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REVIEWED
REVIEWED: Pioneer DJ DDJ REV5
When it comes to serving your music up, there really isn’t a shortage of ways to do it. The controller world is already plentiful with Pioneer DJ alone having over a dozen or so current models to choose from. My first thought when the Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 was announced was probably one shared by many of you; ‘here we go again’. But just as we started to blow out the candles from celebrating hip hop’s 50th birthday, it dawned on me that the ‘battle format’ market is starting to take hold.
With Pioneer DJ's world class 2-channel mixers (namely DJM S7 and S9) and the two controllers from the beginner targeted DDJ-REV1 and the overly weaponised DDJ-REV7, there sat a bit of a void for people who wanted more than a £250-odd controller but didn’t want to spend near on 1900 quid. Does this make the REV5 your weapon of choice purely from a financial standpoint?
First Impressions
As a serial offender of buying DJ toys, and namely controllers (I’m looking at my Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000 SRT, Roland DJ707M, Reloop Ready, Pioneer DJ FLX10 and a Pioneer DJ XDJ-XZ), the Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 is already giving me ‘I have features you want’ vibes. It's relatively lighter than the REV7 but still a decent size and with great proportions - the mixer section looks like an implanted DJM-S7 or S9. The jog wheels are a great size and feel like a Pioneer DJ product - jog feel is easy to access and a great feature if you like to scratch and answer the call for the odd wheel up!
Mixing Action
Most of the mixing action takes place in the top half, consisting of the usual two banks of eight performance pads above crossfaders - with other features like the FX control being on paddles with a hold down/lock feature, and a nice symmetrical layout for filter, EQ and volume levels.
The Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 also hosts a MAGVEL fader with adjustable cut curve and a reverse switch - all the right toys for people who fancy bringing out the Jazzy Jeff skills! I’m also a fan of low and high pass filter - the fact it sits in the 12 o’clock position means you swing it left or right depending on which filter you want to use. There's some interesting ‘secondary’ writing by the EQ knobs - but more on that later. If I’m going to be picky about this part of the controller, I’d say the lack of any external effects might be a drawback… but who’s carting round FX pedals and extra bits in this day and age? The familiar layout means people progressing from the smaller controllers such as the Rev1 and DDJ-400s of this world won’t find it intimidating at all.
Platters that matter
Not apologising for the cheesy rhyme. Because they do. These controllers for the hip hop, open format and battle DJs amongst us, will have hands on them most of the time!
Pioneer DJ have adopted the non-motorised, CDJ-esque platters as opposed to the motorised version we have on the DDJ-REV7 - which is almost certainly down to price point. Another observation is they are aesthetically different to a CDJ or DDJ-1000 type jog - and I’ve realised they have changed the protruding dots on the side of the platter – different, but within half an hour of messing about on the controller I didn’t miss them at all.
The jog wheels contain some information at their centre, which is nice. Not as much information as some of the other controllers but again, if you really want the luxury of album art looking back at you, then the REV7 exists for that reason! Also, on each deck is a deck button. A welcome addition - especially for the battle and open format crews who like to chuck a tune on as a set piece or first dance. Another interesting use for this;
by pressing shift and deck select, you can control both decks 1&3 or 2&4 at the same time - so if you want to lock an instrumental and vocal from two different tracks (with stems or without) you can scratch or drop/jog them in at the same time without swapping deck layers! Now, that’s something REV7 owners wish they had!
Stems Control
Well I said the ‘S’ word so now it’s only fair I talk about it! The Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 is one of the first controllers with dedicated, direct control over stems on the hardware itself. I’m a massive advocate of stems within Serato and Rekordbox, because it allows me to play a wider array of music at my open format gigs. If you don’t know what stems is yet, just Google ‘Skratch Bastid - Demo Stems’ and get ready for your mind to be blown.
In short you have access to the individual elements of a track - grouped by the vocals, melody, bass and drums. With many other controllers you can re-map and get into the menu to give yourself stems control - but with the DDJ-REV5 you can make a live mashup or remix at the press of dedicated buttons, allowing you to toggle between the different elements on the fly.
As mentioned earlier, the EQ knobs can also be put on stems duty, as you can use their second layer function to control the volume for the different stems elements. The feature I had the most fun with is using it with deck move, which allows you to have an isolated vocal from one track, an instrumental with another and mix those two at the same time from another standard track - James Hype eat your heart out!
Another notable design element are the pitch faders. The standard for so many years was having a vertical tempo control, but the battle style layout (harking back to vinyl turntables being rotated 90 degrees to keep a tone-arm out the way for performance) means that it’s basically a rite of passage to make controller tempo faders horizontal.
These faders have an excellent feel with the right amount of resistance. Local to the faders are the range, key lock and sync buttons - which is the most obvious place to put them for workflow.
