The new breed - an overview
There are very few products that can truly be described as industry standard. The Pioneer CDJ-1000 is however one of them. And like other such standards, there is an overwhelming theme - quality and simplicity.
Having totally revolutionised the DJ industry with the first CDJs, Pioneer have had to face the reality that media is old hat. So they camped out in the R&D lab, chin rubbed for a while and realised that while the foundation of the CDJ was strong, the process sucks. Who wants to burn endless CDs when you could just bung it all on a USB drive. Thus "prepare and play" was devised - a software solution to make digital audio a very slick reality on the CDJ.
So before I launch into this, I'll state this plain and clear - THIS IS NOT A REVIEW. Pioneer very graciously sent me a 2000 and 900 for a sneak peek first look at mechanically finished units, but not yet software or firmware finalised. They also lack manuals and have been abused inside inside Pioneer HQ and at BPM too. So I'm in no position to tear apart every feature with in depth comparisions to existing CDJs. It just would be fair.
A full review will follow in due course and carried out by an experienced Pioneer user who can give the comparisons between old and new that some of you need.
Rekordbox
As I just stated, I've got no GM software to play with but simply an early version to kick about. The principle is quite simple - Rekordbox takes your music, analyses it for BPM and beatgrids and sticks it on your USB media. You can add loops and cues as well as updating all the tags in your selected songs.
Pioneer very kindly prepared me some songs in a more recent version of Rekordbox to test to test out, but rather than send them comfort zone tracks, I shipped off 2 CDs full of old school Hip Hop. All came back waveformed, BPM'd and ready for action. In my own testing of this version, the software performed very quickly and did a great job of analyzing, beatgridding and BPMing, even if some of the intro threw the beatgridding off a little. Nothing a quick manual tweak couldn't fix.
Looking at the contents of a prepared USB drive did set my mind at rest. I had visions of some arcane proprietary format than needed a CDJ to work, put it all came back fully accessible - but all on one level. The key here is organisation so be absolutely sure that you tag your music properly and split into playlists for quicker organisation.
Based simply on a quick first view, Rekordbox is a very capable file manager that does what it's supposed to do perfectly. Again, no nitty gritty detail or scathing criticism - just an overview until the final release is available.
Using USB media
Using USB media is simple:
1. Plug in one USB per CDJ and use it right away
2.
Share one USB device via the Pioneer Pro DJ Link via a crossover RJ45 cable
3. Grab a hub and share one USB device across up to 4 CDJs
I tried them all and it all worked perfectly, and importantly quickly too.
As a workflow for the needs of digital music users, Pioneer have clearly thought about making digital music really easy to use, and embraced the methodology of tagged music, playlists and the whole preparation of music principle. This is perhaps a key component of the success of DVS systems - the handling of digital audio is nailed in Traktor and SSL, and Rekordbox adopts a similar style. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Formats
Despite being all about USB media, the CDJs still have the legacy bases covered. The 900 does all the flavours of CD that the old CDJs do, and the 2000 adds DVD too. Nothing seemed to be a trouble and everything was ready to use in around 6 seconds.
Obviously, USB features on both decks. My inquisitive nature begged me to plug an Apple iPod into both CDJs, and to my surprise (after a 20 second wait), the CDJs (yes both as it's shared over the link) could read all my audio with full tags and playlists as well.
The CDJ-2000 features SD cards. As a format, I'm not entirely happy with the durability, or your ability to remember to take them home after a gig either either. But they are at least hidden safe inside the 2000. I not a big fan of USB media sticking out of the top of any player - it's an accident or theft just waiting to happen.
But I see these as backup formats as you largely lose the huge Rekord box advantage. It's helpful to have this level of access, but if you're dropping that much cash, you'd better be using the USB workflow.
Hardware
Forgive me - I've played with CDJs at trade shows and had one in the lab for a week, but aside from that I'm a real CDJ noob. So this next section won't be a comparison of old to new, but will effectively be a set of fresh eyes upon fresh gear. I could treat each unit individually, but seeing as this is an overview and that the basics of them is much the same, it's easier to cover them off overall and pick out the differences where needed.
First impressions
At first glance, they're a natural evolution from the existing range. Rounder edges have been replaced by sharper angles and a glossier finish, giving a more modern and higher quality feel. There's still a lot of plastic though, but there always was and quality doesn't seem to have been an issue. Side by side, the 2000 has much more of a light show than the 900. In a dark booth, the 2000 is going to be easier to use.
This is where the real split in quality and cost occurs. The 900 gets a large Pioneeresque screen that splits between 4 line navigation and the usual playback info plus a lo res waveform display. The 2000 however is in a whole different league and takes over from the jog wheel in the unit domination league. It's extremely sharp, bright and displays 6 lines of track info plus other assorted animated graphically rich info. The bottom section returns to familiar Pioneer ground, but does display hi res waveform data. No zoom though - just the whole thing.
A very key feature related to the 2000 screen is the Needle Search feature. This is a touch sensitive strip with a dual dual use - for skipping through the waveform or acting as a search method. It only works in pause mode but does keep playing while you have your finger on the strip. For searching you can use it for a single letter or building words to narrow down searches - a quite awkward mini keyboard. It's a hugely useful feature, and does make music use much easier on the 2000. I made a quick video:
The jog wheels remain laregly unchanged. Perhaps a tad smoother, and the 2000 gets some lights - but not in the same league as it's CDJ-400 sibling. The 900 does however have a distinct creative advantage over the 2000 - slip mode. It's way easier to demonstrate than describe:
This is a real attraction for trick rather than mix based DJs, and most definitely something 2000 owner will wish they had. I tested this feature with Scratch Live and Traktor, and SSL worked in absolute mode only, but Traktor was successful in both.
