It’s worth mentioning that while this is a standalone player, it’s also fully MIDI mappable. That’s a big plus, as adding one will set you back a fair chunk of change. Unlike the Denon DJ MCX-8000 that is merely mini Innofader ready, the SDJ-2000 comes with a mini Innofader.
REKORD BUDDY DUPLICATE HOT CUES SOFTWARE
These are common to pretty much every controller now, but it’s cool that Gemini’s VCase software offers them too. There are familiar RGB (well on the PR picture anyway) pads that offer hot cues, loops, slicer, and sample play. This is also fully equipped with two mic channels with tone controls, as well as master and booth outputs. Speaking of which, there are line inputs on all channels, two of which are phono switchable. The SDJ-2000 also looks to have effects similar to Pioneer’s colour effects - gate, filter, crush, and noise - each with a large control per channel.
That’s not all - the SDJ-2000 has 8 onboard effects that can be applied to the channels or connected external inputs too. This device drives all four channels, and if connected by the ethernet port, you can hook up two additional Gemini MDJ-1000 media players too, and all can share the same USB based music too. Running under Gemini’s own VCase software, you can fully analyse large libraries on your Mac or PC and offload them to a single USB device.
So what’s this all about? Well it’s a four channel asymmetrical fully standalone controller with a large central screen. The new SDJ-2000 controller was like so many new pieces protected under the usual perspex forcefield, but we were able to coax Gemini to release the beast from its cage and let us have a closer look. While the DJ scene has been cooing and fawning over the return of Denon and their new MCX-8000 übercontroller, industry stalwarts Gemini had something big and standalone of their own to show.