Point 3 - The CDJ2000 NXS2's had a option in the Utility Settings Menu to change the playback behaviour of the Hot Cues, but here's a workaround for this to work. Stop the deck, make sure SLIP MODE is on. Now the Hot Cues will only play audio while you hold down a cue button and stop as soon as you let go.
One really awesome features of a CDJ is that whatever you play on the CDJ is stored into the HISTORY folder as a playlist on the USB. If you take that USB back to Rekordbox, you can see everything you played on the CDJ as a playlist, so no need to write down what it is that you played in a spontaneous set, whether it's on your own decks or at a venue.
Point 6 - The EVERMIX has a frequency response output of (30Hz - 20,000Hz). While the CDJ3000 outputs at (4Hz - 40,000Hz). The DJM900 NXS2 outputs at (20 - 40000 Hz) A system is only as good as it's weakest link. It's like buying a Ferrari and then swapping out the engine from a KIA. Have you tried recording via the RB App on your phone connected via USB to the CDJ, DJM LINK (sample rate of 16 bit / 44.1 kHz) Another way is to use a "Virtual Audio Driver" like "Blackhole" that's linked to "AUDIO MIDI SETUP" internally. But imho, you can't beat taking the digital out (from the DJM) sent directly to a Studio Grade Sound Card Interface on a separate Mac/Pc with your DAW.
That's basically my beef with a traditional CDJ/DJM setup as opposed to a good DDJ. The DDJ, while not feeling as good as a proper modular setup, does offer a TON more practicality. When I DJ in small bars and clubs, I always bring my controllers. Here I have ALL of my music already prepped, ready to go in one convenient, smaller setup. There's no need to burn CD's, I got a mouse to help me scroll through the tracks, and they do what I need them to do. And when I see modern flagships, like the DDJ-RZX, I'm really wondering why spend £10k on a CDJ setup when the RZX will do pretty much the same shit for £2800. At some point it has to be style over substance.
I am very surprised that as a professional DJ that you have never had the opportunity to play on CDJs before. Also something to note is that the DDJ 1000 controller has the same mechanical jog wheels as the CDJ 2000 Nexus 2 so that would have been another opportunity to get a feel of the mechanical jogs of CDJs. I find touch wheels on other controllers quite irritating as I’ve had many times accidentally lightly brush the top of the wheel and the music temporarily stops. Fortunately it’s only ever been on the incoming track and never the currently playing track.
it really depends on where you have been playing. For instance some places which are more laxed on music they dont own such equipment and you have to bring yours, that includes weddings and so on.
Im pretty sure the hotcue issue is due to the quantize... did you ever try turn it off? its always a delay on hotcues with quantize on. It waits for the nearest upcoming beat before it runs.
In regards to recording, I'm pretty sure you can just connect your PC/laptop to the DJM via USB cable and record through Audacity, rather than needing extra equipment like an evermix. You need the right drivers installed (which I guess you have since you've hooked up rekordbox on your laptop to the mixer), but I've been able to do this before on a friend's DJM-900NXS
I have done that and now that I've got a focusrite audio interface I just plug the booth outs into that and then you can ship the sound anywhere you want.
these days every mixer that comes with a usb connection can do that. in Mac will appear as a audio interface (sound card). In win you might need to install a driver.
Honestly if you were thinking about it but feel like it’s too big a jump in the difference with a deck and serato or just the price, I’d recommend trying the XDJ-RX2. It’s a high quality all in one for a very reasonable price and I love it. Coming from someone who started out with Serato and a ddj-202
About that #5 you can use tag list feature for creating dj set. When you have everything ready click menu and save as playlist. I use this everytime when creating sets no laptop needed
@@DJPhilHarris kinda. You have to make the set 1 by 1 to make it easy for you. Like you are on track #3 and you dont like #4 but #5 is better you load track #4 and click tag on it again it removes it from the list and #5 becomes #4 track.
Its almost like when we touch vinyl, the harder you put pressure on the vinyl, or even how quickly or slowly you move it, as well..... The more different the sounds are that are produced, thanks man.... 🔥💯👍💪🙏🎶🎛️🌎
I get the CDJ thing, in general the only people who can afford a setup like this at home or for mobile DJing are the older set. I remember back in the mid 2000's watching my mates DJ on early CDJ's, it now makes sense how they were able to line up the beats properly.
to gate your cues you need to go to the end of the track and set slip mode on, then when you release the cue it will jump to the silence at the end of the track, thus yielding the gate effect although you do have to set an extra cue at the end of the song and also turn slip mode on so it's a bit of a hassle
Good decision moving to CDJs, sooner the better. If you're not comfortable using a USB or SD cards, just use the CDJs in HID mode with Serato or Rekordbox.
You went from level 2 to level 10. CDJs ROCK in comparison to controllers. My personal plan to to get away from Serato and the SRT and get on CDJs and Rekordbox.
Rekordbox recording quality is very good coming out of the mixer with USB. Also try to connect your mixer to your CDJs with cat 5 cables on top of the RCAs and a few cool things happens (like the sync button;) !
Based on the "issues" you pointed out in this video, I can tell you never used Cdjs since their very conception back in 1994. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing
Ive just started DJing seriously this past summer and I got the XDJ RX2 because I wanted something standalone and close to the "industry standard". I haaate how the hot cues don't have a gate effect. I really wish they would add that functionality! Another thing is that it won't play FLAC files, so I have to convert all my FLACs to AIFF. Also #4 drove me crazy at first too. Love your videos, Phil, you help me improve every day!
@9:50 just buy an SC4 cable ($20 CAD) and go booth out (2 to 1). the SC4 cable creates a backwards audio signal and allows perfect audio right from your mixer into your phone. way cheaper option!!
4:58 This has been a standard feature on Pioneer players for almost two decades now...I'm blown away that it's not on controllers. Also, when cueing, bring it back to the last frame/second before the best kicks in. That way you're getting the whole kick drum and it's less likely to make that clicking noise when the loop cuts the kick drum.
