Pioneer has been the leader in DJ controllers since it released the world's first flat-top CD DJ player, the CDJ-500, back in 1994. Over the years, Pioneer has released a variety of newer, more evolved CDJ consoles that have brought countless features into the reach of digital DJs around the world.
Today, the company has announced a brand-new CDJ joining the product line, the CDJ-3000. Pioneer says that this is the "most advanced player" that they've ever made, featuring a brand-new microprocessing unit that's never been put into a CDJ before. Together with the Gigabit Ethernet connection, the new MPU allows users to load tracks and Hot Cues faster than ever before and generally provides a smoother, more stable performance across the unit.
And speaking of Hot Cues, the CDJ-3000 features eight of them (twice as many as the CDJ-2000NXS2) intuitively arranged left to right underneath the waveform display. There are new hardware buttons for Beat Jump and Key Sync (a feature for mixing harmonically), and as well as a new 8-Beat Loop button in addition to the classic four-beat control.
Also getting an upgrade is the jog wheel, which Pioneer redesigned to give it the smoothest action of any CDJ yet. This, in combination with the improved touch latency, makes any and every adjustment from tiny pitch shifts to intricate scratches as fluid as possible.
The CDJ-3000 is equipped with a brilliantly sharp nine-inch touch screen (larger and higher-res than that on the CDJ-2000NXS2) that retains the familiar and easy-to-navigate user interface from previous Pioneer models, with the very welcome addition of handy shortcuts that make it easier for players to jump around their music collection.
The screen can be used for excellent features like touch preview (simply touch the part of the waveform you want to hear within the browse section), touch cue (listen to another part of your currently playing track by touching the waveform, without the audience hearing what you're doing), and more.
The Pioneer CDJ-3000 is available for preorder now at a price of $2,299 USD.