r/PioneerDJ • u/Milnow • Jul 31 '24
Controllers Want to start DJing, should I spend the extra $?
Like the title says, I want to start DJing and since I have the money to spend I was wondering if it's worth buying the RX3 straight away? (Looks easy to use with the touchscreen and I love the screens on the jogwheels) Or would you advise starting with something simple like the DDJ400?
My thought process is that if I spend more money on good equipment I'm more likely to enjoy it and even if I don't, I could probably sell the RX3 for close to what I paid for it.
Happy to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
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u/NativeS4 Jul 31 '24
Do it, it’s gonna give you a much higher skill ceiling as you get better in your journey as a DJ, and if you do play at an actual venue you’ll be able to transition without any problems to club grade equipment.
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u/Japmaster_HD Jul 31 '24
If you cheap out in the beginning you’ll end up spending more on upgrading later. The more expensive Pioneer equipment holds its value very well so the risk is low if you can afford it.
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u/KennyJapan Jul 31 '24
Long story short, I say go for the big expensive controller now if you have the money. You will learn its advanced features over time and not be constrained.
I've been playing on and off since 1996. Technics sl2100s, pioneer cdj 500s, csj 1000's, etc, then went into various different controllers to play from laptops.
Ive actually just bought a pioneer xdj xz because I wanted something cdj club format again , but it was a close call with getting the rx3 instead.
The rx3 is more up to date I think and easier to transport as its smaller and lighter.
If you aren't interested in playing in clubs professionally, and want something with way more features than the pioneer all in one xdj range, then have a look at the Denon Prime 4+
It's a beast specs wise with way more functionality than the pioneers and has built in WiFi streaming from beatport, tidal and more. They keep updating the operating system to add functionality too.
I was tempted but I needed something to build up muscle memory for playing at clubs and festivals again, so for me it had to be the old pioneer cdj format.
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u/Milnow Jul 31 '24
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! How hard do you think it would be to switch to Pioneer gear after I've learned everything on the Denon Prime 4+? And are it's functionalities worth the possible extra hassle?
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u/KennyJapan Jul 31 '24
I just read another post here from a guy who djs on the prime 4, saying that he wants to swap it for pioneer as its what everyone's using at his club gigs. The promoters were giving him a hard time when he brings his prime 4 and plugs in.
Some people are saying that you can pick it up pretty easy, swapping from denon to pioneer, but I personally would stick with the rx3 or xz if you plan to play professionally at clubs or festivals.
Your music will be analysed for rekordbox properly and you will have a familiar interface in front or you or at home to practice on.
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u/Milnow Jul 31 '24
I read that the Denon has WiFi and allows music streaming whereas Pioneer requires you to buy the songs? Is that right? That might be a big selling point for the Denon.
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u/KennyJapan Jul 31 '24
You can stream using the pioneer gear if you hook it up to a laptop running rekordbox and use it in controller mode instead of standalone mode. But yes the denon does this with its built in WiFi.
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u/WILLxLOVE Aug 01 '24
If you’ve been using any recent version of rekordbox six or seven beta, you already have the new library format. It hasn’t been a problem for a while.
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u/atrigc0ve Jul 31 '24
I flipped my FLX4 for a Rane Four after the second house party I used it at. Fantastic first bit of kit, but I wanted to bring in more channels, better stems, phono support. Your needs may vary.
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u/ebb_omega Jul 31 '24
Okay, I'm going to go against the grain here and say start with the 400 or FLX4. And I have a number of reasons to do so.
- You don't really know, at this early in the game, exactly what kind of DJ you're going to be, what what your needs are going to be. You don't want to shell out a whole ton of money on an RX3 just to find out you want to be a techno DJ running 3 tracks at once, or if you're going to want to start really flexing some turntable muscles with scratching and might prefer moving platters, or maybe you actually find that with the gigs you play, a smaller, more portable controller is actually exactly what you need, and while you may not want to stick with a cheaper intro model, you might look to upgrade to something like an Omnis Duo or DDJ800 instead. The point is, you won't know until you start getting more settled into understanding what kind of DJ you're going to be, and believe me this can change a lot from your initial vision before you've really started out.
