Considering an upgrade but have some questions still

Hey all,

When the sc5000’s came out I was taken aback with them but ( being a developer ) got leery of the software centric nature of the hardware and stuck with my ( not a brand fan boy ) cdj-400’s still, which replaced my old denon dj-s3500’s and before that the dj-s5000’s.

So mainly this is a setup for home, maybe an occasional gig or house party.

I’ve asked before about the x1800 sending midi clock data to an external synth and I believe I was told it’s coming it that was a year ago. Partly one of the reasons I switched from considering the prime unit, lack of midi clock signal output, and looked at the x1800.

Being able to record sets and mixes on the prime was attractive vs a sc5000 setup but track analyzing would need to be done per unit vs on one prime unit?

I’m in the New England area and I’ve scoured all music outlets that say they carry Denon dj gear but nobody has any units out for demo which is frustrating since Denon has a office in Rhode Island I think.

I really don’t want to just buy gear to try only to find that I don’t like it and have to return everything . I also have considered the resale value of the Denons and a all in one unit, my cdj’s currently are 10 years old and still going for some decent resale value vs others. Subjective I realize but still rather not loose it all if I ever do need to sell years later.

I almost was going to get the new prime as I thought they added jog tension to the platters but nope so I held off on that too. ( silly since my current cdj’s don’t have jog tension either )

Probably could decide quick if I could get my hands on the gear and try but it seems that nobody demos anything like this now.

Any advice or suggestions would help, I’d like to get some new gear this year :slight_smile:

The new X1850 mixer announced last week has midi clock starty thing on it and denon have told us that firmware for the x1800 will be updated soon to give it the few differences of the x1850

Thanks for that info. I assumed the x1850 was a cosmetic upgrade. Gives me pause why it was added or about to be added to the 1850 yet the 1800 has been waiting for that for a while. Ok off to read up.

All depends on what’s important to you

I’m guessing you must be comfortable with djing without accurate BPM

Little pressure for it to work 100% all the time

I’ve never used the midi out on the x1800, but there is midi port out on it.

No that’s not how it works. Once a file is analysed and on USB drive, all connected Prime hardware can read the track. It’s a once off process. As long as the media players are networked.

I don’t see this trend changing anytime soon. Denon is cutting price like crazy just to be able to get the gear out there. This is understandable as It’s an uphill task going against the current industry standard.

Just last Xmas there was an offer 2000 for a complete set up, predatory pricing right?

To wrap up - the hardware is good, software is where the struggle is at, but it’s a whole lot better than 2017.

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Thanks mufasa for breaking it down like you did!

For my understanding of track analyzing on the sc5000’s, I thought each sc5000 could analyze files on a usb? Instead it must be done prior through software?

I ask because I don’t always pre-plan what I am going to play and an impromptu add in if a new track happens a lot for me. Shouldn’t be a issue since as you said I’m comfortable with loose bpm and adjusting on the fly.

Lastly I’d I could find a complete setup new for 2k, that would probably seal the deal for me and I could figure out the rest after. Must keep my eyes peeled for a package deal like that.

They can - if you insert a usb and on that usb, have tracks that havent been analyzed in Enigne Prime, the unit itself will analyze during the loading.

This “result” will then be saved on to the usb for next time you load the track.

And you then have the option, when inserting the usb to your computer, to sync this data back to the Collection in Engine Prime.

The term “analysis” is throwing things a bit here.

The player can analyse a track that you load into it, telling you the BPM, beat gridding it, telling you the music harmony key, track info and lets you play the track, with loops, and hot cues but… internal analysis of a track doesn’t add the track to the search database, which engine prime on a computer does

Antchi, thanks for clarifying what analyzing does. I assumed the beat grid, key, harmony but did not know about the search database. So is the software adding or updating a database file on the usb that the physical hardware is unable to do?

The weak spot is the engine prime analyzis software but the development of it is fast forwarding. The beat-algorithm has it’s weak spots and as a know they are working with a new one but the program is lot better than it was when introduced. Engine OS (Prime operating software) is also under steady progress. If you don’t want to use the software you can still analyse your music i Rekord Box or Serato as the players can read that information and transfer it to Engine. I own X1800, 2 SC5000M and a Prime 4. Works very well and I’m very pleased with them. There are lot’s of informative how to and product-information on Denon DJ youtube channel. Why don’t you contact denon at their product page denondj.com, I’m sure they will help to get in contact with dealer or even suggest a trade show in the near future as a belive they will showase all their new products that was released during this NAMM trade show. Good Luck and I can promise you that the products are very good.

This is news to me.

But I will test this out today to see.

Well will miracles never cease, I happened to have some free time this weekend and was browsing around local shops again (I am going to ring Denon DJ about local shops for sc5000 units) and there is a local guitar center that actually had a prime 4 unit on display for demo.

I grabbed my usb sticks and headphones and headed over and had a go on them for almost 2 hours. The usb feature was locked out (or I couldn’t figure out how to read from the ones I brought ) but they had pre-loaded tracks and various genres to use so that had me covered to get a feel for the unit.

Made the decision a bit harder only cause while I really enjoyed the all in one design of the unit, and being able to record my mixes right on the unit without having to have a computer to record to, I couldn’t help but wonder if the sc5000 / x1800 would be the better option mainly cause the lack of jog tension adjust and additional features in the mixer and midi clock.

I had another go on my cdj’s when I got home afterwards and thought to myself that I have been living under a rock for a while :slight_smile: Really did like the Prime 4 setup though for convenience, but no midi clock out or jog tension, but I will have to revisit and see if I can figure out how to adjust the tension via the software and see how that works.

** One other quick question, are the effects on the prime 4 the same as on the x1800, and do they sound the same?