Everything Wrong With DJ Mixers

I love mixers and you should too but there are a few things about them that really annoy me. Let me explain everything wrong with DJ Mixers. Spoiler alert, it's mainly due to the way manufacturers price them and how they hold back features forcing you to pay more for things you don't need,

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Boring tags in the description,techno,progressivehouse,proghouse,progressive,deephouse,
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#Pioneer #AllenandHeath #DJ

[Sebastian-rrde]

Agree. It’s crazy how expensive DJ gear is for the technology and features you get!

[BuriedAudioUK]

Fantastic video, but there is alot missing here. I design boutique mixers, and loudspeakers and am a DJ too.

Point 1: one of the biggest issues when comparing the difference between live/pa mixers and DJ mixers Is that the circuits are hugely different. (I'm gonna mainly go on about analog mixers because digital mixers are almost always expensive because DSP code is very difficult.) An analoge DJ mixer will always have an active iscolator eq and active volume control per channel with a unity gain summing amplifier afterwards to combine the channel due to the routing of fx and the crossfader and the cue system. A sweeping -20dB filter is both significantly easier to design than an isolator as well as cheaper (because an iscolator is effectively a 3 way crossover followed by active gain stage followed by a unity gain summing amplifier with a low voltage mute, while a sweep eq is just a notch filter + two shelfing filters cascaded). A midrange analoge pa/studio mixer will just have the eq and a summing amplifier with the faders being a passive volume control before the summing amp. They aren't equivalent in function and arnt equivalent in circuitry. The fx are also post fader which is harder to route than pre fader as post faders can't happen before a sum but still have to be after the volume control, so you need separate active volume stages.

Point 2: upgrade paths, if your willing to look further a feild there's a decent selection of more out there 2 channel mixers, just not from pioneer, I agree that it's missing alot of fx based mixers but when fx units such as the kaoss pad wipe the floor with most mixer fx units a send and return will do the job nicely. Still that's why when I do boutique designs you can pick from 2, 4 or 6 channels, and what eq circuits you want.


Another couple points, the quality of potentiometers on a dj mixer needs to be alot better, they get used alot more frequently, they need to feel nice, they need to be better spaced out so you can quickly grab the right one, alot of these concerns arnt that important in the cheaper end of analoge controllers. More space needed means bigger cases and PCBs so more expense.

Durability is very hard to design into electronics, a surface mount component might be cheaper but the connections will snap off easier, through hole mounts are better but not perfect, my mixers use individual cables so the PCB doesn't get jolted evey time you move the faders up. If your adding complexity of manufacture the time goes up and batch size's go down, making the cost rise exponentially.

There is some price gouging but to be honest it's very hard to compete without doing something none of the other companies are doing, my mixers have lab equipment level summing amplifiers and gain controls and are for the people who want the very best sound quality they can have. But they're also definitely far from cheap, or feature rich, but then again neither is an API console and people still have and use those.

[djdhollfinger]

I have been running a Pioneer Pro Dj repair center for the last 20 years . One thing most DJs dont realise is the compromise in component quality that has crept into these products over each model "update" . A good example is the beautiful FL displays that have been replaced with cheap LCD displays . Faders from Alps Japan are also being replaced with inferior units from Alpha in China . You previously only found Alpha faders on Numark, Gemini and other Bedroom DJ gear . Very disappointing indeed .

[ZZZer]

Numark scratch is the best low end option out there, particularly for beginners.
2ch, good connections, innofader, USB, effects paddles, clean layout, Serato Pro included within the box!

[essgee]

Agreed mate, 2ch with quality sound and effects is only what we need at home

[AmbientWanderer]

1:26 no, the Pioneer DJM250 Mk2 does not sound perfectly fine. At least not with Vinyl. The phono preamps on the DJM250 mk2 are junk.
However I do agree with pretty much everything else you're saying. The price jump between the DJM 250mk2 to the DJM450 is huge!

[andrestein]

4 Chanel Mixers had there time in the "2 x Turntable & 2 x CDJ Aera". But today its out of time. I own a Allen&Heath 23c. I choose it, cause of the booth out. All the small Mixers from Pioneer doesn't have one. So for me, the small Pioneer Mixers are no professionell DJ Mixers, they are Bedroom Mixers.

[lostipod]

A thought, not sure if it's been addressed here already:

DJ mixers have phono preamps, which studio mixers do not have (at least none that I've seen). Theoretically, if a DJ mixer has 4 channels, that's possibly 4 phono preamps which need to be built in, plus whatever circuitry for the ability to switch the channels to line-level inputs.

If I am wrong about this, please share your knowledge.

[swagyoloswag]

Currently thinking about upgrading from the Xone 23C and I strongly agree with you. It is amazing how much more money they charge you for just a few additional features.

[richierich]

I’ve owned a bunch of mixers but Pioneer sounds awful. Not sure how it’s club standard. Xone, Urei and Alpha Recording sound way better.

[radikalkizomba]

I used so much mixers.. after 30 years my favorite are djm400, Freevox club, cs signature .

[tomyoung]

This is a great video spotlighting the gap in the current market! I wish one of the big companies would fill it, either pioneer, a&h or denon! I guess the djm 450 kinda fills the spot but I much prefer the A&H sound and effects having previously owned a db4. If they made a ‘px2’ with 2 channels, fx and a send and return i’d buy it in a heartbeat. I just don’t have the space or money to get a px5 or another db4.

[mgtow-balance]

i been out the game for a long while, but i can't believe how the prices have dropped for live mixers. i remember when i was researching them years ago, a 12 channel would be like $699 or more. now i see they're around $300 or cheaper. damn i wished dj gear was like that

[NielsMF]

Just bought a ecler concept 2 mixer and it’s solid, 100 euros. As new.

[GavGrant]

I bought a DDJ1000 3 years ago. It's fab. Got my technics 1210's connected to it. 1/6th of the price of a full nexus set up. 👍

[lifeatmm]

As an owner of both, you have a point. You can get a great analog mixer with USB input for next to nothing in comparison to a DJ mixer. I have been using an Yamaha mix for year and it cost way less than my Rane.

[fredbissnette]

Having repaired a lot of pioneer mixers I can tell you they are built way cheaper than any pa mixer iv3 ever taken apart, total bullshit

[kjwworldwide]

Great points. I have a Allen & Heath studio mixer that was less than $300. The dj mixer I now want Xone DB4 is $2000. I hope it last $10+ years because I decided on it already

[TenTonneSka]

Great video, and without the backing music that is so distracting, as you said DJ`s can sometimes be clobbered re cost, but many home or starter DJ`s invite that as they fall for they hype. Im a DJ and a producer with my own home studio, and use Behringer and Hercules gear for both stage and studio gigs, the cheap gear today is much better than the most expensive gear of yesteryear, and the recording of years gone by still continue to thrill most people, so in my humble opinion, its less about the gear and more about the person. once again thanks for a great video.

[micksumo]

Good video and interesting comparison. Allen and heath analogue mixes do sound truly amazing. The px5 is a great bit of kit