XDJ-AZ

This sets how loud the first microphone is in the mix. Turn it up to make your voice louder, down to make it quieter. There's a CLIP/SIGNAL indicator next to it that lights up when the mic is picking up sound.

tip: The manual warns that turning this too far clockwise outputs sound at a high volume, so bring it up gradually while talking and stop before the CLIP indicator lights red to avoid distortion.

Same as the MIC 1 knob but for a second microphone — handy if you have a co-host or a guest MC. Turn it up to make that mic louder, down to quiet it.

tip: Each mic has its own separate ON button, LEVEL knob, and EQ knobs, so you can set two different people to comfortable volumes independently.

These shape how the first microphone sounds. HI adds or removes crispness and air, MID handles the body and presence of the voice, and LOW controls warmth and boominess. Turn a knob right to boost that part, left to cut it.

tip: If a voice sounds boomy or muddy, roll the LOW knob down a little. If speech sounds unclear, a small boost to MID helps it cut through the music.

The tone shaping for your second microphone. HI for brightness, MID for vocal clarity, LOW for warmth or removing rumble. Boost by turning right, cut by turning left.

tip: Set both mics' EQ to match if two people are talking, so the switch between voices sounds seamless.

This is the first volume stage for each deck. Think of it as setting how strong the signal starts before you push the fader up. Set it right and the channel meter lights up nicely into the upper range without hitting the red.

tip: Aim the channel level indicator to peak around the top orange lights (just below the red CLIP) with the fader all the way up. Setting TRIM properly here gives you clean headroom and matched volumes when you switch between tracks.

These shape the sound of the track playing on that channel: HI for cymbals and highs, MID for vocals and instruments, LOW for the bassline and kick drum. In EQ mode, turning a knob all the way down still leaves a little of that sound. In ISO mode, turning fully down removes that part completely — great for killing the bass to blend two tracks.

tip: Switch to ISO mode in the settings if you like doing dramatic transitions — turning the LOW knob fully left will completely mute the bass, letting you swap the low end from one track to another cleanly.

This is a one-knob creative filter for each channel. After you pick an effect type with the buttons, turning this knob left or right applies it — for example with FILTER, turning left muffles the sound (removes highs) and turning right makes it thin and tinny (removes lows). The center position is usually no effect.

tip: FILTER is the most useful everyday setting: leave it selected and use the COLOR knob to sweep tracks in and out of a build-up. Use the PARAMETER knob in the Sound Color FX section to fine-tune the intensity of whatever effect you've chosen.

This is your main volume knob for everything the crowd hears. Turn it up or down to set how loud the whole mix goes out to the sound system.

tip: Watch the master level meter and keep it out of the red — if the CLIP indicator blinks, you're sending too hot a signal to the speakers and it can distort. Set your channel TRIMs and faders properly first, then use this as the final overall level.

These let you tweak the tone of your entire mix at once — useful for adjusting to a room that's too boomy or too bright. HI for overall brightness, MID for body, LOW for overall bass. Boost by turning right, cut by turning left.

tip: Use these gently to adapt to the room, not for creative effects. If the venue sounds boomy, a small cut on LOW here fixes the whole night without touching every track. Keep them near center as your neutral starting point.

This controls the volume of your own monitor speaker in the DJ booth, separate from what the crowd hears. Turn it up so you can hear yourself clearly without changing the volume for the dancefloor.

tip: Because it's independent of the main output, you can crank your booth monitor loud enough to beatmatch by ear even if the room volume stays constant. By default the microphone is also sent to the booth (Mic Output to Booth is On).

This changes how heavy or light the big platter feels when you spin it. Turned one way, the wheel feels stiff and slow like a real vinyl record; turned the other way, it feels loose and easy to flick. It doesn't change the sound directly — it changes the physical feel of scratching and nudging tracks.

tip: If you scratch, a heavier setting gives you more control and a vinyl-like grip. If you mostly do quick nudges to line up beats, a lighter setting responds faster with less effort.

This blends what you hear in your headphones. On one end you hear only the track you're secretly previewing (the next song you're about to bring in); on the other end you hear only what the crowd is hearing. Anywhere in between mixes the two so you can line up the next track against the current one.

tip: Keep it somewhere in the middle so you can hear both the live mix and your incoming track at the same time — that's how you beatmatch by ear before opening the fader.

This is simply your headphone volume knob. It controls how loud everything is in your headphones and has no effect on what the audience hears.

tip: Set this comfortably loud but protect your hearing — you'll often be in a loud room, so resist cranking it to the maximum for long sets.

This is a second dial for the currently chosen color effect. While the per-channel COLOR knobs decide how much of the effect each channel gets, this knob fine-tunes the character of the effect itself — for example, how long an echo tail lasts or how aggressive a filter's edge sounds.

tip: Pick your Sound Color FX first (SPACE, DUB ECHO, SWEEP, NOISE, CRUSH, or FILTER), then experiment with this knob before a set so you know what each effect's sweet spot feels like — the response is very different from one effect to the next.

This sets the timing of the beat-synced effect — for instance, how long the gap is on an echo, or how fast a filter sweeps back and forth. It works alongside the BEAT buttons, which snap the timing to musical beat fractions; this knob lets you dial in a more precise or off-grid timing by hand.

tip: Hold the [TAP] button and turn this knob to nudge the effect's BPM up or down by 1 at a time — handy when the auto-detected tempo is slightly off.

This is the 'how much' dial for the beat effect — turn it up for a heavy, obvious effect and down for a subtle touch. All the way down means you hear the track with no effect at all, which makes it your safe starting and exit point.

tip: Start with it turned all the way down, switch the effect on, then ease it up so the effect blends in gradually rather than slamming the mix. For HELIX specifically, turning it fully clockwise freezes and holds the output sound.

