Frequently Asked Questions

* Licensing Questions (all products)

What are the free version limitations?

There are no time limits and all the important basic features are available. You can also see a comparison between the free and pro versions. IMPORTANT: the free version can only be used for non-commercial or home use only. So, if you are making money in any way using future.dj pro, you need to subscribe to Pro.

If I have 2 computers do I have to buy 2 copies?

No, you just you can use it on all your personal Macs/PCs.

What is your policy on new versions / upgrades for existing customers?

All our users and customers have access to the latest version for free, there are no extra update/upgrade fees.

What is you policy on refunds?

Since future.dj pro is free to use for the basic features and we also have a free trial for the Pro subscription there is no refund possible. However, if you’ve got the Pro subscription, you can always cancel it anytime you’d like to. For all the other products bought directly from our website (eg. future.dj) we offer a 30-days money-back guarantee.

How do I cancel my Pro subscription? (Windows / Mac)

We’re sorry to see you leaving our service, if you have any (good or bad) feedback on why you want to cancel please let us know.

If you are using a Windows PC it means you have subscribed on Paddle (this is the payment provider we use). You have received an email when you subscribed that also contains unsubscribing instructions. In case you no longer have access to that email just go to https://paddle.com -> Cancel a subscription. Here’s a direct link: https://www.paddle.com/about/cancel-subscription
If you are using a Mac it means that you subscribed on the Mac App Store. To cancel the subscription (either free or payed) you need to go to your Apple account and manage your subscriptions/purchases. We have no way to do that for you since it is only controlled by YOU or Apple themselves.

1. Open the App Store app and click the sign-in button (or your name) at the bottom of the sidebar (usually bottom-right).
2. Click on “Account Settings” and then scroll down in that window until you see “Subscriptions” in the Manage section. Click on “Manage”.
3. Identify the subscription and click “Edit” and the “Cancel subscription”. This should be it.

* DJ/Audio Questions (all products)

When I'm trying to pre-listen (preview) a song in the list, it doesn't work

You need to have a separate output for headphones activated in Preferences / Settings (CFG)

What is a cue point?

A cue point records a position in a song for easy re-finding of good/interesting mixing positions. It’s like a bookmark into the song.

How do I set a cue point?

You can press any of the 3 hot cue-points buttons (marked 1, 2 or 3). Alternatively, you can pause the song, move the jog-wheel or the waveform to fine-tune the position and then press the CUE button. This is also how you re-set a cue-point. You can also press long (eg. keep pressing for 2 seconds) on one of the 3 cue-point buttons to erase a cue point.

Can I record my mixes?

Yes, you can record your mixes in AIFF (Mac) or WAV (Windows) format. You can later burn the file to an audio CD using your favourite CD-burner application, or you can transfer it to your iTunes library. You can also record directly to MP3 (see below how).

I have some MP4 and M4A files on my computer but they don't seem to work

On Windows you need to download and install iTunes from www.apple.com/itunes. If it’s still not working for you try to install QuickTime 7 from www.apple.com/quicktime

I have some M4P files on my computer from the iTunes Store but they don't seem to work

The iTunes Store (iTMS) songs are protected by a very advanced technical method and also by copyrights laws. Apple does not allow any other 3rd party company to decode that songs. Only iTunes and all other Apple software decode the M4P files. Please complain to Apple for this problem.

One solution is to burn your songs to CD (as audio-cd) and then re-import them as un-protected aac or as mp3. Another possible solution is to upgrade your songs to DRM free format from the iTunes store, but we have NOT tried this before so it might not work.

I can't use WMA files on Mac

WMA files don’t work on the MacOSX version of future.dj. Convert them to mp3 or m4a.

Multichannel output/input doesn't work on Windows with my soundcard. What is wrong?

On Windows, it’s always best to use an ASIO driver for the audio device/soundcard. Open Cfg/Preferences and select an ASIO device. If your audio device does not have an ASIO driver, simply select the WASAPI driver (all audio cards should have it).

What can I do if the sound is not hearing well (stutter, pops, clicks, skips)?

You should first try to optimize your computer for audio (eg. Google “optimizing your computer for audio”). You should set the latency to maximum. If it doesn’t work you would probably need to upgrade your computer to a newer machine. If you already have this, maybe you should change your soundcard/audio device with a better one.

What is SPLIT mode?

You need to activate the audio split mode if you have a simple stereo soundcard (no multichannel) but you still want separate outputs for speakers and headphones. The speakers signal will come out on the Left channel and the headphones signal on the Right channel of the simple stereo output. Obviously, you will also need a signal splitter to use the signals in this way.

