Pioneer DJ is a brand of DJ products, including media players and DJ software controllers, turntables, DJ mixers, headphones, effects units, and loudspeakers. Originally part of Pioneer Corporation, the company became independent in 2014 as Pioneer DJ Corporation, and has produced numerous industry-standard DJ products.[1] The company's market share of the DJ market is estimated at 60%.[2] Pioneer DJ Corporation changed its company name to AlphaTheta Corporation from January 1, 2020. Their brands and brand names, including Pioneer DJ, were not affected by this change.[3] In January 2024, it was announced that new products would be released under the AlphaTheta brand, alongside Pioneer DJ.[4]
 | |
| Formerly | Pioneer Pro DJ |
|---|---|
| Company type | Privately Held Corporation |
| Industry | Hardware and software for DJ's and music production/performance |
| Founded | Kawasaki (2014) |
| Headquarters | Yokohama, Japan |
Key people |
|
| Products | DJ Mixers, CDJs, DJ Controllers, Turntables, Rekordbox |
Number of employees | 435 |
| Parent | Noritsu |
| Website | www |
History
editBackground
editIn 1937, Nozomu Matsumoto developed the Pioneer A-8, the very first dynamic speaker to be built in Japan from original components.[1] The following year, Matsumoto founded the Fukuin Shokai Denki Seisakusho company, a radio and speaker repair shop, in Osaka Japan. In May, 1947 Fukuin Denki was incorporated, and in June, 1961, the company's name was changed to Pioneer Electronic Corporation.
Pioneer Corporation
editIn 1994, Pioneer released the world's first CDJ, the CDJ-500, a top-loading CD deck designed for professional DJ use, with a live cue function, looping, the ability to adjust tempo without altering pitch and a rudimentary jog dial which allowed the user to nudge the track forward or backward. The company introduced a companion DJ mixer, the DJM-500 with built-in effects that could be synchronized to the BPM of the music. In 1998, Pioneer introduced the CDJ-100s, the first CDJ with built-in jog wheel-controllable effects.
In 2001, the company introduced the CDJ-1000 with "Vinyl Mode," which made it possible for a user to manipulate touch-sensitive platter like vinyl on a turntable to slow down or speed up a track, or even scratching. The CDJ-1000 also introduced 'cue points' which allowed the user to set markers on a track and recall them. These new features, combined with the increased availability of music on CDs, as well as the comparative ease of transporting and storing CDs compared to vinyl, soon made the CDJ-1000 an industry standard in nightclubs worldwide.[1][5]
In 2004, Pioneer introduced the DVJ-x1, the first video DJ deck (capable of reading DVDs and outputting video).[1]
In 2009, Pioneer launched the first version of Rekordbox, a computer-based DJ software developed for Pioneer by Mixvibes and controllable by the newly released CDJ-2000, which popularized DJing without physical media. Rekordbox developed rapidly, and by 2015 was capable of performing entire DJ sets on a laptop controlled by the newly released XDJ-RX system.[1]
Pioneer DJ
editIn September 2014, with an estimated DJ market share of 60%,[6] Pioneer Corporation announced it would sell 86% of its DJ equipment business to private equity firm KKR for about 59 billion yen ($550 million), with the sale to be completed by March 2015,[7] establishing Pioneer DJ Corporation.
In 2016, Pioneer DJ introduced the CDJ-2000NXS2, which established itself as the new industry standard, appearing on most riders for major events and nightclubs worldwide.[1]
In 2020 Pioneer DJ's parent company's name was changed to AlphaTheta Corporation. In March of that year, KKR and Pioneer Corporation sold their respective stakes in AlphaTheta Corporation to Japanese holding company Noritsu.[8]
On 23 January 2024, AlphaTheta Corporation confirmed that new products would be announced using the brand AlphaTheta, separate from Pioneer DJ.[4]
DJ Players / Turntables
edit
| Name | Year |
|---|---|
| CDJ-50 / CDJ-500 | 1994 |
| CDJ-30 / CDJ-300 | 1995 |
| CDJ-500G | 1995 |
| CDJ-50II / CDJ-500II | 1996 |
| CDJ-500S | 1997 |
| CDJ-100S | 1998 |
| CDJ-500II-LTD | 1998 |
| CMX-5000 | 2000 |
| CMX-3000 | 2001 |
| DMP-555 | 2002 |
| MEP-7000 | 2008 |
