Pioneer Launches First USB-Only Touch Screen Player
Pioneer DJ has launched its first touch-screen USB-only DJ player, the XDJ-1000, as part of its new line-up of digitally focused rekordbox™-ready DJ music players. This is something of a landmark, as it is essentially the first ‘CDJ’ style player from Pioneer without a CD drive.
The XDJ-1000 is also Pioneer’s first deck to utilize touch screen technology; its 7-inch full-colour LCD screen enabling quick and easy track selection, with Browse, Play and Perform tabs giving DJs intuitive control. What’s more, with a QWERTY keyboard on-screen, mobile DJs can easily search for tracks and make their selection by scrolling on-screen or using the large rotary dial. They can also choose how they view tracks: as a list, by artwork or using a custom view.
Using the free Pioneer rekordbox software (for PC and Mac) or the rekordbox app (for iOS and Android), DJs can analyse and prepare tracks, with the XDJ-1000 displaying key track information and providing instant access to any pre-prepared cues, loops and customised settings. The XDJ-1000 allows users to load tracks via USB or Wi-Fi, whether from a PC, laptop, USB key or smartphone. And mobile DJs can also benefit from the illuminated USB ports, which allow for playlists to be colour coded (e.g. red for ‘eighties pop’ and blue for ‘nineties dance’). This way, DJs can always easily identify the content of each USB key or device.
The new player boasts a familiar ‘club’ style layout and other pro DJ features, such as new quantized beat jump/loop move capabilities, all of which enable mobile DJs to get more creative with their mixing – great for those playing to younger crowds or planning to venture into club DJing.
The latest version of Pioneer’s music management software rekordbox 3 is free to download (for PC or Mac) as is the rekordbox app (for iOS and Android). The XDJ-1000 will be available from late November 2014 while Serato DJ HID support is expected to be introduced towards the end of 2014.