| By the way, Traktor gets the most consistent high grade reviews of any of them. It is truly a solid performing DJ application with lots of features and grown up/professional features and results. But for me, the best thing a DJ program can do is make precise beatmatching decisions on the fly. I got my chops DJ'ing ghetto house parties where the music is truly captivating and inspirational and the crowds are demanding but faithful, responsive, talented dancers and seriously [i]involved[i] in what the DJ is doing. So many selections are made at the last minute, (I used to fling records off the turntable with a last minute change of selection to grab the crowds energy and hold it until the last possible moment).
Traktor requires you to perform a rather long and at first very frustrating function called "Setting Up A Beat Grid" for each and every song (yes) INDIVUALLY before you can rely on it synching to the beat properly. I know that many out there can follow the manual with relative ease and...[i]find the downbeat, change it to a cue point (one of many types of cue points) refocus your attention to the track view, start the metronome, make sure the curser moves along with the metronome AND the premarked beat grid, stop it when it drifts and (somehow) correct it until you reach the end of the song. I grab music when and where I can because featuring Old School can be from last year to Bach and if one person in the crowd starts a demand for an old popular tune and I don't have it it zaps the energy for a moment and I have to get it back. So going through this with all my songs is not EVEN necessary with Virtual DJ. I can set it to analyze either House/Techno or "Other" rhythmic material before I go to bed and in the morning a thousand or more files are done and marked. But even more important, if I load an un-analyzed tune into Virtual DJ and hit "synch" and let it go...it's almost always dead on. Not so with Traktor. With VDJ I have even hit some really good mixes without even cueing in my headphones. I line up the downbeats VISUALLY, hit sync, hit play and I am on the beat...loop 8 bars and play with the FX, hit beat effect for a beakdown type drumroll/beatjuggle and fade tune 1 out.
With Traktor I have trouble even changing to the "anchoring" type cue point that is required to begin to analyze the tune.
If you beatmatch alot, use crowd reaction alot and don't have an advanced math degree these opinions might be useful, or if you just want DJ'ing to be more fun than work.
Hope it helps and props to all the Traktor devotees, I clearly accept that my frustration with Traktor comes from my own shortcomings and simply wish to help others with the same shortcomings enjoy making other people dance and have fun. At least I'm sure you'll acknowledge that it can be embarrassing trying to get beginner help because a lot of people who have the knowledge fail to reduce it to simpler terms.
If DJ'ing is truly an art, than it will only get better for everyone when everyone has had their say.
respectfully,
DJ Replay | 
