Getting started

Requirements

macOS	12 Monterey or later (Apple Silicon + Intel)
Network	Decks and Mac on the same switch — Pro DJ Link requires L2 adjacency
CDJ/XDJ	Any Pioneer CDJ/XDJ that speaks Pro DJ Link (CDJ-2000NXS and newer confirmed)
Mixer	A DJM (or Pro DJ Link mixer) if you want on-air detection — optional but recommended

Install & licence

Download the latest .dmg from your Helm account dashboard or your beta access email. Open the DMG and drag Helm DJ to Applications.

On first launch, enter your licence key when prompted. The app checks in periodically but tolerates being offline — a valid licence keeps working without a connection for the grace period.

First launch — see your decks

1. Connect the Mac to the same network switch as the CDJs.
2. Open Helm DJ. The Decks page starts scanning automatically.
3. Power on the CDJs — they appear within a few seconds, one card per deck ordered P1 → P4.

If nothing appears, the usual fix is the network adapter: open the Network menu in the macOS menu bar (or Settings → Network) and select the interface that’s actually plugged into the DJ switch. CDJ networks are typically self-assigned 169.254.x.x addresses.

Each deck card shows its player number, model, connection state, on-air indicator, and — once a track is loaded — the track’s waveform, playhead, title, and live BPM.

Fire your first cue

1. Load a track on any CDJ.
2. On its deck card, click Capture — the track is added to your setlist and you land on the Tracks page.
3. In the Cues section, click + On-Load.
4. Click the new cue to open the editor. Set the action to MIDI, pick a channel and note.
5. First time only: set the MIDI output — Settings → MIDI → Cue Output Port.
6. Click Test in the cue editor — your MIDI monitor / desk should react right now.
7. Make sure LIVE is lit in the top bar, then eject and reload the track on the CDJ. The cue fires automatically — watch it land in the activity panel at the bottom of the Decks page.

That’s the whole loop: capture → cue → arm → play. From here:

• Building a show — the full workflow
• UI tour — what everything on screen does
• Timecode & MIDI — LTC/MTC/MIDI Clock output setup

Offline mode (no CDJs)

You can program a whole show with zero hardware: Settings → Devices → + Add offline deck creates a virtual deck with local transport, driven by an audio file you assign to a track. Cues, timecode offsets, and the activity panel all behave exactly as with real decks.

Network troubleshooting

Decks not appearing

1. Pick the right adapter: Network menu → the interface on the CDJ switch.
2. Confirm Mac and CDJs are on the same subnet (same switch/VLAN — Pro DJ Link doesn’t route).
3. Pro DJ Link uses UDP ports 50000–50002; make sure no Mac firewall blocks inbound UDP.
4. Check Settings → Devices → Diagnostics — if total rx packets is 0, the Mac isn’t seeing broadcasts at all (cable/switch/adapter); if keepalives count but CDJ status stays 0, decks are visible but not sending status (power-cycle the CDJs to refresh their peer tables).

Deck flaps online/stale

The stale threshold is a few seconds of silence. Flapping usually means packet loss — check cabling, and check for other Pro DJ Link software (rekordbox, etc.) running on the same machine competing for the ports.

Wrong player numbers

Player numbers come from each CDJ’s own setting (CDJ System Settings → Player No.). Keep them unique — 1 through 4.

Note for multi-tool setups: Helm DJ joins the network as a virtual player (it claims a free player slot 1–4) in order to request track metadata. If you run other Pro DJ Link tools alongside it, make sure there’s a free slot available.

Development setup

See the Helm DJ README for building from source:

cd products/dj/src
npm install
npm run tauri:dev