Pioneer DJ has released a new series of helpful tutorial videos centered around the DDJ-1000 Rekordbox DJ controller. Each video provides you with in-depth information on the functionalities of the DDJ-1000. The six videos touch upon features and functions like the on-Jog displays, the new Beat FX, Key Sync and Shift modes, Track Search and Skip functions, and adjusting the Beat Grid.
The tutorials offer a deeper insight into the inner workings of both the DDJ 1000 and Rekordbox software and allow you to obtain greater knowledge of the features so you can perform with the DDJ-1000 like a true professional.
| Colour On Jog Display |
The DDJ1000 features high-resolution on-jog displays which have been directly placed on the jog wheels. The screens provide you with all the essential information you need to mix including a full track waveform, platter positioning, the key of the track, BPM of the track, the pitch setting, sync setting, and a brand new Cue Scope, which eliminates the need to stare at your computer screen continually. When you select between decks 1 and 3 or 2 and 4, the background illumination changes from white (deck 1 and 2) to blue (deck 3 and 4), when Slip Mode is activated the screen's background illumination changes from white or blue to red, giving you visual indication that Slip Mode is on.
The screen also offers an On-Air display, this means if a track is playing and the faders are allowing the track to be heard, the screen’s white or blue background illumination will brighten depending on the selected deck, if the track cannot be heard the background illumination becomes dimmer, this gives you an instant visual indication on whether the channel is live or not.
You can customise the screen from within the Rekordbox software, simply open up the preferences, click on the controller options, then click on the deck tab and scroll down to find the settings for the jog display. Here you will find settings for the jog ring brightness and display brightness, as well as options for displaying the track's artwork, the cue scope alongside a time mode setting so you can either see the time remaining or time elapsed and a slip display option. Once you have set the displays as you would like them, closing the preferences window will save your changes automatically.
| New Beat FX |
The DDJ-1000 features a Beat FX section which has been inherited from the DJM-900NXS and includes four brand new effects for you to play with. The new effects include Mobius Saw, Mobius triangle, Enigma Jet, and Low-Cut Echo. Mobius Saw and Mobius Triangle are both oscillators that continually rise or fall in pitch; Mobius Saw features a sawtooth wave while Mobius Triangle features a triangle wave. You can select the effects using the effects selector and then choose the channel you wish the effect to alter by using the channel selector found directly underneath the effects selector.
Once you have selected the Mobius effect and channel you wish to use, turn the effect on using the on/off button underneath the channel selector, you can then use the level/depth rotary control to raise or decrease the volume of the effect. Using the Beat Adjust buttons you can set the beat of the effect anywhere between -64 beats and +64 beats, the larger the number the longer the pitch will rise or fall, positive numbers will make the effect rise in pitch while negative numbers will make the effect fall in pitch and is a brilliant tool for creating build-ups and breakdowns.
The other two effects include Enigma Jet which is similar to the flanger effect but will continually rise or fall in rate, choose the channel you wish to affect and use the on/off button to turn the effect on; using the level/depth knob will control the wet/dry amount of the effect. Just like the Mobius effects, you can use the Beat Adjust controls to set the length of the flange sweep anywhere between -64 and +64 beats, again positive numbers will make the sweep rise at your selected length while negative numbers will make the flange sweep fall.
The last new effect is a Low-Cut Echo which consists of an echo effect combined with a low-cut filter. Select the effect and the channel you wish to influence, activate the effect with the on/off button and then use the level/depth knob to control the wet/dry amount; using the Beat Adjust buttons you can set the echo rate anywhere between 1/16 beats to 8 beats. If you select the Echo effect you will hear the difference between the Low-Cut Echo and the normal Echo; you will find that the standard Echo effect raises the volume of the selected channel due to a build-up of low-frequencies.
| Cue Scope |
The Cue Scope can be found on the On-Jog Displays and allows you to see Hot Cue points up to 16 beats in advance which is ideal for both mixing and scratching. You can use the hot cues as reminders for when you need to bring in the next track or as markers when something in the track changes, like a build or breakdown. The Cue Scope is also great for beat juggling; you can set the Hot Cues as markers for where you need to bring the track back to before bringing it back into the mix.
The Cue Scope can be turned on or off inside Rekordbox’s preferences, simply open preferences and click on the controller, then select the deck tab and scroll down to the jog settings, here you can activate or deactivate the Cue Scope, and exiting the preferences window will save your settings. When Cue Scope is turned off, you will be able to see the track's artwork more clearly.
| Key Sync, Key Shift |
Key Sync allows you to sync your cued tracks pitch to the live tracks pitch and is perfect for when you want to harmonically mix tracks together or Key Sync samples and acapellas to a tracks pitch. Simply press the Key Sync button on the deck that you want to sync (the button can be found to the right of the performance pads) this will then automatically sync the cued tracks pitch to the pitch of the live track. The display will then show you the new pitch and the number of semi-tones it has been adjusted by; you can reset the pitch back to its original key by using the Key Reset button.
To use the key features you need to analyse the key data of your tracks inside of Rekordbox (please note you will need Rekordbox 5.0 or later for this function to work). Import new tracks or right-click on existing tracks and click Analyse, this will open up an Analyse menu where you will need to make sure the Key box is activated, once analysed you will see a key symbol indicating the key of the track, this allows you to use all the key features that the DDJ-1000 has to offer.
You can also shift the key of your tracks up or down a semitone by using the performance pads. To activate the Key Shift function, hold down the shift button to the left of the jog wheel and press the sampler button above the pads. The bottom left pad will then become +0 pitch, and each pad up to the top right pad will play back the hot cue in semi-tone steps. The new key will be displayed in the On-Jog displays and while using the pad page buttons above the pads allows you to access even more semi-tones.
You can also use the performance pads as a keyboard by activating the Keyboard Mode. To activate this mode hold the shift button and press the Hot Cue button, you will see the hot cue pads flash, at this point you want to select the hot cue you wish to play with, once selected pressing a pad will play the hot cue at the pitch associated with that pad. Using the page buttons, you can access more semi-tone ranges, in total you can raise or lower the pitch by 12 semi-tones.
| Search and Skip Modes |
The controller comes with track search and skip functions, just like on the Pioneer CDJ range. The search buttons can be found to the left of the jog wheel underneath the shift button, pressing and holding forward will fast forward through your track while holding rewind will fast rewind through your track. If you wish to skip to the next track tap the forward button once if you want to to go back to the start of a track press rewind once.
If you would like to skip back a track press the rewind button twice quickly. Holding down forward or rewind and turning the jog wheel at the same time will scroll through the whole track, a full 360-degree rotation will search through the entire track. Holding shift while pressing the forward or rewind buttons will move the track forwards or backwards to the next hot cue point.
| Adjusting Beat Grids |
You can adjust the Beat Grid of a track directly from the DJ controller itself. You can slide the Beat Grid left or right without directly affecting the tracks BPM, or you can adjust the BPM and the Beat Grid simultaneously. To adjust the Beat Grid hold down the shift button and move the side of the jog wheel left or right, depending on which way you would like to adjust the Beat Grid. Once you let go of the shift button the Beat Grid information will automatically save itself.
To alter the tracks BPM hold down the shift button and move the top surface of the jog wheel left to decrease the BPM and right to increase the BPM, once you let go of the shift button the BPM will save automatically.
Share This Article