Pioneer XDJ-AERO: Wireless Controller for Pioneer Rekordbox! Amazing!

[Sam Whitman]

Really cool product!

http://pioneerdj.com/english/pressrelease/entry/entry.php?ent=20120809

[Alex Murphy]

As usual, no price.

[Sam Whitman]

Well it's obvious this is just a teaser video but I agree. Can't they just say, here is the product, here is what it does, here is how much it is.

[Capitan]

Suggested retail price is $1,399

http://forums.pioneerdj.com/entries/21830243-pioneer-announces-the-new-xdj-aero

[Estacy]

before we all shout how expensive that is: its sort of like a CDJ 350 DJM 250/350 combo with effects. No cd drives, but USB. A CDJ 350 is about 700 dollars, so a CDJ/DJM 350 setup would be about 2000 dollars or something.

So its not that this thing is sooo expensive. It does play USB without a laptop interfering, which is cool.

But WiFi? really? try doing a 4 hour set with your smartphone constantly streaming music over wifi. the battery wont even last. might as well bring a USB drive

[Morningstar]

I think the innovation is pretty cool. I'm sure it will have a few kinks to work out but I love the direction they are going with it.

[Interracial Tea]

Now I can finally play that guy's favorite song on his iPhone because he knows the entire club will love it. Thanks Pioneer.

[John Veselsky]

The only reason I'm excited for this is because of the stand alone aspect. Screw the WiFi, I could give two shits less about that.

I may go ahead and pick this thing up.

[Evolved]

Okay so. What is this? I see a controller and a smart phone. Is it just any smart phone with a Pioneer app? What does it do?

[Ryan Verkley]

This is awesome for a bedroom dj who wants to use rekordbox for cheap. I also love how they have filter knobs on each channel. Id prolly use usb but the prepping songs on your phone is pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEVnaLDL2VU

[John Veselsky]

It's simply two decks and a two channel mixer that can be used as a standalone with Rekordbox (no laptop necessary) and wirelessly through WiFi or as a regular midi controller for Traktor and such.

[DJ Retro Blaze]

I like the integration of Rekordbox in a controller. I hope Pioneer releases a controller similar to the DDJ series with Rekordbox and USB storage in the future.

[login]

for me

1.- Direct USB playback
2.- Standalone mixer (line and phono)

Are the best features, I would have like a better display with waveforms but it still good. If MSRP is 1399 that meains retail will be somethin like 1190. Counting you dont neeed a computer it is pretty solid.

[bobbyd]

I just feel like most of the innovations that Pioneer has made are more like "look isn't that cool", party trick kind of innovations. I don't feel like they have really made any meaningful steps forward with djing.

[Archon]

I just feel like most of the innovations that Pioneer has made are more like "look isn't that cool", party trick kind of innovations. I don't feel like they have really made any meaningful steps forward with djing.

Amen. This looks pretty stupid to me, and i dont want it.

[John Veselsky]

I just feel like most of the innovations that Pioneer has made are more like "look isn't that cool", party trick kind of innovations. I don't feel like they have really made any meaningful steps forward with djing.

That's because for the last 6 years they haven't been. This is great simply because of the Rekordbox USB playback. Considering a growing portion of clubs have at least 850's in their booths.

[decarto]

Stand alone USB is a great feature.

Are they just going to phase out lower end CDJs now?

[ksandvik]

Me thinks this product is placed in a strange semi-pro market. Pros go for the real high end Pio gear, same with clubs. For Rekordbox use, you might as well just use a laptop to prepare the USB sticks. For a bedroom DJ system this is pretty expensive. Some clubs might install them to save costs, though.

[lingk]

Flanger FX = Sold

[Nicadraus]

Now this is really a cool gear. I'm sure those who have bought the DDJ-T1/S1 will regret seeing this. Hahaha! :D

[DJ Highline]

Sorry, I can't get behind this one...Pioneer pricing aside (really $1400 for this :freak:). First off for everybody going crazy about USB playback, there are quite a few all in ones that will playback from USB so this is nothing new. The ability to use Rekordbox to help manage it is a nice touch as well as the phone app to grid your music while you are out. The failing here is the concept of streaming music from a battery powered mobile device over Wi-Fi. Sorry there are just way too many things that can go wrong in that scenario. Never mind the idea of letting any idiot with a smart phone send you music that you know nothing about into your system. It would be one thing if the music was pushed to the controller and then the controller played it internally...but a continuously streaming application no thanks. And lets not even talk about the potential for hackers.

[DJNR]

Now I can finally play that guy's favorite song on his iPhone because he knows the entire club will love it. Thanks Pioneer.

Hilarious :lol: +rep


Personally, I don't see this thing taking off.

[login]

Sorry, I can't get behind this one...Pioneer pricing aside (really $1400 for this :freak:). First off for everybody going crazy about USB playback, there are quite a few all in ones that will playback from USB so this is nothing new. The ability to use Rekordbox to help manage it is a nice touch as well as the phone app to grid your music while you are out. The failing here is the concept of streaming music from a battery powered mobile device over Wi-Fi. Sorry there are just way too many things that can go wrong in that scenario. Never mind the idea of letting any idiot with a smart phone send you music that you know nothing about into your system. It would be one thing if the music was pushed to the controller and then the controller played it internally...but a continuously streaming application no thanks. And lets not even talk about the potential for hackers.