Hi Phil, congratulations with your new set of equipment. In my opinion the CDJ's with their enormous price tag do not offer so much really interesting features compared to the NXS-2. In my opinion both players are soooo over priced for what they can do. The best Pioneer product I have used is the XDJ-XZ with a Macbook Pro running Rekordbox version 5. Really has everything Pioneer has to offer. It is much smaller that the 3000 set-up and can play extremely fast via Performance mode, it can play from USB sticks and can do recording on a USB at the same time. The one thing which Pioneer doesn't understand is that the biggest part of DJ's have very large music collections and play whatever the crowd likes (think of requests). Here comes the problem with the NXS-2 and 3000 set-up. These can't handle a collection of 1TB or up and can't perform fast searches for artist / titles. Why? well the USB connection is USB 2.0 and they way Pioneer handles such a large collection it will not work. Your players will get stuck performing multiple search actions. One stupid thing Pioneer needs to change is activate search after pressing enter and not while typing. As the USB 2.0 protocol handles much lower speeds than USB 3.0 or 3.1 it makes no sense investing in portable SSD drives as the players can't handle the speed the drives can handle. Therefore most DJ's will need to bring a laptop and work in Performance mode as this is the fastest way to play requests. Rekordbox Performance mode is a great tool, in my opinion the best DJ software out there. If I would advice a DJ who travels and plays allround for different kinds of audiences... Buy a very good Macbook Pro (not the M1 due to overheating issues that may occur) with a 2TB SSD drive and a XDJ-XZ. Then you are familiair with the Pioneer workflow (having to use Rekordbox to arrange your collection) and you will be able to play on a NXS-2 set-up or 3000 set-up if this is in a venue where you don't bring your controller. Don't wanna go into the Denon discussion, but they are an interesting competitor and that is a very good thing for both brands. I will check out in the coming weeks how a SC-6000 handles a large drive... it has USB 3.0 I understood so... but then again if you are used to Rekordbox (Performance) you will have an issue with the software of this competitor. When they get the software on the same level as Pioneer we have a real fight ;). Enjoy your music, keep smiling and stay safe.
Just for the record, you probably don't even need a top of the line PC as long as you don't install a lot of junk on it. I'm running Rekordbox 6 on a 10 year old Core-i5 Thinkpad that was upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 and it's totally fine. I haven't have a single audio stutter or dropout. I have the DDJ-1000, but that's probably not much different from the XDJ-XZ in Performance mode.
Hey Phil, There is Gated Cue in the CDJ 3000!!!! It is more of a workaround though.. So what you do is go to the very end of the track (maybe put a cue at that point) and then put it in slip mode. Now all of your cue points are gated cues!! You can actually do this with any cdj or controller that has slip mode!
I will propably never own or play on CDJ 3000 's as im a hobbyist that has only used mixers with Laptops currently with a FLX10 . I really appreciate you taking some of the mystery out of the them .
It's really funny to hear some of this coming from the other end of the spectrum. I have NEVER used a controller or dvs system in my entire DJ life since I started in 1985. On occasion I have tested someones setup, but just felt that it was a worse option not to be considered serious. I'm a hardware guy only where computers are a prep tool only, not to be in the booth. I used vinyl for 10 years, then CD's for almost 15 years, and since 2009 i use RB prepared USB devices. This mean that when I stopped using vinyl in the mid 90's, i immediately had to get used to the stutter sound of CDJ mode setting a new cue point, which were pretty much the same on all brands. The benefit is that when you use the CDJ mode to set a new cue point, you can do it on vocals with other background sounds on the fly, not only on kicks and snares on the one. ...and it's a frame based solution where you go frame by frame until the next frame has the start of the sound you want to use as the new cue point. Doing this on the fly using the vinyl mode will never ever be as good as you will end up one more frames wrong every time. For me starting a new track with faders up is relying on me doing it with perfect timing, which means that I need to have perfect set cue points every time. ...and yeah, if I always ended up with a pair of 3000's I could probably use the wave form to do it, but I use what's in the club, which still means using first gen CDJ-2000's and 900's on a regular basis which means no moving wave forms and using your ears is the only option. B.t.w, you did set the cue point several frames in to the beat... old school as I am, I still rely on my ears for most of my mixing, which means I don't look in the screens, or down on the mixer, very much, but rather have my eyes on the people attending the venue. A final note on the CDJ vs Vinyl mode topic: If you're NOT a scratching DJ, and NEVER in your life will use the the jog wheel for the purpose of scratching, why would you even use that mode? The ONLY things that can happen in vinyl mode are BAD things. I still have all my vinyls and do occasional vinyl sets, and have no problems switching back to the way I used to play, but why on earth would I want to bring that old school way of playing in to the digital world? If my memory is right, there's a setting in RB where you can set hot cue's to be gated when the track is paused.
Its like the "controllers" are designed for how pioneer is envisioning future/optimized DJaying. With the latest gimmicks and lowlatency. While the "CDJ's" are designed to glue together older and newer generation DJ's and keep everyone happy, at the cost of some convenience.
Phil, great video. I hate to say it, but this list could be read as 7 reasons I'm really happy I just got a Denon setup. Each of these 7 issues are not present on Denons. Still the Pioneer stuff is great, can't fault them.
Interesting video, surely as a professional DJ you have played in clubs etc where these players are standard? Just interested if they were not things that bothered you in the past? CDJs are not touch sensitive as they as meant to replicate using vinyl You can record right off the mixer using the pioneer DJ app just need to plug your phone in, much cheaper
@@nygmamusic1110 I think his point was that CDJ devices are standard in clubs and have been for years. The workflow is pretty much the same for the last few generations of them.
@@lukea1980 yeah Denon are so much more advanced than Pioneer. Don't get me wrong, they make good equipment but I'm with you, I like my SC5000's and X1800 mixer.
