Deck controls
Reverse play
Reverse play runs the track backwards and moves the playback position with it, so releasing it leaves you earlier in the record than when you started. Unlike censor, the position genuinely changes.
In practice
Reverse moves your position; censor does not. Turn slip on if you want the sound without the consequence.
Use it in short bursts into a transition — a bar of reversed cymbals or a reversed snare roll approaching a drop is effective and costs nothing if slip is on. Without slip, remember you are genuinely going backwards, so a four-bar reverse leaves you eight bars behind where you would have been. Check where the button lives on unfamiliar gear, because on some players it is shared with censor and the behaviour differs entirely.
Position
What it actually moves
Slip on
How to get the sound only
2×
How far back a bar puts you
Where these come from: Standard reverse-play behaviour on club media players — documented behaviour, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the version that keeps your place.
Why it matters
That single difference decides which one you want. Reverse is a musical move that repositions the track — useful for building tension before a drop, or for a reversed sweep into a transition. Censor is a repair that leaves the timeline alone.
Combined with slip mode it becomes a third thing again: reverse while slip is active gives you the reversed sound and returns you to the correct position when you release. That combination is what most people actually mean when they say they use reverse.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between reverse and censor?+
Reverse moves the playback position backwards as it plays; censor only changes what you hear and returns you to where the track would have been.
How do I use reverse without losing my place?+
Turn slip mode on. The hidden playhead keeps running forward, so you get the reversed sound and land back in time when you release.
Is reverse the same as a backspin?+
No. A backspin is a hand on a record or jog producing an accelerating rewind; reverse is a button playing the file backwards at normal speed.
Related terms
Censor
Censor plays the track in reverse for as long as the button is held, then returns playback to where it would have been if you had never pressed it. The timeline continues underneath; only what you hear changes.
Slip mode
Slip mode keeps the track running silently underneath whatever you are doing to it. When you release a loop, a scratch or a reverse, playback jumps to where the record would have been if you had never touched it.
Spin-in
A spin-in launches the incoming record by spinning it forward by hand into its first beat, so it arrives with an audible rising whoosh rather than simply starting. It is the entrance counterpart of a spinback.
Drop swap
A drop swap cuts from one track to another exactly at a drop, so the incoming record’s drop replaces the outgoing one. Only one drop is heard — which is what separates it from a double drop.
Explore: Reverse audio · Spinback · Drop swap · All DJ terms