quoted 4 lines i've got about 400 CDs and only about 20 LPs, so i'm going to buy some CD>i've got about 400 CDs and only about 20 LPs, so i'm going to buy some CD
>decks (please spare the flames!) i'm just curious if anyone has had any
>experience with them. any reccomendations appreciated, and any URLs of
>models/makers also wanted.quoted 5 lines Yeah! I assume you're talking about those DJ dual CD players with neat>Yeah! I assume you're talking about those DJ dual CD players with neat
>features like speed control and built-in effects and scratch-like thingys.
>Anybody have one of these decks? What can they do? Are they fun to fiddle
>with at home? Are they useful for playing live gigs? What's the story on
>these babys?
I managed to borrow a mate's set of Pioneer CDJ-500s which had the proper
Pioneer
mixer too. I have to say they are excellent but very pricey (the prices may
have dropped
tho).
I still think that vinyl is the ultimate mixing medium because it's so
'hands on'. The
Pioneers do have a jog wheel which is used to adjust the speed of the track
being
mixed on that deck which works very well indeed. I think that the biggest
difference
between vinyl and CD mixing is that you can cue the CD to exactly where you
want
it and use that cue point exactly and repeatedly.
That last point can be very useful indeed and is really handy in a hectic
mix if you
need to start again with the beat matching.
Something I noticed with the Pioneers is that the pitch control slider is
not
continuously variable. The decks have a digital readout of the pitch
adjustment to the
nearest 0.1 percent and when I played Ventolin (the bit with just the high
pitched tone)
I noticed that the pitch only changed when the readout changed and you
could hear
the quantisation. I suppose that's being picky but I thought you might like
to know.
The Pioneer mixer (can't remember the model) was well sorted with four
channels and
loads of effects and a BPM counter (yuk!). You could plug a 1/16" plug from
each deck
to the mixer for auto-cueing with the cross-fade.
I have also used some cheaper Denon CD mixing decks which had a very crude
way
of adjusting the pitch. You had a slider as usual and also two buttons
which were
pushed to bend the pitch up or down. It did work well though in combination
with the
slider.
In summary I'd say that the CD and vinyl mixing debate is very similar to
just casual
listening on both the formats. You can get excellent results with both,
each one has it's
own advantages and there will always be people who prefer one or the other.
Take your pick.
Hope you all had a great new year
-Ed