Find your model
You are probably here because of one specific unit, either the one in front of you or the one you are playing on today. Every reference below is built from the manufacturer's own documentation: what is known to go wrong on that specific unit, what fixes it, and what to do when it happens with a room watching.
AlphaTheta
The successor to the iconic Pioneer DJ brand, on every badge since January 2024. Same rekordbox, same PRO DJ LINK, and every player here reads exFAT.
AlphaTheta
The successor to the iconic Pioneer DJ brand, on every badge since January 2024. Same rekordbox, same PRO DJ LINK, and every player here reads exFAT.
DJ effectors
Hardware
Speakers
Pioneer DJ
The gear actually bolted into club booths, fifteen years of it on one firmware line. Most of these players refuse exFAT, so a drive that works on one can be refused by the next.
Pioneer DJ
The gear actually bolted into club booths, fifteen years of it on one firmware line. Most of these players refuse exFAT, so a drive that works on one can be refused by the next.
Mixers
Turntables
DJ controllers
Allen & Heath
Analogue mixers built around the Xone filter. What matters here is where the signal goes: mics that reach neither booth nor recording until a rear switch says so, and a master that hits unity before fully clockwise.
Allen & Heath
Analogue mixers built around the Xone filter. What matters here is where the signal goes: mics that reach neither booth nor recording until a rear switch says so, and a master that hits unity before fully clockwise.
Technics
Direct drive turntables, where every failure is physical. The earth lead decides whether you get a hum, and the floor decides whether the needle stays down.
Technics
Direct drive turntables, where every failure is physical. The earth lead decides whether you get a hum, and the floor decides whether the needle stays down.
Turntables
Denon DJ
Standalone Engine OS players and a mixer on one shared firmware line. What matters is the file system a drive needs, and a platter that wants ten minutes.
Denon DJ
Standalone Engine OS players and a mixer on one shared firmware line. What matters is the file system a drive needs, and a platter that wants ten minutes.
Mixers
DJ controllers
RANE
Battle mixers built for two DJs and a crossfader, and a control deck with no needle in it. A TWELVE unlocks nothing on its own.
RANE
Battle mixers built for two DJs and a crossfader, and a control deck with no needle in it. A TWELVE unlocks nothing on its own.
Mixers
Turntables
All-in-one systems
Native Instruments
TRAKTOR is bring-your-own: the booth supplies a laptop and a control surface and nothing else. Whether a unit carries its own sound card is the first thing to ask.
Native Instruments
TRAKTOR is bring-your-own: the booth supplies a laptop and a control surface and nothing else. Whether a unit carries its own sound card is the first thing to ask.
All-in-one systems
DJ controllers
Modular controllers
PLAYdifferently
All-analogue mixers with no crossfader and no digital audio at all. What matters is which channels have a phono stage behind them, and that the resonant filter is one shared block you assign a channel into.
PLAYdifferently
All-analogue mixers with no crossfader and no digital audio at all. What matters is which channels have a phono stage behind them, and that the resonant filter is one shared block you assign a channel into.
Reloop
Direct drive decks, a Serato battle mixer and a portable controller. What matters is that the manuals disagree with each other about earthing, about the extended pitch gesture and about which way the counterweight faces, so muscle memory from one deck misleads you on the next.
Reloop
Direct drive decks, a Serato battle mixer and a portable controller. What matters is that the manuals disagree with each other about earthing, about the extended pitch gesture and about which way the counterweight faces, so muscle memory from one deck misleads you on the next.
Mixers
Turntables
DJ controllers
Ecler
Analogue rotary mixers with no crossfader and no firmware. What matters is that the channel EQ and the isolator are both full cut and do different jobs, and that phantom power and the output level are set inside the case.
Ecler
Analogue rotary mixers with no crossfader and no firmware. What matters is that the channel EQ and the isolator are both full cut and do different jobs, and that phantom power and the output level are set inside the case.
Numark
Serato controllers, a battle mixer and one standalone system. What matters is that on most of these an input selector set to Line stops that channel talking to the software, and that the manuals ship five languages in one file which do not always say the same thing.
Numark
Serato controllers, a battle mixer and one standalone system. What matters is that on most of these an input selector set to Line stops that channel talking to the software, and that the manuals ship five languages in one file which do not always say the same thing.
Mixers
All-in-one systems
DJ controllers
Manufacturers are ordered by the data we found on what equipment is most commonly used in professional DJ booths worldwide.
Walking up to a deck you do not know? Compare it against the one you know.
Something missing?
This covers most of what turns up in working booths. If yours is not here, tell us and it goes on the list.
Go deeper
Need more than the equipment reference? Knowledge is the layer underneath it.