Pioneer DDJ-SX review

The DDJ-SX also gets the Pioneer CDJ-900’s much loved Slip mode. When Slip mode’s enabled, you can move a jog wheel to scratch, spin back or otherwise affect a track’s audio, but when you release the jog wheel the track plays from the point at which it would’ve been had you not touched the jog wheel. This means you can scratch a track and still keep it synchronised with other playing tracks.

We did encounter one problem with the jog wheels, however, and that’s their close proximity to the pitch faders. Occasionally, we’d accidentally hit the pitch faders, changing the speed at which that track is playing.

The DDJ-SX’s crossfader is a capable match for the jog wheels, and you can even perform scratch techniques such as crabs on the DDJ-SX. The crossfader is fairly loose, but it isn’t as high quality as th on more expensive or scratch-oriented mixers. The channel faders are similarly capable, but have too much resistance in our opinion, with moving a fader being the controller equivalent of pushing a heavy shopping trolley uphill. We’d prefer looser channel faders.

Another great feature of the DDJ-SX, and one that’s important for DJs who like to scratch as well as mix, is a crossfader curve control located on the front panel. This lets you have a sharp curve where the track on the other side of the crossfader is introduced at full volume and a soft curve where there’s a gradual increase in volume as you push the crossfader from one side to the other. This physical control means you don’t have to set the curve in your software’s settings.

Software tools such as hot-cues, effects and loops are essential for modern DJing, and the DDJ-SX’s controls are laid out in a sensible and logical way.

Below the jog wheels are eight huge, velocity sensitive pads that are used to trigger hot-cues, samples, roll loops, which let you momentarily apply loops of different sizes, and a slicer function, which lets you cut up a track rhythmically. To the right of the pads is a set of loop controls that let you control the size of a loop, trigger an autoloop or set loop in and out points manually.

The DDJ-SX’s effects controls are located at the top each deck section and they’re so well spaced you can use them without clashing digits.

The DDJ-SX is easy and fun to use, yet it has enough functions to let you develop your own style and mix how you want. We love the perceived simplicity and concealed power of the Serato DJ software, and the DDJ-SX feels and behaves like a high-end, professional controller. Whether you want to mix, scratch or beatjuggle, the DDJ-SX is the controller for you.