A skill-building app for analog DJs.
It listens to your real decks through the microphone, rates both the technique and the song choices you cannot hear yourself, and tells you what to drill next.
Put your iPhone in front of the decks and start blending real records.
The microphone picks both records apart and measures your beatmatch down to the millisecond.
= FOR PEOPLE WHO PRACTISE ON REAL DECKS
GrooveLinker is the other kind of DJ app. It listens through the microphone to the real turntables
and mixer in front of you, measures how far apart the two records are, and scores it.
No audio files needed. Nothing is recorded.
= FOUR NUMBERS THAT SHOW WHAT IS LOOSE
- Match: beats taken to lock in after you brought the second record up (full marks within 16)
- Hold: how much the BPM gap wobbles through the blend (full marks at 0.2 or less)
- Drift: how many milliseconds you slip per 32 beats (full marks within 20 ms)
- Phrase: how far off the top of the phrase you dropped it (full marks at 0)
= LIKE A DJ SCHOOL, IT GIVES YOU THE REASON AND THE NEXT MOVE
Not just a number. When your Drift is weak, it reads like this:
"+38 ms per 32 beats. The BPM gap is near zero and the slip still grows, so a tempo difference
too small to hear is stacking up. After you lock in, check the kicks every 16 beats and
move the pitch 0.1% toward the slip."
The fact, the cause, the drill. All three, every session, for each of the four numbers.
= PRACTISE WITHOUT GEAR, BUT THE ANALOG WAY
There are two turntables and a mixer inside the app. What there isn't: a sync button.
No waveforms, no cue points. You get a needle, a platter, a pitch fader, three-band EQ and a crossfader.
- Cue by holding the platter with a finger and rocking it until you find the kick
- The needle lands wherever you tap the record strip
- Switch between 33 and 45 rpm
- The strobe dots on the platter rim stand still at 0% pitch
- No BPM and no ΔBPM while you practise. The numbers come after you stop
= RECORDS WANDER. SO DO TURNTABLES.
A real record cut from a live drummer moves 1 to 2 BPM inside the track, pushing in the main
section and sagging in the breakdown. The ten records the app builds reproduce that wander
(house and techno hold steady, being drum machines; disco and hip hop move, being bands).
You can pick the deck too: a fresh direct drive, a well-used club deck, a belt drive. Each wanders differently.
Matching once is not the point. Staying matched is what analog is about.
= ONE PAIR OF EARPHONES, THE ONE-EAR-CUP FEEL
An iPhone has a single audio output. So plug in earphones and the app splits them:
headphone cue in the left ear (the record you brought up), speakers in the right (what the floor hears).
The same feel as holding one cup to your ear on real gear.
= BRING IN YOUR OWN RECORDS
Plug a USB audio interface or a USB turntable into the iPhone and record at line quality.
The app reads the BPM and key, maps every beat with its wander, and loads it onto a deck.
The iPhone microphone alone is plenty for beat practice.
= THE DJ YOU WANT TO BE CHANGES THE SCORING
Club floor, hip hop turntablist, bar selector, open format,
radio mixshow. Your choice reweights the four numbers and rewrites the 18-step path.
Long club blends lean on Hold and Drift. Quick turntablist cuts lean on Match and Phrase.
= IT PUTS A NUMBER ON YOUR SELECTION TOO
For two imported records it rates how well they fit, on tempo distance and Camelot neighbours.
It will not tell you a record is good. Only whether the two can sit together.
= PRIVACY
- Microphone audio is analysed on the device. Nothing is stored or sent
- No sign-up. Your practice history lives only on this iPhone
- Track ID uses ShazamKit: only a signature reaches Apple, never the audio
= PRICE
Free: three score checks a day.
Free covers the first 3 steps. Pro (monthly or yearly): unlimited score checks, all 18 steps, weekly review and backups.
Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
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