Why it matters to you
If you’ve wanted to use the popular djay Pro app with your Surface Studio and Surface Dial, now’s your chance.
Microsoft’s Surface Dial accessory was featured prominently in the incredibly effective Surface Studio introduction video, creating a bit of excitement for an input device that promises to make creative workflows more efficient and fun. Since then, things have quieted down, with developers slowly adding support for the peripheral’s unique functionality.
Of course, like Apple’s Touch Bar input device on its MacBook Pro machines, the ultimate value of the Surface Dial depends entirely on a critical mass of popular applications that make use of it. One example is Djay Pro, an iOS and MacOS app that was just released for Windows 10, MS Power User reports.
More: Microsoft details which apps will support the Surface Dial at launch
The app’s developer, Algoriddim, utilized the Project Islandwood bridge technology that Microsoft built to make porting apps from iOS to Windows 10 an easier process. As such, while Djay Pro isn’t a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app, it has the advantage of fully supporting all of the iOS app’s functionality.
Perhaps more interesting is the application’s support for the Surface Dial. As expected, the Surface Dial provides for quick and fluid access to a number of key features, such as access to filters, adjusting levels, moving through tracks, and more. The app itself appears to be a full-feature option and makes considerable use of Windows 10’s other main feature, touchscreen support.
In addition, because the Surface Dial works with any Bluetooth-enabled Windows 10 device, you are not limited to Microsoft’s Surface hardware. One exception is that the ability to plant the Surface Dial on a display and interact with an application on-screen is so far limited to the Surface Studio, with support for the feature expected to make its way to certain other Surface machines at some point.
You can pick up the app from the Windows Store. It is $50 and it integrates with Spotify, Groove Music, and iTunes for a wide range of streaming music options.