Is standalone the future for DJs?

Over the past few years, standalone DJ systems have moved closer to the forefront of digital DJing.

As computing power increases, we are likely to continue seeing more an more features added to standalone units.

This year is especially promising for standalone – just look at the Denon Prime 4.

The Prime 4 is a standalone unit which completely blows both laptop DJing, and CDJ/Vinyl DJing out of the water.

The beastly unit is a 4-channel king in the current market.

Not only does it have pretty much every standard feature you’d expect on a controller with Serato or Rekordbox, but it also integrates it all into a unit with extra outputs, and even streaming capability.

The death of tablet/phone DJing?

Over the past decade, as computers have got more powerful, controllers started using iPads and phones as the “laptop” for the controller.

These devices were more convenient, and in some cases, cheaper than using a laptop.

While they never really made it into the pro DJ booths, they were a handy tool for many DJs.

The shift to standalone seems to be the direct successor to this type of DJing., as well as a possible replacement for CDJs.

Here’s why:

Since we started using digital systems, we had two options: simplicity or power.

If we wanted simplicity, a CDJ would do the job.

It could mix, beatmatch, loop, and that was it.

This is where laptops came in. They allowed for more complex controllers and software, which meant that a DJ could perform more complicated sets.

Laptops were also a big plus for the manufacturers because the computing power was the user’s issue, not the manufacturer.

It is a lot cheaper to outsource the processing to the user’s computer than to try and integrate a small computer in a controller.

The option of phones was a logical step and meant that DJing could be done on even cheaper computers.

Now though, computing power is not so much of an issue, and if a manufacturer can cheaply add a “brain” to a controller and keep it as powerful as one hooked up to a laptop, then that is a win.

In the club

If you are a controller DJ that can’t use CDJs, you are in for some trouble.

Many clubs only have CDJs, and the hassle of getting a controller that works with any laptop and software is not worth it.

This is one of the reasons that CDJs reign supreme to this day.

Now though, a standalone controller has the same convenience factor as a CDJ – where you arrive with USBs and get going, but with the added features that a controller has.

This is why 2019 and 2020 will be crucial for the DJ industry.

It will only take a few of the bigger clubs and festivals to decide to refit the booth with a standalone controller, and all of a sudden, the industry could shift.

Conversely, if the venues don’t adopt the standalone movement, then it may end up as just another brief controller phase.

Who next?

We are now 6 months into 2019, and 3 from the release of the Prime 4.

While we haven’t seen any major competition crop up yet, we can make a fair guess that it is coming, the question is, from whom?

Pioneer DJ have gone through some big shifts recently, and will no doubt want to hang onto their throne as the main DJ hardware company.

But, equally, they have seen their products undercut and beaten by Denon several times now, and have struggled to respond with an equally devastating comeback.

That said, their XDJ-RX range is doing very well for itself, despite being significantly less kitted out than the Prime 4.

So this could mean that the next big releases could come from elsewhere.

There are a few considerations which will need to be made if a company wants to make a new standalone unit.

Firstly, the brains of the unit needs to be powerful enough.

This seems to be a less pressing issue nowadays, but the price/power ratio will still be a defining factor if a company wants to take on Denon.

Secondly, and perhaps more crucially, standalone systems need to run on software.

Denon uses Engine in their gear, other companies which don’t already have a competing software solution will have to design one.

This doesn’t leave many companies.

Pioneer, in this case remain on the table, so does Native Instruments.

Akai have delved into the standalone producer gear with their Force controller, and they have previously made some smaller DJ controllers.

While Serato is a major DJ software, it doesn’t have any dedicated hardware, with it instead, allowing controller manufacturers to be built for Serato.

As of yet, we just don’t know.

The bottom line

Standalone is here to stay, and will continue to straddle the line between controller and CDJ. Whether it succeeds and becomes the replacement of the long-reigning CDJ, I’m not sure.