CD decks...

Why would anyone do that? The more the merrier I say. I know fuck all about it, don't do any mixing at all, but I'm sure there's loads of peeps here who do who'll be only too happy to share their accumulated knowledge with you.

Have a wicked time :clubjump:
 
numark do a fair good pair for about £ 350 ish...try a cdn 36 , the best bit of advise i can give is get something that loops



you,ll spend hours having a laff -it aint easy tho - :cooljump: good luck
 
i got CDJ100s from a friend, so they were cheap... and i love them. user-friendly, simple, capable, reliable (so far!).

if you can, get to a store and try out some of the other options. the mid-level CD deck range is expanding all the time - the best thing to do is try to get a feel for what you like & what you don't like. it's likely to be a reasonable investment money-wise, so take your time & check out all the options. if you find a deck you really like, check out some reviews (try any audio or dj orientated forums), and look around for prices - because you can get good deals, and prices do vary.

good luck! another aspiring DJ = another person who wants to share their aural love.

:Smile3:
 
I got CDJ100s on Plank!'s advice and they're great, all the things seuss said. Mine weren't cheap tho they were new, but looking at secondhand prices, they hold a fair amount of their value for a while. Not that I'll be getting rid of them in the foreseeable, I doubt I'm ever going to make a dj but I'm sure having lotsa fun and getting to know the music miles better! And it's great to have a set there when folk pile back into mine in the morning after a London party!
 
If you can afford em mate go for the CDJ-1000s.
They not cheap (about £750 each) but you certainly see where your extra money went.
I've had mine for nearly 3 years and I love em. Used to be a die hard vinyl junkie, and was really dead against the idea of digital mixing.
I got mine because getting hold of psy on vinyl was both expensive and quite hard getting the tunes you want. If you're used to vinyl then the 1000's wont take you long to get used to at all. Making use of the cue points makes mixing even easier, as you dont need to find that right point on every track each time you want to play it, only the first time, and then you store it in memory.

I've played a little on the 100s, and while I think they are good, and often used out and about, they're not as feature-rich as the 1000's (But I would say that, being slighty biased. :Grin: )
For example, the 1000's come with a nifty wave reading of the entire track so you can visually see where all the peaks and troughs are in the music. (You can zoom into it too!)
The pitch contol when set at +/-6% allows for 0.01% increments on your pitch scale (I think the 100s only does 0.05%? Somebody else who owns some may be able to confirm this? Haven't got a clue what the 800's do though?)

The 1000's are set to become the defacto standard for clubs also. As the 1210's set the standard for turntables.

My advice would be, whatever you go for, select pioneer.

Hope this helps?

CH

PS Not another aspiring DJ FFS! :P
 
Hey ClosetHippy, good to see you on the forum :Smile3:

I'd agree with the above post, its always best to spend more than you can afford on your kit cos you will never regret buying a system which was too high spec (if thats possible) but you WILL regret buying a low end system when you reach its limitations and realsie you need to buy a whole new setup - in effect buying everying twice.

While the CDJ-1000's are lurvly and if I had the cash i'd go for those or maybe the new technics CD decks they are outside the realms of most of our wallets (and even credit cards) so i'd recomdend going for something in the middle. I've got poineer Axis-8's which have done me nicely, thery have now been replaced by the axis 9's. The axis-8 and axis-9's are more sensitive than the 100's in my experience - the pitch control is adjustable so you can get it to do either 25%, 12% or 6% which is nice and as for features the blow the 100's out of the water + feel allot more sensitive. I'd never want to own a pair of 100's after using my axis 8's though one advantage they have is that most parties will be using poineers so you'll know the score strait away and wont need to adjust. Though IMH it is much easier to adjust to the pioneer series after using numarks rather than the other way round.

Have a shop around and have a look over all the options - IMO the 100's are just to low spec / quality and you'd be better off spending that lil bit more an future proofing yourslef. ther 100's wont hold a beat properly over a long mix and gettingf pioneer stuff fixed the a huge headache (just ask Barclay!).

Take Care

Steve
 
Thanks for the advice people. :Smile3:
I think the cdj1000s are a bit out of my budget, although they do sound very nice. They sound a bit like a hard version of tractor dj studio,which is what I use at the moment. I don't think i could ever find that much money though. :Sad:

CDJ100s sound like quite a safe bet, but then sketchysteve just confused me even more. I guess I'll have to actually try some out and see which I prefer.

