Pioneer have been pretty busy recently. The Pioneer DJM900 nexus has just been released and the DJM850 is following with a release this March. The two mixers both follow a layout that is similar to the industry standard DJM800, which Onion Audio’s DJ Equipment hire section supply.
The 900 looks like Pioneers effort at replacing the DJM800 as the industry standard for club DJs. I’m not really sure if they were trying to replace the djm800 with the DJM2000 last year, or in fact what they were thinking by bringing that out. The 900 really does look like its going to be a game changer though. Its Traktor certified so you can use it as a controller for Traktor. It also has a sound card built in, so for DJs using Serato or Traktor, there will be no need to bring one with you to the gig.
The DJM850 sticks with four effects on the colour wheel where as the 900 has six (Two taken from the 2000 I think). With the effects on the right, both the 900 & the 850 have added ‘The spiral’ which is looking like a DJ favorite already so look out for that one. The 900 also has an x-pad to trigger effects in a new, more intuitive way where as the 850 sticks with the same layout as the 800.
The 900 nexus is retailing at £1600.00 with the 850 looking like its going to be £1300. For the extra money, I would get the 900. The 850 looks like a really small upgrade to the 800 with the real star of the show being the 900. For a little inspiration, take a look at the promo video featuring James Zabiela on Youtube
For now, I think the Audio visual companies will be sticking with the 800 and see how the 900 is taken up over the summer festival period before making any decisions on purchases. I really like the look of the 900 though and really look forward to seeing what the DJs can do with it.
