Pioneer's successor of the CDJ-1000mk2 : the Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3. The Pioneer CDJ-1000(CDJ=1000MK2) has grown to an Industry standard as it is used by the majority of DJs around the world. World famous people and lots of Top-100 listed DJs have made to switch, partially or complete, from vinyl to CD in the last few years. Lots (probably most) of them say it's the CDJ-1000 that made finally make this choice.

As a matter of fact I think it's safe to say that Pioneer has set the 'Industry Standard' for CD decks that are used on raves and in the clubs. This evolution started somewhere between the first introduction of the CDJ-1000 in August 2001 and the introduction of the CDJ-1000mk3 in March 2006.

The MK3 has Full MP3 compatibility and the overall speed and performance are improved. Supporting both CBR an VBR encoded MP3 music from a data CD. To keep finding your files easy there have been included separate Folder Search buttons to browse back-and-forth in your folder.

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With a dial you can now adjust the smoothness /resistance of the Jog Dial. When set in the lightest setting it feels like the CDJ-800 Jog dial. At the indicator you have the optimal setting (my opinion), like the CDJ-1000MK2. There is even the possibility to set it tighter than that... It's what YOU like :D

Both displays have been upgraded. The Jog Display has become larger, brighter and more accurate. Also a redesign of the center ring give scratchers more accurate reading. The main display is now all dot matrix. The waveform has been doubled in length, from 50 to 100 dots and now reads at multi-speed within 20-30 seconds. Once read, the data will be written to the SD Memory card.

The SD Memory card can be used to store waveform information, 3 hot cue's and 100 cue Points per CD for thousands of CD's, depending on the size of card you've inserted. A 32 MB card is included with the CDJ-1000MK3.
The Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3 is equipped with 3 Hot Cue's, once set these can be instantly activated. The Hot cue's can be set anywhere on the disc, regardless of the track. Recalling Hot Cue's across several tracks goes instantly and without any latency.

Jog Display

To improve the readability of the CDJ-1000MK3's display, the Jog Display has been mounted some centimeters higher inside of the CDJ 1000MK3's Jog wheel.

This will make the reading angle a lot higher so you can always keep a close eye on the marker and read the display easy.

Also the layout of the display has been made more accurate and better looking. The Cue Marker is bigger and closer to the outer rim.

Also there are 4 dark stripes that mark the white inner ring for accurate cueing while scratching. The Cue Marker itself has been made bigger and brighter.

The space between the Cue Marker and the segmented ring is now smaller so the position can be judged more accurate.

Overall the new Jog Display gives you more precise information in a brighter way.

File Compatibility

You can playback music files on the CDJ-1000MK3 in MP3 Format. A CD that contains MP3 files is restricted to these parameters:

Folder tree is max. 8 levels deep

Max. number of folders on disc (CD/DVD) : 2.000
Max. files on disc (CD/DVD) : 3.000
Max. files per format (CD/DVD) : 999

Max. number of folders on media (SD/USB) : 10.000
Max. files on media per folder (SD/USB) : 10.000

CD-R Recording : ISO9660 CD-ROM file system, Disc At Once or Track At Once
Multi Session : Not supported, only the first session can be played.

Full MP3 Support (CBR/VBR)

The Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3 makes it possible to play MP3 music from a data-CD in 2 formats: Constant Bit Rate (CBR) and Variable Bit Rat (VBR). The advantage of VBR is that you save a little space. On an average CD you might be able to put 120 tracks, instead of 100 when using CBR.

Although the CDJ1000MK3 is fully compatible with VBR, the Cue and Search functions will operate a little slower with VBR when compared to an Audio CD or CBR. So if you want keep operating fast, use CBR (Constant Bit Rate) to encode your MP3's.  

Some tips I would like to give when you are preparing your files :

Use CBR to compress your tracks and DO NOT USE VBR
Give clear filenames in formats like : Artist - Title.mp3
Add ID3 tags right after conversion so you don't forget
Burn CD's at a low speed (4x or 8x), this makes your discs easier to read
Use folder as less as possible, I only use folders in the root

Jog Wheel feeling Adjust

The revolutionary Jog Dial of the Pioneer CDJ1000MK3 makes it possible for you to adjust the actual resistance of the Jog wheel by rotating a knob.