The next section along from the sync button is an interesting one and a totally UNIQUE feature to the controller world - the all-new auto BPM transition. Now bear with me, I know that some of these ‘we do your job for you’ features make some of you mad and the rest of you underwhelmed; but. This. Actually. Works. This little glossy part of the controller can be there to make your life incredibly easy.
Again, for the open format world where we get asked to present awards, hype the crowd, play walk up music, hold a mic for someone – anything - sometimes we need more than two hands. This feature will allow you to transition from one BPM to another without touching the fader.
This also makes it a great feature to hop between two different genres when you are in the mix too, so you can select the BPM warp over 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars. Like a DJ edit for any track in your collection. Want to go from hip hop into house? No problem. Want to go from drum and bass to reggae? Easy.
It’s also a handy feature if you’d rather bang away at the performance pads or add additional FX. Not to mention those acapellas you just made on the fly with stems!
Software
Just in case I haven’t already sold another controller to myself, I should start on just how software inclusive this controller is. The REV5, like its smaller and bigger siblings, is predominantly a Serato DJ Pro product. However, there is a nicely parked Rekordbox logo on the unit too, meaning it will also work with RB performance software.
I should also give an honourable mention to Serato’s Pitch ’n Time expansion, which is included as an unlock. It’s an essential addition to this controller due to the key manipulation (no doubt for the auto transitioning BPM feature and in conjunction with stems). Very rarely do we get any bolt-ons for free nowadays so it’s nice this is already included.
Performance pads; the normal and the new
As mentioned, the scratch mixer style of two banks of eight pads lives at the mixer section of this controller. It’s got the usual features: hot cue, roll, saved loops, sampler, pitch play, stems and scratch bank. There’s plenty of information on each of these functions online but the one I need to talk about is piano play.
This new mode is for anyone who’s thumped a beat-making controller or has a musical strand of fiber in their body. You can turn all 16 pads into a piano. The bottom row of pads are the octaves whilst the top row acts as the sharp black keys.
I should mention that this is also part of the pitch play which kind of exists on other controllers but that has always felt clunky to produce anything that sounds good. Incidentally, when did you hear someone noticeably changing the pitch of a track on purpose when you were at a gig?
This new piano play will no doubt increase this side of performance, as the pads light up based on what you select. You can also select different major and minor pentatonic scales all whilst in the mix. I should also mention here that the pads are something Pioneer DJ really have mastered. They have a great feel, are responsive and bright even at daytime so you can see what mode you’re in and what you’re doing.
The ins and outs: connectivity
In terms of computer input connectivity, you can connect two laptops via USB-C - which is welcomed by me with open arms (I wish everything was USB-C). The ability to connect two laptops at the same time for back to back DJ sets, or having a second machine as a backup is great. In terms of outputs, there are balanced XLR master outs and an unbalanced RCA stereo out master. I’m very happy to see a separate booth output on a controller like this too, provided by TRS 6.3mm jacks.
Other inputs are a pair of microphone inputs - one being a combo XLR-jack and the other being a standard jack. There isn’t EQ on these so depending on the circumstances you may need to consider routing microphones through a mini-mixer as most people that we open format DJs hand microphones to, don’t know how to use microphones.
There is also an auxiliary input via RCA on the back, however there is no control at all for this (other than the master volume knob). So, as a break glass situation playlist from a phone etc it's handy, but the DDJ-REV5 doesn’t host any standalone mixer elements, adding other players isn't possible.
Build quality, design and size
The DDJ-REV5 is a genuine middle of road when it comes to build quality - it's solid and certain. I’d have no concerns about having it in a bag or case and schlepping with me to gigs from bars to barns. It’s a big upgrade from entry level controllers like the REV1 and DDJ-FLX4, though not as solid as a REV7 (which is obviously significantly more expensive.) The knobs, buttons, faders and jog wheels feel like top of the line Pioneer DJ parts - if blindfolded using the crossfader or a pad, you could easily mistake this for an £1800 unit.
Having a MAGVEL fader on a controller like this is a persuasive point for scratch DJs looking for an all-in-one unit they can cart about. Size is another interesting factor, it’s not actually that far off a REV7 so still has some DJ booth presence - but nearly five kilos lighter than its bigger brother.
Summary
I think the DDJ-REV5 has a whole heap of features which can be easily and lovingly embraced by many different breeds of DJ. The various scratch and pad features make it a mixtape weapon, the stems and pitch play make it an open format DJ's dream and the hip-hoppers will feel like their rider requirements can be taken on the tube. If the lack of external mixer is a sticking point there’s half a dozen other controllers you can use from the Pioneer DJ lineup - the REV7 being the most likely if you want this extra connectivity. That being said, this is a mid-priced controller with a boat load of things going on. In this world where everything seems to be getting more expensive, I for one am grateful that this controller now exists.
