FREE: JACKSON DJ

The use of a spectrum analyzer for beatmapping seems to work well. Still it's time consuming. why did you choose for this approach?

"Actually it is not really a spectrum analyzer, although it looks like one. For most electronic music, it takes less than a minute to analyze a song, once you’re used to the process. The song then knows where its beats and measures are and beat-mixing is always perfect. We realize that the beat-mapping process is a barrier for many people but the musical metadata is at the hearth of our approach. We are hoping that music shops and distributors will analyze the songs themselves so that the end user no longer has to do it. One of the reasons that we are now giving Jackson away for free is that we want to establish an open standard that everybody can follow."

Jackson DJ can sync laptops to each other. Is that with a standard Ethernet connection? How does it work?

"To sync two computers, one has to be configured as a server and the other as a client. The client follows the tempo of the server and syncs to its beat. This works over standard Ethernet. Configuration is done through the ‘Network’ tab on the two computers. The 4-number IP address of the server has to be entered on the client. Note that the two computers will be beat-synced, but not necessary measure-synced. The DJ has to take care of that."


Recently you decided to give the current version of Jackson DJ away for free. Why?

"Jackson 1.x is a great product but it doesn’t get a lot of exposure. People don’t know about it. When they do find our program, they typically are no longer interested when they realize that they have to prepare their songs before they can play them. In a way, our program is too experimental. We are hoping more people will try out Jackson if they can have full functionality without spending a dime."

Can you tell bit more about the future of Jackson DJ?

"We are designing Jackson’s successor right now which will offer more flexibility (like a configurable browser and an unlimited number of decks) and new features (like standard EQ controls). We will use a different technology that will allow us to build and extend it faster that Jackson 1.x. We will probably have a free version and a pro version offering advanced features. People who have bought Jackson 1.x will be entitled to a free upgrade to the pro version."

  Jackson DJ website

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