CDJ3000: -no dual layer functionality -no performance pads -no internal track analysis -no cross-platform support -no inbuilt HD/SSD option -no internal WiFi -no loop encoder -no multitouch touch screen -no reserve power (power failure) -small hot cues buttons located in horrible position -only one USB port and it got downgraded to 1.0A -no SDXC support (
@@BlueHawk80 maybe Denon have more features but honestly the most things imo is better than Pioneer is the price and dual layers function. other than that is all just for marketing purpose. multi touch screen for what? Sure you can't zoom in zoom out with your fingers on the CDJ but basically everything single touch 3000 can done the same
No, feature wise, they are not. But I absolutely loved them and they are “industry standard”. I can hit a bouncy ball further than I can hit a golf ball but what’s the point in that. On the day of a competition, I have to play with a golf ball. That’s my analogy
@@DJPhilHarris That makes sense if you need to play on the same gear as the competition! If you would not be limited to that it then would be a disadvantage as you limit yourself by the Pioneer gear. Thank you for the clarification on your motives :-)
I don't think there's such thing as "the best choice" for everyone! The CDJs are "industry standard", which means they offer a familiar workflow over previous generations of CDJs and a familiar setup at clubs and other performing venues. But nothing of this means they're the best or only way to mix tracks, and different people have different workflows...
Also, invest in a decent external SSD. Flash sticks are stupidly slow, and they're even slower than normal on CDJs (no exFAT format.) An SSD is faster, provides more space for less money, and is more reliable.
Regarding the CDJ pause function. I'm usually in vinyl mode all the time but if I ever need an exact exact cue point the only way to really get it completely exact is CDJ mode because it's frame accurate. I don't need cue points that accurate usually. For queues usually I just grab the jog wheel like it's a record and find the first kick, and then while holding down press the cue button and voila, cue point is set
Been waiting for you to make this vid! You still haven't told us why you swapped the mixer (unless I missed it). The set up looks amazing - like a Rolls Royce sat in your dj room! The last mix you did was insane so I think you are getting the hang of it!
Hey man, great review, loved it. Just one tip, check if you’re trying to use the cues with slip or PLAY button on. I am currently able to play the audio as a trigger as you were describing you wanted to. Otherwise I remember seeing in some part of the settings that one of the functions could be set to toggle or trigger…maybe it was this one? Hope this helps, let me know if it does, otherwise it might be that I generally use the cdjs myself in control mode. 🤟🏽
You can restore the "gate cue" effect that's normalized for Hot Cues on a CDJ 00 -- you just need to change the setting on Rekordbox, which will copy onto the USB you're using to load music onto the CDJ. Make sure you hit "Load USB Settings" on the CDJ menu to import the setting onto the deck.
withe the hot cue delay problem you just need to optimize your quantize function in setting because yours is set to 1 beat and if you set it to like 1/4 it will be directer
With that last point about the hot cues and them being delayed, have you tried turning quantize off. As with it on it’s normally set to 1 beat so won’t change till it hits the beat
Really love the feedback in this video! I am gonna play on these for my first live set this weekend so it’s great to know that some of the features in serato are kinda missing! I’ve been practicing or rekordbox lately
I'm after Your Begginer Dj Course was awesome. I have XDJ-RX2 i wish one day i will buy some amazing dj equipment like You have now. Absolutely love Your chanel, You inspired me to try with music by myself. Good luck 🎧🎧🎧 I do recommend Beginner Dj course 🔊🔊🔊
That broken cdj point was funnny.....tht stutter sound whn u pause a track in CDJ mode was used by lot of DJs including from then csj 200 era. So DJs who have used something like cdj 200/ denon d-4500 will b familiar to that sound!
what i like to do in Rekordbox and organise songs is with a lot of playlists in each playlist i have a set in order of the songs im going to play, so when you drag the songs into the playlist it orders them automatically in the order that you dragged it into the playlist, this helps me a lot specially with the first 4, then i can put no1 on deck 1 no2 on deck 2 3 on deck 3 and 4 on deck 4 after that all you need to do is count baby and wait until 1 is done playing select 5 into 1 and then gooo heavy
With the playlists I've just made playlists on my USB drives, and aside from that I just try to force myself to know all my music like a BOSS (which I haven't done yet).
Love the feedback! A few misses tho when you talk about features such as hot cues (which is affected by quantize) and then you go on to the track pad feature of the mixer which isn't apart of CDJs lol.
You can turn the gate mode within rekordbox dj..under setings>controller>deck>hot cue(check the box written DURING PAUSE,GATE PLAYBACK IS APPLIED)..And just to add up REKORDBOX IS SHIT..And also that latency also makes you less accurate..You cant even scratch in time
But c'mon hot cues should be at the bottom of the cdj not above the jogweel. Even if there is enough space it is not the 'natural' place for them to be there.
Some DJs didn't want them at the bottom because they're used to using the bottom of the jog to nudge, but I think we can unanimously agree the top is even worse. They should have been on the side of the deck tbh
Hot cues are Cues, if you wanna use the cues like you use a sampler, the behavior of „stop when releasing a pad“ is just not the meaning of a cue, but a sampler pad. The acoustic lineup of Cues is familiar to a lot of DJs, and the point where the waveform starts to „look“ loud is not the point, where the body of the Sound is. The point of rekordbox is that you Organise your playlist at home and there is a tagliatelle, where you can do a lineup. As all the other things you said you should shift your perspective when we used to have a case with cds where we tilted the cds we wanted to play next 45degrees to have them in awareness. And yes, quantize can ruin a lot of your skills. Just turn is of, Beatmatch properly. I’d rather have a short push or pull to keep the beats aligned then to have that skip a misquantize produces
those players and mixer are only good when you come to Gig, where setup is already there on spot, and you just come and use it. That's it. Buying this stuff and then having issue with errors (communication error, soldering due to just time matter), its just not cool at all, plus moving around as well. And its too expensive to have it sending to service and just loose lot of money. Gigs can be done with normal controllers, nothing much expensive, it just depends on your skills, if you hear the sound and creativity. I can perform at Ultra with any controller, but usually all great gigs standard setup 4 of those players and mixer, thats it. On the other side, if you are popular dj/artist, well you have money for throw then, or even better, you get those for free from Pioneer. Short conclusion, i like to use those on gigs, but i don't want to own them. Rather will do gigs on venues where i bring my own equipment, small controller, and make good vibe from it, then taking this with me all around. :)
Starting 2 song on same deck with hot cue in quantize, I think they made it by purpose. It's not change the track straight away, it's changing on the next beat. If you do it without quantize, probably no delay...