This is your main browsing dial for finding and loading tracks. Spin it to scroll through your music, push it in to pick something. It has clever shortcuts too: hold and spin to jump quickly through long lists by letter or by page, and on the waveform view hold it to switch into a mode where spinning zooms into the waveform or fine-tunes the beat markers.

tip: When digging through a big alphabetical library, press and hold then spin to jump straight to the letter you want instead of scrolling one track at a time.

This is the main volume slider for one deck. Push it up to bring that track into the mix, pull it down to take it out. You have one for each channel, so these are what you use to blend tracks in and out during a mix.

tip: You can change how the fader responds: Curve1/2/3 range from a smooth, gradual fade to a sharp cut near the top. Choose a gradual curve for long blends, or a steeper one if you want the track to jump in quickly.

This slider slides between the left group of decks and the right group. Push it left to hear the tracks assigned to the left, right to hear the right, and in the middle you hear both. It's the classic tool for cutting or blending between two sides — especially for scratching and quick transitions.

tip: Set the curve to the sharp Curve1 for scratching and fast cuts (the sound switches abruptly near the edge), or the gentle Curve3 for smooth blends. If you don't want a deck affected by the crossfader at all, set its assign to THRU so it always plays regardless of fader position.

This slider speeds up or slows down the track, mainly so you can match the beat of one song to another. By default the change also raises or lowers the pitch, just like an old record player — but if you turn on Master Tempo, the speed changes while the pitch stays the same.

tip: Use the ±6 range for tiny, precise beatmatching adjustments and WIDE only when you want dramatic speed changes. Turn on [MASTER TEMPO] so changing speed doesn't make vocals sound higher or lower, and press [TEMPO RESET] to snap instantly back to the track's original speed.

This dial picks the flavor of the master effect you're about to unleash — echoes, reverb tails, filter sweeps, stutters, and more. It just chooses the effect; you still need to switch it on with the ON/OFF button or the X-PAD, pick a channel with CH SELECT, and set the beat length with the BEAT arrows.

tip: DELAY, ECHO, and REVERB are the easiest to blend in cleanly — turn the LEVEL/DEPTH knob up gradually so the effect creeps in rather than slamming. For dramatic build-ups try FILTER or ROLL synced to a full beat, and use the FX FREQUENCY (LOW/MID/HI) buttons to apply the effect to just one part of the sound.

This is where you 'stamp' the beginning of a section you want to repeat. Tap it once where you want a loop to start, then use the OUT button to mark the end. If you hold it down, the unit instantly loops the next 4 beats for you. It also drops a cue point (a marker you can jump back to) when you tap it mid-track.

tip: Hold it for an instant hands-free 4-beat loop to buy yourself time. If your loop start sounds slightly off, press it again during the loop and nudge the jog wheel to line it up perfectly — leaving it alone for 10 seconds exits adjust mode. Turn on Quantize (deck) so your loop snaps to the beat even if your timing is loose.

After you've marked the start of a loop with the IN button, this marks the end — and the moment you press it, that slice of the track starts repeating. It's the second half of making a loop by hand.

tip: For a smooth-sounding loop, press OUT right on a beat. If the loop stutters or sounds off, press OUT again during the loop and turn the jog wheel to trim the endpoint until it flows seamlessly. Leaving the controls untouched for 10 seconds cancels adjust mode.

One button, two jobs: while a loop is running it lets you break out and let the track play on; when you're not looping it jumps you back into the last loop you made. Great for dropping in and out of a repeated section on demand.

tip: Use it as a performance tool — exit a loop right on a phrase change, then hit it again a few bars later to snap back into that same loop for a re-build. It remembers your last loop even after you've left it.

This unit can juggle up to four tracks, but each side only has one set of knobs and one jog wheel. These buttons flip that side between its two decks so you can control track 1 or track 3 (and track 2 or track 4) with the same physical controls.

tip: On the waveform screen these buttons also switch which deck's beatgrid you're adjusting in Grid Adjust mode. Note that if you set PRO DJ LINK Mode to On in the Utility settings, decks 3 and 4 become unavailable.

These flip through the markers and loops you (or rekordbox) saved in a track, so you can jump straight to a favorite drop or breakdown. While a loop is playing, they instead shrink or stretch the loop — left makes it shorter, right makes it longer.

tip: Combine with the MEMORY button (to save points) and DELETE (to remove them) to build a set of go-to launch points in each track. During a loop, tap ◄ a couple of times to create a tight stutter, then ► to open it back out — an easy build-and-release move.

Press it and the unit instantly loops the next four beats — a clean, on-the-beat repeat with no manual timing needed. Press it again while looping and the loop gets cut in half, so a 4-beat loop becomes 2 beats, then 1, and so on for a rolling stutter effect.

tip: This is your fastest way to hold a groove — great for extending an intro or outro to mix into the next track. Tap the 1/2X repeatedly to build tension by rapidly shrinking the loop into a machine-gun stutter.

Like the 4-beat button but grabs a bigger, 8-beat chunk — enough to loop a whole phrase or bar. While a loop is running, pressing it doubles the loop's length, so a short loop opens back out into a longer section.

tip: Use an 8-beat loop to comfortably extend a section while you cue up your next track. Pair it with the 4 BEAT LOOP (1/2X) button: shrink down for a build, then hit 2X to release back into a full phrase.

These skip you a few beats back or forward in the track while everything stays perfectly in time — no rhythm hiccup. It's like hopping around the song on a grid. If a loop is playing, they slide the whole loop earlier or later instead.

tip: Jump backward a few beats to instantly re-trigger a build-up or vocal for a quick edit-style effect. Hold SHIFT and tap the arrows to set your jump size first — small jumps for tight edits, big jumps to skip whole sections.

