Pioneer Electronics has released the information on its brand new set of CDJ styled decks. CDJs are the brand of CD players from Pioneer, but with the new evolution of CDJs, that name is about to change. It has announced the upcoming release of the XDJ-1000, which boats the iconic Pioneer jogwheel, where one can scratch and adjust the time of the song and has many of the same features like cue points and sync. However there are two main changes that will be added to the XDJ-1000. It is CD-less and will be a touch screen with a QWERTY keyboard that makes song selection much easier.
The 7-inch touch screen with a QWERTY keyboard makes it easy to find songs in your selection on the fly without having to toggle various playlists. It is Recordbox capable, the new technology that Pioneer has been pushing in its decks. It helps with setlist preparation by saving cue and loop points in addition to managing track selection. It saves what you played that night, including the order of the music played and how it was altered with cue points etc. It is a big push as more artists are looking to collect royalties from live performances and this a potential way for DJs to record and report set lists that can be used for royalty payments.
Rival manufacturer Native Instruments' brand of hardware Traktor appears to not be compatible at this point, which poses some problems. As Digital DJ Tips points out, "One solution would be for HID Traktor compatibility with this new ecosystem, if the politics of the both companies would allow that to happen. It has in the recent past, so no reason why not."
It is listed on Pioneer's website for a suggested price of $999, half the price of the CDJ-2000NXS, which will make this more accessible for the modern DJ that does not travel with CDs on tour. Watch the tutorial below to get a better feel for the XDJ-1000 and how it may impact the DJ industry. Pioneer has always been on the cutting edge, as Above & Beyond have noted, and this is another way they continue to push the envelope.