Point 5 - Plug pc on the same internet switch a in which you plugged all pioneer dj mixers and cdj's and use rekordbox for organizing Edit : sorry I commented without watching full part after watching I noticed he knows XD
WOOOOOW!!!! I am really shocked!!! Some of these differences I just met on Pioneer XDJ-XZ and I could not find the possibility to change it in the menu - most anoying missing the gate function. Also the slow uploading of songs. And browsing the library... in Rekordbox I can see all the information for all displayed songs together especially with the grafic sound wave. On the player I can see the wave once it is loaded. I am missing it very much, because often I am choosing next song also according what way the new song is beggining just what I can see from the wave. People are saying that playing on DJ controler connected to the the computer is not the real DJ job, that it is just a toy. But it gives so many options and gadgets. Knowing this it looks like that I want always connect the computer (I have 10 inch Samsung tablet with Windows) to be able to use all the features I am common. Another difference - I know pads only as buttons that have to be pressed to work. On XDJ-XZ they are touch sensitive. So just moving around and just accidentaly touched my master song jumped to the hot cue point!!! I like to have finger ready on the pad and once I want to use it just press it. Here I have to watch carefully what I am touching. Unbelievable! So many differences without a possibility to change them. Not sure that when I connect it to the computer with Rekordbox that it overtakes the setup from the Rekordbox (the Gate playing at least). So thank you very very much for this video!!! Very important details/important things!!! We should be ready that live playing on someone else's equipment can bring some unexpected issues. That better and more expensive profi players and equipment does not nesseccarily mean better conditions... Once again - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! Enjoy your big beast and relearn your habbits...
Since you're into good sound I'm surprised you havent switched to a good microphone for your voice. It would be much more professional and pleasurable for us viewers. Cheers
For Recording just put a USB into The DJM909NXS2 😅 or Connect ist via USB to your pc and use Audacity, Ableton or whatever Software u like… fir livesrreaming get a Elgato Camlink and ob’s 💁🏻✌️
Bro , Those are the high end CDJ , you can’t find better.I suggest you to go back to Serato and DJ Controllers , you have so many settings to manipulate things there , everything Serato does this thing is capable to and with a faster response. I guarantee you they are the best . Before you do a video , you got to make sure you know how to use those properly. I got those and DJM V 10 LF and i love em . Got SX 2 and serato when i go to serato it looks like toys .
You can load a track in where you want but you have to do it with memory key on the deck also you can do a loop when he comes he automatic play that loop instant. 🤗
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Point 3 - The CDJ2000 NXS2's had a option in the Utility Settings Menu to change the playback behaviour of the Hot Cues, but here's a workaround for this to work. Stop the deck, make sure SLIP MODE is on. Now the Hot Cues will only play audio while you hold down a cue button and stop as soon as you let go.
Point 2 - Turn off Quantize if you want to hit the Cue buttons without a delayed response, otherwise the Cue Points will only Snap to the Beat Grid
Huge recommendation ty
was just about to say the same thing
Why would you want quantize off?
If you want to press a cue point on one track and press the play button on another track at the same time then they wont be in sync
@@anthonym1625
more freedom@@anthonym1625
One really awesome features of a CDJ is that whatever you play on the CDJ is stored into the HISTORY folder as a playlist on the USB. If you take that USB back to Rekordbox, you can see everything you played on the CDJ as a playlist, so no need to write down what it is that you played in a spontaneous set, whether it's on your own decks or at a venue.
Doesn't work with Beatport streaming though!
Hello, regarding no 7 (hot cues bank)
Set the quantize to 1/8 so you'll have that instant play.
Point 6 - The EVERMIX has a frequency response output of (30Hz - 20,000Hz). While the CDJ3000 outputs at (4Hz - 40,000Hz). The DJM900 NXS2 outputs at (20 - 40000 Hz)
A system is only as good as it's weakest link. It's like buying a Ferrari and then swapping out the engine from a KIA. Have you tried recording via the RB App on your phone connected via USB to the CDJ, DJM LINK (sample rate of 16 bit / 44.1 kHz) Another way is to use a "Virtual Audio Driver" like "Blackhole" that's linked to "AUDIO MIDI SETUP" internally. But imho, you can't beat taking the digital out (from the DJM) sent directly to a Studio Grade Sound Card Interface on a separate Mac/Pc with your DAW.
That's basically my beef with a traditional CDJ/DJM setup as opposed to a good DDJ. The DDJ, while not feeling as good as a proper modular setup, does offer a TON more practicality.
When I DJ in small bars and clubs, I always bring my controllers. Here I have ALL of my music already prepped, ready to go in one convenient, smaller setup. There's no need to burn CD's, I got a mouse to help me scroll through the tracks, and they do what I need them to do. And when I see modern flagships, like the DDJ-RZX, I'm really wondering why spend £10k on a CDJ setup when the RZX will do pretty much the same shit for £2800. At some point it has to be style over substance.
I am very surprised that as a professional DJ that you have never had the opportunity to play on CDJs before. Also something to note is that the DDJ 1000 controller has the same mechanical jog wheels as the CDJ 2000 Nexus 2 so that would have been another opportunity to get a feel of the mechanical jogs of CDJs. I find touch wheels on other controllers quite irritating as I’ve had many times accidentally lightly brush the top of the wheel and the music temporarily stops. Fortunately it’s only ever been on the incoming track and never the currently playing track.
You have no idea how many wedding dis never played with cdjs...all pro because they get paid for that.
it really depends on where you have been playing. For instance some places which are more laxed on music they dont own such equipment and you have to bring yours, that includes weddings and so on.
Im pretty sure the hotcue issue is due to the quantize... did you ever try turn it off? its always a delay on hotcues with quantize on. It waits for the nearest upcoming beat before it runs.
