If you prefer Serato, then you might want to take a look at the Pioneer DDJ-S1 Review which runs on that software platform. Overall, if you are a DJ who likes Traktor and Pioneer products, then the DDJ-T1 will have you right at home on the Traktor software. It is also recommended for those who need all four-decks of control and don’t want to expand to a timecode DVS setup as there aren’t any additional line inputs to do so. The DDJ-T1 is recommended for DJ’s who can afford the $1100 price tag as this is one of the most expensive all-in-one Traktor controllers available. In conclusion, the Pioneer DDJ-T1 Digital DJ controller is one of the best Traktor controllers out there on the market today. The Sample deck mapping will over-ride the Hot Cues of that Deck and I wasn’t able to manipulate the sample decks using the platter as I could on the Traktor Kontrol S4. The mixer portion of the DDJ-T1 also does not have Line Level LED’s on-board, so you will have to look at the software to determine if your track levels are clipping.Īnother gripe I had with the unit pertains to the Sample Decks. On a side note, I have never seen a DJM fader break or malfunction, so there is no real worry in that regard. Another gripe with the unit is the non-user replaceable crossfader.Įven though the Fader feels like it can take a beating, it would still be nice to know that if something ever does go wrong or if the user wants a fader upgrade, that you would be able to replace the fader personally. This is simply a high quality four-deck digital device. You can’t really use the DDJ-T1 as a starting point for a bigger setup or setup timecode decks for additional control. Meaning that if a DJ wants to add a set of CDJ’s or Vinyl Decks to this setup, they will not be able to. To go along with this point, the DDJ-T1 doesn’t have any additional analog/digital Line inputs.
The user must always have a computer present in order to use the unit.
On the downside, the Pioneer DDJ-T1 Digital DJ Controller cannot function as a standalone mixer or a standalone unit. The Pioneer DDJ-T1 has lots of other cool features for DJ’s to play with like the Eight Hot Cues per deck, lots of effects, the needle search, and the new Sample decks found within the Traktor Software. I felt that I was able to “get-adjusted” to the fader cut-in distance faster than other Controllers with almost the same distance (I guess its just the overall feel of the faders). I was able to pull off all of my fader tricks and scratches using the Crossfader even though the cut-in distance was about 1.5mm. The Crossfader is also very good as it is the same high-quality Crossfader found in other DJM Pioneer Mixers. The jog wheels have high resolution and never skip within the software even when spinning as fast as you can through a track or scratching rigorously.
They are the pressure-top type of jog wheels that almost feel like you are pressing down on a piece of vinyl. The Jog wheels on the DDJ-T1 are very nice and they have a nice size to them (not too big, not too small). I’m not saying that there isn’t some settings I could have gone through to make the others sound better, but from the initial default setup, the DDJ-T1 & DDJ-S1 have the best sound output right out of the box. As I stated in the video review, the DDJ-T1 (just as with the DDJ-S1) just sounds better than all of the other DJ controllers that I have used to date. The sound quality of the DDJ-T1 is excellent.