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Thread: Help with CDJ Choice for Home Use

  1. #1
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    Help with CDJ Choice for Home Use

    Haven't been here for a while & I have also been out of the DJ game for a while but I have been recently getting into my music again so wanted some advise on equpiment for my home set up. After turntables etc I went straight to Traktor many years but didn't use until a few months ago and bought an S3 Controller to use with Traktor Pro 3. I don't mind Traktor Pro 3 but I am not really into controllers which I found out after using for a couple of months, it just felt like a plastic box although I did appreciate what you could do with it for the price so I think that journey is over. I am now arriving at the CDJ hardware side of things probably Pioneer and was looking at the XDJ and the 900 series (1 or 2Nexus) I like the idea of Beat Sync because I just feel like letting the machines do the work for me but I notice that feature adds more to the budget, i have no interest in palying out so I won't be getting any return on my money but I love music and it helps me escape and relax from the day to day grind. I think I am done with playing from a laptop but I don't mind preparing music and put them on a stick & won't be using CDs anytime soon. I do have a soft spot for the 900 range but I am quessing only the Nexus has beat sync so I am not really sure what the solution is so thi is why I am asking the question? So really I need the cheapest option to have beat sync? or go old school mixing manually and get the 900 version 1.

  2. #2
    BanHammer™⚒️ Manu's Avatar
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    What's your budget?

    & won't be using CDs anytime soon
    No point buying a CDJ considering this. If you're planning on usb sticks and go without any beat sync, a pair of used CDJs 400 would be enough. But if you do indeed fancy the 900, then nothing wrong with that either.

    I just feel like letting the machines do the work
    Not sure why one would spend money just to stand back and look.

  3. #3
    Member Daniel S's Avatar
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    The CDJ 400 is a very old player by now and is very limited in USB memory size, 16 or 32 GB if I remember correctly. It also doesn't work with rekordbox.
    The CDJ 350 would be a slightly more modern player if you don't want any bells and whistles.

    If you're not planning on using any CDs and don't want to pay a fortune then the XDJ series is a much better and more economic alternative. You have the XDJ 700 which is a compact player and the XDJ 1000 with a full size jog wheel. Both those have a few less physical buttons than the CDJ machines, but they do have touch screens so you can still reach all features.
    The best value would be the XDJ-RX and the XDJ-RX2, wich is basically two players and a mixer all built into one with a central screen to control both players. The biggest difference between those two is that the RX2 has a touch screen.
    Last edited by Daniel S; 10-04-2020 at 02:10 PM.

  4. #4
    The 400 is outdated and basically forget it. Beautiful deck for its time.

    The CDJ-350 is a good little deck, I used to have them.. if you want CD and USB at a low price, plus Rekordbox. The two downsides of these are that #1 they do not network together so you need to have two flash drives prepared one for each deck. Not a huge problem but it's one extra thing you have to keep up with. And #2, the display is VERY VERY limited so far as browsing your tracks looking for what you want. And.. no sync or anything like that, at all.

    The CDJ900 is older school with an older monochrome, non-touch display that is actually fine, I own the 900's and they are great, but if you want a ton of information on the display and waveforms and whatnot, NO. If you are a CD guy as I was, you will think the 900 is just great because it's so much more than we ever had but still very similar to a basic CD deck. But the downside is that the number of characters on the display makes reading long track names quite difficult.

    The CDJ900NXS adds a newer display as well as sync, still no touch screen I believe, it is like a somewhat stripped down CDJ2000NXS.

    These are actually also somewhat outdated as the NXS2's have been out for quite a while.

    So then, there are the NXS2 models.. which is the 2000NXS2, which obv, if you have the cash, will do everything you could want.. or XDJ1000mk2, which although it is not called a NXS2 model actually has pretty much every feature of the NXS2.. except some of those features are accessed using touch screen buttons rather than real hardware buttons.. and being an XDJ model, it is USB only.. not CD. Personally I went for the XDJ1000mk2 and those are my regular decks now, and I bring them out to events and most DJ's are totally happy to play on them.

    Except once some real dick of a headliner demanded 2000NXS2's and we had to rent them.. of course he used NONE of the extra features we paid for and in general played a lackluster set.. which was predictable.

    So yea, in summary, if you want separate decks with a mixer.. then for your use at home, I think the XDJ1000mk2 is something you should really consider because they are MUCH cheaper than CDJ's yet do almost everything CDJ's do. If you want CD, then sure the CDJ900NXS but I believe you will be getting older software in those decks that does not do quite as much as the 2000NXS2 or XDJ1000mk2. But they are still gonna be nice decks that have the basic still you are asking for.

    If you don't mind a 1-piece unit, the XDJ-XZ or RX2 give you almost the same experience as separates at a much lower price.

  5. #5
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    Thanks for the modern day pros and cons of each unit, I agree the xdj mk2 tick most of the boxes vs cost etc and usage.

  6. #6
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    Don't forget the CDJ 850's either, which are also great decks, i used to own a pair (well still do tbh) although i upgraded to 2000 Nexus last year.
    should be able to pick a pair up 2nd hand at a good price.


  7. #7
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    I would get a set of turntables and just use Traktor with a laptop and a small add on controller like the X1. They never go out of style, and no need to upgrade, and they go up in value instead of down.

  8. #8
    I'm in love with motorized platters,
    so my 1st choice would be the Rane twelve,
    but they are:
    1) overbudget
    2) linked to a laptop

    As you probably learnt when DJing was considered an art form (turntables),
    a pair of second hand Numark HDX would be the best for you,
    completely digital (MP3),
    full 12" size vinyl,
    relatively cheap,
    standalone,
    solid.

    Cheers

    Last edited by BubbleSoap; 10-19-2020 at 04:12 AM. Reason: picture

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