YES! works like a dream! Perfect! Thanks so much!!
Good answer, why don't I have the lag on my DDJ-800 with quantize on then? I can't figure that out.
@@DJPhilHarris No problem man 👌🏽
@@ruk2023-- On a controller its customisable. You can have quantize be 1/8 a beat (or off) on hut cue playback and on at 1/2 beat for everything else.
@@BojarLaci there is only a Delay, if you hit the hotcue just in Time, there is no Delay.
In regards to recording, I'm pretty sure you can just connect your PC/laptop to the DJM via USB cable and record through Audacity, rather than needing extra equipment like an evermix. You need the right drivers installed (which I guess you have since you've hooked up rekordbox on your laptop to the mixer), but I've been able to do this before on a friend's DJM-900NXS
I have done that and now that I've got a focusrite audio interface I just plug the booth outs into that and then you can ship the sound anywhere you want.
@@amithus9912I just connect my phone to the mixer USB and use the DJM app to record
these days every mixer that comes with a usb connection can do that. in Mac will appear as a audio interface (sound card). In win you might need to install a driver.
just because of this video ..i changed my mind on buying these 3 things...plus its expensive
Honestly if you were thinking about it but feel like it’s too big a jump in the difference with a deck and serato or just the price, I’d recommend trying the XDJ-RX2. It’s a high quality all in one for a very reasonable price and I love it. Coming from someone who started out with Serato and a ddj-202
@@nygmamusic1110 maybe you should just stick to the numark mix track pro ya ameture
@@trhoades2063 what makes you think I got a mix track pro?
About that #5 you can use tag list feature for creating dj set. When you have everything ready click menu and save as playlist. I use this everytime when creating sets no laptop needed
Can you rearrange tracks in the tag list?
@@DJPhilHarris kinda. You have to make the set 1 by 1 to make it easy for you. Like you are on track #3 and you dont like #4 but #5 is better you load track #4 and click tag on it again it removes it from the list and #5 becomes #4 track.
Was about to say this
Its almost like when we touch vinyl, the harder you put pressure on the vinyl, or even how quickly or slowly you move it, as well..... The more different the sounds are that are produced, thanks man.... 🔥💯👍💪🙏🎶🎛️🌎
I get the CDJ thing, in general the only people who can afford a setup like this at home or for mobile DJing are the older set. I remember back in the mid 2000's watching my mates DJ on early CDJ's, it now makes sense how they were able to line up the beats properly.
to gate your cues you need to go to the end of the track and set slip mode on, then when you release the cue it will jump to the silence at the end of the track, thus yielding the gate effect although you do have to set an extra cue at the end of the song and also turn slip mode on so it's a bit of a hassle
Wow, that's a crazy (but practical) workaround.I don't think I would have thought of that.
Good decision moving to CDJs, sooner the better. If you're not comfortable using a USB or SD cards, just use the CDJs in HID mode with Serato or Rekordbox.
You went from level 2 to level 10. CDJs ROCK in comparison to controllers.
My personal plan to to get away from Serato and the SRT and get on CDJs and Rekordbox.
Rekordbox recording quality is very good coming out of the mixer with USB. Also try to connect your mixer to your CDJs with cat 5 cables on top of the RCAs and a few cool things happens (like the sync button;) !
Based on the "issues" you pointed out in this video, I can tell you never used Cdjs since their very conception back in 1994. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing
Ive just started DJing seriously this past summer and I got the XDJ RX2 because I wanted something standalone and close to the "industry standard". I haaate how the hot cues don't have a gate effect. I really wish they would add that functionality! Another thing is that it won't play FLAC files, so I have to convert all my FLACs to AIFF. Also #4 drove me crazy at first too. Love your videos, Phil, you help me improve every day!
@9:50 just buy an SC4 cable ($20 CAD) and go booth out (2 to 1). the SC4 cable creates a backwards audio signal and allows perfect audio right from your mixer into your phone. way cheaper option!!
4:58 This has been a standard feature on Pioneer players for almost two decades now...I'm blown away that it's not on controllers.
Also, when cueing, bring it back to the last frame/second before the best kicks in. That way you're getting the whole kick drum and it's less likely to make that clicking noise when the loop cuts the kick drum.
Hi Phil, congratulations with your new set of equipment. In my opinion the CDJ's with their enormous price tag do not offer so much really interesting features compared to the NXS-2. In my opinion both players are soooo over priced for what they can do. The best Pioneer product I have used is the XDJ-XZ with a Macbook Pro running Rekordbox version 5. Really has everything Pioneer has to offer. It is much smaller that the 3000 set-up and can play extremely fast via Performance mode, it can play from USB sticks and can do recording on a USB at the same time. The one thing which Pioneer doesn't understand is that the biggest part of DJ's have very large music collections and play whatever the crowd likes (think of requests). Here comes the problem with the NXS-2 and 3000 set-up. These can't handle a collection of 1TB or up and can't perform fast searches for artist / titles. Why? well the USB connection is USB 2.0 and they way Pioneer handles such a large collection it will not work. Your players will get stuck performing multiple search actions. One stupid thing Pioneer needs to change is activate search after pressing enter and not while typing. As the USB 2.0 protocol handles much lower speeds than USB 3.0 or 3.1 it makes no sense investing in portable SSD drives as the players can't handle the speed the drives can handle. Therefore most DJ's will need to bring a laptop and work in Performance mode as this is the fastest way to play requests. Rekordbox Performance mode is a great tool, in my opinion the best DJ software out there. If I would advice a DJ who travels and plays allround for different kinds of audiences... Buy a very good Macbook Pro (not the M1 due to overheating issues that may occur) with a 2TB SSD drive and a XDJ-XZ. Then you are familiair with the Pioneer workflow (having to use Rekordbox to arrange your collection) and you will be able to play on a NXS-2 set-up or 3000 set-up if this is in a venue where you don't bring your controller. Don't wanna go into the Denon discussion, but they are an interesting competitor and that is a very good thing for both brands. I will check out in the coming weeks how a SC-6000 handles a large drive... it has USB 3.0 I understood so... but then again if you are used to Rekordbox (Performance) you will have an issue with the software of this competitor. When they get the software on the same level as Pioneer we have a real fight ;). Enjoy your music, keep smiling and stay safe.
how did the sc-6000 handle tho?
