Using CDJs with USB sticks
Hi all,
I want to get back in mixing again and dependent on what deals i can find, i’m thinking either a pair pioneer 850s, 850ks or 900s.
My question is this: can i use the USB option without having to use a laptop with it? At some point i may well get in to using rekordbox etc. or any software that requires a laptop, but for the beginning i literally just want to plug the USB in and start mixing.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks
Yes. Plug an play USBs
Ah cheers. one more question. By plugging a USB in and playing, would i be able to “see” the track playing in the screen as i would if i was playing a cd or using rekordbox?
Thanks again.
If you analyze tracks via Rekordbox and load them onto a USB drive, you can see the same data you would see in Rekordbox.
Edit: The 850 and 850k are exactly the same except the color
Cheers for the info and the heads up RE the 850 and 850k. The 850s definitely look better in black 
ive also seen 850s in white but the white/black models are almost twice as expensive
The white ones look cool. I just bought a pair of black 850k decks, a pioneer 700 mixer and a pioneer efx 1000 for £1600. All in mint condition.
Ill most likely sell the efx 1000 as it isn’t something I’d use.
Remember, the 850s do NOT have a full-resolution waveform so you would not be able to “see” the Waveform as you might think (there is a very low resolution depiction, however I think it’s hard to mix with unless you’re spinning only house/dance records. Make sure you do enough research so you buy the proper units!
Yeah I’ve noticed this. Although I’ve not found it too bad. If I really get back in to mixing like I’m hoping too, I’ll eventually invest in some 900s nxs or 2000s nxs.
you might want to look into the xdj1000s. they are about half the price of 2000s with the same functionality minus the cd player.
Cheers for the heads up. To be honest i didn’t know you ciuld get decks without the cd player.
If he wants to analyze all of his music in Rekordbox and prepare usb sticks.
If he doesn’t, he might as well get a Denon SC2900, they are cheap, have better build quality and have more features (like 8 hotcues etc).
I am currently using rekordbox. Slow to analyse but great for loading tracks.
His very first post said he would be using usbs only
Didn’t you say you want to use USB sticks but without the need to use laptop? I understood that as you DON’T want to analyze files and prepare usb sticks on your laptop. For that purpose, buying a CDJ with a big screen that’s adapted to display a moving waveform and other info that’s available only when tracks are analyzed in rekordbox is a overkill:
Yes…and he can do that with denon sc2900. And get hotcues, slip mode, digital out… compared to CDJ-850 for example. For less money also. I don’t see why my suggestion is not valid? Of course, it’s a totally different story if he wants to use rekordbox and prepare all of his music in advance 
The older Denon’s link isn’t very good. You could only see one drive at a time like on the Gemini MDJ1000 and sometimes had to restart the units when you changed the drives or the link state. The Pioneer link is vastly superior. You can see every drive on every other unit and it always works. You don’t have to analyze your tracks to make use of a USB-capable Pioneer unit. You’ll still get the same crude overall waveform you would on a Denon. There are also all the Hanpin standalone units out there that will give excellent usability, link, and at a more reasonable price than either. The only major thing you give up on those if you’re not pre-analyzing files is the ability to offload tracks from the laptop, but if you haven’t pre-analyzed, that’s not going to work well on Denon or Pioneer offload function through Engine or Rekordbox, anyway. And the Hanpins have better pitch resolution. Denon’s, in particular, was very poor res. Perhaps they could have improved it, maybe the link, too, but these are basically no longer supported by the new InMusic Denon DJ about to release the SC5000. I don’t think the SC2900 or 3900 will ever see improvements again.
You make some good points but also jump all over the place by comparing denon units with pioneer and hanpin at the same time.
Also you write about pitch resolution (in several topics nonetheless) but fail to mention that is perfectly fine for manual beatmatching (certainly wouldn’t describe it as “very poor” - that sound like comparing dry tehnical data without taking into account the actual use). Several of the problems you mention with link were resolved with firmware updates a couple of years ago (link).
And you are right about improvements on the SC units, they were discontinued a year ago (last firmware update was november 2014). But, Engine 1.5 is still being updated and that will result in better playback on the units themselves.
In actual use only the Hanpins allow me to pitch beyond 16% and actually beatmatch closely. 0.5% is insufficient for beatmatching and requires bending every few seconds. 1% increments is useless for beatmatching. So if you need to pitch beyond 16% and also beatmatch, the lack of good ADC conversion from the analog fader to the reading of the increments is a problem. The Denon’s Wide is totally useless beatmatching. The Pioneer’s is annoying. The Hanpins have no problem with that.
The Denon’s link was a similar method to Gemini’s. Have you used Pioneer’s? Four USB flash drives can link simultaneously and all units can see them at will. No units need to be restarted. Totally carefree. If Denon finally improved their link at least not to require unit restarts, which was admittedly ludicrous, then that’s an improvement towards the type of carefree functionality of the Hanpins that do it with USB cables, but doesn’t come close to Pioneer.
On the Hanpin comment, I love mixing on Hanpins. Set and forget is awesome when it comes to beatmatching.
For Link, Pioneer really does have it down. Ive had to mix and match 4 seperate model units in the past and they still worked. Connecting your laptop via link with rekordbox is a breeze.
I cant comment on denon’s current setup, because we all dont have them to play with, but we shall see. Link on the older denon units was garbage.
If you mean on the S3700 - I wouldn’t even call it link (tracks are not shared between units). I did a couple of sets on friend’s SC2900 (with the latest firmware) and had no issues. Even brought a small netbook with Engine once and connected all three of them via LAN hub - bam! got a awesome browsing screen
Don’t understand why all the hate about SC line of Denon units. Only thing I did notice was the higher rate of RMA’s on the forums and such - Denon’s quality control really slipped there. Even I had to get my mixer to the service because one microswitch was faulty from the box.