PIONEER DDJ-FLX6

Product Information

There are eight Merge FX pattern presets to choose from (four 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 four categories that make up one 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 eight 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. Most controllers do follow an exhausting trend of only using an exclusive single-software support option. It’s nice to see more than one option on one device.

Ignore some of the brand-new features like Merge FX and the Jog Cutter, and the DDJ FLX6 gives you a pretty standard DJ controller experience, similar to things like the Denon MC7000. You do get a few simplicities built-in, such as a set of beat buttons, a level/depth knob, your standard on/off button, channel select, and FX select. Since this is first-and-foremost a software DJ controller, you won’t have to get used to any other inputs for your DJ gear. However, it feels as though we should at least have an Aux input here. While all of this might seem simple enough at first, it’s actually a lot more complicated than you might expect. Some DJs will probably find it easier to use the jog cutter feature than to learn how to scratch in the first place. It seems pointless to focus your attention on learning this new functionality when you could just practice scratching – and use your skills on other devices too. Beat FXOriginally 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 The USB power function means that you might find that you don’t get as much volume as you could get elsewhere, but this isn’t too much of a problem for most hobbyists. 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.

It is strictly one effect at a time, and so what you basically have is a choice of six effects, to be triggered individually. The layout suddenly seems convoluted once you realise this. There’s an obvious software/hardware mismatch, but nevertheless it’s passable. The Beat FX section is underpowered, and while it’s at least easy enough to understand in Rekordbox, in Serato it is confusingly implemented. With full size jog wheels, which are the same size as the flagship CDJ-3000, as well as a four-channel mixer - the first thing you’ll notice about the DDJ-FLX6 is that it feels like a step up from the entry level Pioneer DJ kit. While there’s no jog wheel adjustment, like that offered by the DDJ-800 and DDJ-1000, the tension setting feels just right – especially if you’re upgrading from the smaller DDJ controllers.

Take our support survey

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. 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. AlphaTheta Corporation has today announced the release of the new DDJ-FLX6-W from its Pioneer DJ brand. This limited-edition version of the popular DJ controller for rekordbox and Serato DJ Pro comes in a high-quality matte white finish, bringing an eye-catching look to any event, livestream, or home setup.

The microphone input doesn’t connect directly to the soundcard, so you can’t add effects to your voice directly. There’s also the added issue of the tiny pitch faders, which really don’t seem large enough for the rest of a DJ controller. The machine weighs around 3.8kg and comes with a 24-bit sound card, as well as a set of two full-sized jog wheels to explore. Features include: This is a software-only DJ controller, so you can’t plug in extra equipment, even if you bought your CDJ or turntable directly from Pioneer themselves.According to Pioneer, the DDJ-FLX6 ensures you can “flex” your creative muscles with a host of new features and an easy-to-use interface. Usability/ Ease of Use Control-wise it is missing some small things I’d like to see (parameter buttons for the pads, a key sync or key shift hardware button, a slip button, better effects controls – more later) and the pitch faders seem almost comically small for such a large controller (again, it feels like a mismatch), but it’s generally all here. It’s only a software controller, which is fine, so there are no inputs for other DJ gear. However, I think not even having an Aux input is a bit much at this price. Jog Cutter allows you to jump between one of six sections on your wheel to trigger different scratching experiences. According to Pioneer, there are around 10 different scratch jog cutter patterns to explore by moving your play head position, as shown on your on-wheel display. But the very best jogs are only really important if you are a scratch DJ, and with seemingly much of the budget for the DDJ-FLX6 having gone on the jogs, that other essential part for scratch DJing – the crossfader – is very average on this unit. Sure it works, but the pair of them are a huge mismatch. The jogwheels are excellent – a great feel to them, full sized. So why is the crossfader so ordinary?

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. 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. Overall, the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX6 is a decent consumer-focused controller intended for the mid-level market. This device focuses primarily on performance features rather than build, with four channels, and a host of new features – though some are more appealing than others.Still, you get the usual on/off button, the Level/Depth knob, the Beat buttons, Channel Select (a single button that cycles), and FX Select – the latter simply cycling through the six effects you have selected across the two effects engines. For Rekordbox, it’s a 3/5 from me, and as this is primarily a Rekordbox controller, that is the score we have used on this review. But for Serato, it’s a 2/5 – I just can’t recommend it, and I’d direct people to the DDJ-FLX4 or Numark NS6II in a heartbeat.