I don’t understand why this isn’t generating more interest… Is it because they think the effects are fine as they are? Because they don’t know about auto-beat FX? Or simply because they’re worried about other things… I don’t know.
I think part of it may be that many users have never spent much time with Pioneer Beat FX workflows, so they don’t necessarily know what we’re comparing against.
Also, Engine DJ has improved so much over the years that effects workflow may simply not be high on everyone’s priority list.
For me, it’s not a dealbreaker at all. I still prefer the Engine ecosystem overall. After nearly 10 years with Pioneer DJ, I moved to Denon DJ and later Rane because of the innovation, standalone workflow, sound quality and overall value.
This Beat FX topic is honestly one of the very few things I still miss from the Pioneer/AlphaTheta ecosystem.
And honestly, I don’t really know who to talk to or how to get this idea in front of the right people. Maybe if more DJs who have experience with both systems compared the workflows side by side, they would better understand what we’re discussing here.
At the end of the day, I’m not asking Engine to copy Pioneer. I just think there is room to make Beat FX feel a little more intuitive, musical and forgiving during performance.
Yeah, I once told Denon they should learn from Pioneer’s standalone controllers. For starters, remove those unnecessary flashy animations — they cause lag. If you’re building professional gear, cut anything that ruins a performance. Those animations are just eye candy; no one actually cares about them. They could at least add a toggle for it.
Also, on the X1850, pressing the TIME button switches BEAT to milliseconds. I really love this feature. I just don’t get why they deliberately make things different. Pioneer doesn’t do that. Their mixers never have major features stripped out.
At least Denon could win over users from competitors, right? Denon has great advantages in both price and system.
I agree that Engine and Denon already do many things better, which is exactly why I switched from Pioneer in the first place.
For me, this Beat FX workflow is one of the few areas where I still feel Pioneer has an advantage.
That’s why I think improving it could make the Engine ecosystem even stronger.
I suppose that if something did more … it would cost more.
Wasn’t there a quantized effects difference between the x1800 mixer and the x1850 mixer ?
That’s a good question.
From what I’ve read, there were differences between the X1800 and X1850 regarding quantized effects.
What I’m describing may be related, but I’m also noticing it across the Prime 2, Prime 4 and Rane System One ect. which is why I think it goes beyond a specific mixer.
To me, it feels more like an overall Beat FX workflow difference between the Engine ecosystem and Pioneer DJM mixers.