WHY I Only Seem to Use Pioneer DJ Kit and WHY I Like to Use It Above Other Companies

0:00 First of all, my disclaimer

Right, I'm not going to say this is the definitive video that you should listen to, follow and make your choices from, but what I am going to do is give you some of my honest advice. Now first of all, my disclaimer. Many, many years ago, in fact 2006, not mentioning any particular names, but a certain person from Pioneer contacted me and said, Jonathan we like what you're doing, we'd like to send you some kit. And I had some Pioneer kits sent me. Now prior to that, before or after, I'm not sure, I also had from another company, I had some Vestax kits sent me. So what happened then was a couple of people, some companies liked the idea of investing, not money, but kit. In to my YouTube work because they then saw the potential simply because I would be using the kit, demos, tutorials, people would see me using it and think oh I like what he's doing there with that kit. I can see what he's doing, he's explaining how to use the kit so then when a few viewers bought that kit they would already know how to use it.

Now, over the time, other companies have sent me items, but what has happened is certain other companies have sent me a few items and then thought, we're not going to send you anything else. Fair enough. So, right, that's where Pioneer comes in, all right? Because I take my hat off to Pioneer because they have stood by me through thick and thin, okay? Through the good times and the bad times, there's been... When I say disagreements, I mean not really I've upset them or vice versa. It's just that it's been like one of these relationships that sort of comes and goes, but I'm still here. They still send me kit. Now part of the disclaimer here is a lot of the kit you see me use from Pioneer, I have been sent for free. I have not paid any money for that kit, but...

2:42 How it works for many years

They haven't just sent it to me and said, there you go, have some kit and goodbye. At the end of the day, the free bit, there's two ways of looking at it. One is that I haven't physically paid money for it, most of it. Some little bits I have bought. OK, as you will know, I bought secondhand Pioneer kit. But what I have... Done. And there is this kind of verbal agreement whereby I will use the kit online and I'll give demos, tutorials and explain how it works for many years to come. So really, it isn't for free because I've had to work for that kit. And also because I've been doing demos and tutorials on YouTube, Facebook and God knows what for like 14 odd years now. I mean, part of the family in a way. I don't work for Pioneer.

But I do enjoy using their kit because it's frigging good. All right, that is it. So, right, that's the sort of disclaimer out the way now about kit that maybe you're interested in buying or purchasing. Now, first of all, if you don't have much money and you're on a budget then and you've got like two, three hundred pounds, euros or dollars and you're desperate, you're desperate to get that piece of kit. Go with the DDJ-400. You can't go wrong with it, OK? It's pretty much plug and play. Plug it into your laptop and you've got all the functions of a good setup. Maybe it's small, maybe the pitches are small, so if they are, sorry not if they are, make sure you set the percentage to 6 or 10%, anything above that and you're going to find it difficult to beatmatch. So stick, if I were you I'd stick to 6%. Now the DDJ-400 is great for the complete beginner who just wants to understand a bit of DJing.

5:11 The controllers, because prior to that you needed laptops and all sort

But having said that, if you're a bit of a party goer, you're not really a DJ and you just want some fun when your mates come around, get smashed, have a few joints and just like play loads of loud music, have a look at the DDJ-200 because anyone can turn up with the phone, Bluetooth it and play some tunes so long as they've got the correct app, of course. So that's something really for the party goer. I wouldn't take the DDJ-200 to a gig. Definitely not. On the other hand, I would take the... Many years ago, Pioneer came up with the XDJ-RX. Now, in my eyes and a lot of other people, that revolutionised. The controllers, because prior to that you needed laptops and all sorts. The Pioneer XDJ-RX you didn't. You could just plug your USB in and off you went. That was it. It was amazing. I love that piece of kit. The downsides were small jog wheels. They were very easy to move. You had to understand and you had to have time in getting used to them.

But it was still a great piece of kit. RX2 came out, that was great, more pads on it and also instead of having one plug for plugging in on the RX original, maybe a CDJ or you'd have to take that out and plug a vinyl in and have a switch. The RX2, you could just plug a set of CDJs in and you could plug vinyl in without having to mess around with cables. A few more features as well. But the RX2 was great. Now, of course, they've got the XZ. And what the XZ is like is a little bit like the RX2 on steroids. Now, when you consider that the Nexus setup is £6,000. Now, that's a lot of money. Alright? It's a hell of a lot of money. Alright? You can buy a family car for that. Yet, if you get the likes of the XZ, you have pretty much got the exact setup in front of you.

