What I recommend, and the catch with each one
Two lists of things worth your time. One is free software you can run on a computer you already own. The other is DJ equipment, written by somebody who has actually played out. Both are judged the same way, and both say what is wrong with every single item.
That last part is the whole point. Anybody can tell you a thing is good. The useful sentence is the one that tells you what will annoy you about it in three weeks, and that is the sentence most reviews leave out. If I cannot name the drawback, I do not understand the thing well enough to recommend it, so it does not go on the list.
There are no affiliate links anywhere on this site, no sponsors, and no paid placements. If you buy something because you read about it here, we make nothing. That is deliberate, because the moment a recommendation earns money it stops being a recommendation.
The two lists
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Fifteen thingsFree software worth your time
Software you can run yourself, starting with the AI you can keep on your own computer. All of it free, all of it something you install rather than subscribe to, and each one with its real drawback stated plainly.
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Twenty five thingsDJ gear and software, from behind the decks
Ten pieces of software and fifteen pieces of hardware, judged on whether they survive a real night rather than on what the box promises. One of them is free and open, and it is clearly marked.
How something gets on a list
It has to be something actually used, not something read about. Each entry says what the thing is in one sentence, then what it is genuinely good at, then the catch. The catch is the part that saves you an evening, so it is never left out and it is never softened.
This page in the original Kyber Cypher voice: RECOMMENDS