Just for the record, you probably don't even need a top of the line PC as long as you don't install a lot of junk on it. I'm running Rekordbox 6 on a 10 year old Core-i5 Thinkpad that was upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 and it's totally fine. I haven't have a single audio stutter or dropout. I have the DDJ-1000, but that's probably not much different from the XDJ-XZ in Performance mode.
I used to feel less of a dj when using controllers but after four years of djing two professionally it's all about rocking the crowd.
Hey Phil, There is Gated Cue in the CDJ 3000!!!! It is more of a workaround though.. So what you do is go to the very end of the track (maybe put a cue at that point) and then put it in slip mode. Now all of your cue points are gated cues!! You can actually do this with any cdj or controller that has slip mode!
I will propably never own or play on CDJ 3000 's as im a hobbyist that has only used mixers with Laptops currently with a FLX10 . I really appreciate you taking some of the mystery out of the them .
It's really funny to hear some of this coming from the other end of the spectrum. I have NEVER used a controller or dvs system in my entire DJ life since I started in 1985. On occasion I have tested someones setup, but just felt that it was a worse option not to be considered serious. I'm a hardware guy only where computers are a prep tool only, not to be in the booth. I used vinyl for 10 years, then CD's for almost 15 years, and since 2009 i use RB prepared USB devices. This mean that when I stopped using vinyl in the mid 90's, i immediately had to get used to the stutter sound of CDJ mode setting a new cue point, which were pretty much the same on all brands. The benefit is that when you use the CDJ mode to set a new cue point, you can do it on vocals with other background sounds on the fly, not only on kicks and snares on the one. ...and it's a frame based solution where you go frame by frame until the next frame has the start of the sound you want to use as the new cue point. Doing this on the fly using the vinyl mode will never ever be as good as you will end up one more frames wrong every time. For me starting a new track with faders up is relying on me doing it with perfect timing, which means that I need to have perfect set cue points every time. ...and yeah, if I always ended up with a pair of 3000's I could probably use the wave form to do it, but I use what's in the club, which still means using first gen CDJ-2000's and 900's on a regular basis which means no moving wave forms and using your ears is the only option. B.t.w, you did set the cue point several frames in to the beat... old school as I am, I still rely on my ears for most of my mixing, which means I don't look in the screens, or down on the mixer, very much, but rather have my eyes on the people attending the venue. A final note on the CDJ vs Vinyl mode topic: If you're NOT a scratching DJ, and NEVER in your life will use the the jog wheel for the purpose of scratching, why would you even use that mode? The ONLY things that can happen in vinyl mode are BAD things. I still have all my vinyls and do occasional vinyl sets, and have no problems switching back to the way I used to play, but why on earth would I want to bring that old school way of playing in to the digital world? If my memory is right, there's a setting in RB where you can set hot cue's to be gated when the track is paused.
Its like the "controllers" are designed for how pioneer is envisioning future/optimized DJaying. With the latest gimmicks and lowlatency.
While the "CDJ's" are designed to glue together older and newer generation DJ's and keep everyone happy, at the cost of some convenience.
I’d say your on the money there pal 👍
They still need to keep some things old school for the older DJs who have came from vinyl
You can plug a USB cable straight out of mixer and record from audacity. You should of bought the SC 6000's. HID mode for Serato.
Phil, great video. I hate to say it, but this list could be read as 7 reasons I'm really happy I just got a Denon setup. Each of these 7 issues are not present on Denons. Still the Pioneer stuff is great, can't fault them.
Can you alter the hot cues on a denon the do what Phil is pointing out ?
@@chenelius Yes you can. Every point mentionned in the video don't exist with a set of SC6000
Interesting video, surely as a professional DJ you have played in clubs etc where these players are standard? Just interested if they were not things that bothered you in the past?
CDJs are not touch sensitive as they as meant to replicate using vinyl
You can record right off the mixer using the pioneer DJ app just need to plug your phone in, much cheaper
The CDJ-3000s came out at the end of the year. Most clubs were closed due to COVID
@@nygmamusic1110 I think his point was that CDJ devices are standard in clubs and have been for years. The workflow is pretty much the same for the last few generations of them.
Phil,
Keep working it out. I am glad I went with Denon sc5000s with the x1850 mixer using the computer.
Yeah I just got a pair of the sc5000s and bloody love them!
@@lukea1980 yeah Denon are so much more advanced than Pioneer. Don't get me wrong, they make good equipment but I'm with you, I like my SC5000's and X1800 mixer.
CDJ3000:
-no dual layer functionality
-no performance pads
-no internal track analysis
-no cross-platform support
-no inbuilt HD/SSD option
-no internal WiFi
-no loop encoder
-no multitouch touch screen
-no reserve power (power failure)
-small hot cues buttons located in horrible position
-only one USB port and it got downgraded to 1.0A
-no SDXC support (
This video could be 7 ways the Pioneer system is behind the Denon system. Not to mention the money you save.
@@BlueHawk80 maybe Denon have more features but honestly the most things imo is better than Pioneer is the price and dual layers function. other than that is all just for marketing purpose. multi touch screen for what? Sure you can't zoom in zoom out with your fingers on the CDJ but basically everything single touch 3000 can done the same
Interesting to read the comments and tips on how to overcome some of the shortcomings of the Pioneers. Maybe they are really not the best choice...
No, feature wise, they are not. But I absolutely loved them and they are “industry standard”. I can hit a bouncy ball further than I can hit a golf ball but what’s the point in that. On the day of a competition, I have to play with a golf ball. That’s my analogy
@@DJPhilHarris That makes sense if you need to play on the same gear as the competition! If you would not be limited to that it then would be a disadvantage as you limit yourself by the Pioneer gear. Thank you for the clarification on your motives :-)
I don't think there's such thing as "the best choice" for everyone!
