Prime 2 | What did you miss in the demo-video?

Engine DJ Hardware Standalone Controllers
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Hi Guys,

So I just recieved a Prime 2 with the post yesterday, from a local dealer who has asked me to do a demo-video (in danish) of the unit, as I already own a SC5000/ X1800 setup, and know a bit more about the products, than they do.

I would like to get as much around the units as possible, so to all you Prime 2 owners:

When you look at the units you own today - and thinking back on the ads and demo-videos that excists today… Is there anything you actually missed in those? Anything important that you think needs to be said?

I’m pretty much wellwandered in the product, and also in EP and EngineOS, so I’m looking for that ‘extra info’, that could benefit a new potential buyer… :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks in advance.

Have a awesome weekend! :muscle:

Best regards Engell

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i have my prime 2 now for a few days. My thoughts on the unit:

pros:

  • very good jog wheels
  • good pitch fader with high resolution
  • great screen, smooth running of the unit software
  • good amount of preference settings (adjustable frequencies of EQs!)
  • pads and all the buttons have a good feel/response
  • adding SSD drive is easy - copying tracks from engine prime works fast and without problems
  • XLR outputs, MONO-Mode

cons:

  • bad effect section (lowering gain on “delay”, pushing gain on “echo”, bad sounding hall/reverb) no option to have effect on “Master” - only 1 per channel. I would rather have one complete section to apply on both of the channels than 2 of them with limited control
  • line faders are wobbly and not accurate. (crossfader feels better)
  • missing precision of level meters
  • you cant copy files via WLAN, as i have no use for TIDAL, WLAN offers no benefit to me
  • only one AUX-input with no EQ

not sure if i keep this unit. While the player section and the software are of good quality, the mixer section misses professional feel.

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For the few bux more, go for the Prime 4

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It also cannot mix instead of you or make you margaritas. Which is a shame on both points. I know both of those were not advertised but would be super useful and I would use it all the time.

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But is there anything about the unit, that you guys felt that would have been nice to know, before you bought it? Maybe something that suprised you about it, but wasnt told in the demo…

Guess (and hope) you already knew it couldnt make Margaritas :smiley:

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Hey, these are somethings I had to research on my own:

The difference between sync: Bar, Beat and Tempo

Still trying to grasp the adding music to crates, delete crates or tracks in a crate. I have an internal drive I transfer songs to. It seems like I have to play music for it to be analyzed. Then it goes to like another library. And then I have to pick and choose from there which songs go to which crates. Really seems like songs should just get analyzed on the source hdd and then click and drag those songs to specific crate. Seems like some extra steps that bog down the creative moments.

Disable pads! It’s in preferences. I sit when planning out mixes. Resting my arm on the unit kept hitting random pads and led to arm strain trying to keep arm from leaning on unit. Just found out you can deactivate pads in preferences.

Can not adjust channel fader curves! Wish I would of known that beforehand. Not a deal breaker, but would of been very welcomed. Not too hot on the factory channel fade contour.

Different things happen when touching the top of the platter compared to the side. Top in vinyl mode controls like a record, side is for nudge.

I want to know how to cue from beginning of sound without triggering playing as well. I want to be able to hit cue or a pad and go to position, but not play.

I prefer the Rane’s approach when it comes to monitoring my headphone feed. On Prime 2, one knob to listen to cue, cue master and master is not ideal for me. There’s a big volume difference between cue/mix pot position and either master or cue position. Would of made much more sense to have a knob or slider that mixes cue 1+ cue 2 AND a monitor master latch toggle switch. I find myself mixing a lot off my headphones, so I’m having my ears blasted when going from Cue/master to master.

For me, (and I think I need to try all the sync options more in depth) I find the beat markers lining up don’t always mean the tracks downbeat are in sync. I have to use my ears and nudge a little either way to make sure downbeats are tight and unified. It’s annoying to see the beat bars not lined up when in sync.

Ok, the metering…oh boy. Why o why do they use an analog metering approach for a DIGITAL player. What I care about is dbFS. So, 0 on the meter is 0dbFS? Ugh, come on…

I’ll think of more things and add soon!

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Prob worth noting that you cannot use the record function if you’re streaming from Tidal.

As others have said, the effects are lacklustre. Most of them are far too loud, and in need of a firmware update fix.

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Add some of the basics.

The model is relatively cheap so some people who buy it might be first time mixer console users and might not know those things that others call basics.

Show that things can be plugged into various connectors but show that input switches have to match those inputs. Show how the mic overide works as we’ve seen some people on the forum having to ask why it doesn’t seem to be working.