Head to your local dealer and try one out! Meanwhile, I’m eyeing up a space on my controller shelf!
With Pioneer DJ's world class 2-channel mixers (namely DJM S7 and S9) and the two controllers from the beginner targeted DDJ-REV1 and the overly weaponised DDJ-REV7, there sat a bit of a void for people who wanted more than a £250-odd controller but didn’t want to spend near on 1900 quid. Does this make the REV5 your weapon of choice purely from a financial standpoint?
First Impressions
As a serial offender of buying DJ toys, and namely controllers (I’m looking at my Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000 SRT, Roland DJ707M, Reloop Ready, Pioneer DJ FLX10 and a Pioneer DJ XDJ-XZ), the Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 is already giving me ‘I have features you want’ vibes. It's relatively lighter than the REV7 but still a decent size and with great proportions - the mixer section looks like an implanted DJM-S7 or S9. The jog wheels are a great size and feel like a Pioneer DJ product - jog feel is easy to access and a great feature if you like to scratch and answer the call for the odd wheel up!
Mixing Action
Most of the mixing action takes place in the top half, consisting of the usual two banks of eight performance pads above crossfaders - with other features like the FX control being on paddles with a hold down/lock feature, and a nice symmetrical layout for filter, EQ and volume levels.
The Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 also hosts a MAGVEL fader with adjustable cut curve and a reverse switch - all the right toys for people who fancy bringing out the Jazzy Jeff skills! I’m also a fan of low and high pass filter - the fact it sits in the 12 o’clock position means you swing it left or right depending on which filter you want to use. There's some interesting ‘secondary’ writing by the EQ knobs - but more on that later. If I’m going to be picky about this part of the controller, I’d say the lack of any external effects might be a drawback… but who’s carting round FX pedals and extra bits in this day and age? The familiar layout means people progressing from the smaller controllers such as the Rev1 and DDJ-400s of this world won’t find it intimidating at all.
Platters that matter
Not apologising for the cheesy rhyme. Because they do. These controllers for the hip hop, open format and battle DJs amongst us, will have hands on them most of the time!
Pioneer DJ have adopted the non-motorised, CDJ-esque platters as opposed to the motorised version we have on the DDJ-REV7 - which is almost certainly down to price point. Another observation is they are aesthetically different to a CDJ or DDJ-1000 type jog - and I’ve realised they have changed the protruding dots on the side of the platter – different, but within half an hour of messing about on the controller I didn’t miss them at all.
The jog wheels contain some information at their centre, which is nice. Not as much information as some of the other controllers but again, if you really want the luxury of album art looking back at you, then the REV7 exists for that reason! Also, on each deck is a deck button. A welcome addition - especially for the battle and open format crews who like to chuck a tune on as a set piece or first dance. Another interesting use for this;
by pressing shift and deck select, you can control both decks 1&3 or 2&4 at the same time - so if you want to lock an instrumental and vocal from two different tracks (with stems or without) you can scratch or drop/jog them in at the same time without swapping deck layers! Now, that’s something REV7 owners wish they had!
Stems Control
Well I said the ‘S’ word so now it’s only fair I talk about it! The Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV5 is one of the first controllers with dedicated, direct control over stems on the hardware itself. I’m a massive advocate of stems within Serato and Rekordbox, because it allows me to play a wider array of music at my open format gigs. If you don’t know what stems is yet, just Google ‘Skratch Bastid - Demo Stems’ and get ready for your mind to be blown.
In short you have access to the individual elements of a track - grouped by the vocals, melody, bass and drums. With many other controllers you can re-map and get into the menu to give yourself stems control - but with the DDJ-REV5 you can make a live mashup or remix at the press of dedicated buttons, allowing you to toggle between the different elements on the fly.
As mentioned earlier, the EQ knobs can also be put on stems duty, as you can use their second layer function to control the volume for the different stems elements. The feature I had the most fun with is using it with deck move, which allows you to have an isolated vocal from one track, an instrumental with another and mix those two at the same time from another standard track - James Hype eat your heart out!
Another notable design element are the pitch faders. The standard for so many years was having a vertical tempo control, but the battle style layout (harking back to vinyl turntables being rotated 90 degrees to keep a tone-arm out the way for performance) means that it’s basically a rite of passage to make controller tempo faders horizontal.
These faders have an excellent feel with the right amount of resistance. Local to the faders are the range, key lock and sync buttons - which is the most obvious place to put them for workflow.
The next section along from the sync button is an interesting one and a totally UNIQUE feature to the controller world - the all-new auto BPM transition. Now bear with me, I know that some of these ‘we do your job for you’ features make some of you mad and the rest of you underwhelmed; but. This. Actually. Works. This little glossy part of the controller can be there to make your life incredibly easy.
