CDJ question

[safe2safe]

I have a set of pioneer XDJ 700s which I use at home with usb rekordbox and a djm500 mixer . When mixing at home and the bpms of both tracks are set the same the platter needs minimal adjustment. They are rock solid to mix on even when you make a mistake and nudge the platter wrong its easily corrected and not noticeable.

So the other weekend I was playing in a club and the decks there were CDJ 2000s which were rekord box compatible, but didn't show the big waveform like on the xdj700s. Mixing on these decks was a nightmare compared to the solidness of the XDJ700s. I should add I don't use sync on the xdj700s.

I would like to know why those CDJ 2000s were not as solid to mix on as the xdj700s. Its blown my mind as cdj 2000s are a bigger and more expensive model.


any ideas?

Thanks

[Manu]

Are clubs open in the UK?


I'm afraid DJs should use their ears instead of fully relying on visual cues, in your case pitch faders pre-set at the same position, then you were set back by a lack of waveforms. Could be as well that the club room does not sound like at home and a few ms delay may have thrown you off.

CDJs have a long reputation of being solid to use. What computer was running recordbox?

and a djm500 mincer

Errrrrrr...

[safe2safe]

Thanks for the reply.

I’m using rekord box on Mac. Then I transfer the music to USB.

[Manu]

Looks like you suffered a live case of Waveformatis. I would recommended developing your hearing skills to give you ease of use regardless of the equipment being used. Put some post its on your CDJ screens, look away from the computer and then you will find out if you can mix without visual cues.

[ap9]

As someone with a DJM 500... a mincer may actually sound better!

Was playing around with mine at the weekend (the mixer!) and the EQs are fading just a bit (could be the crap speaker and RCAs as well mind!)

[light-o-matic]

The waveform you get will depend on the model of CDJ-2000.. there are several iterations of 2000, eg 2000, 2000 nexus (nxs), 2000 nexus 2 (nxs2)... The original 2000 came out in 2009, the XDJ-700 came out in 2015 and is more like a 2000nxs software wise even though it's a "lower" model.

But even in the newer decks you might find that you don't see the display you expect. Pioneer made it so that your deck settings are stored on the flash drive and this is great in some ways because your preferred deck settings follow you wherever you go, bad because they made some of the settings only changeable in rekordbox.. not on the deck itself. So if you want to fully control the experience you get on the deck you need to set things up ahead of time.. and this means that when you've got your flash drive in your computer and you have rb running, you.. I think it's right click on the USB that appears on the left column in rb.. and then you can access the settings.. including whether you want a color or monochrome waveform and half or full size. And other things...

Then when you put the flash drive in the deck you'll get those settings.

But yea it really depends on the deck model and version, because not every deck supports every feature.

As far as the deck being less steady, that's just not so.. the original 2000 is perfectly smooth and steady (unless the ones you had were broken). I would say you have got one of three problems: First being that the 2000 has adjustable wheel tension, the 700 does not. So the wheel is going to feel different than you are used to.. you will want to adjust that tension knob until it's the most comfortable to you. Second, maybe you were on a different pitch range than you're used to. Both decks support 6/10/16% but it's possible you had it set wrong. Last, it's just a matter of getting used to the wheel as the 2000 wheel is much bigger and heavier and if you give it a shove it won't respond the same as the smaller one on the 700. If your habit is to shove the wheel, try keeping your fingers on it for more control and just moving it faster or slower.

But yea basically the wheel on the 2000 is really a better wheel than the 700.. you just have to watch for these things.
I had 350's for a while and also played on the 400's and both had wheels similar to the 700 and they're totally fine but so are the other decks, there's not a ton of difference really... some of the decks do have wheels that feel a bit cheaper or just lighter but they all work about the same and it's pretty easy to move from one deck to another.