What is the feature or ability you would like to have?
No merger proposal
No searching on the internet for covers
No display of MP3 compression quality
No way to add the title that is being played to a playlist
Is this feature for OS, Desktop software, or both?
Desktop software only (apple for me)
How will this feature help you and others?
I think a lot
Is this feature available in an existing product? If so, what product?
i don’t know …?? (i used before Traktor pro, no needed software for managing my files)
Does a workaround currently exist?
no, I am very disappointed with your software! today it doesn’t even detect the new files added to my hard drive!
First, use the request form if you have a specific request in mind.
Second, general ranting and lack of proper punctuation doesn’t help anyone.
As for your points, some already had been covered in existing threads. Some, like the merging, are legitimate. But, the combination of missing artwork and dodgy bitrates, indicate, at least to me, that you didn’t get (some of) your tracks from genuine sources. This really isn’t Engine’s job to fix. I never had artwork or bitrate issues with tracks from juno, amazon, beatport or bandcamp. Maybe in 1 of 100 cases. Then I quickly fixed it manually before porting it into my DJ software, which then forms the final piece of your preparation pipeline.
Edit: Single letter typo fixed, so PK can sleep well again.
If Engine wasn’t absolutely free, I’m sure some people would stop asking for more free stuff to be added to the free stuff that is Engine, and spend a buck or two (I’ll pause here while some of the freeloaders recover)
There are thousands of free, or cheap programs which specialise in finding album art, tagging, topping, tailing etc which would do the job a moment after downloading, rather than turning engine into bloatware.
Would anyone who’s still interested in laptop DJing care to mention today’s prices for Traktor, Serato, flirtual DJ, etc?
And it’s a tough argument to suggest that the cost of Engine is sorta/kinda built into the purchase price of the Prime/Numark hardware when those hardware items already give such an amazing bang-to-buck ratio on the hardware, right from the get-go
I mean, we all know how iTunes ended. Powerful, indeed it was, but too heavy and sluggish. Stuck on Carbon/32bit for a long time. Overloaded with all kind of features, they became more and more overtime, a truly I-can-do-everything-hub, rather than focusing on the most important core disciplines. In the end, most people hated it. Ironically, the music app successor doesn’t fare much better.
Engine DJ feels snappy and light. It’s a DJ preparation application, that’s mostly it, and that’s good. Start adding all kind of APIs (especially those which send & fetch data from the www) and things start to get messy. Better spend those resources for the core features & optimizations.
Drag n’ drop missing artwork pngs manually from the Finder/Explorer would be fine, but I wouldn’t go beyond that. Star rating would be far more useful, but there is already a request topic for that.
In third grade I answered the questions on the form
Then, to obtain the covers and file quality, you must be a young DJ, or not, for my part I have been collecting music for 37 years, so I have a large library of 64,000 titles, no “doubtful” provenance as you say but quite simply for example from the digitization of my own vinyls, cassettes or compact discs !
Simply ripping a CD using dedicated software allows you to obtain the titles AND the cover with an internet connection!
Finally, no I don’t particularly have a flow problem! but when you have such a library you don’t only have files at 320 kbps and therefore it is interesting to know what quality of file you are preparing to broadcast. I have 128 kbps, 256 kbps…maybe others also …
As for the file quality, use another app to identify ones less than 320 (why were you ripping them with such poor quality in the first place, unless of course you have been downloading from file sharing sites) and delete them all from your computer, then you will only own high quality files.
Tracktor pro 3 cost 99€ full licence.
I’m always willing to buy a full license of good software! I did it with Tracktor which I used professionally for at least ten years.
I am ok with this analysis, but even “simple” things are missing, how do you explain that a title when playing a title (and paused too - cannot be moved to a playlist??!)
Hah yeah, I got used to that. The mute function helps.
I did it with Tracktor which I used professionally for at least ten years.
I wonder if Traktor still gonna be here in 10 years… at least I hope so, being a German, lol. At least Ableton is doing fine. Oh and see, English is not my mother tongue either.
