The Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000 is positioned as the king of Rekordbox controllers. Almost comically so. At a time when a newer, shinier, more expensive piece of DJ gear is released every few months, it appears Pioneer DJ’s product team decided to improve everything about the previous flagship DDJ-RZ and drop its price $800 at the same time.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you squint, “what’s the catch?”

Very rarely does a product come along that makes us ask, “is this a category killer?” But the DDJ-1000 does.

Several months after it’s release, many are in love while others aren’t swayed from tried-and-true Serato alternatives. We wanted to dig into the DDJ-1000 to see if it lives up to the hype or if it’s too good to be true.

We asked decorated DJ/Producer and Thre3Style competitor MaddJazz to put the DDJ-1000 through its paces and let us know his thoughts.

Watch the video above to see his performance. We’ve transcribed his review as well as our own DJs Are Not Jukeboxes review below.

MaddJazz’s DDJ-1000 Review

I really like the platters. They feel great. To me, they feel better than a lot of Serato Controllers.

If you’re familiar with Pioneer [DJM]-900, this is definitely really easy to use. It’s pretty much the 900. I love the fact that you have your [beat] effects on the side and the Color FX [on each channel] which you control with a knob. Pretty much just like a 900.

I also love the pads – the fact that you have different pages between pads so you can do more cue points. [You can also use them to control] the effects that are built in from the [Rekordbox DJ] software. You have your sampler, with different options you can go through.

Everything is pretty much setup like a [DJM]-900 with CDJ-2000s, but you have the advantage of [pad-based] cue points.

DJs Are Not Jukeboxes’ DDJ-1000 Review

The Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000 Rekordbox controller is a performance-based piece of DJ technology. It’s an incredible value based on its $1,199 price point and is a great piece of gear for DJs and performers of all levels.

The first thing we noticed about the DDJ-1000 was the pads. Excellent feel, lightning response time, and are positioned perfectly under the jog Wheels. There are 8-pageable pads on each side, resulting in 16 cue points for each Channel.

As usual with Pioneer DJ, the build quality is stellar and will feel familiar to any DJ who has used the Nexus products in the past. The platters feel very solid and similar to the industry-standard CDJ-2000. The mixer section is laid out in the same vein as the DJM-900.

Familiarity is key in today’s DJ world so the fact that Pioneer DJ essentially combined their Nexus line into one portable unit is a major plus for any DJ looking to get into the game, move to controller, or simply pick up a new piece of gear for the road.

Speaking of portability, the DDJ 1000 is very lightweight making it perfect for mobile, tour, or Club gigs.

Does Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000 Work with Serato DJ Pro?

A year after publishing this review, we’re excited to update the Serato diehards with the release of DDJ-1000SRT, built from the ground up for Serato! Nearly a carbon copy of the original, the SRT combines DDJ-1000’s most beloved features, namely CDJ-2000 jog wheels, full-color displays, Magvel cross fader and effects section with dedicated controls for Serato DJ Pro’s proprietary functionality.

It’s important to note, the release off the DDJ-1000SRT does not mean that the original DDJ-1000 will work with Serato DJ Pro. There remain no official Serato DJ Pro mappings for the DDJ-1000.

The only noteworthy loss from DDJ-1000 to DDJ-1000SRT is pageable pads, giving you access to 16 cue points per deck since that functionality is only available in Rekordbox DJ and not Serato DJ Pro.

Another implication of the DDJ-1000SRT is that the suspicion that Pioneer DJ is slowly divorcing themselves from Serato can be put to rest. We can probably expect that Pioneer DJ will continue to release hardware innovations for its Rekordbox platform first, but whenever possible, will eventually roll them out for Serato as well.

What About You?

What do you think? Will the DDJ-1000 find a home in your setup? Why or why not?

Any outstanding doubts or personal experiences? Let us know if the comments below.