decided to try out my DJM900 last night and managed to get it mapped nicely for SSL so I thought I'd post up what I did in case anyone's interested......
I used it with the SL3 and some dicers on my macbook.
I hooked it to the laptop via USB but it wasn't recognised initially. I had to download the driver software from here
pioneer.jp - couldn't find a separate midi driver, but it all seemed to work fine when I installed the audio driver from that download.
after that it was plain sailing. I just started a new midi file in the settings page for serato and then assigned a few controls to spare knobs & buttons on the mixer.
I already had the dicers for cue/loop/roll so I didn't bother mapping anything for those.
I was only using two channels, so I decided to use channels 2 & 3 on the mixer for audio with channels 1 & 4 for midi controls.
My MIDI assignments
Channel 1, hi-eq knob - HPF knob in serato DJ-FX (left DJ-FX unit)
Channel 1, mid-eq knob - echo knob in serato DJ-FX (left DJ-FX unit)
Channel 1, low-eq knob - LPF in serato DJ-FX (left DJ-FX unit)
Channel 1, gain trim - beats (left DJ-FX unit)
Channel 1, cue button - loop on/off (left deck)
this was all for the left hand DJ-FX unit which I have permanently assigned to the left deck. each time I open Scratch Live, I make sure that the left hand DJ-FX is on and assigned to the left deck and the right hand DJ-FX is assigned to the right deck etc. I also switch all three effects buttons on (I leave them all on and just bring the effect in or out with the corresponding knob)
all this mapping is exactly the same for Channel 4, but assigned to the right deck:-
Channel 4, hi-eq knob - HPF knob in serato DJ-FX (right DJ-FX unit)
Channel 4, mid-eq knob - echo knob in serato DJ-FX (right DJ-FX unit)
Channel 4, low-eq knob - LPF in serato DJ-FX (right DJ-FX unit)
Channel 4, gain trim - beats (right DJ-FX unit)
Channel 4, cue button - loop on/off (right deck)
I also mapped a couple of other things:-
Fader start 2 - load left deck
Fader start 3 - load right deck
Effect Time - Scroll tracks
this was the only thing that didn't really work well. the MIDI controls on the DJM900 are laid over the top of the usual controls so whenever I scrolled tracks it was also adjusting the effect time. I prefer to leave the effect on a 1/1 echo so this was annoying and I gave up on it. unfortunately, that's the only knob of that type on the DJM900 so I guess I'll have to make a workaround with track up & track down or something.....
set up like that it was the first pioneer mixer I've enjoyed using for a long time.
the pioneer filter is far too aggressive to be useful so it's nice to be able to use the separate serato DJ-FX LPF & HPF knobs instead and control that from the mixer.
not quite as good as a Xone:92 but much better than usual......
I really like having a loop on/off button on the mixer too.
I'm happy to share my mappings, but it's probably better to do your own depending on how you use your mixer and FX.....
I think my favourite system will still be Xone:92 + X1 + EFX1000 but the Pioneer DJM900 is not too far behind. a Rane Sixty Eight would be nice but most clubs are Pioneer only here :-(
