Right now I’ll do $900 OBO + Shipping.
I’d be shipping from Dallas, Texas.

This is probably one of the best pieces of hardware to start DJing on.
It is the closest thing to vinyl out there. I’ve had many special guest come in the studio to do a live Glitch.fm show with us and everyone is amazed how smooth it works. Whether you’re use to DJing on vinyl or CDJs this thing makes it so intuitive to play on. All you need is a laptop or computer to hook up to it and download Serato Itch and you’re ready to go. It even picks up your iTunes library and playlist so right from the start you can throw some tunes together.

It was my intention of keeping this for most of my life so if I had any guest come over they could jump right in and play but I’ve become such a strictly Ableton performer that almost feel like I’ll pick something else up later on.

I can provide pictures if interested.
It’s in perfect working condition. If have any questions contact me!

Ultimately what has happened is that big producers make a tune but don’t release it right away and give to a small group of DJs they chose to play the record. This builds hype for the track and good indicator of how much of the vinyl release should be pressed.

It is never a bad idea to test a product or service out on a select audience before releasing it to the general public. That way you know what works, what doesn’t, what to improve or change. Most companies do this, whether they deal in beats, betting party bets, beauty or basketball. Once you feel what you’re offering is as good as it can be, then you can almost guarantee success when you put it out there.

A lot of people have different views on this dubplate culture. On one side you have the people who love this because it makes the song more memorable when you hear a certain DJ drop one of your favorite track and then there’s the argument that music should be freely available. No matter what stance your take on this is it does give a certain aura about tracks and DJs. I can’t tell you countless nights where I’ll be out raving and an exclusive dubplate gets dropped and the place goes WILD because everyone knows it’s an unreleased tune.

This gives DJs power yet almost creates an elitism some say when it comes to music. At the same time some DJs make a living out of playing out and certain dubplates they have are the reason they get booked all over. This is predominate with DJs who play Drum & Bass and Dubstep today.

Now all the hype for this dubplate has gotten has faded once everyone gets their hands on it. This results in certain tracks being played out. It becomes a bit discouraging also as a follower of music and knowing you can’t purchase one of your favorite tunes at the moment especially when you know it won’t be out for months since you first heard it. The flipside is you will search and search for a specific song and have no luck but when you do get a hold of it; it’s this unexplainable feeling to finally have in your possession.

Today in a digital world you don’t see much of acetate records being made because of cost but you will see white label and promo copies floating around on very limited pressings before an official release. CDJs and Serato are so popular now that it has become about who you know and if you’re on that secret mailing list for certain producers.

All things considered now chose wisely on what parties and DJs you go check out this year at WMC. There are some tracks that I’ll never forget hearing last year at WMC events solely because it was something so rare to hear at the time on a big system. One that stands out to me right away was hearing Joker & Ginz’s Purple City dropped by Plastician at London Bass at Black Sheep months before that tune got an official release.

Hate it or love dubplates create a special moment for us all when we hear music played live. It’s what can make a lasting memory of the night hearing a certain song with hundreds of people around us loosing control to what is to be one of the hottest songs of the year.

I’ve only been doing this DJ thing since mid 2009. The first purchase I made was a Numark NS7. I believe it’s one of the best controllers out there. After the NS7 I finally made the plunge and picked up turntables. As of late November I’m a proud owner of the Akai APC40.

The APC stands for Abelton Performance Control. Ultimately what it means is that it’s mainly designed to be used with Ableton Live. It is layout so you can go out and use Albeton for live acts flawlessly.

I’m not going to lie; I’m no pro at DJing and mixing. Right now I’m pretty terrible at beat matching. Yet after really understanding what a standard DJ does I’m ok with not being the best at it or remotely good at it. The APC40 takes care of all that and yet introduces a new challenge, programming. Whereas a standard DJ with CDJs or Decks is limited in playing a track and slight control on a mixer the truth is all they are doing is popping in a CD or record and matching the beat and moving to the next track. Yes they do mess with the EQs but nothing too crazy. The APC gives you endless possibilities when using Ableton. The amount of things you can do is mind blowing.