Does any one know any good entry level mixers to look out for as well?
 
If you're budgets low defo chek out numarks ... we shift loads of em and peeps generally seem pretty happy with the price vs. features.

Im fully in agreement with steve tho on this one ... if you're serious about mixing then its worth saving more or waiting and getting the best kit you can - you'll just end up junking(/breaking) the cheapo stuff at somepoint in the future and buying good stuff [strokes his 9yr and still goin strong 1210s and 4 yr pmc-06]. :Smile3:

peace,
marc
 
i bought my Axis9's on the advice of Steve. when they work they are great, very sensitive and the touch sensitive jog wheel is wicked. the cue is easy (despite what people say...thank Jules :Wink3: ) and the interface likewise. make sure you get some gaffer and cover up the bpm counters tho!!

the only problems i've encountered is the fact that mine haven't been that reliable...sent them back 3 times now...i do wonder if it's the same deck going wrong each time...anyways, been working nicely for a while now..hopefully that's the last of the problems. another problem with them is, as Steve says, most places use Pioneer. i found them really tricky to get used to. only used them once but whereas i could mix pretty flawlessly on the Numark's, i just couldn't work out the jog wheel on the pioneers. never seemed to do what i wanted it to :?
 
Or you could keep an eye open on Ebay mate.
CDJs are always up for auction on there.

The 1000s hold their price fairly well, but you'd probably be able to pick one up in the region of £500 - £650 (possibly with flighcase included)

I did see a coffin flightcase, 2xCDJ1000s and a DJM-600 mixer on there about a fortnight ago. The power supplies on all this auctions kit were US rated. But a power convertor was fitted to the coffin so it would have worked on UK mains too. The whole package was at a really silly cheapo price at the time i looked at it (I think 2 days of auction were remaining)

So buying kit from overseas may also be a more affordable way of getting what you want...

Whatever you decide to do, have fun! :Grin:

CH
 
I have a set of CDJ-100s ... they're good but, from what i hear, pioneer support is shite if you need them serviced :Sad:

Godd decks though ... prefer something a bit better some 1000s or 800s maybe ...
 
I have just upgraded my Gemini decks (don't get them) and have an interseting combination now of one Axis 9 and a Pioneer CDJ500s. Like steve said, the axis players take some getting used to as they 'operate' very differently. The 500s are sweet as a nut and hold the beat well for ages in a long mix.

So both these players are awesome and i would say if you buy a pair of axis 9s you will have a lot of fun indeed :P :P

smiles
 
IMO if your just starting up on the decks, i'd go for the 100's they are pretty cheap second hand and are easy to use. The jog wheel is quite easy to get used to, the pitch only goes to an accuracy of 0.1% but that is normally enough, u just have to keep knocking it bit if it starts to go out.

Also if you get used to these, then using other pioneeer decks(which are usually in clubs and at parties in my experience) is relativley easy and you'll be on the ball with them pretty quick. Check out www.ebay.co.uk thats where i got my from and there is usually quick a few pairs about, sometimes with a mixer as well.

Hope that helps

:Grin:
 
I find it pretty hard to swallow £750 for a cd deck. I mean what the fuck is on them that makes them that price? OK so they have a 0.1% accuracy does that really mean anything to anyone other than spec readers? So you see the waveform and you can zoom in on it, are you going to do that in a club when you're on beat up 100s?

Yes of course it's great to have the biggest the best the fastest the one with the most knobs and features but are you going to carry it wherever you're playing and diceing with someone dumping a beer all over it?

I've learned to deal with the eccentricities and failings of my cheapo Numark CDN36s. If in a couple of years I get anywhere with this lark, then I might start looking at better equipment and I will have had the experience and understanding of these devices to make an educated choice.

BTW this is an amateur talking. So if you disagree, please be gentle with me. :Wink3:
 
Goz said:
I have a set of CDJ-100s ... they're good but, from what i hear, pioneer support is shite if you need them serviced :Sad:

Godd decks though ... prefer something a bit better some 1000s or 800s maybe ...

We can service pioneers btw goz :Smile3: in fact Im seeing quite a few in fr repair cos as noice as pioneer kit is it does need to be taken care of !

peace,
marc
 
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