Also although it’s not hardware, a brief show through of how to load ten songs into Engine collection on a home computer, then shoving 10 or them into a crate on d thermal drive, 3 of them into a playList A, 7 of them into playlist B and exporting etc

Sort of like “A day in the life of a flag memory drive”

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Wondering if you can change bpm directly on the unit in addition to adjusting the beat grid. I just found out to my dismay that this is not something you can do directly on the prime 4. which honestly, feels like a fumble. they went to such great lengths to try and emulate things you can do on your DJ software only to leave that out? that was a huge hit. I mean honestly, if you load a track to the P2/P4 and it analyses the grid wrong (which it seems prone to do) and you then have to enlist the EP for the correction, is it really stand alone at that point?

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Yes there should be a Manual type in for bpm

That said, what would you type in? A guessed bpm?

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I actually use an app called Live BPM on my phone, been using it for years, it’s THE most accurate bpm counter I’ve come across. Plus it updates your bpm in real time as long as the app is open. I trust that over damn near any other method Ive come across. so I can get the bpm. just need to be able to dial it in to perfect the beat grid. then I feel i could reliably mix. I’ve pretty much given up on engine prime at this point, so im thinking to load tracks directly to the prime 4 and go that route.

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This sums it up quite nicely. I am in a pretty akward situation - owning a rather booring DDJ-SX and wanting to switch to a more standalone solution (for private, smaller parties and the fun) while keeping Serato DJ Pro compatiblity (for professional gigs and weddings).

Pioneer XDJ-RX2… … has a great layout (LED colors, e.g. for VU-meters are better), proper inputs for external sources and a 2-channel mixer without compromises, incl. Sweep and Beat Effects. But it is heavily focused on annoying Rekordbox and that screen (same for the even pricier XZ) is just a joke in terms of FPS, multi-touch and layout compared to Denon.

Denon Prime 2… … has nice deck sections, SD+SSD support, a powerful OS with great firmware upgrades, a perfectly sized display and overall body dimensions. But too many things got stripped down very hard, like missing inputs (just Aux), no Sweep EFX (why, just why?), no Serato DJ support (dealbreaker, but maybe to come), and kinda limited effect control.

Denon Prime 4… … fixes all those mentioned issues, but is even more expensive and definetly too big for someone, who just doesn’t need 4 full channels or that oversized (and more easy to brake) 10" display. And while Serato DJ is supported now, I heard that the unit requires a cold reboot everytime you switch between sources? Big No-Go, this must work on the fly!

So, basically no standalone-unit for the time being is going to make me happy, which means I have to keep with my DDJ-SX for a longer while, as a pricey upgrade just doesn’t seem 100% legit for me (and several others in a similar position) at the moment. But the Denon DJ engineering team seems pretty capable when it comes to fix and add crucial functions via firmware updates. So lets see how much more they can unleash from the Prime 2 unit :+1:

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No. You can switch between all he stand alone sources like the USB stick songs, internal hard disk drive, internalised sSD , externals HDD or SDD, and many vary line inputs.

Only reboot If you connect down to or away from a computer and he DJ softwares

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Please in proper, understandable English again?

If you can change between sources (SD/USB/Laptop…) like on a CDJ or XDJ, then everything is fine for me. Imagine this situation, you’re on a Wedding gig and on the first and last hour, you can entirely focus on having fun working standalone, while in the peak hours, many song request come it, for that you fall back to your Laptop (Serato DJ / VDJ /…) music collection and control. If the unit had to cold reboot for that, well, this would make it inferior to the “outdated” competitor, which can handle this on the fly. At least AUX-IN should remain operational, so you can bridge the reboot gap with a song (better than nothing).

Also, big +1 for Serato DJ Pro support!

Why did the Prime 4 get that and not the Prime 2? Both units are pricey and labeled as state-of-the art, and the 2-channel equivalent XDK-RX2 hasn’t support either, so this would be a great USP for Denon! Please give users who don’t have the place or need for the Prime 4 the full power of flexibility here as well, thank you.

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You can do all the requests of songs on the Prime 4 with not having the laptop. He need not to change to laptop ever agains.

Just have all the music that the laptop he sees on the ssd or hdd of the prime 4. Big prime 4 screen has lots of search sort and filter for fast find of he requests. Switching to laptop only you giving you reboot problem:

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And again, your world is not my world. I plan to get the Prime 2, not Prime 4, which has the smaller 7" screen. Which is fine for smaller party gigs, or pre-arranged sets, but on long wedding gigs (7-8hrs) I want to keep the flexibility, overview and control of my Serato DJ with my 15" Macbook.

So as Serato DJ Pro support had been added for the Prime 4 (which has the larger 10" screen and thus easier browsing actually), the Prime 2 needs it even more, and once Denon adds support, I will be able to purchase this unit without any doubts.

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I am borrowing this. :cowboy_hat_face: