Pioneer CDJ 2000 – Evolution in Revolution
By Paul Dakeyne
| Posted in DJ
Occasionally, just very occasionally, a pro-audio product comes along that literally brings on the dawn of a new era in its genre, and today DJ Equipment gets such a product. From Pioneer Pro-DJ (d-e-r-u-m roll please), all hail the unbelievably magnificent CDJ 2000. Today on Twitter, Facebook and online forums, DJ’s are getting gooey eyed and dripping with anticipation at the latest deck in the world dominating Pioneer CDJ series. Why..? ok..
The CDJ 2000 can access music from multiple sources, CD, DVD, SD cards and now USB sticks. A luscious and large (6.1″) full colour screen shows the navigation route for DJ’s to access any of these sources (nicely emulating the iPod style of left listing playlist, album, genre, title, artist etc) with a LAN connection linking up to 4 CDJ’s to access the same MP3′s. Though not necessary for performance, this is bolstered and enhanced by Pioneers new database and set prepping software ‘rekordbox’ (should the DJ wish to bring his/her laptop along), which helps in working out ‘hot cue’ points and mega-accurate ‘loop quantize’ trigger functions.
A new and major facet of the unit is its ‘advanced human interface’ device, which equips the deck with MIDI capabilities for native control of digital vinyl systems (which evidently now negates the actual need for those ubiquitous ‘time code’ discs). The inclusion of a high quality internal 24-bit/48 kHz soundcard (with Wolfson DAC processor) and in-built native control for Traktor Pro, Serato Scratch and Ableton Live means that former ‘laptop’ DJ’s can now leave their audio interface, cables, laptop, hard drives and timecode vinyls at home.. So, we’ve gone from lugging a 20kg record case stuffed with vinyl to arriving at a gig with just a USB stick.. hells bells!!
Aside from the usual robust, solidly reliable CDJ 1000 CD Player build quality, the 2000 is blessed with the absolute Godsend of features, the adoption of the current DJ/digital crate-diggers delight, ‘Needle Drop’.. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s technology used on numerous specialist dance music purchase websites enabling you to click your mouse on a tracks timeline to quickly audition a track you’re interested in buying (or in this case, find the position of a certain section for cueing purposes). A simple finger slide on the Needle Search™ ribbon and your away..
So there you have it.. an initial insight into the new Pioneer CDJ2000. ‘Natural selection’, ‘survival of the fittest’, ‘the future’, ‘evolution in revolution’.. whatever your reaction, you can be sure that this deck is now gonna change the way DJ’s work for the next decade – easily!
Features
- Multi Format Playback – The CDJ-2000 enables playback of MP3, AAC, WAV and AIFF audio files on CD,DVD-ROM, SD card and USB memory devices.
- Pro DJ Link – New Pioneer that enables up to four CDJ-2000/900s to be connected and share a single music source.
- 6.1” Full Color LCD panel and Graphic User Interface – For displaying song titles, jacket art as well as detailed track information and wave form display of each song
- Needle Search – Helps DJs instantaneously get to a specific part of a song with a simple touch of the Needle Search pad
- MIDI – Users can assign various buttons of the CDJ-2000 to trigger other devices, such as DJ effecters and software with MIDI mapping capability
- Free Rekordbox Music Management Software Included – Pioneer’s proprietary music management software that organizes and catalogs a DJ’s entire music library
Tags: CDJ, CDJ 2000, Pioneer, Pro DJ