As legend has it, scratching was invented by New York DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore. One day, after his mother complained he was playing his music too loudly, he stopped the record with his hand so he could start it again when she left the room. He accidentally moved the record under the needle and liked the sound it made, and a musical revolution was born.

djay brings scratching, cutting, and other DJ techniques to your Mac. Within minutes, you can (kinda) sound like a professional, with the old-school vibe that comes with it.

Just as with a real DJ setup, djay lets you queue and control two players for seamless blends throughout a playlist. To begin learning the basics, use the music browser at the bottom of the window to load the same song onto both virtual turntables—working with the same track makes it easier when you’re starting out. From the Mixer menu, choose Fade as your transition style so your tracks will blend smoothly. Press the Space bar to get the tracks playing, then try these tricks of the trade:

The technique: Scratching
The vinyl way: Use your fingers to quickly move the record backward and forward under the needle.
The djay way: Move the pointer over either turntable and swipe your Mac’s trackpad with two fingers. (You can also click and drag with a mouse.)

The technique: Backspin
The vinyl way: Force the record to quickly spin backward, which results in a sound like a fast rewind.
The djay way: Press Command-3 (for the left turntable) or Command-7 (for the right) to quickly play the “record” backward. (You spin the left or right track forward by pressing Command-4 or Command-8, respectively.) Pressing this shortcut a few times in a row makes for a cool transition while you’re queuing up a track on the other table.

The technique: Cutting
The vinyl way: Fade a turntable on the backward scratch so it sounds like the needle jumped back.
The djay way: Press 3 (for the left turntable) or 7 (for the right one) to jump back two seconds. If you get into a groove pressing the back keystroke on repeat, you’ll hear the familiar sound of “cutting” a record.

Of course, mastery isn’t easy—you’ll still have to be focused and ready to experiment—but you’ll be shocked at what you can learn about turntablism in just an afternoon. And once you put together a few mixes, djay lets you save them for showing off your newfound skills.

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