Think of it as a safety net that keeps the song's clock ticking in the background. Do a scratch, a loop, a reverse, or hold a Hot Cue, and when you let go the track jumps to exactly where it would have been if you'd never touched it — so your performance stays locked to the beat.

tip: Turn Slip on before doing loops or reverse tricks over a running track, so you can add flair without knocking the mix out of time. The current 'real' position shows as a white line on the overall waveform while the yellow line shows what you're hearing, so you can see how far the two have drifted apart.

Hold it and the music runs backwards for a moment, then snaps back into place perfectly on beat when you release — great for a quick dramatic rewind effect without losing your timing. Combined with SHIFT it just plays the track backwards and stays that way until you undo it.

tip: Use the hold-only Slip Reverse for a tension-building rewind right before a drop; because the track keeps running underneath, you land back in time automatically. The SHIFT+button full Reverse is riskier live since you have to manually switch it back.

Think of it like the Shift key on a keyboard — by itself it does nothing, but hold it down and every other button does its 'second job.' It doesn't change the sound directly; it unlocks extra features hidden on the other controls.

tip: When a manual step says 'while pressing the SHIFT button,' keep it held down the whole time you press the other control — tapping them at the same instant sometimes misses.

These are your 'previous song / next song' buttons. Tap forward to jump to the next loaded track, tap back to restart the current one, or tap back twice to go to the one before it.

tip: Hold one of these and spin the jog wheel to fly through a long list of tracks quickly instead of tapping repeatedly.

Hold these to scrub forward or backward through the song you're playing, like fast-forward and rewind on a video. While the track is paused, tapping them inches the play position back and forth a hair at a time so you can land a cue point exactly on the sound you want.

tip: When setting a cue point during pause, use these buttons (or the jog wheel) to fine-tune right up against the first beat, then press CUE to lock it in place.

This marks a 'start-from-here' spot in the track. Tap it while paused to plant the marker, and tap it while playing to snap back to that spot ready to launch. Hold it down to preview a burst of sound from that point, letting go to jump back — handy for stutter-style teases.

tip: To launch a track exactly on beat: hold CUE to preview the intro, then release CUE and immediately press the play button at the right moment — playback fires from your cue point.

Your basic play and pause button for that deck. One press starts the music, another stops it. In Vinyl mode a pause goes silent like lifting a needle; in Normal mode it makes a short repeating chirp instead.

tip: Set Play Mode to Continue in the Utility settings if you want the deck to keep rolling into the next track automatically, or Single if you'd rather it stops at the end of each track so nothing surprises you.

This is a timing safety net. Switch it on and every cue, loop, and Hot Cue you trigger automatically lines up with the beat, so your effects and re-triggers stay perfectly in time even if you press a bit early or late.

tip: Great for keeping Hot Cue juggling and loops tight when you're busy. Set the beat value to 1 Beat for forgiving snapping, or a smaller value like 1/4 Beat if you want finer control over exactly where things land.

This erases a saved marker or loop you no longer want. You bring up the saved spot first, then hit Delete to wipe it. It doesn't touch the audio itself, just the bookmark you placed.

tip: If you delete a loop that was set as an Active Loop, the Active Loop behavior is removed along with it.

This is 'save this spot for later.' Once you've set a cue or a loop, press Memory to bookmark it permanently, so next time you load the track you can jump straight back to it instead of finding it again.

tip: Save the drop, the breakdown, and the outro of your key tracks ahead of time — then during a set you can call them up instantly with the CUE/LOOP CALL arrows and mix with far less searching.

Tap it and this track instantly locks its speed and beat to the other deck, so the two play in perfect time without you nudging anything — the easy way to beatmatch. Hold it down instead and it clones whatever's playing on the other deck onto this one at the identical spot, so you can double up a track for echo-style effects or seamless swaps.

tip: After using Sync, don't be surprised if the TEMPO slider is out of position — move it back to where the actual tempo is, or reload the track, before you try adjusting speed by hand again. For Instant Doubles, hold the button (or double-tap the LOAD button) on the deck you want the copy to start on.

This picks which deck is the 'boss' for tempo-matching. When you turn on Beat Sync on another deck, that deck will automatically speed up or slow down to line its beats up with whatever deck you set as master. So if you want deck 1 to be the anchor and have everything else follow it, you press MASTER on deck 1.

tip: Setting a master deck also powers the Track Filter's related-key search and Key Sync — with a master active, the browse screen highlights tracks in matching keys (in green) and the KEY SYNC button can shift a track's key to match the master. If no deck is set as master, those features won't work.

This nudges the pitch of your track so it musically 'agrees' with the track on the master deck, avoiding that clashing, out-of-tune sound when two songs play together. It's smart about it — it finds the closest good-sounding match rather than forcing an awkward big jump.

tip: Press KEY SYNC or MASTER TEMPO to snap the key back to the original. This only works on tracks rekordbox has analyzed, so make sure your library is analyzed beforehand.

This decides how much the tempo (speed) fader actually changes the song's speed. On ±6 the whole fader travel only shifts speed a tiny bit, giving you super-fine control for precise beatmatching. Switch to WIDE and the same fader can slow a track to a halt or nearly double it, for dramatic effects.

tip: Use ±6 for careful beatmatching of two tracks with similar tempos — the tiny 0.02% steps let you dial in a perfect match. Save WIDE for creative speed drops or when you need to match wildly different tempos.

