Waching daily Jun 28 2017

Hey, what's up everybody. It's Joey for Digital DJ Tips, right now taking a look

at this. It's a Pioneer DJ DJM-450. It's a

two-channel mixer that's got phono and line inputs for hooking up your

turntables and CDJs. It's got Sound Color effects onboard, Beat Effects as well and

if that wasn't enough, it's also Rekordbox DJ and Rekordbox DVS compatible.

Lots of features packed into such a tiny footprint. Now, the DJM-450 sits in the

middle of Pioneer DJ's current range of mixers. At the very top, you've got

the DJM-900 Nexus 2 and at the low end or the entry-level price point you've

got the DJM-250 MK2 we've reviewed both of those mixtures already. I'll post

the links to those reviews in the description box below. Right, so in this

video we're going to do two things: first off, I'm going to give you a features

talkthrough of the DJM-450 and then after that I'm going to give you my thoughts

on this little compact powerhouse. Let's get to it.

The DJM-450 is a two-channel standalone mixer that is Rekordbox DJ and

Rekordbox DVS enabled. It's got some features that are inherited straight

from the flagship DJM-900 Nexus 2 mixer, including a handful of Sound Color

effects and Beat Effects. It's got 3-band EQs, Sound Color effects knobs, channel

faders and a Magvel fader for the crossfader which is smooth and buttery.

There are 11 segment LEDs here, perfect for checking your levels for both

channels as well as the master output. Now, the EQs can be switched to act as

isolator or full kill knobs, so the associated frequencies disappear

when you turn a knob clockwise. The EQs can also act as standard EQ knobs, where

the frequencies just dip when you rotate any of the three knobs anti-clockwise

instead of disappearing entirely. The rear has jacks for RCA master outputs, XLR

outputs, phono and line inputs per channel, an RCA Aux input and a Mic

input.

It has a standard return feature, which allows you to connect a smartphone or

tablet running an effects app like the RMX-1000 for added effect tweaking. It's

got a switchable Aux input channel with a level knob and you can choose to

receive input coming from your laptop, the RCA line input jacks in the rear or

the return channel from the send / return feature. The onboard effects are a

highlight of the DJM-450. First up are the Sound Color effects and you've got

four here from the DJM-900 Nexus 2: Filter, Sweep, Noise and Dub Echo. n=Next

are the Beat Effects, which are tempo-based effects inherited from the DJM-900 Nexus 2

as well. You set the tempo by pressing the tap tempo button or

fine-tuning it using the time knob and once you've done that, you can see your

tempo in the OLED display. The Beat buttons here allow you to move among

different note values, depending on the effect selected. Right, so what are my

thoughts on this mixer? I've got three things that I like about it. First up is

the build quality, it's just really really solid. It's got a metal chassis all

around it and this kind of construction is what I miss with Pioneer DJ's

controllers. I've got a DDJ-RZ and while it was the flagship controller in the DDJ

controller line, the top faceplate is the only thing that's made of metal.

Everything else is hard plastic and that is a design trend that is predominant in

all of Pioneer DJ's controllers, they're all made of hard plastic with just a little bit

made of metal. Not so with a DJM-450, again just metal construction all around,

really, really solid feeling. I also like the knobs here, they're nice and weighted and

they're easy to grip, they just feel great or when you twist them and I

guarantee that you are going to be twisting a lot of these knobs as well as

turning these effects switches while you are mixing and they don't feel like

they're going to fall off, that's always a plus. Especially with me because I'm

pretty heavy-handed when it comes to mixing. I'm

not very careful with gear, so I do appreciate nice, solid, robust build

quality. Now, the second thing I like about the DJM-450 is the connectivity

options. You can connect just about anything here that you've got in your

home DJ setup. If you've got a pair of turntables, you can connect them here,

you can spin actual vinyl or you can connect it to your laptop and you can

use Rekordbox DVS. If you've got CDJs or XDJs, you can play music from a CD,

from a thumb drive, from an SD card or from your laptop running Rekordbox DJ.

Finally, since the DJM-450 has an Aux input, that means you can plug in any

line level device such as a synth, a drum machine or even a sampler like the

TORAIZ SP-16 that Pioneer DJ makes. You can also just plug in an iPhone or a tablet

into the aux input here in the rear and I think that's really, really handy,

especially for a home DJ setup. Now the third thing that I liked about the DJM-450

and probably the biggest selling point for me are the onboard effects. Now

the Sound Color effects are great, they work as you would expect them too. You've got

your Filter, your Sweep, your Dub Echo as well as your Noise effects but I think

more importantly, the Beat effects on the DJM-450 are crucial. That means that you

can practice using these effects at home in your own DJ setup, instead of having

to figure all of these effects out at the club that has DJM-900 or DJM-900 Nexus 2

mixer and I don't know, I just never really had the money to buy my own

DJM or CDJ club setup and when I was starting out, I always would practice

using these effects over in the club or at the bar that I was playing at. Now, if

you are an intermediate DJ or you're just starting out and you would want to

transition from using a controller and to maybe using a pair of CDJs or a

pair of PLX turntables along with a DJM mixer, then you can practice using those

effects that are found on the same club mixers over here in the DJM-450. I

think that's really, really important because it

gives you a feel for what these effects actually do and you can experiment with

them at home, instead of experimenting and practising while you're gigging,

which I think most of us has had to do at one point in our DJing. Now, the only

thing that I didn't like about the DJM-450 is that it doesn't have a Booth

output and I think that's a shame because I think this would be the

perfect mixer for a mobile or a pro DJ who doesn't want to spend an arm and a

leg to buy a DJM-900 Nexus 2 but wants to use most of the functionality that

can be found in a standard DJM-900 Nexus 2 / CDJ setup. It can be found in

clubs all over the world. Alright, so who is the DJM-450 for? Well, if you are a

club or a pro DJ and you're looking for a smaller mixer or something that you

can use at home with your setup that you've got in your bedroom or in your

living room, look no further, the DJM-450 fits the bill perfectly. You get the

Sound Color effects, the Beat effects, as well as all the connectivity that you

need in order to integrate the setup that you've got at home with your normal

club workflow. Now, if you are a controller DJ and you'd want to try to

transition into DJing with maybe a pair of CDJs, a pair of XDJs or even a

pair of turntables, well the DJM-450 is the mixer that

you will want to take a look at. This is simply because it has the aforementioned Beat

effects that are just super, super crucial, especially if you are looking to

perform with them while you DJ at the club or at the venue or whatever

function that you're going to be playing. Again, this is something that I think

more intermediate DJ's would enjoy, however, if you are a beginner and you

would like to aspire to using a full club setup and you've got the budget for

it, I think the DJM-450 is also a solid option. It's still a little bit pricey

but again as far as Pioneer DJing goes, it really is quite inexpensive,

especially for all the features that you get. So, that's it for my review of the

Pioneer DJ DJM-450 mixer. I've got a full review of this over on

the Digital DJ Tips website. The link is in the description box below. Please hit

the thumbs up icon if you liked this video and hit that subscribe button if

you are not a subscriber yet. My name is Joey, thank you so much for

watching this and I'll see you next time.