Combine the purity of analog with the advantages of digital and you get the Pioneer DJ PLX-CRSS12, a professional digital-analog hybrid turntable. The PLX-CRSS12 is a world’s first from Pioneer, offering analog playback, tone-arm-free DVS control, customizable feel, performance pads, and OLED display. Coming in at $1399, the PLX-CRSS12 is expected to start shipping in late September.

The PLX-CRSS12 is compatible with Serato DJ Pro and rekordbox. For users who don’t want to worry about needle skipping, Digital Vinyl mode allows users to control digital music files with tone-arm-free DVS control, offering the true feeling of vinyl without the tonearm. If you’re craving a more traditional feel, switch over to Analog mode and you can use the tonearm as you normally would.

4 MIDI-mappable performance pads are available and can be programmed to selected features or used as native support. In Serato Pro DJ, these pads can be used as native support for Hot Cue, Sampler, Stems, Scratch Bank, Roll, and Saved Loop. In rekordbox, you can use these for Hot Cue, Sampler, Track Separation, Sample Scratch, Pad FX1 and Bear Jump. A dedicated button that allows control to be switched from pads 1-4 to 5-8. The built-in OLED screen displays information such as tempo range and key. In Digital Vinyl mode, this screen can also be used to reference BPM, key, deck number, and the name of the running software.

The PLX-CRSS12 not only offers users a greater level of control but is able to adapt to however the artist likes their deck to feel. An included MAGVEL Clamp can be adjusted to change the “weight” of the record. Torque can also be adjusted in the utility settings, and there are 3 available stopping speeds.

As a turntable, the PLX-CRSS12 is built on the PLX-1000 platform with some notable improvements. Rubber tubes inside the tonearm offer improved vibration control, the phono signal is designed to reproduce the sound of analog with high-quality audio, and a switching power supply helps to eliminate additional vibration and flux leakage while suppressing unwanted noise, all in the name of high-resolution sound quality. The Pioneer DJ PLX-CRSS12 is a turntable designed for scratching and ready for battle.