Normally, speeding a song up makes it sound higher (chipmunk voice) and slowing it down makes it sound lower and gloomy. Turn this on and you can change the speed while the pitch stays exactly the same — vocals stay natural even if you push the tempo way up or down.

tip: Leave this on for most beatmatching so your tempo adjustments don't detune the track against another song. Note that pressing MASTER TEMPO also resets any Key Sync you've applied back to the track's original key.

Instantly snaps the song back to its recorded, normal speed no matter where you've left the speed fader sitting. It's a quick 'undo' for tempo changes — you don't have to physically slide the fader back to the middle to get the original speed back.

tip: Handy when you've pushed the tempo fader far off-center for beatmatching and want to jump back to the true speed without fumbling the slider. The lit indicator reminds you the playback speed no longer matches the fader position.

This is your 'where's my music?' button. Press it to see a list of every place you can pull songs from — your USB stick, a laptop running rekordbox, cloud storage, or Beatport streaming — and pick which one to dig through.

tip: The SOURCE screen is also where you log in to cloud/streaming services and where you can load 'My Settings' saved on a USB stick — tap the gear icon next to a device to grab your personal preferences instantly when you take over a booth.

This opens your list of songs so you can scroll through and find something to play. If your USB stick was organized in rekordbox, you'll see nice categories like artist, album, BPM and key; otherwise you'll just browse folders like on a computer.

tip: On the browse screen you can tap the waveform in the PREVIEW column to hear a track through your headphones before loading it (with LINK CUE on). Tap a column heading to sort the list by that field.

This opens your 'on-deck' shortlist — a scratchpad of songs you've flagged as likely next picks. Instead of hunting through your whole library mid-set, you build a small list of candidates and pull from it quickly.

tip: Add tracks to the Tag List with the TAG TRACK/REMOVE button. You can later convert a Tag List into a proper playlist via the MENU button (it appears as 'TAG LIST XXX' in your Playlist category), so your best set groupings get saved.

This opens the playlists you built in rekordbox — your pre-made song groupings for different vibes or parts of a night. It's the fastest way to jump straight to a curated set of tracks.

tip: Use Playlist Banks to pin your most-used playlists to quick-access slots (the icons turn from gray to white once a playlist is registered), so you can reach a set without scrolling through folders. You can also mark tracks as PLAYED or UNPLAYED via the MENU button to keep track of what you've already used.

This is the type-to-find search, like a search box for your music. Start typing a song title, artist, or other detail and the list narrows down to matching tracks — much faster than scrolling when you know what you want.

tip: Type several words separated by spaces to narrow results further (e.g. an artist plus part of a title). Remember this only works with a rekordbox-organized library, not with plain folder browsing.

This is your gateway to options. Tap it and you get context-sensitive choices for whatever you're looking at — like delete options in a History or playlist. Hold it down and you jump straight into the deep settings menu where you tweak how the whole unit behaves.

tip: Holding [MENU] is a shortcut to the same Utility settings you'd otherwise reach through several menus — handy when you need to change something like input source or fader curve mid-set without leaving the deck screen.

When you're digging through folders and lists, this is your 'go back one step' button. Each press takes you up one level toward where you started browsing.

tip: Instead of tapping back repeatedly to escape a deep folder structure, press and hold [BACK] to leap all the way back to the top level in one move.

This is your 'set this one aside for later' button. As you browse, tag any track you want to play soon or think will fit the vibe, and it collects in a Tag List you can pull up at any time — like a temporary shortlist separate from your playlists.

tip: Highlight a whole folder or playlist and press it to tag every track inside at once. Each storage device gets its own Tag List holding up to 100 tracks, and you can later convert a Tag List into a proper playlist via the MENU.

Think of this as the 'settings I actually change often' panel. Instead of digging through the full Utility menu, it puts the most frequently-tweaked options on one touchscreen page — things like how quantize snaps, how the jog reacts, and screen brightness.

tip: Use this to set your Vinyl Speed Adjust braking feel (Touch/Release/Touch&Release plus a 1–5 speed) quickly during a set rather than hunting through the deep Utility menu.

This instantly shrinks a huge track list down to only the songs that match what you need right now — say, everything within a certain tempo range or a compatible musical key. It's a fast way to find your next mix-friendly track instead of scrolling forever.

tip: On the editing screen, touch [MASTER DECK] to grab the BPM and key of the track currently playing on your sync master, so the filter automatically shows only tracks that will mix smoothly with what's on air.

These are the buttons that actually put a song onto a deck so you can play it. Pick a track in the browser, hit the LOAD button for the deck you want, and it's ready to go.

tip: Press a LOAD button twice to instantly clone whatever's playing on another deck onto this one at the exact same spot — great for beat-juggling or extending a moment. Note: if [Eject/Load Lock] is set to [Lock] in Utility settings you can't load over a playing track, so set it to [Unlock] or pause first.

This opens a control page for everything to do with how sound flows through the mixer — recording your set, choosing what feeds decks 3 and 4, setting fader feel, and mic tweaks. It's the mixer's own settings hub on the screen.

tip: This is where you start and stop recording your mix to a USB stick (touch [Rec]) and drop track markers while recording (touch [Track Mark]) to split the recording into separate files at those points.

This lets you listen privately to one channel in your headphones without the crowd hearing it. That's how you find the beat, cue up the next track, and match it before bringing it into the main mix.

tip: You can press CUE on more than one channel to hear them blended in your headphones. Set headphone output to Mono Split to hear the cued track in one ear and the master in the other — a classic beatmatching trick.

This is the on/off switch for microphone 1. Press it once to keep the mic live, or hold it down to talk only while your finger is on it (so the mic goes silent the moment you let go).

tip: Use Push To Talk (hold the button) for quick shout-outs so you never leave a live mic open by accident. Set the mic's volume with the [LEVEL] knob and shape its tone with the MIC EQ HI/MID/LOW knobs; turn on Feedback Reducer if you get howling.

