Deck controls
Relay play
Relay play alternates two linked players automatically: when one track ends, the other starts, and the first loads the next track from its list. It plays music continuously with nobody at the decks.
In practice
Two linked players taking turns with nobody standing there. Useful before doors, and off before you play.
Load two sticks or two playlists, arm relay, and the room has music until somebody arrives. Turn it off before your set — a deck that decides to start a track on its own halfway through a transition is a genuinely bad surprise. It is also worth checking on arrival, because a booth handed over with relay still armed will do something unexpected the first time a track runs out.
2
Linked players required
Before doors
Where it is useful
Off
Before you play
Where these come from: Standard relay-play behaviour on linked club players — documented behaviour, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the link it needs.
Why it matters
It is a background-music feature rather than a DJ one, and it exists for exactly the situations a booth actually meets — early doors before anyone has arrived, a break between DJs, a bar that needs sound while the room fills.
Knowing it exists also stops it being a mystery. A pair of players changing tracks on their own with nobody near them looks like a fault, and it is very often just relay play left armed by whoever set up the room.
Frequently asked
Why did the other deck start playing on its own?+
Relay play is armed. It is designed to keep music running unattended, and it is frequently left on by whoever set the room up before doors.
Is relay play useful for DJs?+
Only outside the set — before doors, during a break, or in a bar that needs continuous sound. During a set it is a hazard rather than a feature.
Does relay play need linked players?+
Yes. The two decks have to be able to tell each other when a track has finished, which needs the manufacturer’s link between them.
Related terms
Fader start
Fader start makes a linked player begin playing the moment its channel fader or the crossfader leaves the bottom, and return to its cue point when the fader closes. Moving the fader replaces pressing play.
Pro DJ Link
Pro DJ Link is the Ethernet network that joins several players and a mixer. One USB stick feeds every deck, the players share tempo and beat position, and lighting or recording software can read the whole rig from one connection.
Export mode
Export mode is the state in which DJ software acts as a preparation tool — organising, analysing and writing to a device — rather than playing anything. Performance mode is the other state, where the same software plays.
Handover
A handover is the moment one DJ stops and the next starts — the logistics of it, not the mix. Sticks come out, headphones swap, someone finds a channel, and the room hears whatever happens while that goes on.
Explore: Planning a warm-up set · Pro DJ Link · Handover · All DJ terms