In reality, I found very little difference in feel, other than at the extremes of tension adjustment. I found mixing to be very easy, but the wheel is a little heavy for sustained scratch action, but probably because the lack of motor means you have to push AND pull rather than just pull. This however is a highly subjective area, and something you'd need to check out for yourself.
Because pitch adjusting cue bashing videos are oh so dull, here's the answer to the burning question for so many people - can they scratch? Well they can, but I make no such statements about me:
Loops and Hot Cues
Despite their market dominance and off the scale price, the CDJs are really simple and offer little in the way of extras beyond the basic of track playing and navigation. There is however a real split in functionality between the 900 and 2000, and this centres around cues and loops.
Firstly, the 900 has no hot cues but advanced looping. The 2000 howver has 3 hot cues but basic looping n comparison. An odd choice considering that even the most basic media players have hot cues these days. The 2000's looping is nice though - an auto 4 beat loop that can be stepped down and up and tied directly to BPM.
This is an area that will confuse potential buyers. Hopefully further testing will show us why Pioneer have chosen to implement loops and cues like this.
Tagging
Not to be confused with ID3 tags is tagging. This allows you to build a playlist on the fly by simply selecting a track across your various media on different machines and tagging them - i.e. putting them into a temporary list for future use. A nice touch that underlines the digital workflow.
MIDI
The CDJs finally get MIDI. Plugging in the USB cable to my Macbook Pro showed the CDJ right away and ready for configuration. I fired up Traktor Pro and had a quick dabble and everything seemed to work fine, albeit with a dark screen simply indicating PC Mode. Of more interest is HID mode - this will allow direct high speed communication between computer and CDJ. This should make the jog wheel work and the screen interact properly.
But my time was tight with the CDJs so I wasn't going to spend too much time with MIDI learn making them work perfectly. I configured a handful of controls and they worked fine. I'm sure the various manufacturers will be issuing updates to their software in due course.
DVS Usage
This seems largely academic really. Timecode CD use is likely to be a second rate solution given that HID mode is in effect - but not yet supported in the software I have. I fired up SSL and Traktor, both worked with a tiny bit more latency than timecode vinyl, but things like looping and hot cues only worked in absolute mode. Slip Mode does work too, but again only in absolute mode.
I wonder though if DVS usage is a benefit on a CDJ. You pay a heap of cash for a lot of "prepare and play" functionality that isn't needed because your DVS has it all covered.
Seems like a waste really.
And to clarify this once and for all - despite what the original Pioneer demo video may have inferred, you still need the SL-1 or SL-3 interfaces to run Scratch Live on the new CDJs. No ifs, no buts and no hope of just downloading the software and trying it out. You need Rane hardware to run Scratch Live software. End of discussion.
Odd differences
Forgive me for donning my time served production engineering white coat for a moment, but I'm irked by the lack of standardisation and cost savings that possibly could have been made. Here was a perfect opportunity to have 2 different units built on the same foundation - same base, buttons, screen cover etc which would have instilled familiarity across the units and importantly reduced production costs. But there appears to be only a common jog wheel plus a handful of shared buttons.
And that price…
I know Pioneer hate me bringing this up, but it needs saying. Pioneer have an unashamed self cultivated "professional" tag, and make no secret of wanting to own the high end club market - and it's this aspirational element to Pioneer products that reinforces the importance of perceived value over true value. But you can buy a pair of its nearest competitor for the price of a single CDJ-2000 - and that competitor is arguably better features wise too. A bitter pill to swallow in these cash strapped times.
That said, CDJs have always been expensive, and I've never
heard of anyone who felt shortchanged, and the other industry standard share the same top end price bracket too.
Summing Up
So the "new species" campaign was less about adding stuff to the existing models and more about revolutionsing the workflow from CDs to all digital. And Pioneer have succeeded in doing just that. I feel that the prepare and play principle concept has been very well implemented, the USB usage of sharing across 4 decks is incredibly good, and the familiarity of the new CDJs is very much in line with the ideology of small steps but still keeping it very simple. They're certainly very nice to work with - track navigation has been made very easy on both units which is the key thing about the USB workflow. There's no point in having USB devices full of music if you can't use it.
Ultimately though, this has been a pointless exercise in wanton wordery. We all know that when it comes to CDJs, people will simply cast aside their usual review-scouring cautiousness and just buy them anyway. And this is what defines an industry standard - iconic branding with reassuringly expensive quality, reliability and simplicity. Pioneer did it with CDs, and now they will do it in the entirely digital domain.
Make no mistake - the new CDJs will define the next club standard and establish the future of DJ digital audio.
Gallery
I threw together a handful of pics - nothing too special as Pioneer already have a heap of glossy ones of their own. And forgive the somewhat battered appearance. They've been through an awful lot in their short existence.
Huge thanks to Pioneer UK for the loan, and to Rik Parkinson dropping them off - one of the very few people in the world to see inside skratchworx HQ.