Same as the MIC 1 switch, but for a second microphone plugged into the MIC 2 input — useful when you've got a co-host or a guest MC. Press once to keep it on, or hold to talk only while pressing.

tip: When you turn a mic on, the TALK OVER button can automatically duck the music so your voice cuts through; adjust how much it ducks and the ducking style with [Talkover Level] and [Talkover Mode] in the settings.

When you switch this on, the music automatically ducks (gets quieter) whenever you talk into the mic, so your voice cuts through clearly without you having to manually pull down the music faders. Once you stop talking, the music comes back up.

tip: In [Talkover Mode], choose 'Advanced' to only dip the mid frequencies of the music (your voice sits in the mix more naturally) or 'Normal' to dip everything. -18dB is the factory default and works well for announcements; use a smaller value like -6dB if you only want a gentle dip.

This is the 'safely eject' button for the first USB stick. It doesn't affect your sound directly, but you must use it before pulling out a USB drive so you don't corrupt your music library or damage the files on the stick.

tip: Always hold this until the light goes out before yanking the drive. If a track from that USB is still loaded and cached on a deck, it keeps playing even after you remove the stick, so you can safely swap drives mid-set.

Same as the USB 1 STOP button, but for the second USB port. Use it to safely disconnect the second USB stick so your files and the unit's data stay intact.

tip: Having two USB ports means you can keep a backup drive or a second DJ's drive plugged in and swap seamlessly — just STOP the one you're removing, not both.

When you're in Vinyl mode (where pressing the platter stops the track like a real turntable), this button controls how the music slows down when you stop it and how it speeds back up when you release. It's the difference between an instant stop and a slow, record-winding-down 'brake' effect.

tip: Set [Vinyl Speed Adjust] to 'Touch&Release' and dial [Vinyl Speed Adjust Time] up toward 4 or 5 for that classic turntable power-off 'wind down' and 'spin up' sound. Keep it low (1) for tight, snappy stops.

This decides how the big jog wheel behaves. In Vinyl mode (button lit), pressing the top of the platter stops the music instantly and turning it scratches, just like a real record. In Normal mode, touching the top does nothing — turning the outer edge only nudges the speed slightly for beatmatching.

tip: Turn Vinyl mode on (lit) when you want to scratch or do turntable-style stops; switch to Normal mode if you only beatmatch and keep accidentally stopping tracks by resting your hand on the platter.

This puts the 8 pads into 'jump point' mode. In Hot Cue mode, each pad marks and instantly jumps to a saved spot in the track — great for launching a drop or chorus on cue. Gate Cue mode is the same, but the track only plays while you're holding the pad down and stops when you let go, so you can stutter and tease sections.

tip: Press and hold this button to make pads that already have Hot Cues blink, then press one to load it — handy for recalling saved cues without auto-loading. Turn on [Hot Cue Color] in the Utility settings so the pads light up in the colors you set in rekordbox.

This puts the 8 pads into instant-loop mode. Each pad loops a set number of beats (Beat Loop mode gives 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 beats), so one tap repeats a chunk of the track perfectly in time. Beat Loop 2 mode swaps in odd/longer lengths (3/4, 1, 3/2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 beats) for less common loop sizes.

tip: A 1-beat or 1/2-beat loop creates a stutter/build effect; press the pad again or hit RELOOP/EXIT to drop out. Tap the button twice to toggle into Beat Loop 2 when you want unusual loop lengths for creative fills.

In Slip Loop mode, holding a pad loops a section (1/16 up to 3/4 beats) while the track keeps secretly playing underneath — let go and the music jumps to where it would have been, so your loop trick never throws off the timing. In Key Shift mode, the pads change the musical pitch/key of the track: Key Sync to match the other deck, semitone up/down, jumps of +7/+12/-5/-12, and a reset pad.

tip: Use Slip Loop for quick rhythmic stutters that keep you perfectly on beat. In Key Shift mode, the 'Key Sync' pad instantly tunes the playing track to match the deck set as master — great for blending two songs in the same key without them clashing.

This puts the 8 pads into skip mode. Each pad jumps the playback forward or backward by a set number of beats without breaking the rhythm — Beat Jump mode covers small hops (1/2 beat up to 4 beats each way) and Beat Jump 2 mode covers big leaps (8 up to 64 beats each way). Perfect for rearranging a track live or rewinding to replay a section.

tip: If you're in a loop when you press a pad, it moves the whole loop by that many beats instead of jumping the playhead — a slick way to shift a loop to a different part of the bar.

These 8 rubber pads are your hands-on performance buttons. What they do depends on which mode button you've pressed above them — they can fire off saved cue points, launch instant loops, jump around the track, or change its key. This is where a lot of the creative, finger-drumming DJ tricks happen.

tip: Hold SHIFT while pressing a pad to delete whatever's assigned to it (for example, clearing a Hot Cue). You can preset all your Hot Cue colors and positions in rekordbox before your set so the pads light up and behave exactly how you want the moment you load a track.

This is your 'listen before you leap' button. Press it, and then when you tap a track's waveform in the browse list, you hear that spot in your headphones only — the crowd never hears it. It also lets you scout ahead into a track that's already playing without interrupting what's coming out of the speakers.

tip: You must have headphones plugged into one of the front PHONES jacks for this to do anything. Adjust the audition volume with the [LINK Preview Volume] setting in the Utility/Mixer Settings menu (options from -9dB up to 0dB).

