DJ: Connecting Your Laptop to CDJ 2000s

🎒 What to bring

Right now, laptops connect to our DJ studio equipment in HID mode only. You'll need:

• 3 USB A-B cables for Standard, 4 for Pro Studios — two run from your laptop to each CDJ, one to the DJM. All three ports only accept USB B, so one cable alone won't work; each piece of kit needs its own connection to your laptop.
• A USB hub with 3 USB A ports — either the CDJs connect through the hub with the DJM going straight into your laptop, or all three connect through the hub into a single laptop port.
• The full paid version of DJ software, such as Rekordbox (Core, Creative, or Professional), Traktor Pro, or Serato DJ Pro. Some of these need activating first — here's how to activate Rekordbox.
• The updated Pioneer DJM driver on your laptop (Windows and Mac) — download it here.

🎧 Setting up your software

1. Open Rekordbox, Serato, or Traktor and go to Settings > Audio. Under Audio or Interface, select DJM 900 NXS2 as the driver. Not showing up? Click the Driver button next to it to install.
2. On each CDJ, press LINK to enter Control Mode, then push the rotary knob to connect. Turning the knob lets you assign each CDJ to a virtual deck — Deck 1 for the left CDJ, Deck 2 for the right.
3. That's it — you're ready to go!

For more detail, see this step-by-step HID mode setup guide.

📺 Video walkthroughs

Each video follows the same steps, whichever software you use.

Rekordbox

Serato

Serato Mac users: hold off updating to macOS 14 Sonoma, it isn't supported yet.

Traktor

Virtual DJ: we haven't tested this ourselves, but here's a guide if you'd like to try it — it isn't actively supported on our end.

In a room with CDJ 3000s instead? This is the guide you're after.

🛠 Still having issues?

Check the hardware drivers are installed. Sometimes these need installing separately the first time you connect to our equipment — Pioneer's driver page has what you need.

Seeing a "DISCONNECTED" error? This is often down to the USB hub. Try these checks:

• Connect one CDJ or the DJM directly to a laptop USB port, bypassing the hub, to see if it connects.
• Try all your laptop's USB ports — some work better than others.
• Check both CDJs and the DJM appear under Audio MIDI Setup (Applications > Utilities on Mac). It should look like this:

Still stuck? Try a full reset: turn off and disconnect both CDJs and the DJM first, then restart your laptop. Once it's back on, plug the CDJs back in.

An outdated OS can also cause connection issues — on Mac, 10.15 Catalina and earlier are known to cause problems. A software update may help.