The CDJs are "industry standard", which means they offer a familiar workflow over previous generations of CDJs and a familiar setup at clubs and other performing venues.
But nothing of this means they're the best or only way to mix tracks, and different people have different workflows...
@@DJPhilHarris Be the change ;)
I dj from 2007 so you really made me think like "wtf" it is absolutely normal that CDjs have stutter mode...
You look awesomely professional behind those decks!
Yes, but the size of the jogs make him look much smaller!
Also, invest in a decent external SSD. Flash sticks are stupidly slow, and they're even slower than normal on CDJs (no exFAT format.) An SSD is faster, provides more space for less money, and is more reliable.
Are there any problems on older CDJ-Gear with external SSD?
that CDJ mode "preview feature" tripped me up. i also thought my 2000NXS1s were broken. thanks for explaining.
Regarding the CDJ pause function. I'm usually in vinyl mode all the time but if I ever need an exact exact cue point the only way to really get it completely exact is CDJ mode because it's frame accurate. I don't need cue points that accurate usually. For queues usually I just grab the jog wheel like it's a record and find the first kick, and then while holding down press the cue button and voila, cue point is set
"OKAY POINT NUMBER TWO IS THIS" with the number and flashy edit of the title to what the 2nd point should of been, that fucking KILLED ME!
Been waiting for you to make this vid! You still haven't told us why you swapped the mixer (unless I missed it). The set up looks amazing - like a Rolls Royce sat in your dj room! The last mix you did was insane so I think you are getting the hang of it!
Thanks Simon. Video on the mixer coming out tomorrow
Hey man, great review, loved it.
Just one tip, check if you’re trying to use the cues with slip or PLAY button on. I am currently able to play the audio as a trigger as you were describing you wanted to.
Otherwise I remember seeing in some part of the settings that one of the functions could be set to toggle or trigger…maybe it was this one?
Hope this helps, let me know if it does, otherwise it might be that I generally use the cdjs myself in control mode.
🤟🏽
You can restore the "gate cue" effect that's normalized for Hot Cues on a CDJ 00 -- you just need to change the setting on Rekordbox, which will copy onto the USB you're using to load music onto the CDJ. Make sure you hit "Load USB Settings" on the CDJ menu to import the setting onto the deck.
Number 3 .. you can do the tone play with the hot cues while the song is not playing and the slip mode is on!!
Are you sure?
Positive .. should work
That is interesting...but not what I needed to do
That is why I will probably go for the XDJ-XZ
withe the hot cue delay problem you just need to optimize your quantize function in setting because yours is set to 1 beat and if you set it to like 1/4 it will be directer
With that last point about the hot cues and them being delayed, have you tried turning quantize off. As with it on it’s normally set to 1 beat so won’t change till it hits the beat
Im luckily your first 1k like haha Amazing vid bro
They look insane, I went from cdj1000mk3 to pioneer xdj xz which should arrive next week
They react to pressure that way because that’s how it would work when you’re touching a record
Really love the feedback in this video! I am gonna play on these for my first live set this weekend so it’s great to know that some of the features in serato are kinda missing! I’ve been practicing or rekordbox lately
The pause 'problem' reminds me of good ol' times of CDJ 100.
I'm after Your Begginer Dj Course was awesome. I have XDJ-RX2 i wish one day i will buy some amazing dj equipment like You have now. Absolutely love Your chanel, You inspired me to try with music by myself. Good luck 🎧🎧🎧 I do recommend Beginner Dj course 🔊🔊🔊
Great info as usual Phil Thanks 🙏🕺🏾👍
There's a cheat for the hotcue issue---set your last cue to the end of the track, hit it, then flux mode your other cues
Try using skip mode with the hot cues, may fix your issue!
That broken cdj point was funnny.....tht stutter sound whn u pause a track in CDJ mode was used by lot of DJs including from then csj 200 era. So DJs who have used something like cdj 200/ denon d-4500 will b familiar to that sound!
Wow that's a huge gap, especially if we'd keep in mind that their new "super fast" processor comes with cdj3000 as major feature
The quantise button has fixed this! I had quantise on
LOVED THE VIDEO!!! 💯💯💯
what i like to do in Rekordbox and organise songs is with a lot of playlists in each playlist i have a set in order of the songs im going to play, so when you drag the songs into the playlist it orders them automatically in the order that you dragged it into the playlist, this helps me a lot specially with the first 4, then i can put no1 on deck 1 no2 on deck 2 3 on deck 3 and 4 on deck 4 after that all you need to do is count baby and wait until 1 is done playing select 5 into 1 and then gooo heavy
I mean I can arrange a playlist on my cdj-350 (from 2010), you can definitly figure it out on the 3000's hehehe
You have to switch quantize off, it's obviously on when you test the hot cues
Love your content btw your class was amazing yesterday
Hey Mate, great video 👍✌️
With the playlists I've just made playlists on my USB drives, and aside from that I just try to force myself to know all my music like a BOSS (which I haven't done yet).
Impossible as it always changes
Try using vinyl Phil. It’ll blow your mind.
Love the feedback! A few misses tho when you talk about features such as hot cues (which is affected by quantize) and then you go on to the track pad feature of the mixer which isn't apart of CDJs lol.
Nothing weird on your number 4...it's the way cdjs mark the Cue point... the problem is they try simplify A LOT with this all stand machines.
13:13 is quantize set to one beat? Change to 1/8 or turn quantize off 😉 then soon as you hit the cue button..... booooom instant
I’ll try this
Your snaps are so strong 😂 Gotta work on my technique
You can turn the gate mode within rekordbox dj..under setings>controller>deck>hot cue(check the box written DURING PAUSE,GATE PLAYBACK IS APPLIED)..And just to add up REKORDBOX IS SHIT..And also that latency also makes you less accurate..You cant even scratch in time
If you had bought the PIONEER XDJ-XZ, you would have all the same functions at a third of the price.