Adds a sense of echoey room or space to your sound. Turning the channel's COLOR knob counterclockwise puts the reverb on the lower/middle frequencies (a fuller, boomier wash), while turning it clockwise puts it on the middle/high frequencies (an airier, shimmer-like wash). The PARAMETER knob controls how long the tail hangs on.

tip: Because Sound Color FX apply to all channels at once, you shape the effect per-channel with the COLOR knobs — leave a channel's COLOR knob centered for no effect on that channel. Press the lit SPACE button again to turn it off.

Creates that classic dub-style trailing echo where a sound repeats and fades away. Turn the channel's COLOR knob counterclockwise to put the echoes on the mid frequencies, or clockwise to put them on the high frequencies (thinner, more delicate repeats). The PARAMETER knob decides how many times the echo bounces back.

tip: Great for the last beat of a phrase — flick the COLOR knob up for a moment to send a vocal or snare spinning off into echoes, then return it to center.

Makes the sound gritty and lo-fi, like it's being pushed through a broken speaker. Turning the channel's COLOR knob counterclockwise increases the raw distortion; turning it clockwise runs that crushed sound through a high-pass filter so only the crunchy high end remains. PARAMETER controls how heavy the crushing is.

tip: A little goes a long way — nudge the COLOR knob slightly for aggressive energy on a build-up, then pull it back to clean before the drop.

Sweeps a filter across the sound for a swooshing, morphing effect. Turn the channel's COLOR knob counterclockwise to gradually widen a notch filter (scoops a growing hole out of the sound); turn it clockwise to narrow a bandpass filter (squeezes the sound down to a thin, telephone-like band). The PARAMETER knob moves where that filtering happens in the frequency range.

tip: Use the counterclockwise notch side for subtle tension and the clockwise bandpass side for that dramatic 'squeezed down to a pinpoint' effect before a big return.

Layers a hiss or 'shhh' of white noise on top of your track — the staple sound for building tension. Turning the channel's COLOR knob counterclockwise lowers the noise's tone (darker rumble); clockwise raises it (bright hiss). PARAMETER sets how loud the noise gets.

tip: Uniquely, the channel's EQ/ISO knobs sculpt the noise itself, so you can carve it to sit around your music. Ride the PARAMETER knob upward through a build so the noise swells into the drop.

The most-used DJ effect: sweep the muddy lows or the harsh highs out of a track. Turn the channel's COLOR knob counterclockwise to lower a low-pass filter (removes highs, leaving a muffled bassy sound); turn it clockwise to raise a high-pass filter (removes lows, leaving a thin, tinny sound). The PARAMETER knob adds resonance — a whistling emphasis right at the filter edge.

tip: Add a touch of resonance with PARAMETER for a more dramatic, singing sweep. This is the go-to for smoothing transitions — high-pass out the bass of the outgoing track while the new track's bass comes in.

Once you've picked a Beat FX (like Echo or Delay), these two buttons choose how fast the effect ticks relative to the music — a small fraction for rapid stutters, a big number for long sweeping tails. Left makes it shorter/faster, right makes it longer/slower.

tip: For a manual BPM (Tap mode), hold [TAP] and press these to nudge the tempo in 0.1 increments if the auto-detected beat feels slightly off.

Tells the beat-synced effects how to figure out the song's tempo. Leave it on AUTO and the XDJ-AZ works out the beat by itself, which is right almost all the time. Switch to TAP only when you're playing something with no clear beat for it to read — like a live source or a track it can't measure.

tip: For tracks played from a USB with rekordbox analysis, AUTO is virtually always spot-on, so you rarely need to touch this. Reach for TAP mode with microphone input or unanalyzed live audio.

Tap this along to the beat a few times and the effects lock onto that tempo — handy when the machine can't auto-detect the beat. Whatever tempo you tap becomes the reference for all the beat-synced effects.

tip: After tapping to get in the ballpark, hold TAP and turn the TIME knob for whole-number tweaks, or hold TAP and press the BEAT arrows for tiny 0.1 corrections until the effect sits perfectly in the groove.

These let you aim your effect at only part of the sound. Turn on just LOW and the effect only hits the bass; pick HI and it only touches the cymbals, hi-hats and vocals-y high stuff; MID grabs everything in between. It's a way to add an effect (like echo or a filter sweep) to just one layer of the track instead of drowning the whole thing in it.

tip: For a cleaner mix, try applying echo or reverb to just the MID and HI bands so your bass stays tight and doesn't turn to mush. Leaving all three lit gives you the classic 'whole track' effect.

This picks the target for your Beat FX. Want the echo to hit only the track on deck 2? Select 2. Want it on everything going out to the speakers? Select MST (master). CF.A and CF.B let you apply the effect to whichever deck is assigned to the left or right side of the crossfader, and MIC applies it to your microphone.

tip: Selecting MST (master) is the go-to for big build-up moments because the effect covers the entire mix. Note: if you pick a single channel (1–4), you can't preview that effected sound in your headphones with the CUE button.

This is the trigger for your Beat FX. Press it and the chosen effect (echo, filter, reverb, etc.) kicks in on the source you selected; press again to switch it off. It's the main 'go' button once you've dialed in everything else.

tip: You can also trigger the same effect by touching the X-PAD strip above it — that lets you turn the effect on and tweak its timing in one gesture. Keep the LEVEL/DEPTH knob turned down first, then bring it up as you engage, so the effect swells in smoothly instead of slamming on.

This makes your effects lock perfectly to the beat even if your timing is sloppy. Turn it on and when you hit an echo or roll, it snaps neatly to the rhythm instead of landing slightly off. It takes the pressure off getting the exact moment right.

tip: Leave this on for beginners — it makes effects sound tight and professional automatically. It only works on tracks that have been analyzed (beatgridded) by rekordbox, so it won't help on unanalyzed tracks or live inputs like a microphone.

