Chords for Review: Pioneer DDJ-SX2 Controller
Tempo:
94.25 bpm
Chords used:
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Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Jam Along & Learn...
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Hey everyone, it's Mojax here in the DJ City UK lab.
Pioneer really was quite groundbreaking in many ways.
did, but this was one of the first controllers out
yeah, I could use a controller.
sort of layout and style
thousands and thousands of units around the world.
that eventually Pioneer would come along with a replacement, a revision
Hey everyone, it's Mojax here in the DJ City UK lab.
Pioneer really was quite groundbreaking in many ways.
did, but this was one of the first controllers out
yeah, I could use a controller.
sort of layout and style
thousands and thousands of units around the world.
that eventually Pioneer would come along with a replacement, a revision
100% ➙ 94BPM
Eb
G
Bb
Fm
Gm
Eb
G
Bb
[Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
Hey everyone, it's Mojax here in the DJ City UK lab.
Now the original DDJ [N]-SX from Pioneer really was quite groundbreaking in many ways.
Not in terms of what it actually did, but this was one of the first controllers out
there that got a lot of DJs to think, yeah, I could use a controller.
They took a look at this and they were familiar and it's the Pioneer sort of layout and style
that they're used to and it really was a massive hit.
It sold thousands and thousands of units around the world.
Yeah, massively popular.
It was natural of course that eventually Pioneer would come along with a replacement, a revision
of it and so we have now the DDJ [Eb]-SX2 which is what we're going to look at today.
Now the SX2 has been on the market now for a few months, but it hasn't really [G] received
that much coverage in terms of reviews and so on.
And I think that is because it is, yes, very much an incremental upgrade to the original
SX, but for me this is still quite an important controller because it's second in the list
on Pioneer's [Fm] controllers.
You've got the SZ at the top which is really big, really heavy and really [N] expensive.
It's great, don't get me wrong, it's really cool, but it's just not practical for your
average DJ who maybe needs just their own setup for a bar gig or for a small club where
they don't have a proper setup for you to use.
You can take the SX and now the SX2 with you, put it into just a light flight bag.
It's really portable and it still gives you all the functions that you need.
So I do really want to look at it and there are some significant improvements over the original SX.
For starters, there were some big problems with the microphone on the original SX.
That was a big deal.
People complained about that endlessly on the Serato forums.
With this now you've got much improved microphones.
I've tried three different mics on here, [G] no problems with levels on any of them.
They all just integrated very nicely.
You do still have to sacrifice a track channel to use your_
So if you've got a deck channel there, so deck 4, you could switch that to microphone
and use that for your mic.
There isn't a dedicated mic input, but nonetheless if you need a mic, [F] you've got it there.
It's much better quality [Fm] than it was before in terms of the levels and everything else.
You've got the RGB pads which are a real godsend if you're into color coding and cue points and stuff.
In Serato DJ you can change the actual color of your cue point just by right clicking and
setting it to whatever color you want and it will immediately change color for you.
That's great if you actually use a system for your cue points and so on.
That means as well that for each mode the pads will change color.
On the original SX it was blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, regardless.
So now you've got different colors for different modes.
You're not going to get lost so easily with that.
You've got extra functions in terms of the actual button modes themselves.
You've got cue loop mode.
You've got the flip.
Controls are built in.
If you're into flip and you're learning your way around that, then you've got the record
start and save buttons there.
That will load up [Gm] your flips that you've got saved into Serato DJ from there.
Then you've got a shift mode for each one as well.
You've got shift and that will go into cue loop mode.
You've got the roll and then save loop mode.
Slicer, slicer loop and sampler and velocity sampler.
If you're doing drumming stuff with the SP6 you can load it up from that.
The RGB pads really are very cool and that's a nice addition to the unit.
The other big addition is the DVS functionality.
_ It's a shame that the original SX didn't have this in there but the sound card [N] just wasn't capable.
You've got the DVS there which just loads up a track _ and get going. _ _ _
You can just run the turntable straight into the DJSX2.
