Pioneer XDJ-RX

[djdest]

Anyone else got one? After the best part of 25 years mixing on Technics I fancied a new challenge, and this was it!
I've only had it 3 days and what an awesome bit of kit it is, very very impressed so far

[Squirrelofwoe]

I looked at these when they first came out, thought it might be a useful tool for our mobile discos- but decided that as we pretty much 'need' the browsing capability of laptops we were better off sticking with dedicated midi controllers (a Denon mc6000mk2 and a Zomo mc1000).

I then figured I'd try to justify one for my 'non-mobile' stuff- but with a pair of Technics, a pair of CDJs, and a 4 channel mixer (as well as the above controllers) already it would have been the very definition of a frivolous purchase!

One thing that still grates though is the ridiculous 'Pioneer tax'. I mean it's a great piece of kit in terms of capability, but up close it really does look like a piece of cheap plastic that cost a couple of hundred £ to produce, which then gets retailed for almost £1,200!

But that is true of all of their modern DJ kit (since the CDJ-1000s). I owned a pair of CDJ-900s for a while back in 2012 and the cheapness and general fragility of a pair of players that cost me the best part of £2,000 was eye opening to say the least- I remember the boxes turning up and wondering if there was actually anything in them! Great fun to use, but until their pricing leaves cloud cuckoo land I'll be sticking with other manufacturers.

[tobinen]

Looks great. I'm looking for a low-cost laptop set-up so not in that budget.

I am also coming from a pair of 1200s. I was looking for a Linux compatible system as that's what I run at home (e.g. maxxx.org plus a suitable USB soundcard anduse my existing 1200s) but a friend of mine who runs Serato and a Windows laptop is putting me off citing poor stability issues.

[Squirrelofwoe]

tobinen said:

Looks great. I'm looking for a low-cost laptop set-up so not in that budget.

I am also coming from a pair of 1200s. I was looking for a Linux compatible system as that's what I run at home (e.g. maxxx.org plus a suitable USB soundcard and use my existing 1200s) but a friend of mine who runs Serato and a Windows laptop is putting me off citing poor stability issues.

Serato has had well documented issues with some AMD based systems- I'm pretty sure it even says so in the system requirements section- if it's still a problem after all this time I would say that's quite poor on Serato's part.

That said, my colleague (we run a mobile disco company) uses Serato on an Intel based Windows laptop and has done so for some time with no issues whatsoever (this has included weddings etc where even the hint of an instability issue cannot be tolerated). Likewise I run Traktor on my Windows intel laptop with no issues.

In my experience it comes more down to the laptop itself than issues with the software (the Serato/AMD issue aside). If you have a clean laptop that you dedicate to DJing, keep it up to date etc, all 3 of the major DJ software should run absolutely fine. None are particularly demanding to run.

Most people that run into issues invariably seem to be trying to use their 'do-everything' laptop for DJing. I would always treat the laptop as a dedicated purchase as with any other piece of DJ hardware, and it should be fine- it's perhaps not so important if it's just for home use, but for live performing I would say it's essential.

For what it's worth both of our laptops are simple mid-spec ACER jobs with intel i5s running Win-8, that cost around £450 each. They are due to be upgraded next year when they will be 3 years old, but they are still performing great.

A 'behind the scenes' view of our setup showing the laptops/controllers we use:



And the front

Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Thursday 26th November 15:25

[tobinen]

Just to clarify, it was Linux he was slating a bit, not Serato/windows.

As mixxx is freeware it's probably worth a trial but I'd need a decent USB soundcard.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a 2nd hand laptop with Serato/traktor as a bundle.

[gizlaroc]

tobinen said:

Just to clarify, it was Linux he was slating a bit, not Serato/windows.

As mixxx is freeware it's probably worth a trial but I'd need a decent USB soundcard.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a 2nd hand laptop with Serato/traktor as a bundle.

Serato is free, the license is opened up by adding a compatible controller/mixer.

[tobinen]

Didn't know that, so thank you. Hmm.