1. How do you analyze a folder on your hard drive with Engine Prime?
If I put the P4 (with an internal SATA drive with all my music) in Controller Mode and connect it to my MacBook Pro running Engine Prime, there is no option in Engine to manually analyze a folder on the P4. Auto Analysis is turned on. Some folders are already analyzed, some are not. For those that are not, how do you analyze the folder?
2. How do you view BPMs in File View in the P4?
When browsing through my P4’s library via the folder browser, i.e. File view, there is no BPM display next to any tracks. Only track titles. My preferences are already set to display Metadata, not Filename. All my files were previously analyzed by Traktor Pro 2 and had the BPM and other related metadata (cover art, genre, label, etc) saved back to the file. How can I get the BPM to show up next to track titles while browsing my Library? How else are you supposed to know what tempo your tracks are at? (I already know that BPMs will display in Crate and History views, but this does not help me)
I have read and re-read the FAQ, watched all getting started videos, read my quick start manual and none of this documentation touches on how to manually analyze or view BPMs in your library. This is a pretty major issue for those of us who rely on BPM information to mix digitally.
To clarify the non-ability to analyze my library, here is a screenshot of a random folder in my library on my P4 internal SATA drive, after using right-click to show the context menu options.
1 - To analyze a folder from your internal drive on your PRIME 4 in Engine Prime, navigate to the folder and select it. Once done, select all tracks in the library view and RIGHT CLICK on any of them and select ANALIZE TRACKS.
2 - To view BPM in library view RIGHT CLICK on any of the column headers and select BPM from the menu. If this is already selected the BPM column will be to the right, scroll right and find it and you can move this column to wherever you like it. You can also adjust the width of the column.
Thanks Jay. So this might be the core problem - when I right-click on any files on the P4 internal drive, the option to Analyze is grayed out, as are most of the other options. “Add to Collection” is pretty much the only thing I can select. I formatted the drive as exFat via my MacBook Pro before putting it into the P4 and copying my files over to it. Do you think this format method is the issue?
So I’m talking about seeing the BPMs in the library (File) view on the P4’s touchscreen, not in Engine Prime. Engine Prime works great for that, but when I’m playing in standalone mode I need to be able to see what my tracks’ BPMs are without first having to load them into a deck or add them to a crate. Is this not possible with the P4?
Yes, files will need to be in your collection before analysing, it’s probably best/easier you use Engine Prime to analyse your collect then transfer over to PRIME 4.
PRIME 4 will show BPMs in both play and library view, I’m suspecting as they’ve not been analysed there is no BPM in the metadata to display
So good news, after running a chmod 777 on my internal P4 drive I’m now able to manually analyze tracks in EP. Guess there was some weird permissions thing that came over from the Mac formatting.
As for the BPM view issue - to confirm, I analyzed a folder in EP, put the P4 back into Standalone mode, then clicked on that folder in the Library aka File View, and no BPMs are displayed next to the track titles. To determine the BPM of the tracks in that folder I either have to press and hold on their name to bring up the track info window, or load them into a deck. If you’re telling me that BPMs should be displayed in this File view then there is something else happening here outside of EP analysis.
Ok so as I’ve mentioned in all of the previous posts I am talking about the FILE view in the Library, not Playlists, not Crates, not History, which all properly show BPM. When I DJ, I am pulling tracks from a massive library that is not part of any pre-made playlist. While I might plan out a studio mix, when I DJ live, it’s live - improvised. What I’m looking for is the behavior that Traktor and Serato both have, where I can see the BPM of any track (that I’ve analyzed, of course) in any folder in my music library. This allows me to mix based off of BPM even if I am not really familiar with the track. With the P4 it seems like I can only do this if I have the foresight to add these tracks to playlists or crates first (or loading tracks into decks), which basically handicaps the ability to improvise.
Ok, apparently I’m missing something here. There is NO file view in Serato that shows the BPM. It must be in a crate, etc to show the analyzed BPM. The File view in Serato only shows the names of the File and nothing else.
Where BPM’s are displayed in Serato is the crate,history or playlist view.
As I understand it, selecting File view in preferences shows the file name but not other Metadata on the Prime 4, which is why there is the Metadata view to select.
I have saved all the key and BPM data to the filename to avoid this, but it is not searchable on the Prime 4 directly from the “File View”, which is the yellow folder. See the Hall and Oates song listed below with key and BPM added to filename.
Ok that may have been bad memory on part with Serato as I haven’t used it in awhile, but certainly in Traktor you can browse any folder in any location, analyze it, and then toggle BPM on and off in that folder. It doesn’t need to be in a playlist to view that info. The goal here is to be able to browse my entire library through the P4’s File view and see the BPMs next to my tracks. It is not feasible for me to put 100,000 tracks into crates or playlists just so I can see their BPMs.
They dont need to be in a crate or playlist to see BPM. Once added to core collection BPM, Key etc is available. Just click on collection (it will include all songs - crated and non crated)
PS - Not applicable to folder browsing though which is the original feature request.
Ok, this is the feedback I’ve been seeking this whole time, and from your response it sounds like it is not possible. If the workaround is to add everything I have to the Collection, I can try that, but I know Denon has said they do not recommend over 50,000 tracks (or maybe it was even less than that). Sounds like adding a BPM column to the folder/file browser should be a feature request?
i just read about people adding 4tb internal ssds inside their p4. i only am using 460 gb. but have 26k files. is there really a file limit? and did the latest firmware as of jan 7, 2020 fix this. sorry just unpacked my p4 an hour ago. and im trying to do exactly that the guy above is mentioning. and ALL dj software shows the bpm, etc.
Wow this is an old topic! Yeah, bottom line with the Prime is that you need to have everything already imported to your Collection before you can see track BPMs and even then they will not display on the File view. Because there is no way to analyze folders directly on the Prime 4, it really does not do well as a controller for DJs who improvise, say with USB drives with music you just downloaded (or a friend coming over with their USB to jam on your system), or with massive music libraries that aren’t fully imported to Engine Prime. It is really intended for like wedding DJs, as well as those performing DJs who plan everything out in advance and have everything in a Collection or crate already and don’t really deviate during their set. I personally had to go back to using Traktor and my previous controllers to reclaim the kind of flexibility I needed with my sets, but I did keep the Prime 4 and I still use it occasionally for live performances with fixed playlists.
Not necessarily true - in Traktor Pro for instance, you can attach any external drive you want, browse to it and manually analyze one its folders - displaying all of its associated metadata in that File browser view - without adding it to your Collection. A Collection (whether Prime’s or Traktor’s) just keeps that analysis data permanently in its linked database, which of course makes things more convenient if you frequently replay the same material, but isn’t as useful for constantly evolving libraries and spur-of-the-moment drive swaps and guest DJs.
Yeah, bottom line with the Prime is that you need to have everything already imported to your Collection before you can see track BPMs and even then they will not display on the File view. Because there is no way to analyze folders directly on the Prime 4, it really does not do well as a controller for DJs who improvise, say with USB drives with music you just downloaded (or a friend coming over with their USB to jam on your system), or with massive music libraries that aren’t fully imported to Engine Prime. It is really intended for like wedding DJs, as well as those performing DJs who plan everything out in advance and have everything in a Collection or crate already and don’t really deviate during their set. I personally had to go back to using Traktor and my previous controllers to reclaim the kind of flexibility I needed with my sets, but I did keep the Prime 4 and I still use it occasionally for live performances with fixed playlists.