Local DJs Duke It Out On iPhones/iPod Touches Tomorrow Night at Voodoo Lounge

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via groovemaker.com

​Can you hear that faint thump? It's the heads of turntable purists smacking their heads against their desks. Still, like it or not, what constitutes "DJing" has forever changed with technology -- it's only a matter of time before somebody figures out how to use the DJ Hero controller in the club. Still, people have been using iPods to DJ since the devices came out, so why not the iPhone and iPod Touch?

Three local DJs -- Chris Domingo, Speechless, and Scratch-D from Dynamix II -- will do just that at Voodoo Lounge tomorrow for the iPDJ Mobile Groove DJ battle. The event is sponsored by IK Multimedia, the club, and Sonoma Wire Works, and is meant to showcase IK's new apps, Groovemaker and FourTrack. Each DJ will face off using the software, before playing their own full sets for the rest of the evening.

Okay, so Groovemaker's tagline might make some purists cringe -- "Everyone's an iPhone DJ with GrooveMaker!" The app comes themed to various genres -- house, hip-hop, techno, drum'n'bass, electro, and "club," whatever that means exactly. Each is loaded with loops and beats you can rearrange, speed up and slow down to create tracks in real time. There are up to eight tracks, and you can change elements as the music plays without a break.

I just tried out the free version and it was fun, in the same way that Garage Band's pre-set loops are fun to mess with -- satisfying for someone with a short attention span. But it would take someone truly familiar with professional production and DJing to take the tracks to the next level. It'll be interesting to see how the spinners tomorrow night mix the sounds in with the rest of their track library. (FourTrack, meanwhile, will allow them to record everything live.)

In any case, if you're into breaks Voodoo Lounge is always worth checking out, because it's basically the last big club in the area that lets DJs play that style. Plus, there will be drawings throughout the night for software and iPhone/iPod accessories.

iPDJ Mobile Groove event, with DJ Chris Domingo, DJ Speechless, and DJ Scratch-D from Dynamix II. Friday, November 20. Voodoo Lounge, 111 SW 2nd Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Doors open at 10 p.m. Ages 21+ with ID. 954-522-0733; voodooloungeflorida.com