Can Engine DJ 2.0 replace Traktor & MiK analysis?

Hi all,

I recently bought two SC6000’s, and I was hoping to transition away from Traktor and Mixed in Key entirely, but I see many people are still using them in their workflow to benefit from the BPM and Key analysis quality.

So, I am wondering if the track analysis in Engine DJ 2.0 might be good enough to make this a reality for a discerning DJ? It would need to be pretty close quality-wise to replace Traktor or MiK in my view.

I am in the process of performing a clean analysis using Engine DJ 2.0 on my collection so I will have my own view soon but keen to see if anyone else has thoughts on this.

PS. I play Disco, House, Techno mostly.

Thanks.

For BPM Detection- Engine Prime is up there

For Key Detection - someone did a comparison on Reddit.

People use their old method for various reason eg some people use MIK not just for key detection, but they want to auto generate hot cues, have energy levels auto generated

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Thanks for the info!

Can MiK be used directly with DJ Engine now?

I’ve read that Traktor or Serato must be used for importing and retaining the key values.

You have to use Traktor or Serato for importing the CUES. Maybe some time we will also be supported by MIK directly …

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Mixed in key can be used for Camelot. Set it to “initial key” tag inside MiK preferences. Inside Engine DJ software turn off Auto Analysis inside the Library preferences otherwise it will use Engine DJ key key analysis.

I already save the key to initial key field, but DJ Engine must analyse the file to get the waveform at least. I’m unsure how to stop DJ Engine or the SC6000 overwriting the key field? If initial key is present before analysis will it be preserved by DJ Engine?

This stuff is not explained at all in Denon’s documentation which is pretty annoying from a new user perspective and should be addressed in the manual.

As far as I am aware, if the key exists in the the initial key tag it will use it.

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I will test this soon and report back. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Perform the analysis first, then use MIK to get the key. Don’t reanalyse, just click reimport information, it should bring in the new key.

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I have done some testing of a workflow directly from Mixed in Key to DJ Engine.

I can confirm that if the BPM and Initial Key exist as MP3 tags they will be retained by DJ Engine even after ‘Analysis’. I think this is a good thing, however, retaining the BPM may cause trouble for people who are unaware.

Here is how I tested…

  1. Start with some tracks that have no BPM or KEY

  2. Analyse the tracks with Mixed in Key and tag the BPM and Initial Key fields

  3. Manually edit a few tracks and change the BPM to 100 and Key to 1A

  4. Analyse the tracks in DJ Engine

Note: The manually edited tracks have not been corrected!

  1. Load tracks into SC6000

The issue with retaining the BPM is that it is stored as an integer by Mixed in Key in the MP3 tag, as required by the ID3 tag specifications. This will cause issues for tracks that have a BPM like 123.5 because the .5 will never be known to DJ Engine.

DJ Engine appears to be capable of storing the BPM to at least 1 decimal place so it is more accurate than what can be stored in an MP3 tag.

People who use a direct workflow from Mixed in Key to DJ Engine should ensure the BPM is not stored to the tag or they will run into trouble with sync and quantize.

I have not done any testing of the Traktor import process, but I would hope that DJ Engine uses Traktors more accurate BPM and not the integer present in the MP3 tag.

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Also, for anyone interested ‘Re-Analysis’ of the tracks in DJ Engine corrected the fake BPM’s but the fake Key’s remained unchanged!

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Very useful information. Good work :clap:t2:

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Another minor issue that may confuse people is that the track browser rounds up BPM to an integer while the real BPM is displayed in the player.

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