Serious advice needed.

I’ve got an NS7 II, and plan on getting some TTs. I’ve done some research, but don’t feel I’m qualified to advise you? I got some great pointers from a lot of very knowledgeable DJs on the forum. Vintage, Marco and Terry to name a few. These guys really know their stuff!

My first question is what are you trying to get out of the gear that you’re not getting on your SX? If you want something that feels more like a club setup the Denons are a great choice. Very well equipped with a much better price tag than the Pioneers. You do miss the functionality of Rekordbox, but that’s not a big problem if you’re looking into 850’s. The 850’s are in kind of a sweet spot if you look at the Pioneer lineup. Not much more expensive than 350’s, but quite near a 900 which is a lot more expensive.

I personally wouldn’t go for an SZ as it’s not really that much different than what you already have. It’s just bigger, has coloured pads and a hardware fx unit. The rest is almost the same, except that it costs twice as much and will be a pain to carry around and to set up. You can look on youtube for reviews that talk about comparing it to the SX.
Now that we’re talking about controllers, the DVS route would be the most expensive route with the least features, remember that. You need a mixer that’s certified for your software you want to use or use a certified soundcard with a non-certified mixer. Then you use control vinyl for turntables or control cd’s for CDJ’s.
I’m not too fond of the Pioneer turntable, it doesn’t have anything over the other super OEMs on the market right now. All of these are based on the Technics, they’re all the same underneath. Except for the price tag…
Going for CDJ’s with software controlling them (HID or not) would be a waste of money in my eyes as you already have a setup that feels like a CDJ setup with much more capabilities. Sure you can add something like a Kontrol X1 Mk2 for effects, but what’s the point?

DDJ-SZ
I’ve been an SX user previously. Despite it’s high price tag, the SZ offers some home comforts in it’s build, such as the CDJ sized jog wheels, the adjustable features for them, and the SX’s features which made it such a power house such as the pads, standalone mixer and ease of the use. For this option, I would see it almost as if I was buying a pair of CDJs and mixer, without the USB, CD and HID features. The transition would feel very smooth as well.

Unlike Marco, I can see some reasons to go to the SZ, especially with you toying with the idea of getting full size players anyway and possibly going the DVS route. The SZ is – size-wise pretty much identical to the 2000 nexus players. As is the mixer section (although the FX are a bit different, which to me makes sense as you have two full FX channels from within the software you are using), which is very close to DJM900 layout and size. If you can work with the SZ, there will be not much problems to handle a full club gear when playing out. Obviously (far) less features and you’ll need to prepare your tracks and playlists in RekordBox, other than that no real surprises. The dual soundcard allows you to hook up two turntables and go DVS (Digital Vinyl System) without the need for an extra external soundcard.

Denon SC3900
After doing tonnes of research, these bad boys seem like the defined route to go down if I wanted CDJs. At a lower cost, with almost identical functionality to the CDJs, I fail to see why anyone would not go for these over anything Pioneer CDJ related. The motorized platters also add a touch of flair. At the same time though, I have minimal/little experience with CDJs. Is there a catch here?

First of all, I am a Denon fan, so all my comments are slightly tainted on this topic :-). The 3900s are awesome units. I have the 2900s which are essentially the same but with static platters. Playing with motorised platters takes some practice and although I think it is fun, I am so used to static platters now, I don’t want to bother switching. Besides, the chance of running into a set of motorised platter players out in clubs is slight to none. They compare to the 2000s with only a few (in my eye minor) features missing). Obviously they will integrate well with most DJ software (except Serato if I am not mistaken) to be nice midi-compatible controllers. If you want to use them as stand-alone players, you’ll have to prepare your usb-stick with Engine (RekordBox for Denon so to speak). And if you play out, you’d have to do the same for Pioneer players in RekordBox. There is no catch, imho. Denon has always made top-quality gear at affordable prices. Pioneer is the marketing winner though and it shows in the brand-bonus you pay for wanting their logo on gear.

Pioneer CDJ 850-Ks
These guys would cost 200 extra than the Denon’s. As being marked within the club industry standard – Pioneer’s entry level baby as it were, and with such sustainable resale value, I felt these deserved a place in my short list. However, the lack of features, the added cost over the SZ and the Denon’s has put me in a spot of bother. Why would you get these over the latter above? What makes these special, what am I really paying for extra here?

At 200 more than the Denon’s you get less features and (biased opinion follows) lesser build quality and no motorised platters. I’d consider it a big step down in features if you don’t use them in combination with DJ software. And even then you’d be missing out on stuff like cue point buttons and such.

