Yesterday I finally got my other Pioneer CDJ100S DJ cd player! I bought the other member of the pair last month. I was originally going to pick up both units at the same time, but finances have been a little weird lately. Since Michelle has been living with me, the little daily expenses have been a little larger. Picking up dinner for two people instead of one, extra bathroom stuff, and other little expenses. So, not wanting for me or Michelle to starve for a couple of weeks, I put off buying the second unit until this month.
Now I have it! – Yay!
My old CD decks have served faithfully for the last couple of years, but about two months ago, the transport on the left deck started occasionally pausing mysteriously during playback. This meant that you had to baby the cd player very carefully during any club event. The bass beat in a room could even cause a pause due to vibration. It meant that I had to watch my levels so carefully that I couldn’t concentrate on the beat match or dance floor response. I often had to kill the bass in some of my favorite tracks, and even that might not have been enough. I took the decks in for service, but spare parts for a unit as old as my Denton decks were are very hard to find.
I finally decided to break down, and drop a couple of grand on new equipment. Besides, I really wanted some of the DSP effects and a wider level of pitch control that are only available on newer units. It was time to upgrade.
So I bought the new units from Masterplan. Although Masterplan is not the cheapest place in town for equipment, the staff are really nice, and actually the salesmen themselves actually perform with the equipment that they sell. That means that they will tell you honestly how various pieces of gear behave on the road, and will warn you about the oddities of any piece of equipment that you may be considering. While I was there I also found out that they should be able to get me parts to give the old Denons a repair and a good tune up.
I am in love with the new units! They are almost indestructible and have a really nice feel. The huge jog dial has almost exactly the same feel as mixing with vinyl. You get a lot more sensitivity and control than you ever had with my old rack mounted units. The ease of chase mixing with them is phenomenal. It will take a little while for me to get used to the sensitivity of them however. They have a much faster response than older units I have worked with, so I have a tendency to be a little heavy handed when trying to give a burst of kick or drag to a track.
I spent about 3 hours with them last night, practicing old tricks I used to be able to do on the Denons. Looping is a bit different and playback speed from a cue point is a bit slower than on the older units, but having the DSP effects on the unit allows me to hide all but the worst train wreck mixes.
The Pioneers are the same model that Issac uses for Sanctuary, and that I used for spinning the night of the And One and Covenant concert. I fell in love with them that night. They are a bit weird to get used to if you are used to the rack mounted types. They cue very differently and are far more responsive, so if you are not used to them, everything seems far to sensitive.
Michelle has tried using them a few times and although she likes them, she isn’t comfor