What if I told you there was a $4 cable that would let you to DJ "correctly" using just a DJ app on your phone or laptop? No audio interfaces, controllers, or other DJ equipment would be required, and you would still have full headphone monitoring and a separate output for your speakers.
Imagine having the ability to pull out your tablet or phone, launch a DJ app and perhaps a DJ music streaming service, and actually mix while cueing and previewing tracks in your headphones and sending your set to speakers that everyone can hear? To protect everyone from YouTube warriors, you may offer to perform impromptu sets in bars, take over the music at "back to mine" events, or simply play some music during your leisure at work.
anywhere, even a motel room. You only need to add a small, wired portable speaker to be ready to go.
You can have a portable DJ setup with just this $4 wire and a little speaker like the Minirig 3 seen here.
Imagine being able to test out new music, add cues, practice mixing, and even create entire mixtapes without ever plugging in your controller. With or without your controller, you can now practice DJing everywhere you can access your laptop.
There is such a wire, in fact. One of the earliest known secrets of digital DJing is a device known as a "mono splitter cable" or "DJ splitter cable," and it can be purchased for as little as $4 on Amazon.
We believe one of these belongs in every DJ's bag.
To learn more about this "trick," including the best splitter cable for DJs, let's take a deeper look at what it is, what it does, how to use it, and other information you should be aware of.
A DJ mono splitter cable: what is it?
A mono splitter cable typically includes two 1/8′′ mono headphone connections on one end and one 1/8′′ stereo headphone plug. One "half" of the stereo audio stream travels through each of the sockets. As a result, the first one transmits the "left" half of the signal, while the second one transmits the "right" half.
The sort of cable you're seeking for features one 1/8′′ stereo headphones plug and two 1/8′′ mono headphones sockets on opposite sides.
When it comes to the sockets or plugs on the "dual" end, there are different options available (and the Firefly DJ cable takes the whole thing to an extreme), but the one constant is that each of the two outputs on the "dual" end carries a separate half of the audio signal—one is the left half, the other is the right.
How does it function?
Your DJ software functions in conjunction with a DJ mono splitter connection. It's crucial to understand that without your DJ software supports it, it is useless.
Your DJ software will only send the "master" audio—what the audience hears—down one of the two outputs when it is configured properly for DJing. The "cue" output, or what you might anticipate hearing through your headphones, is carried on the other output.
This entails that you can connect your speakers to one output so that the crowd can hear what you're doing while using your headphones to preview the next track as you would with DJ hardware.
It addresses the issue of "two-out" audio on laptops, mobile devices, and tablets (which means they have two audio outputs, the left and right outputs of their single stereo signal), the audio interfaces in DJ controllers and mixers only offer "four out," or two stereo pairs, of sound.
Which splitter cable works best for DJs?
The correct cable needs to be purchased first. So which splitter cable is ideal for DJs? The majority of "headphone splitter" cables you'll discover online won't function, that much is the first thing to know. This is due to the fact that they send the same signal to both outputs. These are typically sold as cables, allowing two users to "share" a single headphones output.
No, you require a "mono splitter," "DJ splitter," or anything comparable, like this. The most common error is simply purchasing the incorrect cable.
What is a DJ mono splitter cable used for?
The following step is to plug it in. If you're using a laptop or tablet, plug it into the headphones output. Of course, if you're using a phone, you'll need your manufacturer's wired headphone adaptor cable in order to plug anything in at all, so dig it out of the back of your drawer or spend the extra $5 to $10 to buy one.
Plugging in your speakers and headphones is the next step. Use an appropriate adaptor cable to connect your powered speakers to the other socket on the wire after inserting your headphones into one of the sockets. Typically, you'll need a 1/8" stereo jack to 2 RCA or 2 1/4" mono jack connection.
The last step is configuring your DJ app or program to use the cable. The good news is that most tablet and smartphone DJ software will automatically recognize when you've connected in such a cable and offer to set it up correctly for you.
If not, you must go to the audio settings of your DJ software, choose the stereo output of your device as the program's output, and set the "left" channel to "cue" and the "right" channel to "master" (or vice versa).
You're all set to go now. Complete DJing without the use of any additional devices, with working audio throughout.
Facts regarding DJ mono splitter cables
Knowing that this is ultimately a "hack,"
I mean, it's in the name, right? It's in mono. This method functions because you give up the stereo signal to obtain two distinct outputs, which are invariably mono. the majority of club systems are mono, Therefore, even though you might already have the necessary materials on hand, keep this in mind and consider having backup plans in case you run into different types of speakers.
The speaker and headphone cords may need to be switched. Here, one potential pitfall is configuring the speakers and headphones one way in the software but plugging them in the opposite way at the wire. Swap them around to fix your audio if it starts acting strange when you try to cue music.
The DJ splitter cable you now possess is the greatest one. If you're a DJ with a variety of audio cables lying around, you might be able to put together a cable that accomplishes this using what you already have (and if you're skilled with a soldering iron, even more so). You'll be in excellent shape as long as you understand the fundamental principle of "left audio to one output, right audio to the other."
Finally…
This isn't the best way to DJ because it's made to work when there's no hardware accessible, and in an ideal world, we'd all like to use hardware whenever it's an option. Since all hardware provides us with appropriate headphone and speaker outputs, When we truly have DJ equipment to play on, we wouldn't ever need to use this.
Additionally, while we may be able to tolerate cueing and feeding our speakers in mono, the level of the signal is still only half as strong, which is not ideal. It is conceivable, though, and frequently no one will ever be able to tell the difference.
In the end, having additional options for DJing is always appreciated. Nothing compares to the exhilaration of discovering all of a sudden that all you need to DJ, whether for practice or performance, is the phone in your pocket and a tiny $4 cable. Because of this, we believe that every DJ should be familiar with the "DJ mono splitter" hack and possess a DJ mono splitter cable.
