After a storming set at Airbourne a few weeks ago Handsome Paddy is going head to head with DJ Rizm at Best Foot Forward this weekend. Before setting him loose we ask Handsome Paddy, whats your mixer?

I have had this mixer for approx 10 months after a toss-up between it and the Rane TTM57SL. I chose it in the end because a friend who had recently upgraded to the Rane told me he was finding the effects a lot more difficult to use and was thinking of going back to the Pioneer. I’m very happy with my decision as I am a massive fan of this mixer.

I love the layout and although the fader took a while to get used to I really like it now. I had always had simple Vestax-type scratch mixers with no frills before this so it was really novel for me at first to have the use of effects, which are the main reason I like it so much.

The effects I use the most are the Echo, Filter and Roll, which have been standard on the higher end Pioneer mixers for a while and are great for adding colour to a mix, but there’s even further scope for creativity in some of the other features. The Fader Synth, for example, allows you to play melodies or basslines by adjusting the pitch of a tone (the frequency of which you can adjust) with the upfader and cutting it in and out with the crossfader.

I only have two gripes with the mixer:

1. The booth monitor output is phono only which has meant on a few occasions playing out I’ve had to get a direct feed from the desk to the monitor which I can’t adjust from the mixer as they needed a jack output.

2. I would like if there was a bit more cut in the EQs.

However, these are only minor flaws and otherwise I am completely satisfied and have no plan on changing for the forseeable future.