First Impressions / Setting up The Pioneer DDJ-RZ is the company’s flagship DJ controller for its own DJ software, Rekordbox DJ. How good is it? We find out in today’s full review and talkthrough video.It is a huge, 10kg controller (think a full-sized Pioneer DJ mixer and two full-sized Pioneer CDJ players joined up), with the same jogwheels as the company’s flagship media player, and indeed the only major difference are the screens for the deck areas, those of course being replaced by your laptop screen in a laptop-plus-controller set-up like this. It therefore feels extremely professional, wth everything spaced out as it should be. There will be no “toy” accusations DJing with this.
Pioneer DDJ-RZ Description. NATIVE CONTROL FOR PROFESSIONALS. The top-flight DDJ-RZ is the first professional, native controller for rekordbox dj, giving you the flexibility to prepare your tracks in rekordbox™ and then get plug-and-play performance directly from your laptop.
The DDJ-RZ offers one of the most comprehensive control surfaces of any DJ controller, getting close and in some ways surpassing that in even the best pro DJ booths.The mixer, again, at first glance just looks like a standard, Pioneer club mixer. It is actually cut down a bit from Pioneer’s higher end club mixers (it lacks send/return for external effects, and the onboard effects aren’t as comprehensive by any means as say the ), but it still has selectable Sound Color FX, a myriad of routing options, decent crossfader settings, and two mic channels (which share a two-band EQ). Overall, this adds up to much more functionality than the mixer sections of most DJ controller, if not all others.To set it up you need to have Rekordbox installed on your machine with the Rekordbox DJ plugin purchased and installed, too; that gives you a “Performance” tab within Rekordbox that displays the full DJ software program.One thing that tripped me up for a second (yeah, yeah, I didn’t read the manual, I know) was the fact that it isn’t just plug and play with regards to audio; until you’ve installed the separate driver, the audio just comes out of your laptop. Once that’s installed, though, everything instantly works as it should with no further configuration required. In Use Minus the screens, this could be a pro media player (think DJM2000NXS, for instance); the jogwheel is full sized, and pretty much all the other features are present and correct.Just like the DDJ-SZ before it, this is a highly capable controller.
Just a few of its high-end features include: The ability to plug in four external sources including two record decks, that work through the standalone mixer and the onboard hardware FX; two USB sockets so DJs can switch seamlessly from laptop to laptop (there are “USB A” and “USB B” lit switches for each deck so you can select which laptop is assigned to which); the whole gamut of pad-based performance features (think Pad FX, slicer, loop roll, velocity sampler), and an innovative onboard sequencer that is intuitive and fun to work with on the fly. Conclusion There’s no doubting the pedigree of this thing, or its capabilities (just look at all your input and output choices, for instance) but it comes at a price, so be sure you need this stuff before shelling out.There’s no question about it, the DDJ-RZ is a lovely controller. It sounds great (it has excellent digital convertors in it audio interface), and has all the functionality you could ever need. The question really is: Is it for you?
Of course, at US$2000, for most people that’ll be a straight “no”, because unless you’re rich, highly committed, or already playing professionally, it’ll be hard to justify the cost.If you can justify the cost though, then the first controller you quite reasonably might compare it to is its sister Serato controller, the DDJ-SZ. This controller intriguingly also works with Rekordbox DJ, but of course you also have the option of using it with Serato DJ software, too. The controls are slightly different (you don’t get the sequencer hardware controls, notably), but overall it’s going to be much the same experience. This choice ultimately will depend on how much faith you put in the Rekordbox DJ platform, or whether you’d rather to hedge your bets.Next, you’ll possibly be considering the DDJ-RZ against a full Pioneer system, such as those found in high-end clubs.
I own the SZ and I wonder if the recordbox dj will work exactly the same as it does on the new RZ, considering that the older SZ does not have all the hardware meant for recodbox dj., I guess I’ll find out wen I download the recordbox dj free trial.That been said. I think I’ll stick with my SZ for 3 good reasons: 1 serato is reliable and time tested, 2 I also love virtual dj and it loocks like the new RZ only works with recordbox. 3 I’ll wait for pioneer to come up with the equivalent of the SZ or RZ with the screens and usb drive port for no laptop operation, I know is speculative for now but if they don’t do it., somebody else will. Case and point. The new (Denon mcx 8000) is already raising the bar for pioneer.In the end the SZ works with 3 different software platforms, while the newer RZ works with just one, in exchange for a few extra gadgets.Just my opinion. Phil, Great Review!
I agree with you on the weight and Size, Using the SZ I found this to push the edge on MobileI did want to make one observation on RekordBox. I have been connecting my RecordBox Library Software to my Laptop, IPad and iPhone for many years with the various usb, ethernet and wireless features. Frankly other than adding FX features, not really that robust yet, Nothing much has changed.It will be interesting how the Denon Unit Competes with Pioneer now that they have released a less expensive and light weight version (almost the same size) with marginal added features.Nothing compares to the Quality of Pioneer! But Denon has always released quality product. I bought the RZ instead of the SZ because I’m new to the whole digital thing and have no experience with Serato or Virtual DJ.
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I’m learning and using Rekordbox DJ exclusively for my digital education. I started way back in 87 and still have and use my Technic 1200’s, and now learning some new technology.
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I decided to go strictly Pioneer because they are the industry standard, just as Technics always has been. I made the huge mistake of buying the Numark CDX’s when they first came out, and regretted that ever since. So determined not to make that mistake again, I really researched as much as I could stand. Hopefully it was a wise decision. Rekordbox is really fun to use, once you get the hang of it. An old school vinyl purist giving it a go, love and embrace new technology! One thing I don’t understand thoughwhy is it ”OK” to use quantize to help you keep all those fancy tricks on time, but frowned upon using sync to beat match?
Isn’t it the same thing, kinda? Don’t get me wrong, beat matching is in my skill set, but it seems so strange to me that one is ok, but the other isn’t.