Vine, Richard (15 June 2011). "Tadao Kikumoto invents the Roland TB-303". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 July 2011. Shapiro, Peter. Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, 2nd. ed., London: Rough Guides, 2005 ISBN 978-1-84353-263-7. pp. 212–213. DVS stands for ‘digital vinyl system’, but it’s used as a bit of a catch-all term to refer to any system that allows a user to control DJ software with timecode CDs or vinyl records. Essentially, this lets you hook a traditional set of turntables or CDJs up to your DJ software and control them with the use of special CDs or records.

As music technology has progressed, DJs have adopted different types of equipment to play and mix music, all of which are still commonly used. Traditionally, DJs used two turntables plugged into a DJ mixer to mix music on vinyl records. As compact discs became popular media for publishing music, specialized high-quality CD players known as CDJs were developed for DJs. CDJs can take the place of turntables or be used together with turntables. Many CDJs can now play digital music files from USB flash drives or SD cards in addition to CDs. With the spread of portable laptops, tablets, and smartphone computers, DJs began using software together with specialized sound cards and DJ controller hardware. DJ software can be used in conjunction with a hardware DJ mixer or be used instead of a hardware mixer.Ableton Live is something of an anomaly in this list, due to the fact that it’s not really a true DJ software application - or at least it wasn’t originally imagined as such. Still, while it may have been first envisioned as a loop-focused performance and production tool, in the years since its inception Live has become a favourite of DJs across the world. Hour Party People – about the UK music scene from the late 1970s to the " Madchester" scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Brian Santo, "Consumer Electrics Hall of Fame: The Maysushita/Technics SL-1200," IEEE Spectrum (20 Dec 2018): https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/the-consumer-electronics-hall-of-fame-the-matsushitatechnics-sl1200; and Shuichi Obata et al., "...Recent Technology", Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 32/6 (Apr. 1984), 131. The quality of a DJ performance (often called a DJ mix or DJ set) consists of two main features: technical skills, or how well the DJ can operate the equipment and produce smooth transitions between two or more recordings and a playlist; and the ability of a DJ to select the most suitable recordings, also known as "reading the crowd". [4] Hip hop DJs edit Mark J. Butler (2014). Playing with Something that Runs: Technology, Improvisation, and Composition in DJ and Laptop Performance. Oxford University Press. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-0-19-539362-0.Broughton, Frank, and Bill Brewster. How to DJ Right: The Art and Science of Playing Records. New York: Grove Press, 2003. In Western popular music, women musicians have achieved great success in singing and songwriting roles, however, there are relatively few women DJs or turntablists. Part of this may stem from a generally low percentage of women in audio technology-related jobs. A 2013 Sound on Sound article stated that there are "... few women in record production and sound engineering." [61] Ncube states that "[n]inety-five percent of music producers are male, and although there are female producers achieving great things in music, they are less well-known than their male counterparts." [61] The vast majority of students in music technology programs are male. In hip hop music, the low percentage of women DJs and turntablists may stem from the overall male domination of the entire hip hop music industry. Most of the top rappers, MCs, DJs, record producers and music executives are men. There are a small number of high-profile women, but they are rare.