CDJ-ing in 2014: A Brief Guide to Pioneer’s Nexus Line-up
CDJ-900 NXS vs 900mk1
With the 900NXS, the most immediate update comes in the form of the new shiny colour screen from the 2000. Apart from that we have the following:
New looping workflow: loop buttons now present a “loop roll” style feature, rather than the traditional looping from before. There is also a one hit “4-beat loop” button, similar to the 2000.
Phase metering (just like the 2000NXS, to help you out on those strange sounding songs, or to make you use your ears even less)
Beat Sync (like the 2000NXS)
Active Looping (To catch a loop towards the end of a song in case you get caught out)
Wi-fi connectivity (Syncing with rekordbox libraries on PC and phone/tablet devices without a cable)
4 deck sync/source sharing - Helping all those “Carl Cox/Roger Sanchez in the making” peeps, although from videos I’ve seen of their performances, they seem not to use this.
CDJ-900NXS vs 2000NXS
And to compare with the big-boy 2000NXS, we have the following:
No Hot Cue buttons ( WHY PIONEER!)
No Angled Screen: This seems like a downgrade from the 900-mk1, and although it makes for a sexier looking deck, the angled screen really helps when looking in glary/daylight situations.
No SD Slot: not a major loss, but the preference does seem to be SD cards where possible. The more secure insertion point seems to be the main reason here.
No touchstrip for needle search/looping: This isn’t a major loss, since we still have the old “Hold FF+spin platter” trick to scan through the tracks quickly.
Spin up/Brake time adjust is on one knob instead of two
No Light around the edge of the platter: Not important, but it certainly is handy on the 2000 when you’re playing live and need to check which deck/s are live at a glance.
No Jog Wheel adjust: The weighting on the platter is quite serviceable, so this is mainly a downer for those “heavy platter” DJ’s.
Most of these differences are quite minor, although the lack of hot cues will piss off many people. On Mark Settle’s DJWORX article on this release (see here), he also lamented the lack of these. When every single competitor product on the market (including Pioneer’s own controller line) has them, why leave them out on the second best player you sell?! We can only hope that the cheeky little relocation of the labelling on the top function buttons to the screen mean they may serve a second purpose in future.
Despite this, I think the 900NXS is a no brainer now for new buyers. Superior to the CDJ-850 and CDJ-900mk1, and losing very little in the way of functionality to the 2000NXS, the 900NXS should be priced far enough below the 2000NXS that it should move many units. No news on Australian pricing as yet, but will update once they are released here.
Finally: Credit where credit is due – pretty awesome showcase video from Friction here:
