Confussion

[Bryan_Thomas]

Hello, I new to this software and coming from Serato this software does not compare. I purchased the Denon sc live 4 and I can’t for the life of me understand this dj software. I can’t even delete playlist I can’t unhide the BPM column because somehow I hide it. go figure I can’t see the BPM on my music when connected the drive to the controller I’m really having a bad experience with this software and I can’t seem to understand why all the difficulty. I have until next week to return this piece of garbage dj setup

I would like it if it worked simpler, but it don’t you got to set the music up on a laptop or pc before it can be played on the controller is a hassle and makes absolutely no sense.

So if anybody is really using this software and thinks its better than serato please help me understand it

[STU-C]

Hi

In order to see all the information related to your music, you need to analyse the tracks. The most efficient way of doing this is on the desktop software where you will export the music to your performance storage drive prior to connecting it.

This isn’t the only way to do it, the device itself can analyse the music, but it can only do it one track at a time as you load them to the deck.

If you prefer the way Serato works, it’s probably best to stick with Serato, as the experience you get from Engine OS on a standalone device is entirely different and can’t be replicated like for like.

[Gaian]

What you need to understand is that serato and Engine Desktop are not the same type of software, they do not have the same approach, nor the same philosophy, and they are not made to do the same thing.

Serato is live mixing and performance software for mixing in real time, which you control for example with a controller.

Engine Desktop (which should not be confused with Engine OS which is the software integrated into the hardware) is library management and track preparation software.

Engine Desktop has no other purpose than to help you organize your playlists, create them, add or remove tracks, analyze the tracks to define the grid, place point cues on these tracks, etc.

You can do most of these actions directly on the hardware, just it’s quicker and easier to do it on Engine Desktop, then at the end export everything to either a USB stick or external storage media.

Watch the different tutorials on Engine concerning the creation of playlists, library management, positioning of cue points, and the export process to your storage media.

Once this work is done you will be able to enjoy your music more easily on your equipment. You can obviously do this work directly on your hardware and then synchronize what you have done with Engine Desktop to recover your hot cues or the playlists that you have created on your hardware. It works both ways.

You can completely do without Engine Desktop and simply place your music files on a storage medium and access them from the folder menu of your SC live 4. But the tracks will take longer to be loaded and analyzed because it will not have been pre-analyzed by Engine Desktop, which is much faster for analyzing tens and hundreds of tracks in batches. And you will have to create your playlist manually from your hardware which can be tedious.

But keep in mind that Engine Desktop is not performance software, designed to be driven by your Denon equipment and for live mixing. It is just designed to prepare what you will do later live directly on your Denon equipment independently, without a computer.

You can nevertheless use your SC live 4 to control serato if you prefer, but you lose the benefit of the autonomous side of your equipment and you remain dependent on a computer.

[LAUBE]

Hello. If the problem cannot be solved, you need to go back a step. Start with the hardware and software guide.

[Thatswhatyourmumsaid]

All above has been said, when a friend of mine asked me to play at one of his events he asked me to bring my standalone to try it out, he turned up one hour before we started, gave me his USB, I put this into my mac, used the engine software, then linked to my SATA card in my Denon, less than a min it was analysed, set up his play list. He spent 20 mins playing around. His words not mine, this Denon is amazing bro! Can’t believe how easy that was. He now has the Prime 4 + and loves it. Stick with it as it’s so easy for live DJing. A quality Samsung 1TB inside is the key to high performance. I understand the functionality now by reading old posts on this page. If you know someone with a Denon get them down and they will sort it out and show the functionality. New gear new learning.