Best New Apps: Traktor DJ for iPad

Traktor DJ is one of those apps that sells the entire idea of the iPad itself — it takes the fundamentals of complicated, expensive PC-based DJ programs like Traktor Pro and Serato Scratch Live and reduces them to a handful of simple touch gestures that are ridiculously easy to understand. Instead of a virtual turntable or other strained metaphor, you just tap, swipe, and drum on the waveforms of your tracks directly — Traktor is smart enough to slice up the beats, sync things up, and even suggest other songs from your iTunes library that’ll work well in your set. All you have to do is play.

DJ purists will scoff at this — Traktor DJ automates skills that take years to learn using turntables or CDJs. But the rest of us don’t have to worry about that stuff. We’ll be busy making music — and reclaiming all that space in the bedroom where the 1200s used to sit.

$19.99 for iOS