Pioneer EFX 1000 [Back to HOME page]

Back in 1998 Pioneer released the EFX 500, their performance effector that went on to become a massive success. DJs the world over began to request an EFX 500 in their performance riders and the dance music scene was awash in a world of echoed, flanged and filtered soundscapes. In spite of its popularity and an amazingly intuitive layout, the EFX 500 still had many detractors, primarily those that complained about sound quality issues.

Responding to this criticism, Pioneer went back to the drawing board and set out to design a unit with superior audio attributes and high grade digital processing. The end result of this hard work and tireless research and development is the recently unveiled EFX 1000.

The basic layout will be familiar to EFX 500 users as it has remained effectively intact, albeit with a couple of appealing and useful new additions. One of these additions allows the user to assign the flow of the signal as it travels through the effector. You can send the signal to the beat effects and then the digital jog break side (as with the EFX 500) or you can reverse that and send effects to the digital jog side first, and then to the beat effects. This allows you to chose which effect (of the two you may be using) will be the more dominant. They have also added two new beat effects (pitch echo and phaser), three new digital jog effects (phase shifter, humanizer and vocoder) and a character knob that allows you to adjust the parameter of the effect and really elicit some interesting results.

In addition to the familiar effects from the EFX 500 and the extra parameters mentioned above, the EFX 1000 has a fantastic BPM based effect that allows you to tap in “non 4/4 based rhythms” that the unit will then effect accordingly. As an example, instead of setting your transform or flange to occur on the 1 and 3 or the 2 and 4 in a bar of music, you could have it clamp down on the signal on the 1 and 2 and then not again until the 4 of the second bar. This ability to create rhythmic effects opens up a ton of additional possibilities.

Even with all of these innovations, the real selling point of the EFX 1000 is the studio quality sound processing that has been built into the unit. The EFX-1000 offers the best audio quality possible with a 24-bit/96kHz digital-sampling system and 32-bit digital sound processing. While all this sounds good on paper, it isn’t until you put the unit in a signal chain with other high quality gear that you fully appreciate how great it sounds.

I ran the EFX 1000 two different ways and was extremely impressed with the results in both cases. First off I hooked it up to the send and return on an Allen and Heath 92 mixer and it performed flawlessly; never once degrading the overall sound quality. Next I tried running the master output of my mixer through the unit and again I was very pleased with the outcome. The last test was to use the available bypass mode, which allows the signal to completely circumvent the effects and simply run through the box. This test was the most telling, as it was very hard to discern any signal change when the unit was engaged, bypassed or when I went back to a directly line from my mixer to my monitors. To say I was impressed with the EFX 1000 would be an understatement.

After expansively testing out the unit in my studio and using it on several recordings for my new XM mix show, I decided to take it out into the field and give it a whirl. I brought it with me for my bi-monthly appearance at RISE in Boston, and set it up through their Rane 2016 mixer. The sound system in RISE is one of the best in the city and the EFX 1000 proved to be a worthy match. The unit performed flawlessly and I was thrilled.

I also had the honor of putting my unit in the very capable hands of Roger Sanchez, during his recent visit to the club. Like the true professional he is, the S Man absolutely killed the effects and had sounds bouncing, twirling and twisted to the breaking point all night. Again the EFX 1000 was a flawless companion and his performance was on point as usual.

The next place I took the unit was to the recording studio, where it once again proved its mettle. With the enhanced functionality, improved midi control and high quality sound processing, the EFX 1000 is equally capable and comfortable as a part of the recording chain. Working on one of my newest productions, I threw the 1000 in the mix and came up with some truly awe inspiring results.

While there are several different ways to set up the unit, I think it works best when the master output (or a master send and return) is sent through the unit and back out to the sound system. Because of this, I would have really liked to see XLR inputs and outputs on the 1000. Other than this minor suggestion, I think the EFX 1000 is a perfect piece of kit. With rock solid components, intuitive design and a case that is infinitely better looking than its predecessor; Pioneer has a real winner on their hands.