Pioneer CDJ Decks / Turntables
Following on from the CDJ-500, Pioneer first launched the CDJ-100s at the end of 1998, followed by the CDJ-1000 in mid-2001. Aimed at taking vinyl DJ’ing by the scruff of the neck and accelerating a change over to CD DJ’ing (to follow the commercial music industry that had adopted CD as it’s standard format some years before), Pioneer’s vision was not shared by the majority of underground independent record labels who continued (many still to this day) to output their music on vinyl. [ Continued Below ]
The top of the range model including MP3 compatibility, jog wheel 'feel' adjustment, hot looping and SD card support for memory. Pitch accuracy to 0.02%.
Little brother of the above, includes the non-slip jog wheel surface and MP3 compatibility and a new 'resume play' function. Pitch accuracy to 0.05%.
The newest, feature-packed digital DJ deck from Pioneer. Great style, USB mass storage device playback and new effects. Pitch accuracy to 0.02%.
Still fairly new, smaller model including full MP3 compatibility and auto-BPM counter. Pitch accuracy to 0.02%.
The CDJ that kick-started the CD deck market. Silver in colour with a pitch accuracy of 0.1% and some nice on-board effects.
However, the last few years have witnessed a massive change in the DJ industry – the power of the internet, and in particular legal MP3 download sites. This has ushered many of us into what’s being called the “digital age” - many of these sites have now popped up around the world, such as dance music specialist’s www.trackitdown.net and www.beatport.com. They are the answer to the illegal downloading of MP3’s over P2P (peer-to-peer) networks that was already starting to kill the music industry, allowing DJ’s to support the industry and music they love by paying for it, just as they did with vinyl.
The difference? With no postage costs, a DJ can now buy about 5 or 6 tracks on MP3 for the cost of 1 record. That’s a massive change. Add to that the digital quality of tracks converted to MP3 straight out of the studio, and the ability to purchase music 24 hours a day, and one starts to understand the shear enormity of this situation.
Back to Pioneer then, and their constant development of technology, especially with the MK2 (mid-2003) and MK3 (early-2006) versions of the CDJ-1000 has coincided perfectly with the boom of legal downloading. Just like their great rivals Technics found with the 1200MK2 turntable in the 1980’s, this has led to a new adoption of their technology in nightclubs around the world as the industry-standard for CD DJ’ing.
Add or read reviews of the following now...
Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3 CD Deck
Pioneer
DJM-800 DJ Mixer
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DJM-600 DJ Mixer
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HDJ-1000 DJ Headphones