Pioneer DJ’s DDJ-1000 – on show here at NAMM 2018 – combines the jogwheels from the CDJ pro media players (the same exact jogwheels, including how they sound and feel when moved), with a real Pioneer DJ hardware mixer (including hardware effects, mic channels and external inputs), and the usual advanced features you can only get when plugging in a controller and laptop – such as lyrics, visuals, video, lighting control and so on.
Throw in in-jog screens for waveforms, loops, BPM, key info and the like, and it’s a pretty special controller, and in person it all makes sense – especially the fact that those really ARE the same jogwheels/platters from the pro CDJ series.
More subtle features – the looping controls lifted straight from CDJs/XDJs, a jogwheel stiffness control – add to the feeling that (certainly for many DJs who either aspire to using Pioneer DJ club gear, or who do use it but want a controller at home) this represents a bit of a leap forward for controller design, and one only Pioneer DJ could really have done, due to this layout/feel being part of its club legacy.
Of course, an XDJ-RX-style version of this that didn’t need the laptop at all would appeal to many, the XDJ-RX and RX2 being hugely popular precisely because they don’t need a laptop. But for the most advanced DJ features, a laptop is still desirable – and for that pretty large segment of the market, this is a storming controller.
Video talkthrough
Is this the type of controller you’ve been waiting for? What do you think of those old-school jogs with the very “new school” in-jog displays? Let us know your thoughts below…
• The DDJ-1000 costs £1,059 / $1,1999 and is available imminently.
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Phil Morse
