The Jog Wheel’s dimensions might be full-sized, but they’re not made of metal. These 7-inch capacitive jog wheels are tactile and weighted, despite being largely made of plastic. 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? 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. 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. Originally codenamed DDJ-600 internally at Pioneer DJ, the Flex - as it’s now known – has been developed to enable complex transitions between genres for DJs whose musical taste, or that of the dancefloor, is fluid. The DDJ-FLX6 has two really powerful features to help DJs jump from one BPM range to another Merge FX and the Jog Cutter. Merge FX

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. Infuriatingly, though, with Serato the pad functions don’t line up with the labelling – I’m not sure how they could have got around this to be honest, but it is definitely annoying, and that’s coming from a DJ who’s used Serato for a decade. I think a beginner would just be totally lost.It’s not a perfect Traktor mapping, or the easiest to get working– It isn’t plug and play with Traktor (you’ll need to install a TSI file to get it to work), and once it is up and working, some of the advanced features of the controller, such as the Merge FX and the in-jog displays, won’t work (plus, we suspect the jogwheel Midi will be laggy, as it always has ben in the past with third party Traktor controllers) The Merge FX experience is relatively easy to get used to. All you need to do is choose a pre-set and press the knob to start building your music. With Rekordbox, your pads will give you access to musical samples in a keyboard fashion, allowing you to merge and trigger multiple experiences at the same time. The DDJ-FLX6-W is available in selected regions (only available at specific retail stores in Asia Pacific and the Americas and Latin Americas – not available in EMEA regions). The jog-wheels on the FLX6 are the same size as those on the CDJ-3000 multi-player. Scratching and pitch bending feels natural, and the inclusion of on jog display ensures vital information can be seen at a glance. Sample Scratch - the all-new pad mode

The jog wheels have displays in the center and are lovely for gaining an insight into exactly where your needle is. If you’ve already used a high-level controller with better-built jog wheels, however, you might find that these jog wheels feel a little cheap. 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. Later, with the Rekordbox DDJ-400, Pioneer DJ maintained the “club-style” effects control, only this time, you were controlling the software effects, as it had no hardware effects of its own. It was limited, but they managed to make it work. The truth is that what you can do with pretty much any DJ controller nowadays is amazing, and this is no exception. And when it comes to the advanced functions, in recent years it has been all about the pads. The performance padsIf you found the Slicer function confusing when it arrived on DJ controllers, this is not going to be for you. Basically, it is a way of “scratching” without actually scratching, and I just didn’t get it. Despite a couple of grumbles, the DDJ-FLX6 is still impressive in its own way. There are a few advanced functions that you won’t get anywhere else. Pioneer also boasts a new aesthetic for this DJ controller, but we’re not sure how much of a benefit that is at first glance. BONUS: Existing DDJ-FLX6 users can get all the new functionality too– I thought it was worth adding an eighth “bonus” point for those who own the original DDJ-FLX6, just to make it crystal clear: Aside from the paint job, the hardware hasn’t changed at all, which is great news for existing users, as they can get all the functionality with a simple firmware upgrade Pioneer DJ dominates the DJ landscape as one of the best-known and most popular companies in the industry. Pioneer systems are versatile, effective, and often pretty great to look at too. 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.