I don't know if all you other guys and girls using CDJ 900's already discovered how to use the BPM decimal point on your decks, it's so simple that I feel a bit foolish not trying it out earlier. We'll, with the risk of outing myself as not so clever here's how you do it.
This weekend I realized that the BPM decimal point is read by the decks, but not displayed. So how do you use it? Just adjust the pitch so that the BPM barely switches over to a higher, or lower, number. Fine tune until you are exactly at the point where it switches over. Then you just have to do the same on the other deck, since the decimal is taken into account to the displayed BPM the songs will have the same speed. It's not 100% accurate so adjustments will have to be made but it's a it's good enough to rely on. As long as you stay in the sweet zone every new track can be pitched in almost as fast as on a CDJ 2000. Just make sure your pitch range is +-6%.
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I think this is common knowledge on most CD players mate, especially CDJ's. I was shown this trick years ago on the 1000's but i prefer to beatmatch by ear rather than relying on counters.
Good spot though!
The interesting thing I found out is that the CDJ900 reads the BPM decimal point from the Rekordbox analyzed music, it just don't display it. So the point when the BPM shifts between two numbers is as accurate as on a CDJ2000, it's just a bit trickier to find...
Yeah, this is fairly common knowledge - DJs have been doing this for years. You're better off using your ears.
I guess I was hiding in the vinyl basement a bit too long, just slowly discovering these digital tricks after ten years with my Technics 1210's ;)
But i think you are both missing my point. To my knowledge the CDJ 2000 has been the only decks officially supporting the BPM decimal. What I have discovered is that the CDJ 900 reads the information and you can use it, it's just a bit trickier. And I guess this should also apply to the 850 and 350 if they use the same software to display the BPM as the 900's...
But why would you use this trick? Wat's the point of finding where the decimal zero is? I couldn't care less. I only use the BPM value to know the tempo range for selecting the next track. And for the rest I solely rely on my ears,,,
Lets not turn this into a witch hunt or attack. He has made a good point and may be useful for some folks out there who need help beat matching or prefer easier methods.
It's a forum after all, so all comments welcome I'd say? :o)
Easier Trick : if your arround 130BPM (EDM) 0.8% Pitch = 1 BPM and then just go by ear.
(I'm one of those who's still rocking the 1000's)
I almost feel like I have opened Pandora's box :)
There's two situations where this most certainly comes handy. Dave-B mentioned one but the more important one is if you're used to spin on 2000's and end up in a club with a lower range model CDJ you can still rely on this feature that you might have grown dependent to like.
Hey, it's like we got a surprise upgrade to our 900's, use it if you like it!
@Dave-B > Absolutely - we're all about sharing ideas and helping each other here.
@Henrik Maneuver > I think the point most people were trying to make is that this isn't really that great a technique in terms of trying to mix quickly. For that reason, using your ears is obviously more optimal. I'm not keen to promote for those starting to DJ as they may become more dependent on using this technique for beatmatching rather than using their ears.
Hi there, i really don't mean to piss on your bonfire but the bpm counters on the CDJ 900 aren't calibrated the same as the CDJ 2000 - i've got 2x CDJ 2000 and a CDJ 900 as a 3rd deck and when the 900 displays say 174bpm it's actually 173.5. i noticed this as Rekordbox analised tracks that should read 174/175 at 0% were reading a higher BPM, did a bit of messing around and worked out that the 900's are actually 0.5bpm out via the display.
not sure if this is true at lower bpm's as i only play Drum and Bass and obviously not an issue if you are using only CDJ 900's but as others have commented it's usually not a good idea to rely on a readout, instead use it as a guide or starting point and use your intuition for the rest ;-)
just to add, anyone starting out should consider covering the bpm counter and beatmatch from there, once you've mastered that you'll know when to override the software display for the best.
I have also experienced difference in the readout between CDJ900 and 850, but if you keep to matching decks it's pretty darn accurate. With precisely analyzed files and small adjustments you're good to go 99% of the time.
@Tom > Given that the CDJ900s do not have a decimal display (i.e. they can't display anything beyond a whole number value) then they round up or down depending on the BPM, for example, if the track is 125.4BPM then this is displayed as 125BPM. If the track is 125.7BPM then this is displayed as 126BPM.
Hi Gavin, yes i appreciate this but my point is that if you set your pitch adjust to say +/- 6% on both a CDJ 900 and 2000 and set two tracks that are a nice round number in terms of BPM - for me this might be 174 BPM - at zero % then the CDJ 2000 will drop down to 173.9 at minus 4% and up to 174.1 at plus 4% yeah? at intervals of 58% the BPM will change over to a round number 173/175 etc.
on the CDJ 900 the same 174 BPM track will display 173 BPM at zero and will have to be set at +26% to beatmatch the same tune on my CDJ 2000 which is set to zero - this is a FACT!!
as a result i personally work to the percentage marker as this is true on both - a +116% 172BPM tune will match a 0% 174 track no matter what either display reads in terms of BPM - i have tested this out numerous times and draw the conclusion that the CDJ 900 clicks over the the next beat increment at 0.5 of a BPM incorrectly.
try it ;-)