Density, the hardware and software solution for recording DJ sets using professional Pioneer DJ equipment, a device we first reported on last August, is making a big change to its pricing model. It’s dropping its subscription requirement and offering a lifetime licence option – and in doing so, directly addressing the biggest criticism we’ve heard from our students about the product.
Er, Density What?
Density is an innovative take on recording DJ sets. It works by plugging a small hardware box into the network that DJ equipment is connected to, recording all the movements a DJ makes – button presses, fader movements, transport controls, speed adjustments, effects activations, and more.
DJs can then take this Midi information into Density Pro Mix, the accompanying digital audio workstation, and link it with the actual music files they played. The result is a reconstructed mix that’s fully editable, allowing transitions to be tightened, tracks to be removed or added for licensing/creative reasons, and the mix to be adjusted in length for different formats.
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Interestingly (and as ever), you don’t actually need the hardware at all – you can record all the same information directly onto a laptop connected to the same network. This makes it particularly useful for DJs using it at home where they’ve got their laptop anyway. The hardware is really designed for venues to have permanently installed, so DJs can use it without having to worry about taking their own recording equipment.
Watch the video
Check out this quick video explainer from Density that takes you through the recording and editing process.
What’s changed with the pricing
The biggest change is the elimination of the subscription model that was putting potential users off. Previously, even if you bought the hardware, you still needed to subscribe to use the software effectively – there was a free version, but it included an audio watermark that made subscription necessary.
Now, the DAW itself is available for $200 as a lifetime licence, with a rent-to-own option at $15 per month where you own the licence after 14 months. Better still, you can cancel or restart the payment plan anytime. The hardware itself now includes a Density Pro Version 1 licence and costs $450 total.
New features, too…
The company has added a couple of new features. There’s now an “export tracklist” feature that creates a text file of each track title along with start and end times for the mix.
More significantly, there’s a new “split tracks for export” tool – an algorithm that scans through each transition, determining when the incoming track becomes more dominant than the outgoing track, and sets a split point there. This means if you’re working on a compilation, each track can play individually, but the mix will appear seamless to the listener.
Why this product matters for DJ culture
When we first covered Density last year, we were impressed by the philosophy behind it. DJ culture is, by its nature, ephemeral – countless great DJ sets are lost forever the moment they finish playing. The Density team wants to change this by offering a simple tool that makes capturing, editing, and archiving DJ sets as straightforward as things like video, photography, or music production.
This isn’t just about convenience – it’s about preserving DJ culture itself. How many legendary club sets have been lost because there was no practical way to capture them with professional quality? How many DJs have struggled to create polished versions of their best work because the traditional recording-and-editing process can be so cumbersome, especially for live sets?
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What’s particularly impressed us about the Density team is their approach to business. They’re an engineering company with a real philosophy behind what they’re doing, and they seem immune to the impulse to post on social media constantly.
Initially, this made us wonder if they weren’t developing the product as quickly as they wanted, or if they were suffering from other issues. None of this appears to be the case – they seem to be full steam ahead, and have privately shared some genuinely exciting developments coming down the line which we’re looking forward to reporting on in good time.
Current limitations and future possibilities
For now, Density only works with equipment that can use Pioneer DJ’s Pro DJ Link, which effectively means high-end professional gear. When we asked them about widening support to other equipment in the past, they expressed interest, so perhaps that’s coming as well.
We’ll be taking another comprehensive look at Density in the coming months once we’ve had time to test the new features thoroughly. Based on what we’ve seen so far, there may well be something significant to report when we do.
The Density Pro Version 1 lifetime licence is $200 (or $15/month rent-to-own). If buying the hardware, the price jumps to $450 with licence included. For more info, head over to the Density website.
