DDJ SX vs CDJ

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

DDJ SX vs CDJ

Okay so guys. I currently use a Twitch with itch and I love it. I just use the twitch for home and I usually use club CDJs when i’m playing live. I want to upgrade my gear at home to a DDJ SX or a pair CDJ 850s so i can practise at home to take my live performances on the CDJs at clubs to the next level mixing more complicated stuff. What does everyone recommend? Its obvious that a pair of CDJ 850s and a mixer would cost about double than the ddj. I would just like to know, how close is the ddj sx to cdjs. thanks.

2

I say get the DDJ-SX and buy a Serato SL1.

Reason why:

You can do all the sweet stuff on Serato and it’ll translate easier to CDJs at the club (HID or Timecode…you might want to pick up dicers too).

3

DDJ-SX.
It’s basically a pair of cdjs and a mixer stuck together. The only thing you’ll need to learn are the effects that are different on more advanced pio mixers.
That’s basically it. I’d go with the ddj without a single thought.

Now this is for 850s. For 900s the story is different since they are HID compatible..

4

850 has HID that works with Serato as well.

5

Sorry, i completely forgot that.

To OP, they’re two completely different price brackets if you include the mixer..

6

Why not take your twitch to the club? Ultra portable.

7

This. You can do FAR more with your twitch than you could ever hope to do with CDJs.

8

Well I’m from south africa and at the clubs I play at digital DJing is shunned upon, I too see it as sort of cheating compared to the standard beatmatching by ear and mixing without seeing your track waveforms. I also think that CDJ’s give a better more fluid mix. I mostly use the CDJ 850s in clubs, and i dont have a rane soundcard, i think its quite a waste.

9

How in the world is digitla DJing cheating???

You don’t have to use sync, and you can disable or enable waveforms as you like..

10

But if i were to do that, is it not easier to bring 2 USB drives and a pair of headphones instead of your laptop, controller and cabling to the club?

11

I never said it was more convenient. Just said it’s not cheating.

12

The DDJ SX is near enough to a CDJ setup for practice given the large platters, pitch faders, and similar button layout.

You might want to cover/disable the waveforms so you don’t get distracted from beatmatching manually (use Library display mode on Serato).

13

Nothing except CDJs will substitute for CDJs. The SX is damn close, but the SX is nice enough that you’ll want to take it to clubs to show people, and if they’re gonna laugh you out because of your amazing controller then you need to find new DJ friends with open minds.

14

Thanks guys, I think I’ll go with the DDJ, sounds like the best decision.

15

I think getting the DDJ and not having an SL box for the club is kind of dumb.

Why would you use two separate libraries for one task?

Either get two 850s+a mixer, or a DDJ and a used SL.

16

Because the SX is much cheaper, and Rekordbox USB is better+more convenient than timecode.