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Pioneer are an unstoppable new shiny making machine right now. Seems that each month or even week at times brings some new toys that we all covet. And just before The BPM Show, we find ourselves with yet another magical box of tricks to pour over. The Serato DJ press release mentions the Pioneer DDJ-SX, the über controller designed to wrangle all that Serato DJ has to offer, and here it is. And it’s a beast that I want right now.
PRESS RELEASE – SERATO DJ & PIONEER DDJ-SX
October 3rd 2012
Serato is proud to announce the launch of Serato DJ, our newest DJ software for professional DJs at the top of their game. Coming this winter, in a rollout of release dates starting from November 1, this software delivers our best feature set for all-in-one controllers and is the much-anticipated upgrade.
Serato DJ delivers all the features and performance to meet the demands of DJs at the top of their game and sets the new standard for controller DJs.
Serato has partnered with leading-edge hardware manufacturer Pioneer, to design the Pioneer DDJ-SX controller, a professional level controller designed specifically for Serato DJ. This controller brings the best of both worlds together, and digital DJs worldwide can get theirs from 1 November 2012, when the Pioneer DDJ-SX controller launches with Serato DJ.
The most advanced all-in-one DJ controller to date, the DDJ-SX is loaded with features and is built to the same high standard that DJs have come to expect from Pioneer. Coupled with the advanced feature set of the new Serato DJ software, it provides the best combination for Digital DJs looking to upgrade their gear and gives them scope to broaden their skills and knock the socks off their audience!
Sam Gribben, CEO of Serato, says: “Our focus is bringing the best DJ software to our customers, and we play to our strengths, having a creative and genius powerhouse of software developers that is leading-edge on a worldwide scale. That’s what we’re good at, that’s where our heritage lies and that’s where we’re going to continue to focus. To us, Pioneer occupies that space in the DJ hardware world. When we began discussions, they were as excited as us to design a controller that supported our software closer than ever before. That could only be achieved by a process that involved both companies prepared to give it their all. The result is the Pioneer DDJ-SX, and combined with the new Serato DJ software, it’s the pinnacle of our work to date.”
Yoshiaki Ide, Division Chief Officer of ProSV Business Division of Pioneer says: “We’ve been in the DJ industry for 19 years. Our company is founded on innovation and premium products. Our reputation depends on our ongoing high standards and our customers demand nothing less. Serato software has been included as the product of choice in our range of DJ controllers for over one and a half years. We know Serato and its customers well and we were honored to have the opportunity to work closer with a company of such legacy and enthusiasm for its products and customers. We were impressed with Serato’s level of professionalism, ideas and enthusiasm. Developers from both companies worked extremely hard over several months on the design, sharing ideas and working out the challenges it took to bring the software and hardware into a harmonious solution. We can’t wait to see this product being used to it’s full potential!
Pioneer DDJ-SX: Features
Tight integration with Serato DJ
Developed specifically for Serato DJ, the DDJ-SX controls are tightly integrated with the software features giving you the best hands on control over your performance.
Performance Pad Section
8 velocity sensitive, Performance Pads to control Cue Points, Loop Rolls, Slicer and the SP-6.
Velocity Mode
You can enter Velocity Mode to trigger the SP-6 Sample Player slots. The harder or softer you hit the performance pads, the louder or quieter the samples sound.
Dual Deck Mode
Developed specifically for the DDJ-SX, this allows you to link two software deck layers and manipulate them as one. Go crazy and layer sounds!
Large, Touch Sensitive Platters
Trustworthy Pioneer touch sensitive platters with platter illumination and a jog wheel display allow for the tightest control of the virtual decks in Serato DJ.
4-Channel Standalone Hardware Mixer
Connect your CDJs or Turntables and have the best of both worlds.
Slip Mode
Keep everything in time and in the groove. Turn on this mode and trigger cue points, loops or scratch. Once you are done, the track will go back to the position it would have been had you done nothing.
