Hello! I recently purchased a DJM-800 as an upgrade from a DJM-600 and I noticed that when I turn the Bass (Low) band down the levels increase in the channel and in the master by 1-2dB. I figured this was an defect since my DJM-600 does not act like this at all and when a band is cut the meters drop accordingly.
Here is a video I made of the 800 showing these symptoms.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imb66gv-DIE
As you can see the master level and channel levels even out once the bass is turned back up. (I know the trims are high, I had them this way to show the issue better)
So I returned the 800 thinking this was defective and purchased a new 750-k only to discover the same thing happens. I've tried searching around for answers and solutions to this. Did something change along the way after the 600 and this is the way the mixers are now? I called the technical support and they said this seems weird and I should have it looked at but a service center, even though the mixer is brand new in the box. Just seems off to me and actually makes cueing and eqing a track a little bit more difficult and now that it's two mixers in a row, two different models doing the same thing.
Any help or input would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Yep, they've done this for a while - and unfortunately, "it's just the way it is."
Keep in mind that the meters are there as an approximation, not as a studio-grade reference level.
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Dang, it's such a huge difference in readouts then my old 600. It would be nice if we an option to choose which way we wanted the meters to readout.. Maybe a feature for a future mixer! Thanks for the response!
DJM800 is a digital mixer. Part of this is an analog vs digital issue. Part of this is design/implementation methods on the latter.
I also suspect this is an intentional quirk added early on to the code governing the meters (possibly just as a Boolean operator flip flopped intentionally) so that you're less likely to run the meters out of the red when you have the gain/trims high and the EQs down on the DJMs. In other words, you may otherwise be clipping the inputs and not know it. If it was an accident in the coding, then it's a useful accident.
With analog inputs in particular, the DJM channel meters on their digital mixers are not an accurate representation of levels going in due to the meters being digital domain post-ADC and the gain/trim knobs adjusting the actual input level going into the ADCs. The other mixer ADC method is to make the analog inputs fixed-gain and the gain/trims purely digital domain. On Pioneer digital mixers, the gain/trims are not always digital domain only, rather they do control the analog input. There are pluses and minuses to both techniques.
On the TOUR and NXS2 DJMs, Pioneer added "Clip" words above the channel meters that are now independent of the channel meters and replace the top not-always-accurate OL red LED on the meter. Unlike what Mark said on the forum, there are not input limiters on the DJM channels. However, you will notice on the latest DJMs that "Clip" will never turn on for the channels when using the SPDIF inputs even with your gain/trims and EQs cranked all the way up. This is because of this LED's new accurate, independent functionality, the float DSP math, and the fact that the SPDIFs are bypassing the analog inputs.
In practice what does this all mean? Well for one, you should always be using the digital inputs when they're available. Second, stay out of the red, especially the top OL/Clip. And on the digital DJMs before the TOUR/NXS2 models, if you're running into the mixer with the analog inputs for, say, vinyl turntables via the phono inputs, then be aware of the fact that having all the EQs cut a lot will give you the wrong information on the channel meters. Zero out your EQs at least briefly during the track's full swing to check the channel metering, adjust the gain/trims, and keep your input levels kosher. Like I said, I think the bass knob's effect on the meter might be intentional, but regardless, this does help spoof your meters to make this a little less of an issue.