In the mix at Musikmesse in hall 5.1 alongside other scene leaders such as Ableton, Apple and UDG, Pioneer hosted a grand stand in order to introduce the latest equipment. This included the exciting new digital DJ mixers, the DJM-400 and DJM-800, as well as the new range of CDJ CD decks, the CDJ-800Mk2s and CDJ-1000Mk3s. Aside from this future-proof DJ hardware, Pioneer's new DJS software was also available for examination alongside the new industrial strength DVD player, the robust and reliable DVD-V8000.
Fresh from Pioneer's factory after being developed, tested and warmly welcomed by world class DJs everywhere, these new tools (along with more established Pioneer success stories such as the DJM-1000 mixer, the EFX-1000 effects unit, the hybrid DVJ-X1 DVD/CD decks and the plasma viewing screens) triumphed in drawing huge crowds to the stand. Pioneer's products also featured heavily on countless other stands during the event.
Rocking the state-of-the-art Pioneer Pro D(V)J booth throughout the thrilling four days were James Zabiela, Dan Tait, DJ Joss & DJ Cosmic, Project X1 (Maui & Marco/Flying Dutchman) and Woody van Eyden & Alex Morph, as DJSounds.com collected their thoughts.
After assisting with the development of the DJ products, including the remarkable DJM-800, golden-eared technical wizard Zabiela was, of course, present to stretch the potential of the new equipment with some typically rigorous workouts. Following his head-spinning presentations of what DJing in a digital age means, he remarked upon the DJM-800's MIDI capacity and his latest 'eureka' moment: "I am now using a MIDI template that I recently created within Ableton Live 5. You route the sound into two dummy channels, which are both assigned to cross fader side A, and then send all outputs from Ableton's effects channels to cross fader B. So then all you have to do is plug your two sound card outputs back into two channels on the mixer and then assign a MIDI channel to the cross fader so it switches from A to B in Ableton. Therefore with the fluid touch of a button you can change the mixer from using Pioneer's onboard effects into a mixer where you can use Ableton's effects too, which is great."
Following his intense DJ and DVJ (audio-visual) demonstrations, house music aficionado Dan Tait said: "Pioneer's new mixers and CDJs are great because they acknowledge this new breed of DJ without losing sight of what makes the gear great: a superb sounding mix of innovation and simplicity to enhance creativity and performance. I love the DJM-800 as it is such a fun, versatile mixer that's suited to so many tastes and styles with its awesome effects and fantastic sound, while the new CDJ-1000Mk3 is a natural evolution of an industry standard."
(Chris Henry)