| SEP-C1 | 2008 |
| CDJ-200 | 2005 |
| CDJ-400-K-LTD | 2009 |
| CDJ-350 | 2010 |
| DVJ-1000 | 2006 |
| CDJ-1000 | 2001 |
| DVJ-X1 | 2003 |
| CDJ-1000MK2 | 2003 |
| CDJ-1000MK3 | 2006 |
| CDJ-400 | 2007 |
| CDJ-700S | 1997 |
| CDJ-350-W | 2011 |
| CDJ-800 | 2002 |
| CDJ-800MK2 | 2006 |
| CDJ-900NXS | 2013 |
| CDJ-2000NXS-M-LTD | 2013 |
| CDJ-850-W | 2012 |
| CDJ-850-K | 2012 |
| CDJ-350-S | 2012 |
| CDJ-2000-W-LTD | 2012 |
| MEP-4000 | 2011 |
| CDJ-850 | 2010 |
| CDJ-900 | 2009 |
| CDJ-2000 | 2009 |
| CDJ-2000NXS | 2012 |
| CDJ-2000NXS2 | 2016 |
| CDJ-2000NXS2-W-LTD | 2017 |
| CDJ-TOUR1 | 2016 |
| CDJ-3000 | 2020 |
| PLX-500 | 2016 |
| PLX-1000 | 2014 |
| PLX-1000-N | 2015 |
| PLX-CRSS12 | 2023 |
| XDJ-1000 | 2014 |
| XDJ-700 | 2015 |
| XDJ-1000MK2 | 2016 |
DJ Controllers (incomplete)
edit
| Name | Channels | Year |
|---|---|---|
| EFX-500 | 2 | 1996 |
| DDJ-ERGO | 2 | 2011 |
| DDJ-S1 | 2 | 2011 |
| DDJ-T1 | 4 | 2011 |
| DDJ-SX | 4 | 2012 |
| DDJ-WEGO | 2 | 2012 |
| DDJ-SB | 2 | 2013 |
| DDJ-SR | 2 | 2013 |
| DDJ-SP1 | - | 2013 |
| DDJ-WEGO2 | 2 | 2013 |
| DDJ-SX2 | 4 | 2014 |
| DDJ-SZ | 4 | 2014 |
| DDJ-WEGO3 | 2 | 2014 |
| DDJ-RX | 4 | 2015 |
| DDJ-RZ | 4 | 2015 |
| DDJ-SB2 | 2 | 2015 |
| DDJ-RB | 2 | 2016 |
| DDJ-RR | 2 | 2016 |
| DDJ-RZX | 4 | 2016 |
| DDJ-SZ2 | 4 | 2016 |
| DDJ-WEGO-4 | 2 | 2016 |
| DDJ-SR2 | 2 | 2017 |
| DDJ-XP1 | - | 2017 |
| DDJ-1000 | 4 | 2018 |
| DDJ-400 | 2 | 2018 |
| DDJ-SB3 | 2 | 2018 |
| DDJ-SX3 | 4 | 2018 |
| DDJ-1000SRT | 4 | 2019 |
| DDJ-200 | 2 | 2019 |
| DDJ-800 | 2 | 2019 |
| DDJ-XP2 | - | 2019 |
| DDJ-FLX6 | 4 | 2020 |
| DDJ-REV1 | 2 | 2022 |
| DDJ-REV7 | 2 | 2022 |
| DDJ-FLX4 | 2 | 2022 |
| DDJ-FLX6-GT | 4 | 2022 |
| DDJ-FLX10 | 4 | 2023 |
| DDJ-REV5 | 2 | 2023 |
| DDJ-GRV6 | 4 | 2024 |
| DDJ-FLX2 | 2 | 2024 |
All-in-one DJ Systems
edit| Name | Channels | Year |
|---|---|---|
| XDJ-AERO | 2 | 2012 |
| XDJ-R1 | 2 | 2013 |
| XDJ-RX | 2 | 2015 |
| XDJ-RX2 | 2 | 2017 |
| XDJ-RR | 2 | 2018 |
| XDJ-XZ | 4 | 2019 |
| XDJ-RX3 | 2 | 2021 |
| OPUS-QUAD | 4 | 2023 |
| XDJ-AZ | 4 | 2024 |
DJ Mixers
edit| Name | Channels | Years |
|---|---|---|
| DJM-250 | 2 | 2012 |
| DJM-250MK2 | 2 | 2017 |
| DJM-300 | 2 | 1998 |
| DJM-300S | 2 | 1998 |
| DJM-350 | 2 | 2010 |
| DJM-400 | 2 | 2006 |
| DJM-400 LIMITED | 2 | 2006 |
| DJM-450 | 2 | 2016 |
| DJM-500 | 4 | 1995 |
| DJM-600 | 4 | 1998 |
| DJM-600S | 4 | 2002 |
| DJM-700 | 4 | 2007 |
| DJM-707 | 2 | 2004 |
| DJM-750 | 4 | 2013 |
| DJM-750MK2 | 4 | 2017 |
| DJM-800 | 4 | 2006 |
| DJM-850 | 4 | 2012 |
| DJM-900NEXUS LIMITED | 4 | 2011 |
| DJM-900NXS | 4 | 2011 |
| DJM-900NXS2 | 4 | 2016 |
| DJM-900SRT | 4 | 2013 |
| DJM-909 | 2 | 2004 |
| DJM-1000 | 6 | 2005 |
| SVM-1000 | 4 | 2008 |
| DJM-2000 | 4 | 2010 |
| DJM-2000NXS | 4 | 2012 |
| DJM-TOUR1 | 4 | 2016 |
| DJM-3000 | 4 | 2001 |
| DJM-5000 | 4 | 2009 |
| DJM-T1 | 2 | 2011 |
| DJM-S3 | 2 | 2017 |
| DJM-S9 | 2 | 2015 |
| DJM-S9-N | 2 | 2015 |
| DJM-V10 | 6 | 2020 |
| DJM-S11 | 2 | 2020 |
| DJM-S7 | 2 | 2021 |
| DJM-S5 | 2 | 2022 |
| DJM-A9 | 4 | 2023 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f Saunders, Jarrah (29 May 2023). "Gear Icons: Pioneer DJ". Mixdown. Furst Media. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- ^ McGlynn, Declan (5 March 2020). "Pioneer DJ has been sold, again". DJ Mag. Thrust Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- ^ "Pioneer DJ changes company name to AlphaTheta Corporation - AlphaTheta". alphatheta.com. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
- ^ a b "New Pioneer DJ products will now be branded as AlphaTheta". DJMag.com. 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
- ^ Rothlein, Jordan (3 October 2013). "Industry Standards: Pioneer CDJ". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ Richards, David (18 September 2014). "Pioneer Offloads Lucrative DJ Business for US$550M". Channel News. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- ^ Knight, Sophie (16 September 2014). "Pioneer to spin off DJ audio unit to KKR in $550 million deal". Reuters. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- ^ Murray, Eoin (11 July 2023). "Pioneer DJ's parent company AlphaTheta Corporation acquires Serato". DJ Mag. Thrust Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 3 August 2023.