More DJ Apps - Red Bull BPM HD and Cue.Play.DJ

I noticed that there was some mention of a couple other DJ apps in the comments on here. I thought I would briefly take a look at them. One was pretty cool, one was really not...

UPDATE: The Red Bull App is now called DJ Player and it is awesome. The most comprehensive DJ app on the app store but I STILL WISH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CHANGE SCREENS ALL THE TIME ESPECIALLY ON iPAD!!!

It appears Red Bull BPM HD is just a rebrand of a previously released app. I can't remember what it was called, but I remember thinking it was kind of a let down upon its initial iPhone release. Now with a Red Bull brand and a $30.99 price tag, I am almost offended. To add insult, they are asking for another $9.99 to add wifi cue out, a feature that is also $9.99 on the recently released DJ Mixer 3 that is free to try and only $9.99 unlocked and has a much more useful interface (review coming soon). So the total package here is going to cost you $40.98. Seriously? There is a lite version so if you really have to see it for yourself, go check it out.

Whatever...

There are so many things wrong with this app for real use. It has no way to look at both tracks at the same time. Kind of crazy, right? I mean they have all that space on the iPad screen and they just blew up the iPhone version which requires 3 screens to mix. For real, Deck A, Deck B and the Mixer all have their own screens? They could have easily coupled the decks on the same page to at least give you an idea of what is going on. Seriously Red Bull, WTF? You are lucky I like RB and Vodka so much!

I will say the effects were always cool on this thing. Even in the non-red bull version. They use the accelerometer to control an XY pad. Very gimmicky, but kind of fun to mess around with for about 5 minutes. Other than that this thing is just shocking. I probably wouldn't use it for free, so there is no way I am paying to unlock the $30.99 access to my music collection.

Looking online I found all this stuff about the launch party Red Bull had for this thing. I guess they were  so stoked they had to party over it or maybe they have to charge $30.99 to pay for the party? Either way this is a combination of lame marketing and an attempt to create perceived value that have added up to blah. Kudos to the dev that sold this thing to Red Bull though. It is based on an early effort in the app store that at the time really wasn't all that bad. I just wish I could remember what it was originally called. Anyone who remembers please leave a comment.

Cue.Play - A breath of fresh
air after that last one.

Cue.Play.DJ seems to have a lot more going for it. While not exactly the best DJ app out there, at least they put together a good package with a usable interface. Again, this is an iPhone app that you have to scale up on the iPad so it isn't really designed for the whole screen, but it does get some things really right.

This app uses stacked or side by side waveforms depending upon the orientation of your device. When I really think about it, Quixpin's  and DJ Mixer 3's waveform coupling are probably the best as they are right next to each other. Really the best way to do it. But Cue.Play works it out pretty well too as it is orientation sensitive. This is a great feature for use on the iPhone and certainly an innovation in the space.

This one gets 2 pics thanks to
orientation sensitvity

The mixer is really cool if you are on an iPhone as you double tap to open and close it which comes in handy on the small screen. I would assume a proper iPad version would just make it big on the main screen, but it doesn't really hurt on the iPad as is.  It also uses orientation to change functionality. The mixer and pitch adjustment seem to only be accessable in vertical orientation while horizontal orientation gives you more control over play location and beatmatching. Again, cool on iPhone but not necessary for iPad. As far as beatmatching goes, this one syncs by pitching so it kind of loses me there. Timestretching is an absolute requirement as I hate pitched songs unless they are keymatched to other tracks. Even that can annoy me as I like to hear songs in the state intended by the band. Again due to processing restrictions it makes sense that a lot of these iPhone aimed apps use pitch instead of a complicated, processor intensive timestretching algorithm.

With that said, Cue.Play is certainly is a useful iOS DJ app. At $9.99 the price is a lot better than some. Now that I have seen the lower end of the spectrum (read above) I have a lot more respect for the apps that at least try to get it right.

Red Bull BPM HD

Red Bull BPM Master Out

Cue.Play.DJ