Pioneer DDJ-SX Launched: First Controller For New Serato DJ Software

Update: We’ve published a full Pioneer DDJ-SX2 review, which is the update to the original DDJ-SX. A new DJ controller – the Pioneer DDJ-SX – will be the first to come bundled with Serato DJ, Serato’s latest software. Today’s announcement of both controller and software gives a launch date of November 1. Scroll on for video, pricing, photo gallery and more.

With velocity-sensitive performance pads, a four-channel standalone hardware mixer and a slip mode borrowed from Pioneer’s CDJs, the controller is a high-end model, in Vestax VCI-400 territory, with visual elements and build quality also reminiscent of the Numark NS6.

Features

1. Performance pads. Similar to the Novation TWITCH and the Vestax VCI-380 (and velocity-sensitive, like the latter), the controller’s performance pads will control samples, cues, loop rolls and a slicer, and like with the Traktor Kontrol S4, they push the jogs back up the controller
2. “Dual Deck” mode. This will apparently let you link two decks (ie A&C, B&D) and manipulate them as one
3. 4-channel standalone hardware mixer. Like the Vestax VCI-400 (finally), the unit will also work as an analogue mixer
4. Slip mode. Slip mode lets you manipulate the track (scratching, looping, triggering cue points), then when you exit slip mode, the track will continue where it would have been before you began. It’s a popular feature on CDJs from Pioneer and Denon
5. Other high-end features. Fader start, dedicated filter knobs, large platters with CDJ-like LEDS, booth and master outs with balanced connectors and two mic inputs point all to this being very much a pro controller, that ought to appeal to those playing out as much as bedroom DJs

Described by Serato as “the most advanced all-in-one DJ controller to date” and “the pinnacle of our work to date”, the company is clearly staking a lot on the combination of this controller and its new software. The DDJ-SX, bundled with Serato DJ, is available from November at a SRP of US$1,199 / £809 / €999, with the first 10,000 units bundled with a free licence for the Serato Video plug-in, worth around US$149 / £92 / €116.

Video

• Go and view our Pioneer DDJ-SX photo gallery on our Facebook Page

Are you excited by a Pioneer four-deck Serato controller? Are there features you’d like to have seen, or features that really impress you about this? Please share your thoughts in the comments.