Dj Controller vs Mixer & 2 cdj's

One word: Legacy.

Basically, in the early 2000’s Pioneer managed to make their gear the industry standard, and because of that, it’s what people expect to see in many booths and therefore they are familiar with working with them. Despite what many will try to tell you, there are no technical advantages over equivalent high end controllers or other brands of CD decks (the term CDJ is now used to describe most brands, but it really is a Pioneer model code). It really just comes down to people using what they are comfortable with because it’s what they have always used.

But things are changing. I watched CD’s get integrated into most booths in the 90’s, and then I watched Pioneer take over all those booths. I see it happening again, this time with digital. It’ll take a few years, but CDJ’s will disappear. They have already mostly made the exit in my city.

Steelo, post: 24085, member: 1368 wrote: Think how long vinyl turntables have been around. People said they would disappear when CDJs starting getting big and they are still holding on (just).

Ah, but that’s my point – I’m not saying they will disappear, but the days of them being the de facto standard are ending. Bar and club owners won’t continue to blow big money on gear that less and less people are using. If Pioneer were to release a controller that was basically a CDJ2000 without the CD mechanism, it would probably be quickly adopted and they would hold on to their position. The issue is, they are acting like Denon did in the early 2000’s. Denon dual decks were the industry standard, and then Pioneer started releasing table top models. Denon resisted the trend and tried to pack all the same features into dual decks, making the layouts *extremely* cramped. The Pioneers had more space and better jogs – and voilà, they ate Denon alive. If Pioneer continues to only put token effort into digital gear, someone will scoop them, and that is a hard ship to turn once it has started.

Of course, on the flip-side of that, there is also the difference this time that digital gear is so much more portable, it would be very easy for bar and club owners to just shift the expectation of who is responsible for providing gear onto the dj’s. “You want to play here? Bring your own controller and here is where you plug in.” This is what I’m seeing happen in my city. Forget owners not wanting to pay for the little used CD part of a CDJ – they’d rather just not pay for anything at all.

Just out of curiosity where about’s are you guys located? I’m not seeing the same trend anywhere on my travels but am seeing a lot more DJ’s bringing their own equipment by choice.

The cost is certainly an issue now that much cheaper alternatives are available. I wonder what things will be like in 10 years time? That’s not an invitation to mention nonsense like robots replacing people…

Cool dude. I’ve been in Whistler for a while now, making trips down to Vancouver every now and then but the EDM scene here seems to be really behind the rest of the world. I hear Ottawa is a good time.