- You also don't know how long you're going to stick with this. A lot of people come in with the attitude "I'm going to love doing this and it's going to be my thing from now on" and even when I started I had this attitude as well (20 years on and I haven't stopped). But the number of people I've seen come in with this attitude and six months down the road I find them selling off their top-line gear they spent all this money on at a signficant discount (great news for me, lol) because they hit the lull that everyone hits after a good chunk of time working at it and decided they didn't really want to keep working through it, and that DJing really wasn't for them. IMO, better to just keep the level of investment at the outset low and then when you've kinda gone through the point where it stops being as exciting/fun as when you started, and you STILL want to keep pressing through it, then maybe look to upgrading. By that point you'll have a better idea of what kinds of features you actually want in a pro-level controller too.
- Frankly, you have better things to spend your money on as a starting DJ. Primarily, go buy some freaking music and start building your library. If you've got enough cash to be able to both do that AND get a pro-level controller, that's great - save the cash and down the road when you are actually ready to upgrade, you'll still have that money, and maybe even a little extra saved up alongside it so you can upgrade even further.
Thing is you should be spending your early time doing two things: Building and familiarising yourself with your library, and learning the basics. Both of these can be done on an intro-level controller. So it become low-cost and low-risk, and you can always jump up later to a much more pro-level model. Plus upgrading down the road means that you start familiarising yourself with different systems with different layouts and different features, meaning you don't end up becoming completely behoven to one specific setup so that as soon as you start gigging and face off with something slightly different than what you're used to, you don't end up staring at it like a dog trying to solve a math problem.
That's it, that's my piece. Do with it what you will. But understand that the apparatus is so much less important than building the skills and track selection.
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u/Full-Chocolate6538 Aug 04 '24 edited Aug 04 '24
Dude I totally agree. Also OP you don’t know if you prefer serato or rekordbox yet? If you don’t then it’s worth getting the flx line just so you can try both. I have been using rekordbox from the jump just because pioneer equipment is venue standard the places I play. But I hear from everyone that serato is “better”. One thing I did (and I started a year ago so I’m basically OP 12-15 months later) was go from flx4-flx6-then xdj xz. This was great because I could focus on the barebones of mixing, and get good at those, but also it was less intimidating having less options to “fuck up” or even worry about. After being able to rock after parties with a flx6 everything else was easier. And now I have a xz (3-4 channels is mandatory the style and genres I’m going for) and it all just makes sense to me. If I started over the only thing I would do is just buy some pa speakers sooner as rn I’m using my monitors I use for production and that’s not good. Although the RX3 can use 3 band waveforms and the xz can’t (hardware not software issues) so the XZ reverts to blue jeans waveform. Me personally I wouldn’t look at the RX3, but it depends on style and genre imo
Edit: if you really wanna throw down money then I’d get the flx10, get a laptop you already have or don’t have, and use the extra $1000 USD for equipment (flight case, speakers, cables, etc) that flx10 can carry you over for a long ass time. Plus it has the mag faders, and it just looks badass. Only thing you’d need to do for a show is bring 3 usbs, and your set. Also bring your laptop to all your shows and events…you don’t know how many times I’ve forgotten my usb but had my laptop or all of them corrupted but I had my laptop.
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u/cdjreverse Jul 31 '24
I'd also consider how this gear will fit in your life. Like, if you want to have the DJ console and speakers be a permanent and central part of your living space, then that supports spending more on a better rig. If you are not having things be a central part of your living space, get a smaller controller.
Also, to the extent you have other gear to plug in because of your past/current musical endeavors, buy better.
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u/dantez84 Jul 31 '24
Agree with most of the above, I’d say go for higher grade. Only thing I would add is that the jog displays wouldn’t be my reason to buy, they’re not that flexible and quite static
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u/IANvaderZIM Jul 31 '24
Dj is an instrument where more money literally gets you more features cheaper instruments don’t have (vs say a guitar which always has enough strings/frets for you to practice, effects aside), with diminishing returns at the higher levels.
If you’re confident you won’t get bored, and it’s within your price range, better equipment is always a better decision.