Hardware FX Controls
Dedicated hardware controls for the brand new FX Powered by iZotope in Serato DJ.
Slicer
Chop sections of your tracks up and re-arrange on the fly. The Slicer cuts a section of your track into 8 pieces, which can be triggered creatively with the 8 performance pads.
Dedicated HP/LP Channel Filters
A dedicated High Pass / Low Pass filter per channel gives you more control to create smooth blends and interesting sounds.
Channel Fader Start
Start playback of your tracks by opening the channel fader.
Serato DJ will be bundled for free with the new Pioneer DDJ-SX controller and will also be available to download direct from serato.com from November 1. The first 10,000 DDJ-SX units will also ship with a license for the powerful Serato Video plug-in in the box. This will be the first controller to be supported in Serato DJ and delivers all the features and performance to meet the demands of DJs at the top of their game.
Serato DJ: New Features
Serato DJ launches with the following new features with more to follow throughout winter.
• Great new FX Powered by iZotope
Load your choice of high quality FX including: Delay, Echo, Ping Pong Delay, Reverb, Phaser, Flanger, Distortion, High Pass Filter (HPF), Low Pass Filter (LPF), Combo HP/LP Filter.
• MIDI Mapping
Take full advantage of Serato DJs features. MIDI mapping opens up the software to be mapped with a secondary MIDI controller.
• Brand New User Interface
A greatly improved software layout that looks amazing and is simple to use. The new interface also offers two and four deck view modes for four deck controllers.
• More Cue Points
Set and trigger up to 8 cue points in Serato DJ to quickly jump to different sections in your track.
• Four Deck Mixing
Mix with four decks on supported four deck controllers.
As well as these new features, Serato DJ Intro customers can expect to get all of the same professional level tools we offer including:
• Recording
Make mixtapes and save your nights work to listen to later. Record your mix at the click of a button on supported controllers.
• Looping
Manual Loops, Auto-Loops and Loop Rolls are all available to creatively repeat and loop parts of your tracks in the mix.
• Sync and Auto Tempo Matching
Lock tracks together for seamless grooves. Less time beat matching, more time to get creative.
• Crates and Smart Crates
Make library management a breeze with Serato Crates and Smart Crates. Build playlists, save your sets and organize your music.
• SP-6 Sample Player
Trigger all your favorite stings, samples and loops over your tracks. 4 Banks of 6 sample slots which can be synced to the playing decks.
• Colored Waveforms
See the music with Serato’s ground breaking colored track waveforms.
• Plug-and-Play Connectivity
Less time making it work, more time at the party.
• Interoperable with Scratch Live, ITCH, DJ Intro and iTunes Music Libraries
• Support for whitelabel.net Files
• Support for Serato Video
Head to serato.com to find out more about the Pioneer DDJ-SX and Serato DJ, available from November 1.
Boom. That’s quite a beast of a player. Just picking out the pad part – seems that it shares a similar feature set to the Vestax VCI-380 (which will run Serato DJ in time), but instead of pad fx offers velocity sensitive pads for samples, meaning that you’ll be able to drum away on the pads and genuinely believe that you sound like Jeremy Ellis or David Haynes.
From the picture, it’s very Pioneer indeed, but still manages to take hints from both Numark and Vestax. That said, it is far and away a much better looking unit than the former big DDJs were – the DDJ-SX looks to be a seriously professional unit.
It’s also pretty cool that it’s a hardware mixer with hardware filters too. If I were to say anything more, I’d be babbling because it’s late, and without proper Pioneer imagery and PR, I’d be wasting my time. I suspect that by the time I get up in the morning, it’ll all be out there in everyone’s timelines and inboxes, at which point I’ll leisurely pull it apart in detail.
More when I have it, by which time, I’ll be wasting my breath anyway. Good night all.
Serato has announced details of Serato DJ, the successor to their controller-focused digital DJ application ITCH, with a new controller from Pioneer the first to make the most of its new functions.