My frist set of DJ equipment, CDJ 350 vs 850 vs 900

[kbridge]

Hey guys.

I've been producing for a little while now, and am now ready to start DJing. I can't wait to get going, and this summer will give me all of the money I need to purchase some expensive kit, but I'm unsure of what to go for.

This would be for my bedroom setup and I'm looking to play music from USB primarily, with CDs for backup.

My main requirement from the setup is that I want the kit to get me "club ready".

I know HOW to DJ, but haven't been able to spend a lot of time around equipment, however through research etc I know what each piece of kit does etc etc.

So what do you think? Save money and buy a 350 setup, or splash out and get an 850/900 kit?

Thanks for any help or opinion you guys have to offer

KBRIDGE

[xs2man]

Go for the 900's.

The 350's a re a great bit of kit if your a loaded noob, just wanting to be cool, but they are very basic for the money. There is not much to them. I had them for just under a year, and while I don't regret buying them, as they did their job (to see if I wanted to get back into DJ-in after a 8 year leave of absence), I should have just went straight for the 900's.

Of course, if you don't want to spend £2k on CDJ's, and then more on a mixer, you could go for the new R1 from Pioneer. It'll play USB and CD's stand-alone (no PC required), although it is better with an ipad. It has hot-cues, like the CDJ 2000's, and has a basic mixer included too.

Should be less than £1k, and will be enough to get you "ready" for a standard Pioneer club set-up. Otherwise your looking at around 3x that for 900's + half decent mixer. Even if you add on the cost of an iPad, it will still be cheaper than a more modular (cdj + mixer) set-up, although not as flexible.

[kbridge]

Go for the 900's.

The 350's a re a great bit of kit if your a loaded noob, just wanting to be cool, but they are very basic for the money. There is not much to them. I had them for just under a year, and while I don't regret buying them, as they did their job (to see if I wanted to get back into DJ-in after a 8 year leave of absence), I should have just went straight for the 900's.

It's worth noting that I am at the most basic level currently, are you thinking that it's easy to graduate past the level of 350s quickly?

If going for the 900s, I'd probably go for the two 900s and a DJM250

You think that the R1 would give the "club-ready" skills necessary?

[xs2man]

I would say the R1 looks like a more advanced set-up than the CDJ / DJM 350 set-up. Being modular may give you some small advantage with the 350's, but the R1 has more of the features you will find on a typical pro set-up.

Despite your current skill level, the R1 should give you more of the features you will encounter in the "field", so would be a better investment for getting you up to speed. And you wont grow out of it. My 350 set-up was bought because it was cheap enough for me to see if I would get back into it. But I grew out of it within a month or so.

The R1, on the other hand, is cheaper, and better than the 350 set-up. The 900's will be better, I'm sure, but I wouldn't be mating them with a DJM 250 either, as that is a VERY basic mixer. I'd be looking for a minimum of a DJM 700 to match with the 900's (second hand they are around £400-500).

The R1 looks more likely to be similar to a CDJ 950 (no such thing exists, but feature wise it would be comparable), with lesser platters admittedly, mated to a mini 2 channel DJM 800 or similar. Giving you a load of features not found on the 350's or DJM 250.

Plus, as it isn't even released yet, if you get one of the first, it wont depreciate like a brick.

[bieberatemytaco]

I have 2 900s and I am seriously considering scrapping them for the XDJ-R1. Already saw a preorder for $850. Just want to test it out first.

[kbridge]

Hmmmm I've been looking at this R1 for a while now, it's seriously cool, I'm just not 100% sold on it..

I'm not acutally sure why I'm not 100% with it either.. it has the best of both worlds.. I suppose a part of me just wants to play on the standard CDJs, although these offer that anyway.. hmm

I don't want to open up the classic conversation about the future of DJing, but in my opinion CDJing won't die for a very long time, this looks like R1 is just the earliest stage of the future however. I believe CDJs will continue to advance technologically, probably including the effects of traktor, and the detailed waveforms just in the screen of the CDJs themselves, I don't think ipads, ipods or even laptops will ever be a standard feature of club booths, but that's just my two cents..

The thing is, controllers tend to look like toys IMO (I don't want to cause any offense as I'm REALLY not biased against ANY type of Djing), and I think I'd just prefer to learn on "full-size" gear, regardless of if it has less features (?!)

I hope that all makes sense and you can see where I'm coming from.. can you sense my frustration?! hahah!

[xs2man]

I see where your coming from.

Don't get the CDJ350's then, as they are not "full size" gear.

You could go for the 850's, they are pretty decent looking, and full size, but the extra features such as quantized looping, pro link, HID integration and slip roll make it worthwhile going that extra mile. But then you should really mate them with a mixer that is as good as the CDJ's. The DJM 250 just isn't good enough, and is more of a toy, like your trying to avoid. This is assuming you want to stick with Pioneer gear so you have a similar layout to the "club standard".

Of course, this then ups the budget considerably, and if you are looking at only new gear, you'll need a budget just shy of £3k for such a set-up, whereas the R1 is shy of £1k.

If you don't need the "club standard" layout, and feel you just need to get practice on "similar" gear, you could always go down the route of the Denon SC2900 / X1600 (even A&H DB2). Will give you almost all the features of the CDJ 900 / DJM 900, at a cheaper price. It wont be exactly the same as Pioneer stuff, but it will only really be the layout that is different, a few features renamed, and different analysing software.

Personally, I do see where you are coming from, but my money would go on the R1 if I were you. Cheapest outlay, for a very close approximation of the CDJ 2000 / DJM 900 set-up you are most likely to see in a high end club.

[kbridge]

yeah you are right, I may just have to suck it up and look at an R1 further..

that or the 850s.. These were the first decks I was looking at, but I see advised in many places that you go for the 900s should I be in the market for 850s anyway.. worth it you reckon?

The only way I could get the 900s realistically would be with a cheap mixer, however, this could easily be upgraded next summer when I come back into money I suppose..

If you advise fully agains the 350s, it has sort of come down to CDJ 900s and a mixer (maybe the DJM350 for this year?)

or

The R1

KBRIDGE

[bieberatemytaco]

Fiancee just woke up in the middle of me watching the demo of the XDJ-R1, watched it for about 20 seconds, and says, "that thing looks like a piece of shit," and went back to bed. A woman after my own heart.

[dj_adm]

SC2900s and DJM800 (used) would be my vote....


SC2900s have a lot of features that the CDJ2000 has. And the mixer is perfect for club standard.