Pioneer NXS2 user here, but Denon is really selling their Prime Series hardware to me.
Just one question;
Can the Engine Prime software run as a DJ program in HID with the SC5000 players and X1800 mixer, and so all communicate with each other?
For example; I’ve opened Engine Prime to import a few tracks. From here, can I simply drag & drop tracks from my collection into my SC5000 players and mix this way?
Will the players mirror what’s on screen in the software (tracks, waveforms, etc.)?
rekordbox DJ does this. Was wondering if Denon Prime Series does as I can’t find any videos or info online.
Hi there! You’re quite right to be enticed by the Prime series.
Currently Engine Prime is a librarian software like rekordbox rather than performer software, like rekordbox DJ. But who knows what might be on the horizon…
Mind you, with the SC5000 being quad core, and no laptop software needed a metre away, or back at home etc to analyse tracks, create beatgrids, decide music keys etc, as all those (previously Rekordbox on a laptop) related tasks are all performed internally to the SC5000, the DJs workflow doesn’t need the laptop between “drop in some tracks” and “perform perfectly with beatgrids and keys etc” as it no longer has to be a laptop providing that brainpower.
But I could use the Engine Prime to send tracks to my SC5000’s to play on? Just like Export mode of rekordbox?
Also, I’ve seen a video of the X1800 mixer. Apparently the beat FX are not quantized to the track’s beat grid?
Is this correct? This is a game changer if so as I would expect everything linked to be in sync with each other.
My DJM effects are quantized to the track’s beat grid.
Yes, you export the tracks to USB sticks or USB hard drives or SD cards and those are inserted into the players. The SC5000s represent an excellent evolution of DJing - no laptop required! Huge touch sensitive screens with gesture control and great search and filter abilities negate the need for a laptop acting matronly nearby.
And yes, with an x1800 mixer, connected between 2,3 or 4 decks (that’s 4,6 or 8 tracks) everything stays on-beat and in-sync to the BPM thanks to Engine Connect which the players and mixer share. Engine Connect also allows you to set the channels Cues on each channel of the mixer automatically to the same colour as each of your 2,4,6 or 8 layers to save any confusion.
Remember too, with the level of computing power available to the SC5000 anything which a unit doesn’t do right now, could potentially appear at any time in the future.
So I would always have my Mac connected to the Prime setup, like I already do with my NXS2 setup.
Instead of exporting tracks to a USB/SD card, could I simply use the Engine software to drag & drop tracks onto the players?
Not need for trying to connect the Mac, or any laptop. Just export your tracks to USB from the Mac.
Of course, with each SC5000 offering 3 x USB ports and an SD card on each player, and two decks per player, you can easily drop tracks from the Mac onto any USB or SD card - you’re not limited to one USB stick per player on the Primes
No, at this moment you can’t use your Mac to link tracks to the player like in RB. SC5000 only plays USB and SD at this moment, so you have to export. It has been suggested for Engine Prime though.
This is what I feared.
As all my music is stored on just my Mac, it wouldn’t make sense to copy them to USB/SD just to play on the SC5000’s.
Especially considering I have nearly 11,000 tracks, and my library is constantly growing of course.
I hope Denon enables this feature in the very near future but until then, I can’t change my rider.
I would also hope that Denon would support Engine Prime in HID just how rekordbox DJ works with the NXS2!
There’s obviously a risk in storing your 11,000 all in one place. In fact, there’s several… what if the Mac hard drive packs up, while Mac is stolen (an increased risk of that of course if the Mac is in use at gigs), a beer spill etc
Just drop the 11,000 from the Mac onto a hard drive.
I’m using a library of over 80,000 tracks on a USB hard drive in one player, and the same on the other player - my main collection is on my main drive at home… so if a gig drive gets stolen, dropped, splashed etc then I’ve still got the main drive at home.
I keep backups of all my music. One backup in an external hard drive and another in cloud storage so I have the safety of my music should anything happen to my Mac.
Also, by using my Mac with a bigger screen would make it easier to search for tracks rather then using the SC5000’s encoder or qwerty keyboard.
For now, for me, rekordbox and NXS2 is the way forward.
Aye! nothing wrong with gear from 5 years a ago. If it plays, it plays. I got to say though, I find the idea of laptop-free DJing (Again) a massive plus in terms of less getting in-between the DJ, the music, and his (or her) performance. Having the laptop nearby triggers a lot of thoughts from some people about it being the laptop doing the performance, rather than the DJ. However, what do you pay a laptop for a gig ? Bitcoins?
I think we started using laptops a few years ago because, well, we had to. There were few ways of playing tunes off of a portable hard disk drive, and the laptop was the cheapest of those ways. Unfortunately, even today, the laptop is still the cheapest way - it doesn’t mean its the best way though. I see standalone media players rocketing in popularity and laptops being dismissed from the clubs and frowned upon as the black sheep of DJing over the next few years.
I know this is an old topic but the rekordbox link mode is a must have. I have a cdj2000 djm2000 (not nexus) setup and an sc5000 x1800 setup and I feel I cant do without the link mode. It’s networked so I can use my laptop or pc to drag and drop onto the player. It amazes me that denon have dropped the ball so badly on this, so far after the release and it still isn’t implemented. I know these are stand alone players and even on rekordbox they stay stand alone, it just sends the track to the player. When you are at home or in the studio you it’s much easier to search and drag&drop than with a laptop and software than it is with a usb.
I couldn’t recommend the sc5000 x1800 setup without this.
I think they of denon have only “dropped the ball” in order for they to kick it out of the parks.
A operation mode with depends on a laptop is old fashion and not moving DJing forwards.
Dj screens on software can be on bigger laptop screen but very oftens the laptops screen has losted spaces because of screen showing pretended DJ controls like of Play Cue Pads platters waveforms and meters all stealing of display space. The touch screen onna real playback deck won’t have any screen space stolen by pretended dj controls
@Gee_DenonDJ Here is why Denon should setup connectivity to the computer in some capacity…
Although I always export to USB/SD cards if I am playing on my CDJ’s/5000’s, having access to the entire collection without the need to export to external media is a great option in the event you did not include something in your library.
Connectivity via computer could allow you to use your 5000 to set cue points, loops, etc., that are saved directly to the master library. Therefore, when you export to another source, it is all there without directly working on the software. I currently use RB & my 2000nxs in this capacity. I find it easier to set the loops on the hardware as opposed to looking at the computer all day.
Currently, in my studio, I can have any computer running RB connect to my wi-fi network and they will connect to my players over the network. This just adds to the versatility of the player and Denon should give it careful consideration.
So it’s just really a way of getting to your music without having a backup, stored off of the computer? Or just skipping the export to usb drive step at least.
Having the computer connected during a show is just keeping a very wobbly variable in the system imo