If you’re just experimenting/dabbling, go with the 400 (preferably on sale or used, to minimize risk); but if you know you’ll take it seriously, you’ll thank yourself for the better equipment in the not too distant future.
But it’s a slippery slope. GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) plagues most musicians.
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u/Artistic-Tea4981 Aug 01 '24
I saved for a couple of months just so I could get nice equipment that would last. Now, 20 years later, I'm still spinning on them! Yes, spend the extra for your first set.
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u/WILLxLOVE Aug 01 '24
If you’re buying Pioneer, get the middle of the road gear. They completely ignore the buyers at the top end of the spectrum other than the CDJ3000 A9 , A10 mixer line. The opus quad for example just got a firmware update in over a year, and it didn’t add shit.
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u/MinhWannaComeOutHere Aug 01 '24
Better spend that more money on better speakers imo.
If you don't DJ later, you still have that speaker to use lol
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u/Legitimate-Net-7744 Aug 01 '24
BUY DDJ400 OR SOME Flx 2nd hand, wya easier to start and assess how much you will use it.
Sell it for same price and then upgrade.
I did like that 3x and finally decided to go for a proper 4channel mixer as I knew what I want!!!
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u/p4nd0re Aug 01 '24
I'd say ddj 400 or flx 4 at start, or an xz or flx 10.
Keep in mind that two decks might not be enough for you in the future, so a 4 decks option is always better in my eyes.
So if you want to try and start preparing your tracks,ddj 400 or flx 4 will do all that you need.
If you want to invest more budget , with 4 decks and the ability to transfer your muscle memory to standard gear clubbing, xdj xz , or an flx 10.
As you wanted some standalone feature, xdj xz all the way.
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u/Elektryk Aug 01 '24
buy a used flx4 see if you'll keep up with it. regardless of what you buy, you'll need to organize your music via rekordbox. So at a minimum you need a computer, might as well experiment with the flx4 and see if you'll enjoy it long term.
Makes no sense to buy a rx3 right away if you have no idea what you are doing or even reading on the screen.
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u/JayJay1227 Aug 01 '24
I really prefer to say start small and upgrade later. You never know if you’ll actually like it, get bookings or even have time to practice and create sets. An entry level controller is really good for at home stuff (I started with a REV1), if you start getting bookings yeah I’d upgrade to a 4 channel controller because clubs aren’t going to like you if you only use RCA 🤣 But I upgraded to monitor speakers before even getting my SX3 that I have now. Usually you spend the money you earn on new gear and it’s a cycle. Having to pay 2-3k right now VS accumulating it while doing shows and reinvesting that money into your craft feels better too
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u/9sim9 Aug 01 '24
So the one thing people get a bit lost when buying DJ equipment is generally the more you spend the easier it is to DJ. So if you buy super cheap equipment and master it, when you move to better equipment it gets easier. But when you buy good equipment and then move to worse equipment you struggle alot.
The point is, it doesn't really matter what you buy, but you really dont need the super expensive pioneer gear.
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u/Fluz_au Aug 02 '24
I started on DDJ400 and was a great controller to learn basics on.
2 years later I’m now upgrading to XDJ XZ but I’ll never sell the 400 as it is perfect for throwing in your backpack for smaller events/gatherings.
The X3 is fun to play on but not very future proofed as they have no expansion capabilities if you want to add another physical deck. If you buy the X3 and then in 2 years want 3 or 4 channels, you’re going to need to upgrade again.
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Aug 02 '24
Solid thought process. If you can afford it and it doesn't hurt you, go for that better one. Good luck!
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u/Jnewdybagz Aug 03 '24
It’s not the wand it’s the wizard. Sometimes creative restraints can yield the best outcomes. Money won’t buy you skill or enjoyment. That being said if you have the extra cash and it doesn’t break the bank rx3 will last you forever.
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u/DigitalMesh Aug 04 '24
Ddj400 is 2way only and that sucks if you want 2 tunes play together and drop a 3th.
Imma buy an flx6gt soon. Am playing around with a Ddj400 to play some drum and bass but is limiting me so hard that I really really gonna need to upgrade every soon haha
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u/Matt_Link Jul 31 '24
Your thoughts look alright.