Denon Sc live4 : feedback / comment (FX Led as main point)

[tAz-07]

Hi all,

I switched from DDj-800 to SC Live 4 two weeks ago.

After 2 weeks of test I would say I am very happy with my new device and have not seen any big issue using it. (Engine OS is awesome). Maybe the Cue / Play buttons are a little bit hard to press and sometimes I miss the start.

I don’t use performance pad too much and here I prefer that click feeling to avoid mistake when I move my hand near that zone

Finally the point I think could be improved is the way the Led of the FX works. Little bit bright and blind quickely when pressed. To be honest here I prefer the pioneer system with a light on by default and slowly blinking once pressed/activated. Maybe an option in the preference could be added to have the choice? For the moment even if the button react correctly , strangely sometime I dont know exactly if the effect is on or off. Weird feeling here. Or maybe blinking same speed than the sweepfx buttons would provide better feeling.

Also maybe have the choice of the brightness level for all the leds that are inactive (there is some kind of low level of brightness and on the play button sometime not that obvious between active / inactive)

Maybe more to come after other weeks but that’s all my notes here.

[Skaratak]

Can’t agree here. The faster flashing FX engage button was actually brought with one of the recent 3.x updates and I am glad it is this way. Before it was blinking so slowly, that during a hectic DJ set, you really had to double-check if your EFX is engaged or not. With the faster flashing, you see it almost instantly. If it flashes in slower interval, then exactly this can happen more easily:

Sometime I dont know exactly if the effect is on or off.

Imagine these being the flashing intervals:

Old: ----oooo----oooo----oooo----oooo----oooo

New: -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The ‘off-gaps’ become bigger, the slower the flashing interval is. This can lead to situations, where you look at the status right at the moment it is at ‘----’ and if you want to double-check if your EFX is truly on or off, you have to wait for the next ‘oooo’ interval to happen. This is not an issue, if the flashing interval is short, and that’s exactly what the devs have addressed (thank you).

LED brightness is also okay for me. The Prime 4+ SweepFX buttons were notorious for being poorly lit, but many users complained, and they fixed that with Engine 4.1. For the Live 4, you’re the first one describing the LEDs as problematic. Personally, the LEDs themselves are fine for me, I rather wished they had illuminated more buttons (especially fwd/back, beat jump, menu, view, and a color-coded deck selector). But since it’s a 1150€ vs 2300€ device, some compromised had to be made.

I agree with you that the Play/Cue buttons feel cheaper than they should.

(I own both the Live 4 and Prime 4, btw)

[tAz-07]

Thanks , I appreciate your answer as I am only starting with 4.1 as a new customer. The old version looks even worse in fact I agree on that.

What do you think about an OPTION to set having fx led always one exept blinding slowly (same rate than sweetfx) when pressed ? Maybe that example explains better what I have in mind.

Regarding LED brightness it is a comment / flexibility option , no real deal breaker here

[Kwarkgebak]

If it would be possible to let it stay on continuously when enabled, I would definitely use that at all times. Personally I don’t see the benefit that the led blinks in sync with the tempo, maybe anyone that does prefer this could share their point of view?

When I’m ending a set I often like to slowly turn down the pitch to extremely low values and put some effects on it, maybe play with the filter etc. But with such low pitch values, half of the time you just can’t see whether an effect is on or off Frankly I find that really annoying. For me, it would be much better if it simply stays on continuously.

It would be a good compromise if there would be 3 states:

-10%: the button is illuminated slightly to be visible in dark environments, but it is clearly disabled

-100%: the button is enabled and lights up with the beat

-80%: also enabled, but somewhere between 2 beats (or any other division)

The same counts for the play button when a track is not playing btw, although it has a bit less impact for my workflow.

[tAz-07]

omg I found the main root cause which was my indirect new little console white led light which for whatever reason mess up my light visibility on the sc live…