What to buy

What is he going to do with it? Just playing mp3’s in his bedroom or something more sophisticated. In any case and XDJ-R1 is way over the top as a first set.

Then he should get a decent beginner controller. The R1 is definitely not the way to go.
Read our numerous tracks on it and download our free controller guide, then head over and check our free DJing series on youtube.

Well there is nothing similar that is cheaper, that is the problem.
The problem seems to be that your son has a great misconception what DJing is and if he does not invest into looking into it and learning a bit himself about DJing that he will fail no matter what we recommend here now.

Now of course I could tell you that our current entry level controllers (that we think are good for digital DJing) are the Numark Mixtrack Pro, the Reloop Beatmix 2 and 4 and the Pioneer DDJ-SB. However these are controllers where you need a laptop and a Software (Serato DJ) to use them to full extend.

Now his misconception seems to be that he needs something (like the R1) with CD and USB slots to play out or prepare him for a club environment, where he is clearly wrong. So he will need to invest some time to check how real DJing is done these days before thinking about a controller or other gear.

On the other hand if he is clearly not willing to invest that time, than buy him whatever you find in any store and says “DJ” on it, since it wont matter anyways.

good input above… give us some more input, ask him why he picked the Pioneer unit, is he specifically wanting to play CDs, or USB drives, or just get used to something similar to club gear? When you say “similar” and “cheaper”, elaborate, how much cheaper do you mean? Pioneer DDJ-SR? If we knew a little more about the situation, that would help. If he really wants it, make him save up and go in half with him, if he’s paying for some of it he may be more inclined to put more thought into it. The unit he asked for was on my list for a while, until I decided on a controller as suggested above, no CD player built in. How long has he been learning and interested? Lots to think about with an investment of hundreds of dollars. Point your sun to this site, and the controller reviews and guide, and have him spend a while looking into the different controllers, software, etc. If he still wants an R1 he might have the right reasons, translating into practice for club gigs on Pioneer gear, and using it to DJ for parties and such on the side… some attraction to “physical” media like vinyl and CDs is why some still use those… etc. Just my thoughts….

Well he didn’t pick THE top of the (Pioneer) range. That would be the DDJ-SZ, which runs a whopping 2000 USD, but is the absolute closest thing to a club-set (2x CDJ2000 Nexus/DJM900 mixer, but without the USB/CD option).

My advice would be to rather go for the DDJ-SX, it’s even slightly less expensive than the XDJ-R1. No USB/CD option, but a pro-level controller that will let him get fully into digital DJ-ing, while still maintaining a big enough similarity to the Pioneer club gear as to not feel like worlds apart.

Again, I have played on a “regular” CDJ350/DJM350 setup (which the XDJ is based on) and it really is entry level gear and not found in many (European) clubs. The entire question I think boils down to why he wants his own gear. Is it to practice for his nights in the clubs or does he intend to take the gear with him to gigs? And does he want to use a laptop or not.

This is of course DIGITAL DJ Tips, we look at things from the digital DJ side of an argument. And as such you’ll get advice (like you’ve been getting) about going digital. If you plan on going digital, the XDJ-R1, imho, is not the most suited piece of kit. As said, in it’s price range, the DDJ-SXR is a much better option to go that route. And it comes with Serato DJ software (full version if I am correct), so no need to buy that.

Last thing I’d like to say about it is that if he truly needs/wants USB and CD functionality, there really isn’t an alternative to the XDJ-R1, and definitely not cheaper. It’s either components as in a regular setup, with two CD-players and a mixer which will be more expensive or it’s a controller that has no USB/CD options and works with a laptop. If he goes the controller route, there is suddenly a very large selection to be made, currently 150+ of them in the Controller Buyers Guide I believe.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Marco, I think most readers on here are in agreeance with you on that. The point is that the OP is trying to figure out if what he is asked to buy/pay for is the right thing or if there is a cheaper alternative. And all that depends on the reason for the choice of the XDJ-R1 in the first place.

With the OP not being the user of the product, I don’t think he is able to make the choice about controller/XDJ. He can only go back into the discussion with the information all of us have given him.

Again, I agree with the versatility of controllers versus more “traditional” gear, all-in-one or component-style. But that doesn’t seem like the OP’s choice to make.

Hey Santa,

I think that is what I tried to explain to the OP. It really matters what goal one tries to reach when it comes to picking the right gear.

And there isn’t a cheaper way (bar very very cheap second-hand or no-brand gear) to learn how to DJ with USB sticks and CDs. Having said that, there is absolutely no difference in how a track gets into a deck. CD is simplest, slot it in and you have up to about 24 tracks that you can select and play. Although many more recent media players play MP3 CD’s, general consensus is that it’s more reliable to burn regular audio CDs and TRY them before using them.

USB is slightly different for RekordBox compatible players (all others you just stick your USB in and browse the folders/tracks. You can learn how RekordBox works pretty easily on your PC/Laptop and practice getting stuff on a USB. Reading the manual and watching a few vids should prepare you to use the USB in RB compatible players. Once you load the track, it’s all the same again. Finally, many of the RekordBox compatible players will also have midi support and thus allow you to hook them up to your laptop and use your favorite DJ software, just like you’d be using a controller for the decks (Cross for example supports all midi enabled Pioneer players in HID mode I think).

And practicing at home to prepare is simple. Almost all players will analyse the track and at the very least show you BPM. CDs and non-RekordBox USB tracks will not have (hot)cues set, so in practice you will need to take that into account. Obviously you can’t use the sync mode because only the latest Pioneer players have that facility and only if they are linked. Even then, doesn’t work quite the same as on a controller/software combo.

Personally I try to hook the players up to my laptop and use Cross. I use the FX on the mixer (most Pioneer DJMs have a decent FX section) and that is it.

Anybody still feeling slightly insecure I have two tips for:
1) Book an hour or 2 hour lesson at a DJ school that you know uses recent Pioneer gear (and preferably has some older stuff too). Tell them you come to get familiar with the gear. They talk/walk you through it and help you practice.
2) Find some gear to play around on, it can be a larger bar that has the dancing section closed off on weekdays, a venue that opens in the afternoon for cleaning/preparation, a rental place that let’s you set up a set in their warehouse for a few hours for free or a minor fee or finally just rent a set for 1 or 2 days (make it weekdays, you can get a deal, since the stuff usually sits in the warehouse and gathers dust on those days).

I want to try out a DDJ-SX to see if I would like using one, so I called a buddy with a rental place who has two. I get it on tuesday, hand it back on friday morning and get three nights to play around with it. Price 40 euro. Beats going out and spending 850 euro to buy one and find I don’t like it, right!?

Hope that helps.

Glad to hear it and thanks for the kind words.