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Originally Posted by
mostapha
I never really liked Pioneer mixers. The DJM-500/600 were kind of crappy compared to their competitors. And since then, they've been advancing in ways I don't like. But when they switched to being all-digital, they got rid of basically all of the SQ issues of the 500/600. But, I'm also just a fan of digital mixers. Something about having a nonexistent noise floor and people artificially adding crosstalk and distortion to make them sound more like a mixer because they're too "clean" otherwise. Analog mixers have to be really good and run well to even come close to how good they sound.
I'm not a huge fan of the way the faders feel, but I can use them. And I like their metering.
I still don't like their EQs very much. They're good at swapping bass, but that's about it. But I also don't really use EQs. When I had a xone:62, I fell in love with it's high-mid……just because it was so damn good at emphasizing or deemphasizing snare & clap grooves, which can make a lot of a difference in some of the music I spin.
But even A&H abandoned it. If I could have any single EQ knob, it would be that one. If I don't have it, mostly I just don't use EQs. So, it's wasted space……but I just don't care.
Really, I just think there are much better options than paying for a Pioneer mixer.
But the DDJ-SX is exactly what I need. It's just enough smaller than my decks + a decent mixer…and it's feet are in the right place so I can put it on a bookshelf and just let it hang over the edges without being afraid it'd fall off. Can't do that with turntables, even if they weren't too wide to fit. And anything deep enough to hold them wouldn't leave me enough room to stand b/t it and the bed.
And when I have more space, I just plug my tables in, my SSL box if I decide to to DVS instead of software + vinyl, and keep spinning.
It's got a lot of features I just don't care about. The sampler is a little weird to use in practice, but I'll probably figure out a way to do it……probably just 808 kick, snare, clap, OH, CH, and crash sounds on one side and similar Amen sounds on the other…plus maybe a couple little things. But I'd almost rather just incorporate an MPC-1000 or something in the long run. I'll never use it's slip mode or the pad loop things like the Twitch has……whatever.
And Pioneer mixers have cue/master blend for the headphone signal, which is good, since I prefer to use IEMs when I'm not in my bedroom. And sometimes even then.
I also can't really speak to the effects…something else I just don't really use. I really do like the way it does instant doubles, though. It makes it really easy to keep a drum break going through a breakdown that my set doesn't need, which is most of what I did when I was on Live if I'm really honest with myself.
And the way it does the deck layering with the non-motorized pitch faders is way less annoying than I thought it would be.
Basically, it does what I need it to do, and it does it well. I may not keep it more than 6 months or a year, but that'll be 6 months or a year of spinning when I want to instead of not spinning because I don't live with my decks.
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