PLX 1000s
Alongside being open to learn on CDJs, turntables is something that I’ve been gradually becoming more and more interested in over the past year. As we don’t much about these, there is little to really distinguish them from a pair of 1200s, or 1210s. But as they’re just being released in 2014, as oppose to Panasonic’s post millennium releases, it is a fair judgement to think they would raise the bar a little. Can I use these with my laptop, as I would with CDJs/controllers? Is there an added cost if I was going to not go with a controller, such as a piece of hardware that I would have to incorporate into my set up?

Frankly, I have said on the blog that they either bought the plans from Technics or reverse-engineered the SL1200s. They are so identical, it’s scary. Again with the brand-bonus they are at the high end of the budget spectrum. And while you can integrate them in a Digital (laptop) DJ setup by using them as DVS system, it requires either a certified mixer or external soundcard (except in the case of the DDJ-SZ) to work. And there is NO midi connectivity whatsoever.

My experience
All controller related. I want to move onto bigger and better things. Bigger, tastier and more professional gear. I want to do gig on CDJs and feel comfortable of them. But after doing tonnes of research, I have come to some sort of evaluation that the SZ almost emulates what CDJs would feel like. They would also be cheaper than say, getting a pair of CDJs and a mixer, alongside a rane box. Why would I get CDJs over it? What’s the main selling point?
Suggestions, advice, experience is greatly appreciated. As you all know, DJing is an expensive hobby, and when you’re just on the edge with what you can spend, you always want to make an investment that you’ll never regret.

Let me tackle these points in order:
Bigger, tastier and more professional. You are selling the SX short as it is pretty much the professional workhorse from Pioneer. The SZ being the flagship, it is -imho- made primarily to make it as easy as possible for CDJ DJs to migrate to digital (by offering them the almost identical touch and feel as a 2000/900 nexus setup). Since you are already a controller DJ, this would be less important to you.

CDJ emulation. Yes, as a matter of fact, any jogwheel based controller emulates a CDJ, since a CDJ is nothing but a mediaplayer with a display, a jogwheel and a few buttons to perform some functions. I increasingly fail to see the fear some people seem to have for CDJs. We went from vinyl to CDJ to (now) controller, meaning more features as technology progressed. CDJs are the PREVIOUS technology, so if you can handle a controller, you can handle CDJs. I am not saying there isn’t a little transition to do (not in the least learning to live without cue point buttons for example 😀 ), but nothing half an hour of practice wouldn’t solve in my opinion.

Unless you are dead-set on doing DVS/Vinyl (and don’t forget there is a rather steep upkeep cost for vinyl, going up to as much as 150 a month!) and you don’t really need the extra features the SZ offers, I’d actually recommend keeping the SX. I always advice people wanting to get a CDJ setup to just rent one midweek for a few days (usually at a nice discount as it hardly gets rented during the week). At the end of that you’ll either say “I want this because it feels better than a controller/my SX” or you’ll say “well, I know how this works and if I run into it in a venue, I know how to work with it, but I will stick with my controller”.

Hope that helps some.

What I see in venues (especially the more techno ones) is that platters are getting smaller or go out of the picture all together. Look at setups that Chris Liebing, Dubfire and Richie Hawtin are using. There are no platters at all. I’ve seen open air events where they provide a Xone 4D with some CDJ’s and the guys only bring their laptop with some modular controllers and never even turn on the CDJ’s.
Going CDJ because clubs use them is becoming less and less of an argument to use them. I like the idea of Vintage to just rent some for a midweek and see them for yourself. That will probably cure your curiosity for CDJ’s, they are not that different from what you’re doing now.

But if you really want something, by all means go for it. It’s your money 😉

By the way, Vintage, the turntables all look exactly like 1200’s because the ARE exactly like 1200’s. Including the Pioneer by the looks of things. Look up the term ‘super OEM’.

Indeed. Safe the money and train with the SX until you know it by heart.
Then simply rent a Nexus setup for 2 days which will prolly run you below 100 bucks and you will be fluent with where some buttons have moved.

Preparing for CDJs is a non-issue. I prepare my playlists in iTunes anyways and both Serato and Rekordbox do import them.
Then I load my playlists into Rekordbox and let it do its analysing thing.
When the first songs are analysed I update the CUE points and Loop points quickly and be done with it.
For a 2 hour set in a big club this involves prolly 2 hour prep work (and I am really picky about my CUEs).

However since even a Nexus setup can do less than my controller, in 90% of all cases I pack my controller and set it up in a venue, or in case of a large venue they usually have a technician who will set your stuff up. Many even ask in advance now if you bring a controller(s) and plan their booth accordingly. (Especially at festivals this is typical as there could be 10 or more DJ setups in the same booth and they need to know how to switch quickly…. I once had like 15 controllers on a festival stand…)