A DJ is a person who mixes songs to entertain people. There are many instruments that can be used to mix the songs for eg. a controller, xdj, mixer, cdj, etc. CDJ is one of that equipment from which a DJ mixes the song. A CDJ is a digital music player for DJs and DJing. Its full form is Compact Disc Jockey.
Typically two CDJ’s are plugged in a DJ mixer for mixing the songs. Music can be played on the cdj from cd, Pendrive, laptop, memory card. Along with a CDJ, you can connect it with a mixer, speakers, laptop, Software, etc. Software that can be used with the instruments is Rekorbox, Serato, Virtual DJ, Traktor. Rekordbox is the pioneer inbuilt software.
Numerous sound companies such as Gemini Sound products, Numark IndustriesDenon, Stanton Magnetics, and Vestax produced DJ quality CD Players. Currently, Pioneer DJ CD players are now the most commonly found in dance clubs and are seen as the industry standard by many DJs.
The most important features of a cdj are the play pause button, cue button, jog wheel, pitch range, track search or search, hot cues, time mode, autocue etc. which are mostly present in all the CDJs from CDJ 300 to CDJ 3000
List of Pioneer CDJs
- CDJ 100s – It was released in early 1998. It had a jog wheel, pitch controller, and three sound effects. CDJ 200 – It was released in the year 2004. It was similar to CDJ 100s with some added functionalities such as mp3 support and looping. It also had a jog wheel, pitch controller, and three sound effects – Jet-Zip-Wah.
- CDJ 400 – It was released in the year 2007. It was an update to the CDJ 200 with scratching abilities and more effects. It was the pioneer’s first model to support a USB input. DJ software compatibility and MIDI controller were also included in this CDJ 400.
- CDJ 500 (known as Mark 1) is known as the first CDJ player released by Pioneer. It was introduced in the year 1994. It was the first to have a live cue and a live loop feature.
- CDJ 500-2 was released later. It was almost similar to CDJ 500 mark 1, with only a few changes and faster performance
- CDJ 800 was introduced in the year 2002 as a budget version. It could perform a quick return – scratch the same sound repeatedly, without rescuing it every time. It discontinued in February 2006. The updated version CDJ 800MK2 was introduced after CDJ 800. In CDJ 800 MK2 the design was changed from the CDJ 800 also it can play the mp3 files from CDs
- CDJ 850 had major changes over CDJ 800 MK2. The design was similar to a CDJ 900 or 2000. Now we can also use rekordbox in CDJ 850
- CDJ 900 was the much-needed player that had many changes over the old CDJs. It was simultaneously released with CDJ 2000. CDJ 900 had a big screen, USB support, full-color LCD screen, etc.
- CDJ 1000 was introduced in the year 2001 was been said the first cd player that accurately emulates a vinyl turntable.
- CDJ – 1000 mk2 is an updated version of the CDJ 1000. It was released in July 2003. It had improved features over the CDJ 1000. Later it was discontinued to give rise to CDJ 1000 mk3
- CDJ – 1000 mk3 was introduced in March 2006. Additional features such as improved waveforms, hot cues, etc. It was discontinued after the introduction of the CDJ 900 and CDJ 2000.
- CDJ-2000 MK1 was introduced simultaneously with the CDJ 900 in September 2009. It was meant to replace the older CDJ 1000 mk3. After 3 years in the year 2012, it was discontinued and got replaced by the latest CDJ 2000 nexus
- CDJ 2000 was introduced in the year 2012 and nexus had better features such as support to record box software, mast sync, slip, etc. It was discontinued to introduce CDJ 2000 nexus 2
- CDJ 2000 Nexus 2 was introduced in the year 2016 and it had additional features such as more hot cues, track filter, shortcut, etc.
- It was the latest until September 2020 when the pioneer announced the new CDJ 3000.
It might be the all in one controller CMX-3000, CMX- 5000, MEP-7000
DMP – 555 was introduced in the year 2004. It had innovative features such as playback from sd and unique ability to playback and cue from the same unit.
DVJ – X1 was introduced in the year 2004 which allowed to scratch and mix video like a vinyl record.
It allowed instant hot cueing and digital video scratching.
DVJ – 1000 was a successor to DVJ X1 introduced in the year 2006. It was the successor to DVJ X!
If we talk about the latest CDJ – 3000 there are more than 35 buttons and the uses.
We will talk about the basic buttons required to mix a song
Great article.