Using Ableton for DJing is just one aspect of the program. In reality the main aspect of Ableton is using it for production and recording. That means that you can seamlessly create tracks, re-edit, and remix ANY song on the fly with Albeton when DJing. Adding extra beats, adding FX, using live instruments, etc… are all possible. Ultimately you are removing the aspect of beat matching with using Ableton and getting more hands on how the song sounds.

The APC40 controller makes this all possible with such an intuitive layout. You look at the controller and it just makes sense. If you have ever seen Albeton Live used and look at the APC40 it just makes sense. The build on it is extremely solid. The only issue is the size of the APC. It doesn’t exactly fit easily in a DJ bag. Keep in mind you’ll have to also use an audio interface when playing out. Overall the APC40 is now my favorite means of DJing. You almost feel bored when moving back to conventional equipment.

Although one disclaimer on the APC40 and Ableton, it takes WORK! I come with no musical background or knowledge in a musical instrument. Although I’m extremely proficent on a computer it does take some serious getting use to. Even if you have been DJing for years with records or CDs this is an entirely different ball game. Preparing for a set is way more complicated. While you do get to cut out the beat matching you still need to prepare every single track for this. Lets not forget the amount of extra things that Ableton can do and can add to the confusion. The route of a laptop DJ might seem great but takes serious dedication and not for everyone.

The thrill of finding new tracks and ordering the latest dub on record took on a whole new purpose. The music was all that could fill the void. All this energy transformed me into a whole new person. I would go out almost every night to catch every DJ set I could from locals and international DJs who spun dubstep.

It had been years since I had begun to party like this. Eventually I began to see familiar faces every night I went out. Facebook and MySpace are quite powerful tools and eventually started networking quite a bit. Kept my distance but would have a conversation here and there.

It really dawned upon me that all these years of following the music I was one of the few. It became apparent to me that the scene was now at its prime and getting ready to explode. The time was right and I had already invested so much time into the music that it only made sense to begin DJing.

As a huge geek I looked up all the options of gear. Starting up from scratch is quite expensive and you don’t want to spend lots of money on something you won’t use in the future even if it doesn’t go well. After tons of research I decided to pick up the new controller from Numark, The NS7. It worked on a platform called Itch made by Serato. It was an all-in-one type controller and used Mp3s from your laptop. I already had been collecting vinyl but knew that it was more for the purity of the sound and wasn’t sure if I was ready to move to be a turntable DJ.

After picking up the NS7 and playing around with it and learning the basics I had a good amount of fun. It wasn’t till one day I got a call from a close friend of mine to come DJ his party last minute. That night I knew that this is something I REALLY wanted to do. Not for the fame or name but more so for the feeling you get when you see people dancing and you’re in control. There something about having the ability to drop a tune and know everyone will go wild.

Months past and I had amassed such a huge vinyl collection and decided it would be a great idea to finally pick up turntables. After searching craigslist for a couple weeks I stumbled upon a pair of mint condition Vestax Pro 2300s. Playing records and hearing that warm open sound made me fall in love all over with music. I told myself that if I ever had to play a dubstep set I’d only spin on vinyl.

After getting comfortable with vinyl and dropping some serious cash I finally realized I had to slow down. You have no idea how expensive records can get. There are no real solid record stores in the States so everything you buy is shipped over from the UK.

During all this I fell in love with a new sound of music, glitch. I had always heard tracks here and there that were IDM or Glitch but never really looked into it. My ex girlfriend tried to get me into it but no luck. It wasn’t till I heard some of the older Glitch Mob sets did it hit me. My love for dubstep is still with me but I have wanted something new and fresh again. Glitch Hop introduces a better bridge for most people to get into electronic music. Everyone knows the samples and hip hop tracks that are put into glitch hop.

I found a great community at glitch.fm and now am a regular in there. The networking and friends that I’ve made because of glitch.fm are priceless. After spending a good amount of time in there I’ve learned quite a lot about new hardware. I recently picked up an Akai APC40 and learning Albeton.