Use it like a RAIN interface or a certified mixer and away you go.
The good thing as well is unlike on the DDJ-SC the effects on here are still post fader even
in DVS mode.
I can run an echo and have it tail out and they're post cross fader as well. _ _ _
That's just really, really nice to see.
_ The DVS plug-in is an extra $100 so you've got to add that to your budget if you don't
own that already but it is a nice addition if you are a turntable user.
You've got CDJs at home as well.
You want to use this as the hub of your home setup then it makes a big difference to have
that DVS functionality.
Because it's not so massive you can get the decks up pretty close and have a _ fairly short
distance for your cutting as well when you're going between the turntable and the cross fader.
It's not miles and miles away unlike the SC which is a pretty wide distance apart.
The other little function which is going to be important to a lot of people is the needle
search on here.
Previously with the original one you could activate the needle search any time when the
track was playing.
You didn't have to do anything else there and that meant often when people were reaching
for the effects knobs they could actually accidentally skip through the track.
I never experienced that myself but it was a big deal on the Serato forums.
People talked about it endlessly.
Now you can go into, as I've done here, you can go into the utility menu on the controller
and set that so it only [Eb] works when the platter is stopped and then you can skip through the track. _ _
_ [Gm] So there we go.
That's about it really.
Short [N] and sweet.
It's the DDJ-SX2.
It is a refinement of the original.
As someone who's used the original a lot I felt right at home on this.
The extra features, the coloured key points and so on are much better.
The flip controls are nicely integrated.
All the little touches they've made are a definite improvement.
Would I suggest that original SX owners should just dump theirs and go and buy one of these instead?
Probably not.
Those extra touches are nice to have but probably not worth the extra investment you're going to make.
If you're in the market for a top end controller, you know, up at that $1000 mark, it's not
cheap by any means but it's definitely still one of the top contenders out there for that.
You've got nice performance in terms of the jog wheels, the pads and everything else,
the actual [Cm] layout, the sound quality, it's all there.
[G] The jog wheels are very, very tight in terms of their responsiveness.
If anything more so from my testing than on the original SX which is nice and I've seen
guys like Blakey and Yoda here in the UK do some dope cuts on the SX.
So it's definitely an all-rounder that you can definitely get to love without question.
So thank you for watching today.
Please do make sure you're subscribed to [Bb] the channel for future tips, tricks, product reviews
and all that stuff coming your way and I'll see you soon.
Thanks for watching. _ _ _ _ _
Hey everyone, it's Mojax here in the DJ City UK lab.
Now the original DDJ [N]-SX from Pioneer really was quite groundbreaking in many ways.
Not in terms of what it actually did, but this was one of the first controllers out
there that got a lot of DJs to think, yeah, I could use a controller.
They took a look at this and they were familiar and it's the Pioneer sort of layout and style
that they're used to and it really was a massive hit.
It sold thousands and thousands of units around the world.
Yeah, massively popular.
It was natural of course that eventually Pioneer would come along with a replacement, a revision
of it and so we have now the DDJ [Eb]-SX2 which is what we're going to look at today.
Now the SX2 has been on the market now for a few months, but it hasn't really [G] received
that much coverage in terms of reviews and so on.
And I think that is because it is, yes, very much an incremental upgrade to the original
SX, but for me this is still quite an important controller because it's second in the list
on Pioneer's [Fm] controllers.
You've got the SZ at the top which is really big, really heavy and really [N] expensive.
It's great, don't get me wrong, it's really cool, but it's just not practical for your
average DJ who maybe needs just their own setup for a bar gig or for a small club where
they don't have a proper setup for you to use.
You can take the SX and now the SX2 with you, put it into just a light flight bag.
It's really portable and it still gives you all the functions that you need.
So I do really want to look at it and there are some significant improvements over the original SX.
For starters, there were some big problems with the microphone on the original SX.
That was a big deal.
People complained about that endlessly on the Serato forums.
With this now you've got much improved microphones.
I've tried three different mics on here, [G] no problems with levels on any of them.
They all just integrated very nicely.
