PIONEER DDJ-FLX6

Product Information

As for the professional market, I believe a Mk2 version is needed with balanced outputs before the FLX can be viable for them. Nonetheless, the FLX6 has found a seemingly untouched niche in the DJ market, and will likely sell very well to lower-budget hobbyist DJs. On to the DDJ-FLX6, then. Here, the “effect strip” is a little more complex than that on the DDJ-400, but in some ways, it’s actually worse (for instance, there is no way of selecting effects from it – you have to do that on the screen).

From a control perspective, this certainly isn’t the most advanced option on the market. There are a few things missing, such as key shift hardware or sync buttons. For Rekordbox, it’s a 3/5 from me, and as this is primarily a Rekordbox controller, that is the score we have used on this review. But for Serato, it’s a 2/5 – I just can’t recommend it, and I’d direct people to the DDJ-FLX4 or Numark NS6II in a heartbeat.Some DJs will probably find it easier to use the jog cutter feature than to learn how to scratch in the first place. It seems pointless to focus your attention on learning this new functionality when you could just practice scratching – and use your skills on other devices too. Beat FX The Jog Cutter and Merge FX are clever ideas, and innovation is to be applauded, but if you don’t understand what these things are doing, it is not going to help you to grow as a DJ – and if they are not easy to use, they won’t help you sound good, either.

Depending how you view this kind of DJing, this is going to be potentially great fun to you, or anathema – an exciting way of adding to your sets, or an “echo-out on steroids” for people without the ability to properly programme music or figure out how to transition between their music. But if that was the brief, they could have done it so much better by ditching any pretence of it being a “pro” device, and making a better job of the usability and balance of features for that market. As it is, I fear it will confuse beginners (especially Serato users). A controller of mismatches? The DJ controller makes a bold statement with a new aesthetic design. The new style includes a familiar layout of controls similar to how you would find them on the club-standard CDJ and DJM setups allowing for intuitive performances. The FLX6, however, features a new high-quality dark grey matte finish and re-designed jog wheels that will be sure to make your DJ setup stand out. DDJ-FLX6 Since the DDJ-FLX6-GT has a built-in sound card, you can start DJing as soon as you connect it to a laptop running compatible software and a USB cable. Jog-wheels and Intuitive Performing

There are 8 Merge FX pattern presets to choose from (4 if you use Serato DJ Pro) and you can use your own samples. If you’re DJing with rekordbox, you’ll find everything is customizable. Choose from 41 types of effects within the 4 categories that make up a Merge FX (Build FX, Build Sample, Release FX, and Drop Sample) and combine them to create more than 9,000 different patterns. You can save 8 of your own patterns and use the FX Select button on the unit to call them up whenever you want to perform a unique mix. The DDJ FLX6 bypasses things like advanced connectivity options and a metal-reinforced chassis to bring you a different set of bonuses, including full-sized jog wheels and four channels. If Pioneer DJ hadn’t tried to make this a Serato controller too, and had redirected some of the budgets towards adding some of the much-needed omissions, it would have been a better device. The machine weighs around 3.8kg and comes with a 24-bit sound card, as well as a set of two full-sized jog wheels to explore. Features include:

The big jog wheels on the DDJ-FLX6-GT, are the same size as those on the top-of-the-line CDJ-3000, which make pitch bending and scratching feel natural. Each one also has an "On Jog Display" so you can see where the playhead is, and the new rubberised finish on the outer ring provides a much better feel, especially when pitch bending. Merge FX Feature Noticed that the DDJ-FLX6 has a fresh look? It’s the first Pioneer DJ unit released in a new dark gray matte finish, and its jog wheels have a unique design to complement the aesthetics. Watch the introduction video or find out more about the new DJ controller. If your computer doesn’t work, or something crashes, your music will stop too. For voice-over and other elements, the DDJ FLX6 has its own microphone input, but this routes directly to the outputs, so you won’t be able to apply effects. That said – if you’re looking to livestream with the FLX-6, you could connect it to an external interface like an iRig Stream or a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and route that out to your device of choice. Though it’s not direct, it’s doable. It feels a bit like a controller of mismatches. It is too big and expensive a controller to get away with consumer build quality. The jogs are brilliant, but the crossfader lets them down. The controls don’t really control very well what the software can do, especially with Serato, where for me it is a dealbreaker.It is fiendishly hard to get your head around, even harder to get anything decent to come out of the speakers, and if a DJ of 30 years cannot understand it (albeit one who is not a scratch DJ, but still…) I guarantee few others will. Each jog wheel comes with an on-jog display to help you keep an eye on your position, and they look aesthetically great too. 1/O Connectivity Now, it may just be that people will come up with cool and clever things to do with the DDJ-FLX6 – but anyone getting serious about their DJing will soon miss more obvious things, like proper control of the software effects, external inputs, and a bit more durability. Why not a DDJ-600? All of these solutions are stored on the front of the DDJ FLX6 unit, with no split cue available, unfortunately. Still, the brand surprised most music enthusiasts when it released the new DDJ FLX6, a Rekordbox, and Serato DJ Pro dual-compatible DJ controller with a host of tools for creative mixing.

A bit of history is worthwhile here. You see, as of the Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000, Pioneer DJ abandoned the “controller” paradigm when it came to effects. Overall, the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX6 is a decent consumer-focused controller intended for the mid-level market. This device focuses primarily on performance features rather than build, with four channels, and a host of new features – though some are more appealing than others. It is also undeniably popular, if nothing else for its excellent jogs – plus we do applaud Pioneer’s direction towards making the DDJ-FLX6 work with all software. We look forward to more controllers that “work with everything” moving forward, so how about officially announcing the DDJ-FLX4 for Traktor, Pioneer DJ? Despite this, we should note that you certainly have a much tighter integration if you’re a Rekordbox fan.Ignore some of the brand-new features like Merge FX and the Jog Cutter, and the DDJ FLX6 gives you a pretty standard DJ controller experience, similar to things like the Denon MC7000. There’s also the added issue of the tiny pitch faders, which really don’t seem large enough for the rest of a DJ controller.