The life of a DJ from my stand point is very difficult. If you want to stand out and take pride in everything you touch, you’ll have TONS of work to do. It’s not easy keeping up to date on all the freshest tracks, tracking them down once you know them, tons of money spent, equipment, skill, etc… It’s honestly a way of life. This is my hobby. I have a day job from 8am to 7pm. It consumes you and you’ll never listen to music the same. I can’t tell you how much time you need to listen to music if you want to stand out. Yet I can also say that it is so easy to just be that guy who plays what everyone else is.

Let’s get this straight. While it might look real cool being a DJ who spins on CDJs or Decks are just playing one song after another and mixing and matching beats when moving onto the next track. That’s as technical as it really gets. There is a skill of playing them in a correct order for a real journey but you’ll rarely get that. The only thing a DJ is really doing is matching beats and crossing over to the next beat in a technical stand point. Although it sounds easy it’s not but isn’t the most difficult thing once you get it. Now since I have acquired all these toys it’s what I’ve been working on. The only problem is sometimes I feel like I don’t really have control. Yeah some mixers have FX and fun stuff to play with but when it comes down to it you’re only limited to the tracks you have when using CDs or Vinyl. This is where the APC40 comes in. It’s a controller that lets you have complete control and ability to add endless amounts of things to a set.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stared at folders of music that I’ve aquired. There are time where I have 2-3 Gbs of new material that I have to figure out how to tackle and organize. Let alone label and remember what each track sounded like. It becomes daunting sometimes. Never did I know what it was like to have to take a break from music. It gets to the point where it’s like you can’t just listen to a song in the background. You have to listen for certain things and feel like this track will make ppl move or spark something in them.

Just when you think you have a complete setup now it takes time mastering it. Taking countless hours listening to tracks and picking out what you feel will take the dancefloor by storm. It’s especially hard with experimental tracks and glitch. You figure 99% of the people who you playing out too haven’t heard this before and hope you picked the right tunes for everyone.

When using Albeton you also have to consider you have to prep every single track you have to really take advantage of what Albeton can do. Warping, slicing, and modifying your templates takes work as well. With all these things being considered and understanding a bit of the work that it takes. Think about trying to do all this with a day time job most DJs have and juggling the time for going out and hearing new stuff at clubs and making time for practice or recording. Lots of nights I have to chose if I want to go out or stay in and work on some stuff.

I mention all these things because sometimes you forget how much time and effort a DJ really puts into it. I know every time I hear a solid set I make sure I go up to the DJ and tell him thank you and appreciate him playing certain tracks in a set. From going to knowing nothing about the latest in technology like CDJs, Serato, Mixers, Interfaces, etc… I have to say it’s not easiest thing know how to use all the hardware. Mad respect to all you DJs out there who spend the time looking for your original tracks.

Keep in mind this is all I’ve learned from just picking up stuff and starting off. It gets a lot crazier and stressful when you introduce promoters, clubs, parties, flying to other cities, etc…

Pioneer announced today their new CDJ-2000 & CDJ-900! They’ve upped their ante and put some serious work into these new CDJs.

The first thing you’ll notice is on their new flagship CDJ-2000 is an enormous 6.1″ full color screen @ 480×234!

The main features that stand out to me about the screen are the addition of the showing of the wave data, needle dropping, and advanced info shown about track including album art.

One feature that is available on both now is Pro DJ Link. You now have the ability to connect up to four CDJ-2000/900s to each other and use one source of music. Another big addition to the new line is HID controls which allows the CDJs to connect naively to software like Scrach Live, Traktor and Cross2 without time-coded discs.

One of the last features I want to talk about is Beatgrid. This is ultimately Quantizing for DJs. It will now make sure your cue points are set exactly where you’d want them for you automatically and on beat.

There are many other features added to both of the new CDJs but these are the ones I find worth mentioning.

Now my only complaint I find about these beautiful additions… The price.

CDJ-2000: $2,150
CDJ-900: $1,600

Remember the CDJ-900 does not sport the new LCD screen.

They will be released in December of 2009.

For more information check out http://www.pioneerprodj.com/