I’ve not DJ’d properly for years, last time CDJ’s were new and I was refusing to give up vinyl. I got some CDJ mk3 (CD’s only) few years back, probably used them 4 times as CBA burning CD’s.
So, the song management side of things is all totally new to me, for years they have just been folders on my PC and more recently playlists on Youtube music.
Can someone be impartial and give any key advantages or disadvantages of Engine Prime over Rekordbox ?? I was thinking RB might be better because if I want to use Pioneers one day it wont be a problem, so does Engine Prime work with Pioneers (not a real biggy and I suppose that’s beyond Denon’s control)?
Basically, I don’t know what I’m doing advice would be greatly received, I just don’t want to waste time installing/using one peice of Software only to go and do a U-turn because I find something is missing, not up to par.
Asking this on a Denon Prime site, you’re likely to get that answer. With that said, you can download Engine Prime software and Rekordbox Software for free, load a few songs into each and mess around. I came from Pioneer… just got into the Prime “ecosystem” and I feel Prime blows Pioneer away.
So Rekordbox has a more robust track , library and playlist management options. Prime to me so far is a lot cleaner and easier to use.
That said I’m an old school DJ like you so mostly I use the library to do a few things. Organize tracks into playlists, notate the records key and make changes to the names of tracks. Everything else like cue points etc I do on the hardware. Basically I organize the tracks and then plug the USB into my gear and go!
In my honest opinion, if you plan on still using Pioneer gear alongside Denon, you’re better off using Rekordbox. This way you can use both eco-systems as the Prime series will read a Rekordbox database. If you use Engine Prime on it’s own and try play on Pioneer, it won’t read the database. The slight downside to using Rekordbox means a bit more work if you want have all your tracks analysed in advance as you will have to analyse all your music once again in EP. The players do read the Rekordbox database & analyse the tracks “on the fly” directly on the decks, so it’s not essential to do this, but it is recommended.
The only problem is if you use Pioneer now and want to use Engine as your default in the future you can no longer export the entire library. (Pioneer killed that with V6) So sooner or later they’ll start killing other features as well.
I moved to Engine because in software I’m only annotating keys, creating crates and doing basic management stuff. Cue points and everything performance related I do on the players as I practice. Nothing beats doing it live while you practice It’s part of the reason I keep a pen and paper next to my mixer. Never know when you’ll have a good idea.
Thank you bud, I have no intention of buying Pioneer if possible, it’s just when you play out or someone else system. Mind you when I have I’ve not used Rekordbox to load my sticks, just files and folders on Fat32. It’s not a deal-breaker.
Have only just got back to this, will crack into it today, so hoping Prime doesn’t create its own folder system within the current one on my PC rather than just using them from their existing location (like iTunes) else that will mean duplication.
@Androxin thanks, I’m not really too fussed about all the bells and whistles of either, just want my tracks to load quickly. I hear what you are saying about Recordbox though… on reflection may just give that a swerve altogether (instead of attempting to try both).
I’m kind of hoping Denon become android whilst Pioneer I can see doing their best to pull up the draw bridge and have everything proprietry like IOS to try and retain and close off their market share.
If you’re exporting music from your pc to a usb stick, EP will create its own folder structure on that particular usb stick - not on your pc. If you want to have your music in your own specific folder structure on the stick, it’s best to transfer all your music onto the stick in the folder structure you want first. After that add that music on the stick to the EP collection. Let it analyse the music & you’re good to go. Be aware that if you do it this way, you will have to continue doing it like this (add to stick 1st, then add stick music to EP). Hope that helps a bit.
Yes that does, thanks Crazycraig been adding some small folders I have of some niche bits, having problems… most of it Hardcore & Techno from about 1993-95… Engine Prime thinks it’s all about 80bpm… It’s nigh on 155 ! I will persavere !
It’s part of the reason I keep a pen and paper next to my mixer. Never know when you’ll have a good idea.