But c'mon hot cues should be at the bottom of the cdj not above the jogweel. Even if there is enough space it is not the 'natural' place for them to be there.
Better on the top than below like the denon Counter part. I own 3 3000's and I love them. No complaints tbh.
Some DJs didn't want them at the bottom because they're used to using the bottom of the jog to nudge, but I think we can unanimously agree the top is even worse. They should have been on the side of the deck tbh
Best dj teacher
What a great video.
Awesome video. I'm thinking about going to CDJ's but they are so expensive.
Hot cues are Cues, if you wanna use the cues like you use a sampler, the behavior of „stop when releasing a pad“ is just not the meaning of a cue, but a sampler pad.
The acoustic lineup of Cues is familiar to a lot of DJs, and the point where the waveform starts to „look“ loud is not the point, where the body of the Sound is.
The point of rekordbox is that you Organise your playlist at home and there is a tagliatelle, where you can do a lineup.
As all the other things you said you should shift your perspective when we used to have a case with cds where we tilted the cds we wanted to play next 45degrees to have them in awareness.
And yes, quantize can ruin a lot of your skills. Just turn is of, Beatmatch properly. I’d rather have a short push or pull to keep the beats aligned then to have that skip a misquantize produces
those players and mixer are only good when you come to Gig, where setup is already there on spot, and you just come and use it. That's it. Buying this stuff and then having issue with errors (communication error, soldering due to just time matter), its just not cool at all, plus moving around as well. And its too expensive to have it sending to service and just loose lot of money. Gigs can be done with normal controllers, nothing much expensive, it just depends on your skills, if you hear the sound and creativity. I can perform at Ultra with any controller, but usually all great gigs standard setup 4 of those players and mixer, thats it. On the other side, if you are popular dj/artist, well you have money for throw then, or even better, you get those for free from Pioneer. Short conclusion, i like to use those on gigs, but i don't want to own them. Rather will do gigs on venues where i bring my own equipment, small controller, and make good vibe from it, then taking this with me all around. :)
One tip change the cables or get faster usb stick avoid that lag
Why did I think everyone started with cdj or turn tables then got a controller for the convenience 🤷🏽♂️
So nobody’s gonna talk about the wave forms not being on one screen on top of eachother?
The elephant in the room is that some controllers are more powerful and more versatile than the so called club standard setup
on #7 try to use with quantize off the Cdj will react as soon as you hit the cue point without the gate
Starting 2 song on same deck with hot cue in quantize, I think they made it by purpose. It's not change the track straight away, it's changing on the next beat. If you do it without quantize, probably no delay...
Point 5 - Plug pc on the same internet switch a in which you plugged all pioneer dj mixers and cdj's and use rekordbox for organizing
Edit : sorry I commented without watching full part after watching I noticed he knows XD
WOOOOOW!!!! I am really shocked!!! Some of these differences I just met on Pioneer XDJ-XZ and I could not find the possibility to change it in the menu - most anoying missing the gate function. Also the slow uploading of songs. And browsing the library... in Rekordbox I can see all the information for all displayed songs together especially with the grafic sound wave. On the player I can see the wave once it is loaded. I am missing it very much, because often I am choosing next song also according what way the new song is beggining just what I can see from the wave. People are saying that playing on DJ controler connected to the the computer is not the real DJ job, that it is just a toy. But it gives so many options and gadgets.
Knowing this it looks like that I want always connect the computer (I have 10 inch Samsung tablet with Windows) to be able to use all the features I am common.
Another difference - I know pads only as buttons that have to be pressed to work. On XDJ-XZ they are touch sensitive. So just moving around and just accidentaly touched my master song jumped to the hot cue point!!! I like to have finger ready on the pad and once I want to use it just press it. Here I have to watch carefully what I am touching. Unbelievable! So many differences without a possibility to change them. Not sure that when I connect it to the computer with Rekordbox that it overtakes the setup from the Rekordbox (the Gate playing at least).
So thank you very very much for this video!!! Very important details/important things!!! We should be ready that live playing on someone else's equipment can bring some unexpected issues. That better and more expensive profi players and equipment does not nesseccarily mean better conditions...
Once again - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! Enjoy your big beast and relearn your habbits...
#4 drove me crazy with my xdj-xz
CDJ skipper mode without a CD while having wavforms... wait ? WHAT ?!??!?!?!!??! WHY ?!?!??!
it's like only giving you Zip/Jet/Wah effects, Legacy 🤣😂
Since you're into good sound I'm surprised you havent switched to a good microphone for your voice. It would be much more professional and pleasurable for us viewers. Cheers
Loved the phone hook-up
There is gate work around involving cue 8.
For Recording just put a USB into The DJM909NXS2 😅 or Connect ist via USB to your pc and use Audacity, Ableton or whatever Software u like… fir livesrreaming get a Elgato Camlink and ob’s 💁🏻✌️
This bypasses the audio card from the CDJ 3000.
Seems like your second hot cue just wasn’t on the transient quite right
About recordings. If you use rekordbox as a source using Pioneer Link (network) three is a record funtion. Also in export mode. Regards Walter
What do you mean “three” is a record function?
@@DJPhilHarris sorry.it must be "there"
Bro , Those are the high end CDJ , you can’t find better.I suggest you to go back to Serato and DJ Controllers , you have so many settings to manipulate things there , everything Serato does this thing is capable to and with a faster response. I guarantee you they are the best . Before you do a video , you got to make sure you know how to use those properly. I got those and DJM V 10 LF and i love em . Got SX 2 and serato when i go to serato it looks like toys .
He didn't appreciate your opinion
I’m glad you went with the pioneer system instead of the Denon. 🔥
You can load a track in where you want but you have to do it with memory key on the deck also you can do a loop when he comes he automatic play that loop instant. 🤗
Right, but you cannot get it to play on load from a hit cue unless it is from a hit cue bank
For the hot cue problem try to turn on quantize i think this would solve your problem
Phil you look like you been doing your sit ups!
Thank you, you're awesome
Why not just use DJM-REC app or other options and the USB on mixer to save you buying that analogue box