This connects wireless SonicLink headphones so you can cue up tracks without a cable running to your head. Hold it down, then put your headphones into their pairing mode, and they link up. Once paired, they reconnect on their own next time — no need to press this again.

tip: You only need this button the first time you pair a set of headphones. After that, just switch the headphones on and they connect automatically. You must first turn SonicLink on in the Utility settings (Mixer category) before pairing will work.

This is the brain-screen of the unit where you see everything: your track lists, the waveforms (the visual squiggles showing the music), cue points, effects info, and all the menus. You tap tracks to load them, drag on the overall waveform to jump to a spot, and flick to scroll through your library.

tip: Touch the overall waveform on the playback screen to preview or jump to a point in the track. On the browse screen you can touch a track's waveform in the PREVIEW column to hear it in your headphones before loading it. Operate it with a fingertip only — never use a pen, pencil, or sharp fingernail, which can damage it.

This is the little round screen in the middle of each platter. The dot around the edge spins like a record needle so you can see the music playing and where you are. It also lights up little labels to tell you at a glance whether Slip mode, Vinyl mode, Sync, or Master are switched on, and shows the track's cover art.

tip: Watch the spinning indicator to gauge your position and speed — it stops when the track is paused, just like a real platter. You can set it to show custom artwork instead of the track's cover via 'Image On-Jog Display' in the Utility settings, and adjust its brightness there too.

This is the little ladder of lights that shows how loud each track is coming into the mixer, before you've moved the volume fader. It's your visual check on whether a track is running at a healthy level or too hot.

tip: Aim to have the lights peaking around the upper-middle of the range (not constantly slamming the top) using the TRIM knob — this gives you a strong, clean signal with headroom to spare. Because it reads the level before the fader, it shows the true incoming loudness regardless of where you've set the channel fader.

This is your main output meter. It shows how loud the overall mix leaving the unit actually is, before it reaches your amp or speakers. Watch it to keep the sound strong but not overloaded.

tip: Aim for the meter to sit around the upper-middle segments during the loudest parts of your set, with the top CLIP segment only occasionally flickering. If it's constantly slamming the top, turn down the MASTER LEVEL knob to avoid distortion.

A warning light. When it flashes, your main output is too hot and the sound is being crushed into ugly distortion. It's the unit telling you to back off the volume.

tip: If it blinks regularly, lower the MASTER LEVEL knob and/or pull down the individual channel TRIM knobs. You can also enable Master Peak Limiter in the Utility settings (Audio Output category) to automatically tame sudden nasty digital clips.

A little activity light for the first USB slot. When it's flashing, the unit is busy talking to your USB stick or drive — loading tracks, saving cue points, and so on.

tip: Never yank out a USB device while this light is blinking, or you risk corrupting your rekordbox data. Always press the USB 1 STOP button first and wait for the light to stop blinking before pulling the device out.

The same activity light, but for the second USB slot. Flashing means the unit is actively reading from or writing to whatever's plugged into USB 2.

tip: Same rule as USB 1: press the USB 2 STOP button and wait for the light to go dark before removing the device. Having two USB slots lets you keep your library on one and use the other for recording or a guest DJ's stick.

Tells you your microphone is working and how hot it is. It lights to confirm sound is coming in, and warns you when you're shouting or the mic is turned up too far and the sound is about to distort.

tip: Set the MIC 1 LEVEL knob so this indicator lights steadily when you talk but only hits the clip warning on your loudest words. If it's constantly at clip, turn the LEVEL knob down.

The same signal-and-warning light, but for the second microphone input. It confirms mic 2 is picking up sound and flashes a warning when that mic is too loud and starting to distort.

tip: Use the MIC 2 LEVEL knob to keep it just below the clip warning. If you're using two mics, set each one's level independently by watching its own indicator.

Shows whether the track is locked to its natural speed. When lit, the deck ignores the position of the tempo fader and plays the song at exactly the speed it was recorded — handy for instantly snapping back to normal after you've been messing with the tempo.

tip: If your tempo slider is way off but the track sounds like it's playing normally, check this light — it means Tempo Reset is active and the fader is being ignored. Press TEMPO RESET again to hand control back to the slider.

A status light for wireless monitoring headphones. Its blink pattern tells you where you are in the process: slow blink means it's on and looking, fast blink means it's actively pairing, and solid means you're connected and can hear your cue through the wireless headphones.

tip: To pair, turn SonicLink on in the Utility settings (Mixer category), press and hold the front-panel PAIRING button (watch for the fast blink), then put your SonicLink headphones into pairing mode. Once paired, they reconnect automatically next time — no PAIRING button needed.

The main slot where you plug in your USB stick loaded with music. Insert it straight in until it stops. This is how you get your rekordbox library and audio files into the unit to play them.

tip: Insert and pull the stick straight in and out — don't force it sideways or you can damage the port cover. Don't use a USB extension cable or a hub, as that can interrupt communication. If your library isn't in OneLibrary format, convert it in the latest rekordbox first or the unit won't read it properly.

A second slot for a USB stick or drive. Having two means you can keep one plugged in for your library while using the other for a backup, a recording target, or to let another DJ plug in their own stick without unplugging yours.

tip: Great for back-to-back sets — one DJ's music stays loaded on USB 1 while the next DJ preps on USB 2. You can also use one USB device as the recording destination for Master Rec while playing tracks off the other.

This is where you plug your headphones in so you can listen (cue) to a track privately before playing it out to the room. There are two sizes of socket so you can use big DJ headphones or small earbud-style plugs without an adapter.

tip: Don't plug headphones into both jacks at once — the manual warns this can lower the sound quality or volume. Pick one and stick with it.

