SOUNDING OFF PLAYBACK…PRO AUDIO…PROCESSING
DJM-S11: PIONEER DJ’S BATTLE MIXER By Erik V. Miller
With the release of Pioneer DJ’s 2-channel/4-deck battle mixer, the DJM-S11, the DJ community was given a great hybrid unit that sits between the analog and digital camps. The S11 pairs perfectly with Serato DJ Pro and rekordbox use, and brings so many features that it just begs for you to bust out the turntables, a crate of records and get to mixing. Coming in at a little over 11 pounds, this scratch mixer is easy to transport and even easier to set up. With the included two-USB hub on the back, you can easily plug in your Pioneer CDJs, Rane Twelves, or any other device to control your music and start playing extremely quickly. There are a handful of new features that make this mixer different from its predecessors, and I think a few of these are game-changers that make creative DJing-on-the-fly that much easier, while inspiring you to do even more with the new hardware. For all of my Serato DJ friends, this will be the one for you… Let’s start by highlighting the most obvious new addition – the fantastic 4.3-inch, customizable, touch display. After plugging it into Serato and dropping in a few tracks, I found that you can see the majority of everything you would ever need while mixing or loading new tracks on just the LCD screen of the mixer itself. Crucially, with the unit’s browsing knobs and load/instant doubles buttons on the left and right of the screen, you can do so much without even glancing at the computer. The track names (in whatever crate or folder you are browsing) are up on the mixer’s screen and you can scroll until you find the one that you need. It shows the key, BPM, track names, and more, so you can get all the necessary information. Digging deeper, you find the Touch MIDI feature, and that is a special one to be talked about. You get access to four pages of presets that you can trigger on the fly to change things up during your performances, and these presets can be custom MIDI-mapped, giving you full control to cater to whatever needs you have at
“The Touch FX are just fantastic because you get to tailor and personalize every included effect you use in real-time.”
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• GAMING ISSUE
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2021
DJM-S11: Scratch mixer with 4-deck control.
that time. You could create settings for battling, mash-ups, club nights, etc., and change those with just a few taps – it’s a fantastic feature that brings you even closer to, ultimately, not having to look at a computer screen the whole time you’re playing. Now, the Touch FX are just fantastic because you get to tailor and personalize every included effect you use in real-time and do it straight away on the screen without much fuss. You can even control two effects at once to make special sounds that are dialed in just for that moment. There are 22 built-in effects that range from your echo and reverb to 15 Beat FX (that come from the DJM-S9), and also seven new effects that are really interesting. Outside of the included ones, you get six assignable
