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-- BPM Counter on CDJ 800 and CDJ 1000
BPM Counter on CDJ 800 and CDJ 1000
This is to anyone that's spun with the CDJs. I am planning on purchasing 2 CDJ 800s. My question is this: Is the BPM counters on these CD players ACCURATE enough to fully rely on them to beatmatch? If the BPM counters are perfectly accurate then it would take away alot of the beatmatching difficulty. Can anyone comment on this, someone that's used these CD players to mix? Thanks!
/me waits for "omfg idjit stfu u r gay if j00 use bpm counters" reply.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by `pr0digy /me waits for "omfg idjit stfu u r gay if j00 use bpm counters" reply. |
i havent used them but i have got a djm600 and that has a bpm counter which has tenths. it isnt very accurate - not accurate enough to rely on anyway. dont get reliant on using bpm counters its just not worth it. they are there for sampling so that u can create a sample and adjust its speed to the tune u are playing.
CDJ's have BPM counters? 
They're good enough to get you within the close vicinity of each other... then you have to use your ears (what a concept!) to fine tune it. I have a CMX3000 and beat matching is way too easy with it, almost too boring because it takes away one of the challenges of DJ'ing.
No beat counters r accurate. And for a perfectly accurate one to be useful it would need at least 3 decimal places.
I own a CDJ-1000MK2 and the beat counter is alright, but I usually dont look at it. As you said, its just the whole number, which gives it the possibility of being horribly inaccurate when you're trying to beatmatch.
J00 eeez da uB3r l00z3r!!! 
Actually just kidding, just couldn't resist lowering myself to the level of some of the forum responses.
You can actually get studio based BPM counters that are pretty accurate, but the ones you speak of are basically meant to speed up the beatmatching process so that you can spend more time fine tuning if need be. By all means use them as a guide but don't rely on them.
If I were you I would make sure that my beatmatching skills are good without it. It doesn't take too long to become proficient at it and in time you will get to know your records/CDs so well that you will know roughly where they play in relation to each other.
Most manufacturers these days will try and cram as much crap onto the products as they can, some of it is really cool but most of it is pointless and is just something they use to try and convince you to buy it.
All the best
Nem
Hey thanks a bunch for the responses. Great post Nemesis. That's what I was thinking, that the BPM counters on the CDJs was to give you an idea of the speeds of the songs, but not give away the answer so to speak. That's still sounds pretty handy.
And Nemesis, I know what you're talking about regarding cramming in lots of little details in products nowadays. That's the main reason I was thinking of getting the CDJ 800. But, the only interesting feature the 1000 has that the 800 doesn't is the wave form. Any idea whether it's really useful? Thanks again for the replies!
they are accurate enough to get you 2 the stage of then using you're ears to fine tune them.
Hey Dreams,
The rsponse I will give you is based on my own goofy logic and nothing more so take it with a pinch of salt. 
There are two possible types of wave form to which I reckon the 1000 might have (as I have never seen the wave form version not sure about this).
The first may be the image of the wave form like you get when you edit samples (This to me seems to be the most logical). This may be to assist you in creating loops and such like with a visual aid. It would also provide a visual marker as to where the song is in regards to place. You would in other words have a visual guide as to where the breakdown is etc. Something that vinyl gives just by looking at the spacing of the grooves and something I look at frequently to let me know the progress of the track.
This would also give you an indicator as to the volume of the track.
Alternatively this may only work on sampled loops so that you can edit them. (That in my book would be a useful tool).
The second possible answer would be the form of a spectrum analyzer type wave form. THis would ultimately really only serve as an LED.
Again take this with a pinch of salt as you are talking to a bloke who is giving you the specifications on something he as actaully never used. I'm sure that someone here will be able to give you the difinitive answer though.
Many thanks
Nem
hate to be the "eliteist" but wut do u need to know how accurate the beat counter is? just use your ears don't jerk yourself around with auto functions. as for the wave form. functions can vary with some of those that were mentioned from nemisis. i use final scratch along with virtual turntables and pcdj fx.. i find the wave form usefull for knowing when the breaks come in on a new trk. its essential to know ur tracks but when ur throwing down a brand new track you aren't familar with yet the wave form view helps. peace off.
Wave form is the landscape of the music... sort of like looking at the grooves of a vinyl. You can see where there's a breakdown, buildup, etc. I think with the 1000s you can zoom in on the wave form also (not 100% sure). It's helpful but not essential.
Yes, you can view the waveform on the 1000s but its not all that helpful. It shows the waveform of the entire song, so you can get an idea of where breakdowns are and so on. You can zoom in about 200% on the waveform. When you zoom in, displays a solid bar below the waveform to tell you where it is in the song, and the waveform moves to the left as time progresses. Its slow, but it moves.
Also when you are zoomed out at 100% there is a progress bar sort of thing below it to show you where you are in the song (instead of the waveform moving, the progress bar lengthens). In the last 20-30 seconds of the song, the bar begins to blink.
Again, it's not all that helpful, as you should know a song well enough not to need that. 
But then again, its not completely useless either.
I personally like the 800s better. Much cheaper and does the job just the same
2 lazy to read through all the replys so ill just say this, beatcounterz suck nuts, no computer con acuretly guess what a bass beat will sound like since their different in every song, also besides this you can match 2 songs that dont have simmaler bpms even if you dont have 50% pitch control (youll be riding the pitch alot more but it works) but if you got the bpm in front of you then you will feel you cant, i have the vmx-200 which has bpm counters and i just tape em over cuz their so inacutit and it totally screws up my mixing anywahys thats all 
Re: BPM Counter on CDJ 800 and CDJ 1000
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Ibiza Dreams This is to anyone that's spun with the CDJs. I am planning on purchasing 2 CDJ 800s. My question is this: Is the BPM counters on these CD players ACCURATE enough to fully rely on them to beatmatch? If the BPM counters are perfectly accurate then it would take away alot of the beatmatching difficulty. Can anyone comment on this, someone that's used these CD players to mix? Thanks! |
Thanks for the advice guys. Good point Hadi ****** about not having BPM counters everywhere, I was just curious as to the accuracy of them, not because i'm not planning on beatmatching, of course I am, just curious as to how much they really helped the regular DJ. Thanks for replies! I'm going with the Pioneer CDJ800s, DJX700 mixer, and HDJ1000s!
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DJ-Fuq No beat counters r accurate. And for a perfectly accurate one to be useful it would need at least 3 decimal places. |
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