Like other leading electronics companies, Pioneer is filling in all the market gaps in their line of expertise: DJ equipment. The DJM 900 Nexus mixer is being heralded as an update from their DJM 800, a very popular high-end DJ mixer which has been a staple in clubs since 2006. Despite the DJM 800 being a very stable and excellent mixer, Pioneer feels the need to up the bar and has released the 900 model with a host of new features.

The DJM-900 Nexus maintains the familiar and effective layout of the prior model: the DJM-800. It bridges the gap between the 800 and 2000 series mixers by offering many of the DJM 2000′s features in a smaller 13” format. For most DJs, the DJM 2000 is simply too expensive and huge to consider buying or lugging around. At an RRSP of $2000USD, the DJM 900 Nexus is also not cheap or entry-level by any means. Its size and functionality make it a worthwhile investment for a serious mobile DJ or as a club installation.

New features on the DJM-900 include Pro-Link, which sends track information from up to 4 compatible CD players to the mixer via ethernet. Using a single USB key, music can be controlled by up to 4 separate CDJs. Pro-Link also makes for rapid BPM analysis for the 13 beat-based FX on the mixer. The beat-based FX section can be manipulated with the built-in touch-surface X-Pad controller. As well, each of the 4 channels have a knob for controlling the 6 different filter FX (gate/comp, dub echo, space, filter, crush, noise).

Over the years, Pioneer has focused a lot of its product development on addition of FX and simplifying the DJ experience. The DJM-900 Nexus mixer has a lot of extra features that may go unused by purists, but it still stands as a high-quality and durable mixer that can be easily used and appreciated by people who are unfamiliar with the features.