* Video Questions (all products)

I want to play/mix HD and full-HD videos. Do I need any special hardware?

If you want to output to an external monitor/TV/projector you will need a laptop/desktop with an external video connection. Basically, if you can configure your Mac/PC so that you can see a different thing on the external monitor/TV/projector than you’re good to go. Pretty much every laptop/desktop nowadays allows you to do so. Just make sure the graphics card and the computer are powerful enough *(see next question).

What are the recommended system requirements to play/mix HD and full-HD videos?

for 720p HD videos (1280×720) — at least 3GB of RAM (4GB recommended), a video card with at least 128MB video RAM (256MB VRAM recommended)
for 1080p/i full HD videos (1920×1080) — at least 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended), a video card with at least 256MB video RAM (512MB VRAM recommended)

If you are running Windows, the 64-bit Windows version is highly recommended for HD video playback because future.dj will use at least 2.5 GB of RAM when loading 2 full HD videos. On a 32-bit system an app can only use 2GB of RAM (irrespective of how much RAM is installed in that machine). So, in future.dj, HD playback on 32-bit systems is basically not optimized for best playback but for lowest memory use on such machines. That’s why we are urging you to use a 64-bit version of Windows. All Macs are OK.

What should I know about video recording?

Video recording is still at experimental/beta stage. You need a powerful computer to use it (especially if you’re looking to record in HD quality). For now you can record to MP4 (on Mac) and MPG (on Windows). Also, the video window needs to be in full-screen mode if you want the best quality.

When I record the video mix (in HD) the video quality is not that great. What can I do to fix it?

The video you are recording is mixed by our software using mainly the video card (GPU). So, what is recorded is actually the video window itself. If the video window is small then the resolution of the recorded clip will be small and so the quality will not be good even if you record in HD.

To solve this you need to connect a second display to your Mac/PC, move the video window to it and make it full-screen. This second display can be anything: a monitor, a TV, a projector. Basically, what’s important is that the video window will be large enough (full HD 1920×1080 is perfect).

* General Questions (all products)

How do I import an M3U playlist file that has songs with special non-latin characters in it? (eg. letters like ü, á, ñ, etc)

The solution is to convert that file into UTF-8 mode. You need to download a free text editor (Notepad++ on Windows, TextWrangler on Mac), open M3U the file into it and select from the menu Format->Convert to UTF8. Save the file, close the editor and try to use it in future.dj again.

Is it possible to edit the songs tags directly from future.dj?

You can only in the pro version. For the normal future.dj version you should use an external application for this like iTunes, Winamp, MusicMatch, TagScanner (all free)

* PRO-version Questions (future.dj pro)

What hardware controllers do you recommend?

All controllers that have MIDI will work if you take 5-10 minutes to configure future.dj pro.
Out-of-the-box future.dj pro supports 120+ controllers (no configuration needed) from manufacturers like Akai, Akiyama, American Audio, Beamz, Behringer, Beyond Music, Denon, Faderfox, Gemini, Hercules, M-Audio, Novation, Numark, PCDJ, Pioneer, Reloop, Stanton, Vestax, Zomo. Take a look at the complete list of mapped controllers

For any of these controllers you don’t have to configure future.dj pro at all (zero-configure)
Just plug them (install drivers if needed), start future.dj pro and select them in Cfg/Preferences — ready to go!

Why should I subscribe to the Pro version instead of just using the Free one?

The Pro version has more advanced features which are not found in the other versions. See the complete list here.

How can I define keyboard shortcuts?

You just press the LEARN button, select the button, knob or slider and then press the desired keys.

Can I connect a natively supported controller and a MIDI controller at the same time?

Yes, and you can use the natively supported controller to control the basic functions of the software and the MIDI controller to control other functions including the effects’ parameters.

What timecoded vinyls/CDs can I use and where do I get them?

In the current version you can use Xylio timecoded CD (relative mode only, download here) and MsPinky/Torq timecoded vinyl/CD (buy it from here)

What limitations does the MacAppStore version has?

The MacAppStore is SandBoxed (you can only access the Music and Movies folders directly), you cannot use HID controllers (but MIDI does work). However, you can still add manually any other folder or disk.

If you didn’t find the answer you were looking for, you should also see the Technical Details section (of the product you’re interested in) and the Users Forums. If you still have questions please see our Support page.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)