KNOWLEDGE_BASE

Master your tools

Your tools are the software that runs your library, the equipment that plays it, and the hardware that backs it up. This is the reference layer for all three: what each one actually does, where it breaks, and how to keep it from ruining your gig.

What you use

Equipment

Players, mixers, turntables, and the rest of what lives in the booth.

Software

The apps and library software you use to prep, perform and record a set.
rekordbox AlphaTheta’s library software, and the one every Pioneer DJ and AlphaTheta player is built to read. Export, Device Library and OneLibrary, and moving a library between computers. Open the guide → Serato DJ Pro Serato’s full DJ software: how it is unlocked, which hardware unlocks it, the Club Kit and Suite tiers, and what to check before a set. Open the guide → TRAKTOR PRO 4 Native Instruments’ DJ software: the laptop based TRAKTOR ecosystem, stems, activation, audio routing, and what a KONTROL controller needs from it. Open the guide → Engine DJ Engine library prep, SC Live and Prime players, and playing a club booth you did not prepare for. Open the guide → VirtualDJ Atomix’s DJ software: the tiers and what each one runs, external mixer setups, CDJ Export to a USB stick, and what to check before a set. Open the guide → DJM-REC AlphaTheta’s recording and live-streaming app: one USB cable into a DJM mixer, auto time-stamped track lists. Open the guide →

Serato has its own shelf: every Serato page in one place.

Hardware

Computers, USB drives, SSDs, and the rest of what backs it all up.

Looking for what to buy rather than how it behaves? The drives we trust are on the gear page.

Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, Apple silicon only, and the 16 GB and 512 GB base we advise: what matters for uptime under a set. Open the guide → Kingston The XS1000 and XS2000 SSDs and the DataTraveler sticks: the budget end of the booth, with what Kingston publish and what they do not. Open the guide → Samsung The T7 Shield, T7, T5 EVO and T9 SSDs and the BAR Plus stick, and the older-player trap Pioneer DJ staff describe. Open the guide → SanDisk The Extreme PRO the booth agrees on, the faster USB-A Extreme PRO, the Extreme Portable SSD, and the AlphaTheta DJ Flash Drive. Open the guide →

Look it up

Dictionary

Every DJ and equipment term used across this site, defined in plain language.

Compare decks

You know one deck and you are about to play on another. What changes for the drive in your bag.

Firmware matrix

Which faults your firmware version still carries, and the version that clears them.

USB drive compatibility

Which file systems and library format each standalone player reads, model by model.

Error messages decoded

What the maker says each on-screen message means, and the page that fixes it.

Can I update my laptop yet?

Six DJ apps on macOS 26 and Windows 11, each vendor's own statement side by side.

Chasing one failure? The FAQ answers it and links the fix library. Met a word you do not know? The dictionary.

Which tool is missing from this list?

If a brand or a model you play on is not here, tell us and it goes on the list.

Tell us what you use

Official downloads and release notes: rekordbox (AlphaTheta) · Serato DJ · DJM-REC (AlphaTheta) · Engine DJ