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Don Diablo

Can’t Live Without... Pioneer DJM800 Mixer

“The DJM800 has absolutely changed the way I perform. Firstly, the faders are very tight and easy to work with, but the effects are the true stroke of genius. I used to bring little external FX units and things like Kaos pads to my gigs but that was mostly a lot of hassle to hook up.

“My tech rider consists of four Pioneer CDJ-1000s, a Pioneer DJM800 mixer and a wireless Shure SM58 mic. Now I just come to a club and everything is ready to go, which saves a lot of stress.

“With that fairly simple set-up I can make mixes that used to be impossible, from slow jams to fast tracks and vice versa, and I feel more free to run around the stage to interact more with the crowd, which basically brought back the fun into DJing for me.

“With the filters, reverbs and delays and four audio sources, in this case the CDJ-1000s, you can also create new tracks or rhythms on the spot, which adds a little spontaneous live element that is different at every show. It makes everything more creative.

“I even use the DJM800 mixer in my studio to make real-time handmade filtered loops. Sometimes it's just easier to just do it yourself instead of programming everything, which makes things more fun as well.”