USB DJ Turntable Recommendations for Mac? Good Questions

Q - This may seem totally left field, but hear me out! Basically, we're throwing a house party this weekend and people always say I should DJ since I have a great music selection and have experience DJ'ing in the past. However, I sold my setup a long time ago. All I have now are my Macbook and a nice set of speakers. Do you guys know of any USB turntables and/or software to make my party rock? Thanks!!

A - You've come to the right place, Robert. Actually, we have a few friends who spin at nightclubs and they're all in love with Vestax's Spin DJ USB Controller and its associated DJay Software.

What you get is a digital turntable that has a mic input, external headphone output (so you can listen to your music before letting it go live), and a USB-powered connection. Not only that, but the software plays nicely with your iTunes collection and will definitely put you back on top as the pro DJ that you once were.

You can grab it from Apple for a friendly price of $250 (comes with a mic, too!).

Comments (7)

u can actually do the mixing with just the djay software and scratch with the macbook touchpad, but the hardware would be so sweet to have

u should also note that the item is on backorder for 2-3 months, which means it wouldnt really help you out this weekend for the dj gig.

There is absolutely no way a DJ would use this setup in clubs, you'd be laughed out the door before starting your set. Most club DJs use timecoded software setups like Serato or Tractor and some use Ableton which is more production oriented.
While this setup will do the trick for this situation (something simple and pretty much automatic for a house party) it's disingenuous to pass it off as professional equipment.

I'm not a professional DJ by any stretch of the animation, but I had a chance to play with the M-Audio Torq Xponent which turned out to be an interesting experience. The included software software was pretty intuitive and I can only imagine what you'd be able to do with a combination of decent digital mixer and a touchscreen computer.

Another one you might want to check out is the Numark Omni Controller. I have one for parties at home and it works great. It comes with Mixmeister as well as Traktor which are both great pieces of software.

Another vote for Traktor. Just grab the demo and it will do for your needs. It takes all of 5 minutes to figure out. This assumes you have a decent digital selection. If you're all vinyl you're out of luck, and you might have to borrow some gear.