CDJ and mixer (Im sorry)

From what I can see the difference is the 2000 can play usb ,sd card, dvd, and cd The 900 only plays usb and cd …but there are three models of the 2000, The 2000, 2000 nexus , and 2000 nexus 2 so pay attention to which model you get … if you just want this to practice at home and expect to use 2000s at a club then buying your own 2000 would be overkill in my opinion , the price is not cheap, you would be better getting the 900 and using the extra money to by a good carrying case, speakers, and lights and can do your own gigs outside of clubs or use the extra money to produce a track or advertise yourself that would advance your career much better than investing in expensive equipment that you will have at the club anyways, most all pioneer products and controllers are similar enough in functionality that if you can use one you will not feel out of place on the other

😉 welcome

I won’t slam, but I will always point out (like Todd has) that the feature set of ANY CDJ is lacking compared to a controller/DJ software combo.

The amount of money to spend on that gear as a private person is, imho, a bit crazy, unless you will be using it as your primary tool to make money (i.e. being a professional DJ spending long days on his gear getting ready for big gigs).

Another thing to consider is, if you think that if you are “used” to a CDJ900 and that means you will have trouble moving to CDJ2000, you are nowhere near going out and playing in public. DJ gear is like cars, they all have gas pedals, clutches and brakes. They all have switches for lights, heating, alarm. The will all have windows that open (some electrically, some manually) as well as doors that open with keys, or remote control fobs. They will all have ignitions, some a start button, others an key that needs turning. Some will have additional switches for fog lights, air conditioning or climate control, nav systems. At the end of the day though, if you can drive one car, you can drive them all. Most controls will be more or less the same and can be found in more or less the same place. If it is different from what you are accustomed to, it will take you two seconds to figure out the new configuration.

It’s the same with DJ-ing. Once you are good with the basix, you can switch easily to ANY other DJ gear, Pioneer (any model), Denon or any other brand.

I have, in 40 years of DJ-ing, worked with just about any piece of equipment out there. And made everything work. Our (DJ) core strength is knowing what must come next (musically). Gear is truly a remote second or even third. I have literally played with two turntables without pitch control, a pre-amp with channel on/off switches (no gain control/faders except for master volume) and a mic input. Granted, I wouldn’t want to use that gear on a regular basis, but we made it work and had a fabulous party.

If you are set on buying something that by looks, size and form factor resembles what is often in the clubs, I invite you to also consider the new Denon Prime series. Check some of the articles here, on the main blog and anywhere else on the internet to see what it offers. It will save a bundle of money, while being more powerful and feature-rich than the most expensive Pioneer sets.

Just my three cents as usual.

Looking at about 7.000 euro, including flightcases, be sure to not fall in the trap of brand reputation, “standards” and such. Be 100% sure that what you buy fits YOUR workflow and fills your wish list. It’s not the kind of money you want to spent based on “peer pressure”.

I will applaud you if you can find CDJ200s (let alone NXS, never mind NXS2) with a DJM900 AND a set of new monitors for anywhere near that price.

I checked our local second-hand places and you can find two players for about 2.500 euro, about 3.000 with a DJM800. If you move up to NXS, the players will be about 3.000. A DJM-900 is also a good 700-900 euro.

So unless you were talking GBP, I’ll stick with my earlier standard.

On a side-note. I am really curious what this “vibe” thing is. As said, I have been doing this for 40 years this year and have played on brand and no-brand stuff. Tried one of the first hard-disk players, the Numark D2Director. Tried simple and more extensive controllers. While I still have to sell my Pioneer DDJ-SX (gold!), I have traded (up in my opinion) to the Denon MCX8000. And quite frankly, I dare any other DJ to come and comment on the gear. The people (both audience and those in the know) that came up to me have all commented on professional-looking and “awesome” gear.

Finally, more and more “serious” DJs understand that they can do more with a controller than with a CDJ/DJM setup. It’s why big clubs like Ministry of Sound no longer expect DJs to play on their gear but expect them to bringing their own.

By the way, with the MCX8000 you could play without a laptop, or -better- have one sit off to the side. All DJs I know, that need to do more than play a (mostly) prepped set at festivals and such, will bring a laptop nowadays. Often to hook up to the CDJs, turning them into very expensive HID-controllers. It’s a most common sight in the booth.

Again, if you want modular “club-standard”-style gear, by all means go ahead. You are the one paying for and playing with it after all, not us 😀

Just, as I said earlier, make sure you do it for all the right reasons.

I am sorry if it seems I am contradicting myself.

My personal preference is of little relevance to anybody, as – at the end of the day – everyone has to decide what is best for their particular situation.

We could have a nice discussion on these topics over a drink in a bar someday and we’d still end up agreeing to disagree on some things I think :-).

What I try to make my point is, that every piece of kit out there is a compromise of some sort. Either in price, features, build-quality, etx. It depends on what a person (thinks/believes he/she) needs which makes the decision happen.

For example, the XDJ-RX has indeed the extra FX section, but it offers up other things (price for example and -arguably- build quality, but definitely 2 channels) for it. Now, if you are big on FX use, the XDJ-RX will probably appeal more (although the MCX8000 allows you to stack 3 FX with their own parameters PLUS the filter which Pioneer considers and FX too). If you like cue juggling, flip, slicer and such, the MCX8000 offers 8 high-grade pads per deck as opposed to the (imho) lesser 4 on a XDJ-RX.

Another example: Denon is currently launching the Prime series. They are absolutely awesome and -to me- represent the next wave in high-end DJ gear. The feature list is very impressive, so much so that guys like Laid Back Luke, Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto and Oliver Heldens all have changed their rider. But … before the units are physically shipped to customers, over at their forums there already is a feature wish list for the next release/update/upgrade. Which only goes to show that even if you launch something really new (to CDJ users, us controller jockeys already where used to a lot of this LOL), there will be people coming up with features they “miss”. There just never will be one size fits all.

So, what might be my best recommendation to someone based on their question/situation, might not be the best for someone else. The reason we never talk about the BEST software or the BEST hardware is because there is no such thing.

Which leaves the standalone/modular versus all-in-one controller argument. I’ll stick with my conviction that media players with a regular mixer are not as feature-rich as controllers. Personally I really LIKE the form factor and have actually had a 2x SC2900/X1600 combination. It just no longer ticked all the necessary boxes having gotten used to all that controllers offer.

As for the laptop argument. I bough my first MBP for 700 euro (about 550-600 quid) and it worked perfectly. Only when I had some money I upgraded to my current i7/16GB version with 256SSD. That set me back about 800 quid, but I sold my old one for about 450. So not all that bad. That said, I played the years before that with a simple dual-core Dell business model I had picked up somewhere for next to nothing. And it did (for me!) what it needed to do. Had it hooked up to my MC6000 controller and never had a problem. And assuming most people already have a laptop, that is usually not a deciding factor.

Finally thank for your comments. Good when people keep me sharp too and make me re-evaluate what I post.