I am ok with this analysis, but even “simple” things are missing
I partly agree, but it got much better over the recent years. For example, smart playlists. They are here now and work well. Other stuff is still missing, but have patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day either. In 2017-2019 Engine was really weak, but things have changed a lot since then.
too much files to do that ! i have more of 64 000 files. At one time hard drives weren’t worth what they are now! So I (unfortunately chose to convert them to lower qualities) I don’t see myself doing it again!
Reading you all I have the impression that I am the crazy one to use files of less than 320 kbps!! ? the only …
And adding the quality of the said file to a corner of the screen is crazy development for the developers…
i agree. but I don’t see what you have with the word “pedant”??! is it me ?
Reading you all I have the impression that I am the crazy one to use files of less than 320 kbps!! ?
No, you’re not alone. I also have some 192 and 256 files. Even very few 128 of unreleased tracks that I desperately wanted, or which simply were never published digitally at all, so it was 128 vs nothing. But I’d never play these in public and store them in a separate music folder.
I have an idea for you, maybe it works: Serato has a column option for bitrate. I have the pro version (hardware unlock via Live 4) and at least it works there. You could, but no guarantee here, download Serato, analyze all your tracks there, sort them after bitrate, then export these sorted tracks as individual playlists into Engine (it should keep the track order). Then you have all your high bitrate files at the top (or vice versa). BPM, CUE data etc. is also getting transfered.
The workflow between Serato and Engine was very smooth for me, when I made heavy use of it. (Not anymore, since AlphaTheta came into the game - fu*k them). I am sure it still works that well. I would give it a try.
Thank you for your advice, it’s the least you can do. But I can’t imagine not playing certain titles if they are good because they are in 128 or 256 kbps, moreover certain files have been compressed in 128 or 256 and sometimes have qualities superior to “fake” 320 kbps. Moreover, with a table like the Denon Prime 4 (this is my third console, I have a Xone 4d and also a Reloop 3) the dynamics are impressive, I have no problem to equal a title that need treble for example ! But once again, the information (including Tracktor for example but other software gives immediately) is interesting information in the same way as the remaining time or the keynote. Once again the banks and sources of MP3 titles are very diverse. I play everything so I have a very big bank. I don’t know Serato, I don’t want to add more software. I want to use Engine Dj no problem if it evolves so much the better. Thank to all for your opinion.
Back in the very early days of Fraunhofer compression in the early 90s, people used it because it dramatically decreased the file size, so choosing a high bit rate wasn’t the first priority - plus encoding at 320 probably wasn’t even an option back then. 128 was the generally accepted rate.
VBR was also being widely used as a way of reducing file size. Hard drives were smaller back then, and the goal was usually to get as much music as you could into the space available.
I even recorded some of my collection in mono at 64k or 80k to save space.
IMO the older the recording, the less of a need there is to have it at 320k. If the quality isn’t there in the first place, encoding it at a higher rate isn’t going to make it any better.
I understand what you mean when it comes to seeing the bitrates of older mp3’s. I’ve had the same issue, having a large collection with a substantial number of old files. Over time I try to replace the files with better versions. Seeing the bitrate directly in Engine DJ (PC) also helps to identify those tracks.
As a workaround I use mp3tag and store multiple tags in the Label field (the field is named Publisher in MP3tag). I insert a combination of bitrate_type/bitrate/folder. This helps me to avoid accidentally playing low quality songs in public. It really takes little effort to maintain.
The Label field contents looks like this:
128/CBR/Eighties/pn
256/VBR/Disco
192/CBR/Mashup/pn
(I add /pn when |the file has been processed by Platinum Notes).
Insinuating that the only (or primary) reason a user may want their music library software to display the bitrate of the file is a result of illegal/immoral use cases is simply ridiculous.
A purposeful red herring to insert in bad faith into the discussion and an incredibly unhelpful contribution.
