Short video outlining the features of the new CDJ-900 announced recently. It’s basically a cut down version of the CDJ-2000 with it lacking the a colour screen, DVD support, three hot cues and numerous other features. Although still a very capable looking player the oversight with the hot cues is a massive one, even with it’s new looping controls. Even players less than half the price of the CDJ-900 sport three hot cues as standard, so it’s puzzling why Pioneer left them off the CDJ-900.
The price is £1099, which is exactly the same as a CDJ-1000. That leads me to believe that the CDJ-1000 will be discontinued, so consumers will have to choose between the CDJ-900 or the CDJ-2000 if they wish to buy a top end Pioneer player.
It’s finally here, the new multimedia player by Pioneer. Some of the specs outlined in the video are impressive, adding a colour screen, DVD support, needle drop features and editing software. The Pacemaker integration is interesting as well because of Pioneer’s notoriety for always wanting to go it alone in everything they do. However, the majority of the features can be found on other players/DVS systems so Pioneer have played it relatively safe.
Weighing in at $2149 (around £1500) per player I can’t see too many bedroom DJs upgrading from the CDJ-1000s as the new features, although useful, aren’t so unique that it would be essential to buy the CDJ-2000. The price is around what you pay for a couple of Denon DNS-3700s or a Numark NS7 and a low end laptop. So in conclusion I cannot see many lower end users going immediately for the CDJ-2000, just nightclubs that the top flight DJs play in. They will be available in Europe and America from November.
As I know that a many of my viewers are from Spanish speaking countries I’ll include the Spanish version of the overview video as well.
Also, I know that a few people from French speaking countries so I’ll include the French version of the video as well.
Literally one person once visited my blog from Germany so I’ll include the German version of the video as well.
I can’t remember anyone ever visiting my blog from Italy, but I’ll include the Italian version of the video as the young lady presenting it is rather beautiful;).
James Zabeila, Armin van Buuren, Eddie Halliwell, Roger Sanchez and now Paul Woolford say maybe a little too much about the new media player from Pioneer (which I suspect will be called the “CDJ-1000 MK.4″). It’s likely to have the same basic features as the rest of the CDJ series however all hints lead to the addition of a LCD screen, USB ports and some type of integration with DVS software.
The whole marketing of the new media player is really building it up to be a revolutionary product, however I have my doubts as to what unique traits can be included that have not been included on other media players.
The price will be between £1100 and £1500 I feel, which would be around double of the Denon DNS-3700.
More videos are promised by Pioneer between now and the unveiling of the product on the 17th September, so watch this space.
**UPDATE**
The new player has been unveiled and is called the CDJ-2000- all the information you need is located here: – http://tinyurl.com/ngwas2 (redirects to an article on my blog).
Posted in DJing with tags Denon, Pioneer on January 16, 2009 by eljmayes
Denon are just about to release the very versatile looking DNS-3700 which is being hailed as a threat to the Pioneer CDJ series. It boasts a nine-inch direct drive vinyl platter, MIDI mapping, USB drive connectivity, hot cues and effects. All this sounds great, however it’s going to retail at £899, which is about £150 more than a Pioneer CDJ-1000 Mk.3. Back to the drawing board I think for Denon;).
I don’t usually like to criticize people but I believe that this needs saying. For all of the good that he is doing for those just starting out DJing, the “DJ Tutor” (if you don’t know who he is or what he does visit his website www.djtutor.com) is becoming far too prominent in all of our (superstar;)) DJ lives.
The first case in point is the video above- how to do a spinback on a CDJ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDJ), which in it’s simplest form is grabbing the platter of the CDJ and errr… spinning it back at the end of the bar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28music%29). This process should take to explain I would say two or three minutes at the most, as although it’s a slightly advanced DJ technique, it’s hardly DMC World DJ Championship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMC_World_DJ_Championships) winning turntablism;). The video above is part one of five- yes, part one of five. The other four videos are spent doing exactly the same technique or messing about with hats, which doesn’t make you a better DJ. Sorry Boy George;). A tutor in my opinion should teach concisely so that their students can progress quickly, not spend a large proportion of their time with comedy or repeating themselves. In a nutshell, many of the videos on his site are needlessly there, wasting everyone’s time and are not that funny to boot.
I wouldn’t mind so much if the “DJ Tutor” was doing this for free. I’m pretty certain he isn’t- you can book him via his website and the amount of DJ gear he has gained via his notoriety looks to be increasing by the video. If this isn’t the case then someone please correct me. However, I don’t blame the “DJ Tutor” entirely for this situation, DJ Magazine has to take some of the blame as well.
DJ Magazine (www.djmag.com) is a monthly magazine devoted to DJing and DJ culture. As it’s one of only three monthly dance music monthly magazines available, it’s an important media outlet for the DJ community. The “DJ Tutor” is described as a “Youtube Superstar” in the latest issue of DJ Magazine, a more fitting description would be “Semi Pro DJ Who Posts A Lot Of Meandering Videos On Youtube”. But that would take up too much space;). DJ Magazine has put the “DJ Tutor” on some type of pedestal, a pedestal that he is the authority on DJing for the beginner. He clearly isn’t, and I wish that DJ Magazine would acknowledge this.
His catchphrase “Practise and N Joy” annoys me as well, simply because of the misspelling of “Enjoy”. I think that he is trying to reference the artist who produced rave classic “Anthem”. These guys where called “N-Joi” and not “N Joy”. Yes its pedantic of me to say this, but if you are reaching thousands of people on a daily basis then I feel it’s your duty to spell words correctly:).
The point of this post is to say that there are other far better tutorials out there. A couple of resources that I would recommend are: – http://www.youtube.com/user/DJRecess and the excellent book “How To DJ (Properly)” which can be bought here: – http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/0593058119 and at all other good book stores:). They will allow you to get concise information which will help you progress quickly. Check out forums on DJing as well- the one that I visit regularly is www.xidj.co.uk/forum . By all means check out www.djtutor.com, but be aware that you may waste a bit of time trying to find what you are after. I’m happy to have got that off my chest, rant over:).
. By all means check out 
