Rekordbox is Pioneer DJ AlphaTheta's proprietary software that DJs around the world who have been rocking the manufacturer's products for years use to manage their libraries, process their tracks and basically mix. In an update sent out this morning, the brand announced that the popular dance music platform Beatport Streaming is now compatible with the iOS version of the software.
With this move, playback of more than 12 million tracks without download is now a reality on the Rekordbox app for Apple's iPhone or iPad devices. In addition, users will be able to access the most popular hits and playlists across different genres.
From now on, the search process will be streamlined, as users will be able to search for available songs directly from the cloud by entering keywords in the search engine. In addition, tracks are listed among 100 Beatport rankings for each genre of music. Finally, the latest app update allows the mobile device to be connected to a DDJ-FLX4 or DDJ-200 controller either via a USB-C cable or via Bluetooth.
This last factor is what prompted Pioneer DJ to announce last year that today's update was coming "soon". It made perfect sense when the entry-level controller range is designed for portability: many DDJ-FLX4 and DDJ-200 users wanted to get rid of the obligation to connect such lightweight equipment to a laptop. However, the fact that Beatport Streaming could only be accessed from the PC or Mac version of the software prevented this, as it meant that tracks had to be downloaded to the device (or streamed from other platforms that were supported, such as TIDAL or SoundCloud). Starting today, however, the most popular music platform for DJs is now integrated into the most widely used software, on phones and tablets.
Although it has taken the Japanese corporation more than a year, it seems that the recent announcement of the rebranding of Pioneer DJ to AlphaTheta, as well as the launch of the new Omnis-Duo (all-in-one controller), Wave Eight (large lagless wireless speaker) and Euphonia (rotary mixer) has freed up other matters that the company had in its queue.