You do still have to sacrifice a track channel to use your_
So if you've got a deck channel there, so deck 4, you could switch that to microphone
and use that for your mic.
There isn't a dedicated mic input, but nonetheless if you need a mic, [F] you've got it there.
It's much better quality [Fm] than it was before in terms of the levels and everything else.
You've got the RGB pads which are a real godsend if you're into color coding and cue points and stuff.
In Serato DJ you can change the actual color of your cue point just by right clicking and
setting it to whatever color you want and it will immediately change color for you.
That's great if you actually use a system for your cue points and so on.
That means as well that for each mode the pads will change color.
On the original SX it was blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, regardless.
So now you've got different colors for different modes.
You're not going to get lost so easily with that.
You've got extra functions in terms of the actual button modes themselves.
You've got cue loop mode.
You've got the flip.
Controls are built in.
If you're into flip and you're learning your way around that, then you've got the record
start and save buttons there.
That will load up [Gm] your flips that you've got saved into Serato DJ from there.
Then you've got a shift mode for each one as well.
You've got shift and that will go into cue loop mode.
You've got the roll and then save loop mode.
Slicer, slicer loop and sampler and velocity sampler.
If you're doing drumming stuff with the SP6 you can load it up from that.
The RGB pads really are very cool and that's a nice addition to the unit.
The other big addition is the DVS functionality.
_ It's a shame that the original SX didn't have this in there but the sound card [N] just wasn't capable.
You've got the DVS there which just loads up a track _ and get going. _ _ _
You can just run the turntable straight into the DJSX2.
Use it like a RAIN interface or a certified mixer and away you go.
The good thing as well is unlike on the DDJ-SC the effects on here are still post fader even
in DVS mode.
I can run an echo and have it tail out and they're post cross fader as well. _ _ _
That's just really, really nice to see.
_ The DVS plug-in is an extra $100 so you've got to add that to your budget if you don't
own that already but it is a nice addition if you are a turntable user.
You've got CDJs at home as well.
You want to use this as the hub of your home setup then it makes a big difference to have
that DVS functionality.
Because it's not so massive you can get the decks up pretty close and have a _ fairly short
distance for your cutting as well when you're going between the turntable and the cross fader.
It's not miles and miles away unlike the SC which is a pretty wide distance apart.
The other little function which is going to be important to a lot of people is the needle
search on here.
Previously with the original one you could activate the needle search any time when the
track was playing.
You didn't have to do anything else there and that meant often when people were reaching
for the effects knobs they could actually accidentally skip through the track.
I never experienced that myself but it was a big deal on the Serato forums.
People talked about it endlessly.
Now you can go into, as I've done here, you can go into the utility menu on the controller
and set that so it only [Eb] works when the platter is stopped and then you can skip through the track. _ _
_ [Gm] So there we go.
That's about it really.
Short [N] and sweet.
It's the DDJ-SX2.
It is a refinement of the original.
As someone who's used the original a lot I felt right at home on this.
The extra features, the coloured key points and so on are much better.
The flip controls are nicely integrated.
All the little touches they've made are a definite improvement.
Would I suggest that original SX owners should just dump theirs and go and buy one of these instead?
Probably not.
Those extra touches are nice to have but probably not worth the extra investment you're going to make.
If you're in the market for a top end controller, you know, up at that $1000 mark, it's not
cheap by any means but it's definitely still one of the top contenders out there for that.
You've got nice performance in terms of the jog wheels, the pads and everything else,
the actual [Cm] layout, the sound quality, it's all there.
[G] The jog wheels are very, very tight in terms of their responsiveness.
If anything more so from my testing than on the original SX which is nice and I've seen
guys like Blakey and Yoda here in the UK do some dope cuts on the SX.
So it's definitely an all-rounder that you can definitely get to love without question.
So thank you for watching today.
Please do make sure you're subscribed to [Bb] the channel for future tips, tricks, product reviews
and all that stuff coming your way and I'll see you soon.
Thanks for watching. _ _ _ _ _