Okay, it's there. Also, four channels, so unlike the RX2 where you had to switch from maybe your laptop to maybe USB to then to CDJ and then to vinyl with the XZ, you've got it all there. Now some people are saying, well, why is the XZ... 4 channel when you can only use 2 channels on USB. So you plug your USB into the XZ and how come it's only 2 channel? Why can't you layer like the Denon? Well, the only reason they've done that is because there are 2 decks, 2 in the middle for your USB, 2 on the outside for external sources. But, if you didn't realise, you can, if you want to, use... The one of the channels on from the USB, there's a little way around it and I will sort of try and explain. So if you've got the XE, try this. What you do is you go into, what's it mode? It is roll. That's it. Is it roll? Roll. It's roll. So going to roll on the effects and for example then set. So say for example you are playing

8:18 Other tracks and start playing

Two songs, so you're playing two songs, you've got them mashed up. Go into roll, switch the switch to master, engage the roll, record that roll while the two tracks are playing, maybe two bars, and then once that roll has finished recording the two bars, I'm saying this relatively quickly but if anyone's got the RX, sorry the XZ will understand where I'm going. And then the switch from master, switch it to say channel 4 on the other side. Yeah, channel 4. And then what will happen is those two tracks that you've got on the middle channels will flip over to the fourth channel. So you've now taken those two tracks onto the fourth channel which means then the two channels in the middle from the USB you can now bring in...

Other tracks and start playing. So in a way you can go from your USB and play a track on another channel, but there's just a little way around it. All right. So why do I like the XZ? It's because it's exactly like the Nexus setup. All right. It isn't exactly like it. Maybe there are many features, internal features that are very different, but Jog wheels big, touch sensitive, you've got the jog adjust on there, you've got the touch pads and I honestly feel that the touch pads on the XZ and the RX Mark II are much better than the Nexus setup because with the Nexus setup if you want to do some hot cues especially with the Nexus Mark II you've got to layer it so you've got to remember press a button are you on the first layer or the second layer to get up to the hot cues you want.

Whereas with the RX2 and the XZ, there's eight pads. They're right in front of you. They're big, bold, in your face. You press them, away you go. Also, it's all-in-one. If you think about it, you spend £6,000 on the Nexus setup and you've got three units. You've got to plug them all in, three power cables, all the cables connecting and so on. Whereas with the XZ, you plug the power in, you put your USB in... You put your output from, or the line out from the XE into your speakers and away you go. One flight case, a few people have said it's heavy. Well, yeah, I mean what would you prefer? To be very light and think what's inside here? A silicon chip and a power supply? No, the reason it's heavy is because there's a lot going on in there which is what you want.

10:42 Track, private, mark

This is another reason why I like the XZ. And I've always stood by the RX Mark 1, and then the RX Mark 2 came out, which was the RX1 on, like, steroids. And now the XZ's come out, and the XZ is now looking down at its little brother and sister, the RX2, and going, you're still good, you still do the job, but I'm a little bit better. And I guarantee you, if the top professional DJs went into any nightclub around the world and they had in front of them the XZ, they may go, well, but they wouldn't complain because it's a bloody good piece of kit. And also, I would be happy to see the XZ in a nightclub and a couple of CDJs either side. And to be quite honest, even if they were the Nexus Mark IIs or the next generation of Pioneer kit...

What you've got in front of you is all you really need. That's it. It's all you really need. Now, most DJs out there will mix track one into track two. And everyone seems to think you've got to have three or four players to be any good, to show your balls are big. But you don't really have to. A good set, a good mix is about track selection, not about how many tracks you can get rolling at the same time. That's just being pig ignorant and stupid. I'm going to finish this video off with a question. And I want you to think about this first. And I say this, and by the way, I am still giving lessons. So if anyone is interested, there is an email down below. Send me an email and we can start having one-to-one private...

Lessons through the medium of Facebook private message. And bearing in mind, it is private and confidential. I don't give any information away about any person at all. Don't care who the hell you are, where you're from. I couldn't give a monkey's if you've got five faces and three heads and one leg. It doesn't bother me. It's about the music. So let me ask you a question. Would you agree that you mix track one... I'm not going to tell you why in this video. I'm not going to explain. I'm going to probably explain in a future video, but you indeed mix track number one into track number three. I'll let you have a think about that. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.