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Install

Download openDJ from the download page or the latest release on GitHub.

macOS

Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 11 or newer.

  1. Download openDJ-…-macos.zip.
  2. Unzip it and move openDJ to Applications.

The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other app, and it offers new versions itself when it starts.

Linux

x86_64, glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 36+, Debian 12+). openDJ needs ALSA and a Vulkan driver, which most desktops already have.

  • AppImage: download openDJ-…-x86_64.AppImage, make it executable with chmod +x, and run it.
  • Tarball: download opendj-…-linux-x86_64.tar.gz, unpack it anywhere and run bin/opendj.

Windows

Windows is a preview from openDJ 0.4: 64-bit Windows 10 or 11.

  • Setup: download openDJ-…-windows-x64-setup.exe and run it. It installs openDJ for your user only (no administrator needed), adds it to the Start menu, and openDJ updates itself from then on.
  • Portable: download opendj-…-windows-x64.zip, unzip it anywhere and run openDJ.exe. It doesn't update itself.

The builds aren't signed yet, so on the first start Windows shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.

In Settings → Audio, pick an ASIO driver if your controller or audio interface has one, for the lowest latency. Windows lets only one app use a MIDI controller at a time, so quit any other DJ app before you start openDJ.

First start: the guided tour

The first time openDJ opens, a short guided tour sets it up with you. Every step can be skipped.

  1. Sound: pick where the master (your speakers) and the headphones play, and play a test tone in each. A controller with its own sound card, such as the DDJ-FLX4, is its own device: pick it for both, on channels 1 & 2 and 3 & 4.
  2. Controller (only when one is plugged in): openDJ shows which mapping it runs. Press a button or move a knob and the tour says it heard it.
  3. Your music: add your music folders. If openDJ finds another DJ app's library, such as VirtualDJ's, it offers to bring it in.
  4. Your first mix: a hands-on lesson on two demo tracks. It switches to the 2-Deck layout, rings each control in turn and waits for you to use it, on screen or on your controller: load, play and cue, listen in the headphones, sync, bring the second track in with its fader and EQ, then a bass swap.

Settings → Help runs the tour again, whole or one part. If you used openDJ before the tour existed, it's offered once in a banner under the top bar.

Tutorials

Settings → Help → Tutorials has short hands-on lessons that work the same way, a few minutes each: Looping, Using FX, Filtering tracks, Automix and, with one plugged in, the DDJ-FLX4. Each rings the real controls and waits for you; the ✕ on the tip leaves at any step and puts the layout back. A ✓ marks the ones you've finished, and the last tip links to that part of this guide.