Set up your sound

A club mixer (Pioneer DJM-450) with Engine DJ · RME Babyface Pro FS

Follow these steps in order. The app's setup takes you through the same ones.

Your gear

Pick what you DJ on. Club mixer (with CDJs, turntables or a controller)

Playing vinyl? Plug your turntables into the mixer as usual: your partner hears your records through it. BPM, key and the shared waveform need digital players. Your partner comes in on one channel of your mixer, so a two-channel mixer leaves you one deck; with three or four channels you can mix between two decks.

Your mixer

On a Mac

Pick your model, so we can show you its steps. Pioneer DJM-450

Supported

Connect the DJM-450's MASTER2 outputs to your interface's inputs 1-2. That's your mix.
Connect your interface's outputs 1-2 to one channel's LINE input, and set that channel's input selector to LINE. That channel is your partner's fader.
Plug your speakers into your interface's outputs 3-4, or into this computer, not the DJM's MASTER1.
If your speakers are on outputs 3-4: in Audio MIDI Setup, select your interface, click Configure Speakers, and set it to Quadraphonic, so this Mac sees 4 outputs.
At Your sound in and out, choose your interface: inputs 1-2 for your mix, outputs 1-2 for your partner, and your speakers.

Connect your Mac to your stack

Powered speakers: run a cable from your Mac's output (or your audio interface's outputs) straight into the speakers.
An amp and speakers: run the same cable into the amp's input. The amp drives your speakers as usual.
Not from your mixer's master out: your Mac plays the right sound at every point of a handover. And not Bluetooth or AirPlay: they add too much delay.

Your software

Pick the DJ software you play with. Engine DJ

Pick Engine DJ, under DJ software.

Interfaces that suit this setup

On a Mac

This setup needs an audio interface with two line inputs (for your mix) and two outputs (for your partner). If it has four outputs, your speakers can go on outputs 3-4. If it has two, plug your speakers into your computer.

RME Babyface Pro FS · 4 inputs, and 2 line outputs on XLR.

Should work: It has what the app needs, but we haven't tried it yet.

Cables: one pair from your Pioneer DJM-450's MASTER2 outputs to the interface's inputs 1-2 (your mix), and one pair from the interface's outputs 1-2 to your Pioneer DJM-450's LINE input (your partner). With the RME Babyface Pro FS:

Pioneer DJM-450 MASTER2 outputs (RCA) → RME Babyface Pro FS inputs 1-2: RCA to XLR
RME Babyface Pro FS outputs 1-2 (XLR) → Pioneer DJM-450 LINE input: XLR to RCA

Check what comes in the box. If these cables aren't in it, you'll need to buy them.

In a set, you'll see these buttons and messages:

READY · Set starts in · Handover · Accept handover · Partner mixed out · Fader up
You have control. Press Partner mixed out when you're in; your partner can stop their track.
Handover complete. Keep your track playing until your partner mixes you out.
Your partner has mixed you out. You can stop your track now.
After you've taken over, pull your partner's fader all the way down for 10 seconds, and they're told they can stop: the same as pressing Partner mixed out.
Your partner's fader is down. Push it up before you Accept.

Your internet

Use a wired connection if you can: an Ethernet cable from your computer to your router. Wi-Fi drops out more often, and a dropout can be heard in the set.

Upload speed: 5 Mbps or more, or quality may drop. The app checks both uploads when you link. On a slower upload, that DJ's part of their partner's recording is at the live sound's quality. If a connection slows during the set, the full-quality recording needs time to finish after you leave, up to 15 minutes; anything it can't finish by then is at the live sound's quality.

How a set sounds depends on both DJs' internet connections, which we don't control. We can't promise a connection will be good enough, so try a short set together first.