Deck controls
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.
In practice
Slip lets you loop, reverse or scratch over a mix and land back in phrase, because the track never actually stopped.
Leave it on for anything you intend to release back into the arrangement — rolls, reverse, a censor over a vocal, hot-cue stutters. Turn it off when you actually want to move: an extended loop that is buying you time, or a cue jump that is meant to change where you are in the record. The mistake worth avoiding is leaving slip on for a loop you meant to sit in, then wondering why the record leapt forward when you released it.
On
Rolls, reverse, stutters
Off
Loops you sit in
In phrase
Where it returns you
Where these come from: Deck behaviour and technique convention, not catalog figures — the control exists on CDJs, most controllers and every major DJ application. For what we can measure, see the phrase it keeps you inside.
Why it matters
It converts a destructive move into a decorative one. Without slip, a four-beat loop held for eight bars leaves you eight bars behind the arrangement and out of phrase with the other deck; with slip, you come out exactly where the record expects to be.
That makes it the setting that lets you improvise over a running mix. Anything you do becomes an overlay rather than a detour, so the risk of a performance move is limited to how it sounds rather than to where it leaves you.
Frequently asked
What does slip mode do?+
It runs the track silently underneath whatever you are doing, so releasing a loop, a reverse or a scratch drops you back where the record would have been if you had left it alone.
When should slip mode be off?+
When you want the move to change your position in the track — a loop held to buy time, or a cue jump into a different section. Slip would undo exactly the thing you were trying to do.
Does slip mode work with loops?+
Yes, and it is the most useful case. A loop rolled over a phrase becomes an effect rather than a detour, because releasing it returns you to the arrangement in the right bar.
Related terms
Loop roll
A loop roll repeats a short slice of the track — usually a beat or less — while the record keeps running underneath. Release it and playback continues from where it would have been, so nothing is lost.
Phrase
A phrase is a block of bars a track is built from, usually 8, 16 or 32. Electronic music changes at phrase boundaries, so a mix that starts on one keeps both tracks structurally in step.
Hot cue
A hot cue is a saved position in a track that plays from that point the instant you press its pad. Most players store eight per track, and they are stored with the file rather than with the session.
Performance pads
Performance pads are the grid of rubber buttons on a controller or player. Each pad mode reassigns the whole grid to a different job — hot cues, loop rolls, slicing, samples or beat jumps.
Explore: Beats-to-time calculator · Loop roll · Mixing guides · All DJ terms