- What's the best way to get exposure on club level gear? -

[djrebelv]

Hey guys, wondering if you could help me out here.

I've been playing with my DDJ-SX for years and know the ins-n-outs and I love it but.. I need some exposure to pro-level gear. The goal has always been to play out at bigger gigs and I have an "in" with the guy who puts on most (if not all) of the DNB gigs in my area but I'm obviously not going to take a gig without knowing the gear (CDJ-2000s + DJM usually, it seems). Do any of you guys have any suggestions? How did you get your first exposure to it?

I don't know any other DJs who would have access to that kind of gear and after looking into possibly renting it for a month or so.. realized its not viable since it costs as much as the gear itself lol.

So I'm just curious if there are other options available out there that I'm missing completely. Any ideas welcome!

Thanks in advance!

[Rek_Aviles]

Do you have a local Guitar Center or Sam Ash? They usually have gear or all levels setup and open to use/try out.

[djrebelv]

Yeah, I went to one nearest me to see how much that gear goes for and they had a bunch of different controllers but no CDJ setup. I'm gonna try another location.. but ideally I'd like some time to actually spin on em and get familiar. Not sure they'd be cool with me setting up and throwing down in the middle of Guitar center lol. (Tho I guess you never know..)

[djknowledge]

buy it on a payment plan on z z o u n d s or on american musical supply. thats how i buy most of my expensive gear since im poor.

[JackStalk]

DDJ-SX basically has most of the same functionality as CDJ/DJM series, as far as button placement and a lot of the features. I play on CDJ-2000NX2s and would feel 100% confident playing on a SZ or SX controller.

[Hygro]

What about kicking it with the dude who owns the gear so you can practice? I found it took almost no time to learn pioneer gear, just watched a couple videos and then went to guitar center and then 30 minutes later I had my chops.

[Connor]

Come on down to Arkansas and you can get as much practice as you want on my decks.

[light-o-matic]

Yea, best bet is find a friend who has them. But, there are other thing you can do:

First:

In reality the absolute hardest part of being ready to play on CDJs/XJDs is the process of bringing your music library over from Serato to Rekordbox. In Serato you probably have them all organized the way you like, you have BPM's and probably Key for every track etc... Now, because I haven't done it, I don't know what's involved in importing your stuff from one system to the other. I know Rekordbox is more or less like a black hole.. much easier to convert stuff from other systems into it, nearly impossible to get anything from it back to other systems. But that works for you in this case.

The basic version of Rekordbox is free.. so you can start by working that part out, before you even have access to the decks.
Then, when you have access to the decks, you can export your tracks from Rekordbox to a flash drive, plug that drive right into the decks, and start playing. Sure you'll have to still learn the details of the decks and mixer controls.. but since you are already using the DDJ, you'll find there's not THAT much you need to get used to.. if you just stick to the basics.. understanding how to access a flash drive plugged into a different deck or the same deck, selecting tracks, cueing, beatmatching, mixing with eq's.. it's not going to be a HUGE hurdle.. you can probably get decently comfortable in a day or so.

Second:

On Pioneers web site, it claims that the DDJ-SX is compatible with Rekordbox. This means that if you get the paid version of Rekordbox (Rekordbox DJ), then you can use Rekordbox with your existing controller, you can start playing with that instead of Serato. So you'll be more in the Pioneer groove.. more familiarity when you do switch. And then, all your music will be in Rekordbox, ready to go, so when the day comes.. you'll have that part 100% worked out.


Third:

You don't HAVE to have the CDJ2000NXS2 and DJM900NXS2 or whatever the most expensive ones are now, just to be able to play on them.. if you have a less expensive Pioneer deck in the later models and get comfortable on them, you'll be 100% fine playing on the higher model newer decks. Sure some things have changed, but you will be OK playing on them and can learn a little at a time.

So if you want to buy decks you don't have to actually spend $5K or whatever.

For example I had CDJ-100's (CD only) for the longest time, it didn't stop me from playing on CDJ-1000's. Then I had 800's then 900's.. I paid $1600 for used 900's with a used DJM800 + a coffin case and Trakto Scratch! It was a good deal. I still have that setup, but recently I got XDJ1000 mk2's. All that time I was playing at parties where they would often have decks much nicer and newer than mine.. 2000's 2000NXS, now 2000NXS2. And nicer mixers.

So yea, don't feel like you absolutely need to have the top of the line. But I'd def try to get at least XDJ700's XDJ1000mk2 or CDJ-900's are still nice.. not as nice display. Used 2000's are coming down in price.
Software wise the XDJ's will be more advanced, they're much newer, but the actual knobs and buttons on the 2000 is nice. Mixer wise, if you had a DJM800 or even a 700 and got comfortable with that, you'd be comfortable with the latest gear within a few minutes of using it. Not with every feature, but you'd know what to do.

[light-o-matic]

And yea as far as guitar center the last time I was in there, I was shocked.. the whole DJ section has dropped down to almost nothing in my local store. Not only were there no Pioneer CDJ's.. there were no separate decks of any kind, of any brand. Totally gone. Just controllers and one piece units (eg XDJ-RX, Denon etc). As Mr Trump would say, "Sad". This is in Queens NY. In the NYC (Manhattan) store, they've had a bigger DJ section and maybe they still have decks and mixers.. I'll have to go check it out. But yea.. then one of my favorite DJ gear stores in NYC, Canal HiFi, totally shrank down to 1/4th their original size. It's a bad time for retail stores in NYC....

