How the Pioneer CDJ fought back

By Rachel Ryebank


Pioneer introduced the first Pioneer CDJ 1000 to the club scene ten years ago. Although turntables had achieved legendary status, it didn't take long for it to become the industry's standard DJ device. Finally, DJs could hit the road armed with a USB memory stick rather than their fragile and heavy vinyl collection.

With time, the Pioneer CDJ also began to lose ground in the face of increasing use of laptop computers as the must-have DJ mixing device. In order to keep a foothold in the DJ booth, Pioneer had to respond to the competition with an improved version that could offer all the latest functions and connectivity options that DJs need.

The first improvement made was to the size of the screen which is now impressive. The size and luminosity of this new screen makes navigation easy as pie, even in a dark club. If it glows a little too brightly, however, it is also possible to reduce the brightness, simply by changing the settings.

Another change designed to keep the Pioneer CDJ 2000 in the DJ booth is the improved management of a DJ's digital music library. The software Rekordbox can be installed on a laptop to create an intelligent music library. MP3s are imported into the library, while the software then analyses the BPM and other aspects of the music.

The DJ can also use the library to prepare music and sets. It allows the setting of cue and loop points that the CDJ can recall during live mixes. Tags and colour-coding can be added to tracks, as can information that will help the DJ find his way around a collection of thousands of tracks.

This intelligent software can also be used during a live mix to record cue points so they can be recalled and re-used at a later date. The Pioneer CDJ has many more functions that are designed to safeguard its place it DJ hearts and in clubs.




About the Author:



0 comments: