Amidio launches Touch DJ with ‘visual mixing’

Mobile music app maker Amidio launched its Touch DJ application for the iPhone today, allowing users to spin and mix music right on their handsets. Since a demo of the app appeared on YouTube on Nov. 17, it has received 35,000 hits. People are excited worldwide.
One of the major hurdles standing in the way of a mobile DJ in the past was that the iPhone and iPod Touch only have one stereo output — so you couldn’t listen to multiple songs or beats at the same time. Amidio says it has solved this problem with a new technology called “visual mixing” — something unique to the Touch DJ app.
As the name implies, “visual mixing” takes each track, breaks it into parts, and assigns each part its own visual signature. Each of these elements can then be played with separately to match the visual signature of another piece or track. When the ‘kick’ or base portions are visually matched (by changing the track’s position or pitch), the audio seems to flow. This process, called beatmatching, is what makes club music danceable.
With Touch DJ, you can now, at least theoretically, show up at a party, plug your phone into the stereo, and mix some fresh beats, just like Danger Mouse. The application lets you set loop-back points so that you can go from digital verse written on the fly back to a safe chorus while you work on your next mind-blowing groove.
Old-school scratching can be simulated by flicking your finger across the screen of your phone. Want to slow it all down? Push a button on DJ’s virtual display. Speed it back up?  Take your finger off. If you want to pre-listen to your mixes before they hit the speakers, you can get a stereo splitter and a pair of headphones — it looks pretty simple all around.
The one snag is that you can’t take music from your iTunes library and use it in Touch DJ — it requires its own mp3 library. This may prove to be sticking point for the average Joe, not as much for Joe Cool DJ.
For aspiring music producers, hobbyists and poseurs alike the Touch DJ software seems like a must. It costs $19.99 in the iTunes App Store and is available now.