Vedhathiri
Author
A maker has built a standalone DJ system using the ESP32-P4, allowing a Pioneer DDJ-FLX4 DJ controller to work without a laptop running DJ software. The open-source Pajoniiir project uses a Guition JC4880P443C_I_W board with an ESP32-P4 and 4.3-inch touchscreen. It reads music from a USB drive exported from Rekordbox and supports MP3, WAV and FLAC files. The system can run two DJ decks at the same time and supports features such as waveforms, tempo control, Master Tempo, Hot Cues, loops, Beat Jump, Sync, Pad FX and Beat FX. The DDJ-FLX4 provides the physical controls, including jog wheels, mixer controls, EQ, pads and cue controls, while the ESP32-P4 handles music playback and the main DJ functions.
The system also handles the audio without needing a computer. The ESP32-P4 connects to the USB music drive and DDJ-FLX4, while a PCM5102A stereo DAC provides the main audio output through RCA connections. Headphone cue audio is handled through the DDJ-FLX4. The 4.3-inch touchscreen lets the DJ browse the music library, load tracks onto either deck, view waveforms, check BPM and pitch, manage Hot Cues and change settings. The software is built using ESP-IDF, and the current M2.2 release also includes a Wi-Fi Remote. This allows a phone or computer connected to the Pajoniiir Wi-Fi network to control the system through a web browser.
The interesting part of Pajoniiir is that a single ESP32-P4 handles a large part of the work normally done by a computer in a DJ setup. It combines USB connectivity, music playback, audio mixing, touchscreen graphics, music-library management, DJ controls, effects and Wi-Fi features in one embedded system.
