Diary of a Disabled DJ — Entry 1. This series of entries will be a stream… | by Sam Henry Cliff | May, 2026 | MediumSitemapOpen in appSign up<br>Sign in

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Diary of a Disabled DJ — Entry 1

Sam Henry Cliff

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This series of entries will be a stream of consciousness, somewhat real-time diary of the process of getting back into the DJ hobby/profession. It is intended to be a form of encouragement to others who pick up something challenging. With lots of new things to discover, the concept “Practice Makes Better” is the motivation.<br>Rekordbox Ain’t Free for Me<br>For the longest time, I used Serato DJ primarily. With very a very cheap but useful Numark Party Mix controller, as seen below, I really enjoyed making one hour sets with Serato.<br>Press enter or click to view image in full size

First the basics, then to infinity and beyond…That controller, along with my guitars, drum set, music production gear, and a full PA system are in the hands of my ex-landlords in Oak Cliff. They don’t have any legal right to them but the Police and Civil Courts are difficult to navigate in my kind of unusual case. I haven’t given up hope about getting those things back, but it’s a long game ya know?<br>Life moves forward and looking backward too much is a great way to run into things in my view.

So now I’ve got a really cool Alpha Theta DDJ-FLX4 controller, which works both with Serato and their own software, Rekordbox. Having cross-platform compatibility is cool. It’s not quite as simple as a guitar, where you can plug it into any amp and it just works. It’s much closer though than back in the day when I got started with Traktor…back then Serato was only available with a Rane mixer or something.<br>The community of DJs all over the world are, well, pretty collaborative as a general principle, so while there’s some of the “XBox vs. PlayStation” kind of this-versus-that team preferences, at the heart of it is the people dancing don’t care! Whatever suits a person’s technique or style, there are several different options at the local Guitar Center or via online retailers.<br>Press enter or click to view image in full size

Ooo! Fancy!One of the realities of life in 2026 is software doesn’t tend to be “buy a copy, use it, then pay to upgrade” in a lot of respects. There are a few noteworthy examples — Ableton Live used this model for the longest time — but for continuing updates and service and to “unlock” all the functions, Rekordbox uses the Subscription model. At $30 a month, I don’t think it’s cheap, especially compared with what music streaming services charge, but there are significant updates regularly and it’s needed to actually use the controller.<br>Press enter or click to view image in full size

I’ve paid for a year but didn’t even use it for 10 months…that’s on me.Preparation Takes Perspiration<br>Okay it’s not the most physically demanding thing, but what is very different to me about using Rekordbox versus Serato is the clear benefit to spending time organizing and “prepping” tracks. Why?<br>The deal is Rekordbox has something Serato doesn’t and never will: The ability to export Playlists and MP3s to a USB drive and jump on a set of Pioneer CDJ decks or a standalone unit (without a laptop).

There are lots and lots of helpful tutorial videos on YouTube which explain how to navigate the systems, and to be honest, it’s worth watching them a couple times to understand it. Last year, when I got the controller while living at a PadSplit, I only had my old PC laptop.<br>Instead of following the advice and tutorials about using the “Smart Playlists” or tools in Rekordbox to organize my Music Files, I started doing everything by hand, starting with years of Beatport purchased tracks going back to 2010. It took me a lot of time to modify the “Genre” listings, but then again, I hadn’t closely looked at my Library in years…<br>Press enter or click to view image in full size

The first attempt at Rekordbox organization.Now that I’m on a pretty ace Macbook Pro, I decided to once again do everything “the hard way.” What most professionals would recommend, and I would too, would be to “Export” all the Playlists and their organized tracks from the PC to a USB Hard Drive (or maybe upload to Dropbox), or learn to use the “Pioneer Cloud” included with the software. I simply have too much time on my hands and kind of like the exercise of looking at what I have in detail.<br>Today’s Starbucks Session<br>With limited funds I don’t get to socialize very much just for the sake of going out to mingle. Plus the whole “not drinking myself stupid” is actually saving me quite a bit of money, and when I do go out, it’s usually to a Library or Lavandria or Grocery Shopping. Nice and chill, ya know?<br>Yesterday being Memorial Day, I’ve been thinking a lot about a friend of mine who served in the US Marine Corps, participated in the “Fallujah II” operation, and upon his return, had surgery in the VA...