It can vary between the very loose feeling of the CDJ-800 to the direct and smooth feeling the the CDJ-1000MK2. This feature will be limited to the top-level MK3 only.

Faster Searching using the Jog

When you are holding the Track Search button / and rotate the Jog you will scroll very fast through the discs index. 1 Rotation skips about 30 tracks.

When you hold down the regular Search button / and rotate the Jog dial, you will search at a faster speed. Fast Search is performed in the direction of which the jog is rotated so it can also be done backwards.

In both cases (track or regular search), it doesn't matter which direction of the Search Buttons you press (/or/), the direction of the rotation of the Jog determines the direction how to skip.

Waveform and Playing Address Bar

This Pioneer invention has been revolutionary improved. The length of the Waveform is much longer than that of the MK2. Besides the fact that it takes a lot more space on the display, the resolution has been improved from 50 dots (MK2) to 100 dots (MK3). Also the gaps that occurred on the MK2 has been removed so that the Waveform of the MK3 gives a more accurate reading.

Track display

On the display you can now always see how many tracks there are on the disc. Next to the current playing tracks number, the CDJ-1000MK3 displays how much 'ALL' tracks are.

Below is the Waveform for the same track shown on both decks.

Folder Search & MP3 Playback

MP3 Playback is added to the feature list of the CDJ 1000MK3. Due to the size of an MP3, a huge amount of tracks can be put on a CD (over 100 tracks @ CBR192k).

To keep navigation easy and fast, there are 2 buttons that can be used to change folders. The folder name is rapidly displayed on the display so your tracks are easy approachable.

When you create MP3 files from your vinyl's you should always do this at the highest quality possible. There are lots of stories about what's the best. A good start point is a Constant Bit Rate set to 320 kbps.

VBR Support

VBR is another way of compression than CBR. With Variable Bit Rate the compression is done with a non-constant bitrate. The Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3 is fully compatible with this format, although some features might perform a bit slower. This is due to the CPU hungry character of VBR.

Cue Stutter Continue

Just like on any CDJ you can use the Cue Button to sample play from your Cue Point. As long as you hold the Cue Button the CDJ plays the track from the Cue Point onwards. When the cue Button is released the CDJ instantly returns to the Cue point and is ready for a restart. Continue playing after you used the Cue Stutter was until recently impossible.

As introduced on the CDJ-200, the CDJ-1000MK3 also provides a way to solve this. When you are holding the Cue Button and the CDJ is playing, you can continue by simultaneously pressing the Play Button once. When you now release the Cue Button playing will continue. Nice to help you out when you just stuttered to much. (See the CDJ-200 Demo Video to see this in action)

Eject Canceling & Auto Resume Play

When you press the EJECT button, playback will stop and the player prepares for the Eject.

Before it shows you 'EJECT' (about 1 second), you can cancel the Eject by pressing the Play Button. This will not stop the sound from stopping, but it continuous playing a lot faster than when it would perform a full Eject.

When the disc does get ejected and is inserted it again, playback will continue from the point where it was ejected (track number and time is remembered). This point is being stored in the memory of the CDJ for as long as no other CD is inserted, or the power has been turned down.

Hot Cue & Hot Loop

It is possible to record a Cue Point to a Hot Cue. Just press record and the A, B and C will lit up red, indicating that you will record a new Hot Loop/cue when you press any of these buttons.

When the player is in Loop Play, a Hot Loop will be recorded under the button you've pressed. When that player is NOT in Loop Play (or paused in a Loop) a normal Hot Cue is recorded.

There is no need to delete a Hot Cue/Loop, simply overwrite an existing one.

The last used Hot cue's/Loops will be written on the SD Memory card (when used). When a disc is inserted with pre-recorded Hot Cue's, they will flash. When you press it once, the Hot Cue or Loop will be loaded (this takes a second, in the mean while, arm the other Hot Cue's as well.

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And there are also the already familiar features that you will find on about any CDJ, DVJ or CMX product:

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