One of the earliest pioneers of DJ hardware was the PMX 9000 Crossfader DJ Mixer. Today, the PMX 9000 might look like something you’d use to block a door from slamming in the wind, but at the time it was an innovative (and expensive) piece of hardware. And one that paved the way for DJ techniques that persist to this day. Let’s check out some of the debts that professional DJs owe to this historic piece of gear.
Crossfading
First introduced in 1979, the PMX 9000 was one of the first mass-produced DJ mixers. And the first to use a crossfader. Without the crossfader, we wouldn’t have scratching, beat juggling and beat matching. Simply put, the 9000 turned DJing into a sport. It wasn’t long before Gemini, Numark and Vestax followed with their own version of PMX-style mixers.
Going mainstream
Although the PMX featured no per-channel EQ or gain, it did manage to spark off competition between other audio manufacturing companies. Pretty soon, it became clear that DJing wasn’t just for the type of people who assembled their own ham radios; it was now becoming cool, and accessible to the mainstream.
History in the making
The PMX 9000 kickstarted sparked many new developments in the field of DJ mixers. Developments like 3-band EQs, per-channel cue and crossfader curves. All of these are considered standard parts of the DJ practice to this day, and without them we wouldn’t have Grandmaster Flash or his disciples.
DJ history is peppered with stories of frontier-pushing development and artistry. We have many pioneers to acknowledge, all of whom had one thing in common - their desire to level up. So level up yourself! Check out some of the DJ tutorial video courses on offer today.