[Rek_Aviles]

Canal HiFi

this brought back a rush of memories. the good'ol days. Sad to hear its not what it used to be but im not surprised. :(

[JackStalk]

And yea as far as guitar center the last time I was in there, I was shocked.. the whole DJ section has dropped down to almost nothing in my local store. Not only were there no Pioneer CDJ's.. there were no separate decks of any kind, of any brand. Totally gone. Just controllers and one piece units (eg XDJ-RX, Denon etc). As Mr Trump would say, "Sad". This is in Queens NY. In the NYC (Manhattan) store, they've had a bigger DJ section and maybe they still have decks and mixers.. I'll have to go check it out. But yea.. then one of my favorite DJ gear stores in NYC, Canal HiFi, totally shrank down to 1/4th their original size. It's a bad time for retail stores in NYC....

I was out at their store in NNJ yesterday and they had that new denon flagship cdj which looked really cool. They also had a pair of cdj2000NXS2 with the DJM450. All cool stuff, but I agree they've largely abandoned a lot of the CDJ equipment in favor of controllers. They did have an entire wall of turntables where the old controllers used to be which made me happy to think vinyl might be on the resurgence ^_^

[South Rakkas Crew]

Hey guys, wondering if you could help me out here.

I've been playing with my DDJ-SX for years and know the ins-n-outs and I love it but.. I need some exposure to pro-level gear. The goal has always been to play out at bigger gigs and I have an "in" with the guy who puts on most (if not all) of the DNB gigs in my area but I'm obviously not going to take a gig without knowing the gear (CDJ-2000s + DJM usually, it seems). Do any of you guys have any suggestions? How did you get your first exposure to it?

I don't know any other DJs who would have access to that kind of gear and after looking into possibly renting it for a month or so.. realized its not viable since it costs as much as the gear itself lol.

So I'm just curious if there are other options available out there that I'm missing completely. Any ideas welcome!

Thanks in advance!

The only thing you can really control as a DJ is what you bring because different clubs own different equipment. If you have VirtualDJ software it works with just about every controller, CDJ, mixer, and turntable out there. If your booked at the club go in early and get familiar. If you're not that confident bring your own controller. I toured for many years and would carry a controller with me. There is so much gear out there and new gear coming have a controller that's not too big and roll with it.

[djrebelv]

Appreciate all the suggestions fellas. Dang light-o-matic :lol:.. thanks for the info.

Again, don't personally know anyone who would have that kinda gear let alone give me some time on it. I know I don't need to HAVE the top of the line gear.. but again, I just want some exposure to it so that I can jump on and know what I'm doing 99.9%. The guy who puts on the DNB shows has specifically asked that I be familiar with the gear before he can consider putting me on (which to me, sounds reasonable). Buying it isn't an option since I don't really have $5k laying around but that payment plan idea is interesting... thanks djknowledge. Gonna look into that.. but still, I'd really like to just spend a bit of time on em before I go buying em.

[light-o-matic]

Well if you want to spend a bit of time on them before buying, and you don't know anyone, then I'd say that the thing to do is to visit all the DJ equipment stores / musical instrument stores in the area until you find one with a setup on display that you can play with. As I said it would not take you that long to figure it out if you are already competent on a controller.

The main thing is, if you're using sync on your controller or using the BPM display to beatmatch, learn to DJ without relying on that. Same with cueing using the mouse and waveform.. learn to do it with the wheel and your headphones alone. You can learn both those now, on your controller. If you can learn that, then pretty much it's just a matter of learning a few different buttons and you're good to go on CDJs. You're doing the same stuff, just with different buttons. So then an hour or two in the store two or three days will have you playing on the decks with relative confidence.

And like I said, get your music into Rekordbox.

[light-o-matic]

Looking in CL in your area I do not see too many Pioneer DJ deals.. but keep your eye open there. DJM800's are selling used on ebay for around the 500 or so mark (400 up to around 650) .. you would want a nice condition one because mixers have a lot of stuff on them to break, so let's say 550 for that. You can get a pair of CDJ900's for around 1000 together.. so $1500-1600 is what you are looking at. CDJ2000's (original, not nexus) are going around 1500-2000/pair.. so that's 2000-2500 total. But if you can DJ on that you can DJ on the CDJ900's + DJM800 then you can DJ on any Pioneer setup, you might be uncomfortable the first few minutes but you'll be able to work it out.

[djrebelv]

Okay, yeah that shouldn't be a problem and I'm already using Rekordbox (maybe not to it's fullest potential but its all in there). I just don't like surprises.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to point me in a direction :tup:

[djrebelv]

Looking in CL in your area I do not see too many Pioneer DJ deals.. but keep your eye open there. DJM800's are selling used on ebay for around the 500 or so mark (400 up to around 650) .. you would want a nice condition one because mixers have a lot of stuff on them to break, so let's say 550 for that. You can get a pair of CDJ900's for around 1000 together.. so $1500-1600 is what you are looking at. CDJ2000's (original, not nexus) are going around 1500-2000/pair.. so that's 2000-2500 total. But if you can DJ on that you can DJ on the CDJ900's + DJM800 then you can DJ on any Pioneer setup, you might be uncomfortable the first few minutes but you'll be able to work it out.

Appreciate you looking into that for me good sir