DJ Equipment Reviews

EFX 1000 – true special FX for the working DJ

I’ve been wanting to write about Pioneer for some time now, and I’m not going to make it a secret…I’m somewhat of a fan. I think they’re really solid as a company and although they get into the corporatist side of it a little too much for my tastes, they still manage to come through with great products that are meant to be enjoyed just as much as used. The new EFX 1000, a revived version of the older EFX 500, falls more into the "enjoyable" category, since it is an effector after all. To get a sense of history, for those of you that don’t know, EFX 500 made quite an impression on the industry and quickly became an effect favorite all-around. No surprise then that Pioneer capitalizes on that with the EFX 1000, which has most of the features that helped the EFX 500 on its way.

Some of those characteristics that are included in the EFX 1000 are well placed and nicely illuminated controls and knobs, and a jog wheel with increased uses for adding effects. It’s great to touch, it allows for real-time control of effect sounds and it has multiple other uses in automated replay, loop-mode, playback or in combination with the beat effector. However, the EFX 1000 is not just a rip-off of the older EFX 500. The main upgrade is, besides other improvements, the high fidelity 24-bit/96kHz sound that the newer model can achieve, compared to the 20-bit/96kHz sound of the EFX 500. The EFX 1000 also sports 32-bit DSP, which allows for integrating effects into your beat without lowering the original quality of the sound.

Another great feature of the EFX 1000 over its predecessor and over most effectors out there is its connections and its ability to integrate in virtually any studio setup, whereas most effectors are specifically geared for DJ situations. That’s because of the integrated digital and MIDI in and out functions of the EFX 1000, which make it seamlessly take part in any in-studio application. That doesn’t mean the EFX 1000 compromises anything for the DJs, as it actually adds 7 new effects to the scene, it allows for complete parameter control and tempo control in rhythm mode. Also, while the EFX 1000 still features the BPM mode beat effects made famous by the EFX 500, it brings in the rhythm mode as well, where you can apply effects in sync with a rhythm that you can input yourself, allowing for a limitless range of unique effects compared to other beat effectors. Talk about a new level of DJ performance…

While maybe some people would have wished for a sampler in the new Pioneer EFX 1000, this high quality and durable device prefers to offer all an effector can instead. It allows for COMPLETE control over numerous effects (delay, echo, pitch echo, trans, flanger, filter, phaser, jet, wah, phase shifter, ring, zip, etc.), it offers voice humanizer and vocoder mic effects, and you can even isolate a frequency (high,mid or low) to apply effects to. As usual, let’s finish this off with some tech specs, as well as a challenge (yeah, I mean it…) to find a better beat effector out there.

• a power supply of AC 120 V, 60 Hz
• it "eats" 16W of power
• weighs only around 2.5 kgs (5.3 lbs.)
• frequency of 20 Hz up to 22 kHz
• Signal to Noise Ratio of 83  dB
• input and output levels of –10 dBV / +4 dBu (22kW input and RCA pin jacks: 1 kW, phone jacks: 1 kW output)

 

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