Again, for the open format world where we get asked to present awards, hype the crowd, play walk up music, hold a mic for someone – anything - sometimes we need more than two hands. This feature will allow you to transition from one BPM to another without touching the fader.
This also makes it a great feature to hop between two different genres when you are in the mix too, so you can select the BPM warp over 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars. Like a DJ edit for any track in your collection. Want to go from hip hop into house? No problem. Want to go from drum and bass to reggae? Easy.
It’s also a handy feature if you’d rather bang away at the performance pads or add additional FX. Not to mention those acapellas you just made on the fly with stems!
Software
Just in case I haven’t already sold another controller to myself, I should start on just how software inclusive this controller is. The REV5, like its smaller and bigger siblings, is predominantly a Serato DJ Pro product. However, there is a nicely parked Rekordbox logo on the unit too, meaning it will also work with RB performance software.
I should also give an honourable mention to Serato’s Pitch ’n Time expansion, which is included as an unlock. It’s an essential addition to this controller due to the key manipulation (no doubt for the auto transitioning BPM feature and in conjunction with stems). Very rarely do we get any bolt-ons for free nowadays so it’s nice this is already included.
Performance pads; the normal and the new
As mentioned, the scratch mixer style of two banks of eight pads lives at the mixer section of this controller. It’s got the usual features: hot cue, roll, saved loops, sampler, pitch play, stems and scratch bank. There’s plenty of information on each of these functions online but the one I need to talk about is piano play.
This new mode is for anyone who’s thumped a beat-making controller or has a musical strand of fiber in their body. You can turn all 16 pads into a piano. The bottom row of pads are the octaves whilst the top row acts as the sharp black keys.
I should mention that this is also part of the pitch play which kind of exists on other controllers but that has always felt clunky to produce anything that sounds good. Incidentally, when did you hear someone noticeably changing the pitch of a track on purpose when you were at a gig?
This new piano play will no doubt increase this side of performance, as the pads light up based on what you select. You can also select different major and minor pentatonic scales all whilst in the mix. I should also mention here that the pads are something Pioneer DJ really have mastered. They have a great feel, are responsive and bright even at daytime so you can see what mode you’re in and what you’re doing.
The ins and outs: connectivity
In terms of computer input connectivity, you can connect two laptops via USB-C - which is welcomed by me with open arms (I wish everything was USB-C). The ability to connect two laptops at the same time for back to back DJ sets, or having a second machine as a backup is great. In terms of outputs, there are balanced XLR master outs and an unbalanced RCA stereo out master. I’m very happy to see a separate booth output on a controller like this too, provided by TRS 6.3mm jacks.
Other inputs are a pair of microphone inputs - one being a combo XLR-jack and the other being a standard jack. There isn’t EQ on these so depending on the circumstances you may need to consider routing microphones through a mini-mixer as most people that we open format DJs hand microphones to, don’t know how to use microphones.
There is also an auxiliary input via RCA on the back, however there is no control at all for this (other than the master volume knob). So, as a break glass situation playlist from a phone etc it's handy, but the DDJ-REV5 doesn’t host any standalone mixer elements, adding other players isn't possible.
Build quality, design and size
The DDJ-REV5 is a genuine middle of road when it comes to build quality - it's solid and certain. I’d have no concerns about having it in a bag or case and schlepping with me to gigs from bars to barns. It’s a big upgrade from entry level controllers like the REV1 and DDJ-FLX4, though not as solid as a REV7 (which is obviously significantly more expensive.) The knobs, buttons, faders and jog wheels feel like top of the line Pioneer DJ parts - if blindfolded using the crossfader or a pad, you could easily mistake this for an £1800 unit.
Having a MAGVEL fader on a controller like this is a persuasive point for scratch DJs looking for an all-in-one unit they can cart about. Size is another interesting factor, it’s not actually that far off a REV7 so still has some DJ booth presence - but nearly five kilos lighter than its bigger brother.
Summary
I think the DDJ-REV5 has a whole heap of features which can be easily and lovingly embraced by many different breeds of DJ. The various scratch and pad features make it a mixtape weapon, the stems and pitch play make it an open format DJ's dream and the hip-hoppers will feel like their rider requirements can be taken on the tube. If the lack of external mixer is a sticking point there’s half a dozen other controllers you can use from the Pioneer DJ lineup - the REV7 being the most likely if you want this extra connectivity. That being said, this is a mid-priced controller with a boat load of things going on. In this world where everything seems to be getting more expensive, I for one am grateful that this controller now exists.
Head to your local dealer and try one out! Meanwhile, I’m eyeing up a space on my controller shelf!
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 122, Pages 74-78.
