DDJ-RB Cons?

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
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1

DDJ-RB Cons?

Hello DJTT Peoples,

I’m looking to get a simple but decent 2-channel controller and am leaning toward the Pioneer DDJ-RB. Can anyone tell me what the cons are of this controller? I see the RR is a considerable amount more money so must have a lot of extra bells and whistles, but does the RB lack any things that would be a deal breaker for you? I’m interested in Rekordbox, by the way. Almost all my experience is with Traktor so far (I used to have a Kontrol S2 MkII), but I’m not married to it. I have no experience with Serato.

And if you think there is a better 2-channel controller that I should consider, we can talk about that, too.

Thank you

2

Short-throw pitch faders making it almost unusable for beginner looking to learn manual beatmatching. Lack of outputs severely limit it’s usage outside the home setup.
If you have the money, invest in DDJ-RR - it’s features deserve the price.

3

No cue-mix knob (you still have channel and master cue buttons tho). I monitoring with headphones as opposed to booth speakers and that would be a big bummer for me. Considering the SB2 has that they probably killed it to either save a few cents or to push folks towards more expensive devices.

Rekordbox kinda feels like the best worlds between Traktor and Serato so I’m sure you’ll feel right at home with it.

4

Those are some good points, guys. Anyone else care to chime in? Black Friday is almost here and I need to make a decision! lol

5

I’m in the same situation and was originally leaning towards an RB but have decided to get an RR instead. The reasons being:

  • I had a Kontrol S4 so RB probably would have felt like a major downgrade
  • I played with Rekordbox on the plane 24 hours ago, just using my tablet, and it was so much fun using all the FX and all the additional features that I think it will be worth it to have those physically built into the controller, which the RR does, and the RB doesn’t
  • I got a pretty good deal on the RR $849AU
  • The build quality of the RR is better
  • The RR looks prettier
  • It’s a smaller jump from the RR to CDJs IF I ever get my ass into clubs again
6

Yeah, the more I looked into it the more I was leaning toward the RR, too, and DJTT had a nice Black Friday discount on it, but I ended up chilling and not getting anything (it’s not a top priority right now.) Let us know how it works out for you. It looks like a great piece of kit.