Contemplating my first pair of CDJs... Possibly my first Pioneer products...

[defmd]

Definitely not looking for another controller.

Let's see your initial post mentioned:

1. part of the reason I'm going this route is to learn to dj on standard club setups.
2. USB slot for flash drives
3. similar workflow to the club standard (aka mega-expensive gear I can't afford)
4. ability to easily integrate into Traktor is a definite plus, but not necessary

It's not about another controller it's looking at what fits best within your budget to achieve what you are asking, in my book that's an Aero or save up for the CDJ 900's.

And I'm not sure why I would even need to bother with Record Box software... ???

That's like saying why do I need to analyse my tracks in Traktor first. Why do you need to set your cue points etc.. It's all about taking your JOB as DJ serious and prepare yourself to be able to give a maximum performance. If your tracks are analyzed by Rekordbox you will have waveforms and accurate BPM as well as your cuepoints set. There is no point in spinning with the CDJ 2000 Nexus if all you use are the features you can have on a CDJ1000. If your tracks are analyzed you will have accurate Quantized effects on the DJM 900 and 2000, etc.

[Tornesoul]

Rekordbox is the way forward for pioneer. If u want similar workflow, thats the only way i think.

Save up for cdj 850s/ cdj 900s?

[M.Beijer]

i wouldnt consider the xdj aero as a controller since its a standalone hardware unit with a real mixer and a soundcard.
its like having a cdj 350 set but without being able to play cds and even better in the aspect of functions since it has a dedicated filter for each channel.
i have cdj 2000 nexus + djm 900 which i normally use but i also have a aero which i use when i have to bring my own gear, it does the job. definately recommend it to anyone who want the "pioneer" club feel but dot want to shell out so much money!

[Mavis Concave]

F*ck. If only the 400s were compatible with rekordbox... They would be a perfect fit for me.

I'm going to pass on the Aero route as I want the ability to be able to load up cds at any moment as well as play from usb sticks. I totally see what you mean about it being a solid learning tool for the Pioneer workflow. Good suggestion for anyone who doesn't have interest in using cds in their media players ever.

So it looks like my options at this point are:

- save up for 850s or 900s refurbished or used (to be Rekordbox compatible)
- get 400s or 800s used and not bother with Rekordbox (like people have been doing for years)
- go totally rogue and get gemini or some other brand of media players (which nobody has commented on so far)

Thanks for all the input thus far. I'm kinda torn between getting 400s and 850s. Saving money is a pretty big deal right now... I can definitely wait to buy gear, but I'm not sure if I'll ever have enough saved for something like 850s as income has been pretty shakey the past year.

[xs2man]

The 350's are recordbox compatible, and would be only slightly more expensive than 400's. They would easily be comparable to the 400's.

That said, I sold mine after a year, because they were a bit basic for my liking (as the 400 would be also), and am currently saving for 900's or 2000's. Don't think I would bother with the 850's as they have no DJ link for pulling tracks off different decks and recordbox (like the 900's and 2000's do).

If all you want is a decent CDJ with half decent spec list, then the CDJ 700 from Gemini would fill the gap fairly well, assuming your not looking for club standard, or the Denon players are nice and not as expensive as Pioneer.

[mogley]

Hi op.

I just got my hands on a set of CDJ 350s from a friend but started off similarly to you with Traktor and controllers.
I definately think trying CDJs is great, if nothing else its slightly different and a whole lot of fun albeit without the level of control/power you get with software and a whole bunch of controls.

I would say what i don't think has been mentioned yet is that the 350 only has 1 cue point which I find is very limiting other than to have a bit of fun at home and get familiar with the CDJ layout and (what I think is the biggest benefit of spinning on CDJs) - rely on your ears and less on fancy wave forms and visual aids that without getting into a whole debate about beatmatching etc will help you musically which is a good thing.

To that extent, the lower end CDJs are actually better than splashing out for the higher end ones which I feel really blurs the line between controller and CDJ at which point you may as well just go the full on controller/laptop route, esp if the you have got full wave forms etc like the 2000nexus. Not sure if the 400 has hot cues but that's probably all you need for now.

Also - i agree prepping your tracks on RB etc etc is all about being a good DJ esp if you are relying on live performance and not making mistakes but you need to find the right balance between fun and a good performance and IMO doing things on the fly is a lot more fun plus the beauty of my 350s are that i don't need to waste time with a computer and if i'm going to start warping and pre-cueing tracks i may as well just use traktor.

[fullenglishpint]

It's only ever been the TOTR CDJ that has hot cues, so every iteration of the 1000 and 2000. Not even the 900 has more than 1 cue point.

[HigherFi]

Honestly, save a little more and check out DENON SC-2900. Low end CDJ's are just that, and, I believe Pioneer have been skimping on build quality, as of late. The 2900 competes favorably with the CDJ-2000. And ENGINE is great. Look it up.

[djproben]

Honestly, save a little more and check out DENON SC-2900. Low end CDJ's are just that, and, I believe Pioneer have been skimping on build quality, as of late. The 2900 competes favorably with the CDJ-2000. And ENGINE is great. Look it up.

Thank you for this. After reading up on it, I think this is better than a CDJ-2000 unless "industry standard" is important to you. At less than half the price, it sounds like it's still better build quality than the Pioneer, and the software sounds like it's better as well. And I trust Denon gear over Pioneer in general. Something to convert ENGINE to rekordbox would be the killer app here but even without it I might pick one of these up.