Not one all-in-one previously have delivered quality and so many usefull features. The stanton scs.4dj comes near, but it doesnt have a soundcard and can't function like an stand alone mixer. Numark and gemini products suffered from their low grade equipment quality.

[MouseAT]

In my opinion it's interesting but flawed.

My main issues with it:


Navigation is limited. How are you going to find tracks effectively on the thing when you're playing from USB devices? I tried playing with a CDJ 2000 in store the other day with my 10,000 track collection to see how straightforward it was to navigate. Even the 2000 is clunky to navigate large collections on. This looks horrible in that regard. Pioneer still have a lot to learn in that regard.
If it's still using RekordBox, that means no ALAC (Apple lossless) support. I just switched away from AIFF because I wasn't going to use RekordBox CDJs and I could use the extra disk space. I'm not converting back in a hurry.
No XLR outputs. That makes it a no-go for me in a mobile environment.
The wireless is a gimmick that may or not work. See what happens in a residential area with multiple access points. Now see what happens when you have a venue full of smart phone users, some of whom will have wireless tethering enabled. It can't end well.


There are some nice ideas here. It's a nice proof of concept device, but they need to do a fair amount of work and refinement before I'd consider a device like this ready for prime time. Let me know when they learn the lessons and produce a MK2 version that's a bit more usable and maybe we'll talk.

[Alex Murphy]

As usual, no price.

But I forgot to give my opinion on this product. And it's a big fat meh. I think pioneer need to refocus themselves and put the workforce into building something that looks and feels solid, instead of gimmick this and gimmick that. Only brings them closer to the way numark and behringer produce stuff, except for the premium $$$

Bedroom toy, take that in a club and risk dead air for things such as "my phone ran out of battery" or "I don't have a signal" or "I just lost signal" etc. Not to mention the hordes of clubbers, if one of them hears they can plug into your system wirelessly, sorry but that feels like opening the pandora box that has stupid requests written on it (I remember 5 years ago, that japanese kid who asked me if he could plug his USB watch so I would play his obscure far-east tunes). Take the wireless out of the equation, bring back the wires and drop the price by 400 bucks. And puh lease use better plastics this time.

[Scott Michael]

1199$ and it ships Aug 31, 2012 - source agiprodj.com

[Alex Murphy]

That means £1200 / €1800 and upwards in Europe.

[MeowMix]

I agree with the weird semi-pro characterization. I think it makes sense for bars that dont wanna drop the CDJ kinda money but still want a stable local setup. Aside from the silly wifi feature a more complete version of this, with better EFX control and hot cue/sample buttons, would have a shot at becoming a club standard controller.

[login]

I read somewhere £ 875 and € 999

[alazydj]

The only thing that sparks interest for me is the app. Serato need to get off their asses and make an app that lets me do all my song prep when I'm out and about!

[Ryan Verkley]

I agree with the weird semi-pro characterization. I think it makes sense for bars that dont wanna drop the CDJ kinda money but still want a stable local setup. Aside from the silly wifi feature a more complete version of this, with better EFX control and hot cue/sample buttons, would have a shot at becoming a club standard controller.

It has cue banks if you hold shift the efx buttons are for Cue's.

[brichi]

I think you're wrong, according to Pulse from Pioneer, there are no hot starts or multiple memory points you can re call and use. Where did you hear that from?

[DJNR]

The only thing that sparks interest for me is the app. Serato need to get off their asses and make an app that lets me do all my song prep when I'm out and about!

As does Native Instruments for Traktor.

[aleph]

bah they stole my idea. I have been asking for a product like this since 2005 :mad: :djchris: :freak:

I don't like the looks but they are unto something here.
Serious, I think this is the future but it we are still a couple of years of iterations (and lower prices).

Good review at engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/10/pioneer-xdj-aero-review

[Nicadraus]

This gear will definitely sell like a hotcake. If I was a beginner DJ and hunting for a complete gear set, this would be my choice. Another good thing is that you can add turntables because there are phono /line/CD inputs. :tup:

[CC Ricers]

I would actually say it's one of the more interesting pieces of gear Pioneer has made. They seem focused on reducing the use of laptops for live performance, and offering more flexible options to hold your music. I don't care much for the wi-fi stuff, I just like that it's an integrated unit which you can play off a single hard drive. I prefer to not use a laptop for digital DJing.

Rekordbox on mobile devices definitely needs a coverflow-like feature where you can browse through your songs like with crates of vinyl!

[DJNR]

They have a cover art function on the CDJ 2000 nexus so I wouldn't be surprised to see it on RB mobile soon.

[aleph]

I prefer to not use a laptop for digital DJing.


:stupid:

So very true. As much as we have gotten used to using laptops I think it's a real pain. I hate how unnatural setting up all those damn cables, controllers and interfaces is.

One day my friend, one day ;)

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