s the power of DEX 4.
Ready to Explore These Features?
If you already own DEX 4, make sure your software is updated to the latest version to start experimenting with Loop Rolls, Slicer, and Pitch Play today.
👉 Don’t have DEX 4 yet? Download a free trial here and discover why it’s the most complete DJ software on the market.
