Roland DJ-505 Full review: how good is it?

[@j4ckurabczuk]

Hi, referring to what you said about backspin, i found this in the user manual: When applying backspin to the jog dial, this setting lets you make backspin continue longer than the distance that the jog dial actually rotated. OFF Backspin operation occurs according to the actual distance of rotation. Short Backspin operation is shorter than with the Normal setting. Normal Backspin operation occurs longer than the actual distance of rotation. Long Backspin operation is longer than with the Normal setting Page 23 manual user.

[@PjotrII]

Just ordered the 505, my first DJ controller ever. Van Buuren will be jealous... or maybe not.

[@junglist1soldier]

Its been a year, how do you like your controller?

[@mannyrobinson2995]

Every once in a while my DJ505 volume faders have a glitch where the volume seems to internally go full blast 100% on both decks. Even with my lowering & raising it quickly to get it to stop, it continued last Saturday night at the restaurant. Even having it barely above off it was blasting loud & customers gave me the death stare as they covered their ears. Luckily I was able to switch over to a secondary program on my laptop & use the center channel to keep playing music. After a few minutes, the volume faders were back to playing normally. That has happened about 4 times since I bought this unit back in 2018.

[@YouriHL]

Oh gosh you sound soooo Dutch XD Thanks for the review. I wanted to get the 808 just a week ago, but it's nowhere to be found. The 505 is available due early January 2023 again, so I'm quite interested. Mainly because I own a TR-909 (the original one).

[@fausto412]

Noob here. Thanks for the demo. Between this one and Pioneer DDJ SR2 which is best for an aspiring DJ. they about the same price apparently.

[@balthasar.freitag]

Have seen your article on the comparison of the roland 505 and pioneer sr2. But can you please say something about the sound quality, i have seen some feedbacks in the serato forum that the roland has a much better digital analog converter? Thanks for your nice work!

[@dickfantastic7908]

Same thing I'm concerned with for my first controller, kind of why I'm looking at Denon being from the home audio world myself I know they make a good product. But I like this Roland, did you find out an answer?

[@Justicefu]

Sound is great, 505 seems to colour the sound a bit, but in a good way. Performance pads are not reliable, not even close to Novation pads. Often a solid finger press in the middle of the pad is not registered. Jog wheels are not as good as people say, the latency is super low, and scratching is ok, but honestly my Reloop Beatmix2's jog wheels are all round just better for hip hop tricks like backspins, even with the firmware change to the Rolands backspin function. The wheels are just too tight, I do plan on adding a real TT and using DVS through the 505 so I'm not too fussed, still expected a better experience than my $250 Reloop controllers wheels. Xfader is great, curve control is great feature. FX are fun. Lots of in/out config options, Line/Phono/PC in for decks 3 and 4 is awesome.

[@vinylselektaz6475]

Can you play a sample from a song with the drums ?

[@lukasmischlich1178]

Thanks for the review. I'm just starting out and now really unsure if I should spend the extra money for a 505 or just take the 202. I really like the sequenzer, but it would be 300 extra.

[@Djtechzone]

the 505 is worth the extra cost tbh... the sequencer is so much easier to use compared to the one on the 202

[@davidmartinez927]

DjTechZone and the longer pitch fader is another plus!

[@otccreations]

Great review! I have a question...as far as the crossfader and jog wheels go, do you prefer this or the ddjsr2? As much as I like the roland dj 505, it does look kind of cheap to me. The ddjsr2 looks to be more solid? Please help ;)...Thank you!

[@Djtechzone]

Thanks! Quality wise, I would say that the SR2 has a slight edge. But it’s not enough to be a factor in a buying decision imho... i compared them in a separated article djtechzone.com/pioneer-dj-ddj-sr2-roland-dj-505-compared-which-one-is-the-best/

[@otccreations]

Thank you for the link & the quick response to my question! That article was exactly what I was looking for! Respect, Brother...have a great weekend!!!

[@adrosorbot1267]

can we listen to each deck seperately and mix them on headphones before sending it to main output.. ?

[@regend762]

Yes. Each channel has a CUE and Master has CUE also. This allows you to monitor in headphones and you don't need an external speaker monitor. However, I recommend having an external monitor. Helps with mixing skills.

[@ian.new.life.]

im intrested in how much difference the sound quality between the rowland 505 and the pioneer ddj 800?

[@junglist1soldier]

The 800 has a clearer sound but, the 505 is still great sounding. I have the 505 & have wanted & will get an 808 in the future. 505 has 48kb vs. 96 with the DJ-808. I would like more DJ-505/808 vids.

[@fnk101]

Hi what was that track you were bought in

[@Djtechzone]

It's called Sunny Morning from Bruno E

[@ClectaSkiMusic]

Cool, are you going to do a review on Serato DJ Pro..?

[@Djtechzone]

Thx! yes it’s on the list.

[@steve-ey4ol]

ClectaSkiMusi

[@gekyumes_dad]

Can you plug guitar pedals into this?

[@regend762]

It does not have an FX aux/send. You can only send you master output into a pedal and then send pedal output to your PA.

[@romer2279]

i was saving money for ddj rr to upgrade form ddjrb. but now i found this 505 intresting. i can even connect my pt01 scratch here, right? but is it really easy to move from rekordbox to serato? thanks(",)

[@Djtechzone]

Yes you can connect ext gear. Upgrade wise, yes it’s easy enough if you have Rekordbuddy, but doing it manually will be a lot of work!

[@romer2279]

thanks man

[@blankcheckguy69]

do you like the Numark NS6ii better than this controller?

[@ItsAllMoThug33]

No

[@adrosorbot1267]

is this good for hiphop production

[@brianwirt1844]

It doesn't have the ability to connect 2 laptops. Not good choice, and limiting.