This is your record platter. In Vinyl mode, pressing the top stops the music and spinning it scratches the track like a real vinyl record. In Normal mode, nudging the outer edge speeds up or slows down the track slightly to help you line up two songs (called pitch bending). Turning it while paused lets you inch through the track frame by frame to find an exact spot.

tip: Use the JOG FEEL knob to make the wheel feel heavier (more like real vinyl) or lighter (quicker to spin). Don't rest anything on top of it — the touch sensor is in the top surface and pressure there triggers scratching or stopping. Turning the wheel while holding SEARCH or TRACK SEARCH does super-fast searching through a track or through your tracks.

This is a slide-your-finger control for effects. Touch it and the effect turns on; drag your finger up and down the strip and you're changing the effect live — for example, sweeping a filter or shortening an echo. It's built for quick, expressive tweaks with your fingertip during a performance.

tip: Great for dramatic build-ups: hold your finger on the strip and slide it to make an effect rise or fall in intensity, then lift off to snap back to normal. Because it engages the effect the moment you touch it, it's faster and more hands-on than turning the TIME knob.

This is the main on/off switch for the whole DJ system. Flip it on to boot the unit up, flip it off when you're done. Because it's on the back, it's out of the way so you can't hit it by accident mid-set.

tip: If a USB stick is connected, always press its [USB STOP] button and wait for the indicator to stop blinking before turning the unit off — powering down with a USB device still active can wipe the unit's management data or corrupt the drive. Also, if the unit ever misbehaves, a simple off-and-on with this button often restores normal operation.

This is the cable connection to your laptop. It lets the XDJ-AZ act as a controller for DJ software and also sends the computer's sound into the unit, so you can play tracks straight from rekordbox or Serato.

tip: Push the cable in straight — the manual specifically warns not to apply force up, down, or sideways. Connect the unit directly to the laptop rather than through a USB hub for reliable performance.

This is a network socket that lets the XDJ-AZ talk to other AlphaTheta players or your laptop over a wired connection, so they can share track data and stay in sync. It's mainly for bigger setups where you're linking extra gear together.

tip: Turning on PRO DJ LINK Mode disables Deck 3 and Deck 4 on the unit, and you can't use it at the same time as the unit's built-in Wi-Fi. Only turn it on when you're actually linking to another player.

This is your main output to the big speakers — the sound the whole room hears. XLR is the professional 3-pin connector that runs long cables to a PA system without picking up hum or noise.

tip: Only connect these to balanced inputs. The manual warns that using an XLR-to-RCA adapter to feed unbalanced gear causes noise and poor sound — use the MASTER 2 RCA outputs for that instead. Never plug in phantom-power sources or another product's power cord here.

This is a second main output that carries the same room sound as MASTER 1, but with the everyday RCA plugs (the red-and-white connectors). Use it for gear that doesn't take XLR, like many powered speakers or a home amp.

tip: This is the correct output to use for any unbalanced input (RCA gear), rather than forcing the XLR MASTER 1 output through an adapter.

This feeds a separate speaker for the DJ (usually pointed at the booth) so you can hear what you're doing regardless of how loud the room is. You control its volume on its own knob, so you can crank your booth speaker without changing what the crowd hears.

tip: Use balanced connections only — the manual warns unbalanced inputs cause noise and poor sound. If you don't want your mic bleeding into the booth speaker, set Mic Output to Booth to Off in Utility settings.

If you plug in a real turntable, it usually has a thin single wire with a spade connector — screw it onto this post. It gets rid of the loud humming buzz that turntables otherwise make.

tip: Only needed when you're using a turntable through the LINE/PHONO inputs set to PHONO. If you hear a persistent hum with a turntable connected, this loose ground wire is almost always the cause.

This is where you plug in outside sound sources — a turntable, a CD/media player, or another line device — so you can mix them through the XDJ-AZ alongside your digital tracks. You tell the unit whether it's a turntable (PHONO) or a regular player (LINE) in the settings.

tip: The manual warns a loud volume can blast out if the input setting doesn't match the source — always confirm PHONO vs LINE before turning up. Set it wrong (LINE for a turntable) and you'll barely hear it; set PHONO for a line device and it'll be deafening and distorted.

Plug a microphone in here for announcements, hosting, or vocals. It takes both the pro 3-pin plug and the smaller jack, so most mics work. After connecting, press the ON button in the MIC section and bring up the LEVEL knob to be heard.

tip: If you get squealing feedback (howling), turn on Feedback Reducer in Utility settings — use Heavy for speeches, Light when singing to keep the sound quality. Use the TALK OVER button to automatically duck the music while you talk. Note the LEVEL knob gets loud fast when turned clockwise.

A second mic socket so you can have two microphones going at once — for example one for you and one for a guest or a second host. It works exactly like MIC 1 with its own volume and tone controls.

tip: You can choose which mic (or both) gets Beat FX applied using the BEAT FX MIC setting (MIC1, MIC2, or MIC1+2). If a mic isn't in use, leave its ON button off to avoid picking up stray noise and feedback.

This is simply where the XDJ-AZ gets its electricity. No sound passes through it — but nothing works without it. Plug the included cord in here first, then the wall, and connect everything else before you finally switch on.

tip: Always use the supplied power cord — don't substitute a random one. Connect all your other cables (speakers, USB, LAN) before plugging in and powering up, as the manual advises, to avoid pops and to protect your gear.

This has nothing to do with sound — it's a small reinforced hole where you can attach a security cable to physically lock the unit to a table or fixture, so it can't be easily walked off with.

tip: Great for permanent installs, bars, clubs, or anywhere the gear is left unattended. Loop the lock cable around something solid and immovable, not just the booth furniture.