Guys, I think Engine Prime 1.5 is almost ready for the official release: on the youtube channel it is already possible to see the presentation video of the new functions. Engine PRIME v1.5 Software Update
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Nothing about beat grid improvement though⌠Is that part of the new improvement to BPM detection?
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nice find @DjAj! it must indeed be close to release
some points that stood out to me:
⢠Only âimprovedâ bpm detection not a word about dynamic grids. Since we all scream for this for over 3 years I would imagine that if dynamic grids were part of the update it would be addressed as a feature in the video. Feels like Denon DJ is holding on to itâs âwarpâ functionality. But we will know when the update lands. My playlist of old soul/funk tracks is ready for analysis.
⢠(this is speculative, I havenât played with EP 1.5 yet I take this from the info provided in the video) Backup/restore only seems to work for metadata regarding tracks stored on the drive that holds your OS user âhomeâ folder (usually ~/music/). This means if your tracks are stored on another partition or volume the EP metadata will not be backupâd.
I would like to know if drives prepared with this version of Engine Prime require new firmware on the Prime player side. Or that those drives will keep working with all gear on firmware 1.2.1 or higher.
Since the last released version of the original âEngineâ was 1.5, I would have held off on the 1.5 designation and go with a 1.7 to avoid any confusion.
Good news. I think prime 4 new firmware must be around the corner.
The new preview column is a nice touch. Donât understand why that was never implemented from the beginning. Hoping this will be available soon
Well as you just said, its a ânice touchâ. It is not essential functionality so quite understandable that it wasnât included in the initial versions.
I understand that they are building the whole âprimeâ environment based on our needs, and this is also a good thing. Initially a certain function is not provided because ânobody thought it was necessaryâ, then after several requests and months of use they understood that it had to be implemented and so it was. Probably if there hadnât been the Covid Virus problem in recent months, we would have received faster updates. But now the important thing is to start.
Given that Engine was meant to take on Rekordbox, and this is one of the handy features Rekordbox has, youâd have thought they wouldâve stuck it in there from the get go, essential or not, but weâre getting it now, so no worries
I donât know much about what it takes to build software, but Iâm sure something like that wouldnât be to much hassle to add in. Even if they thought it wasnât necessary they mustâve knew a number of people found such a feature handy.
Surely there will be a new firmware for the players, otherwise the analysis of the BPM would be different when done in stand-alone on players with old algorithm.
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Credit where credit is due this is progress so keep the updates coming, i am sure Denon knows they have more to do to catch up with Pioneer i wonder whether the next update will have the desired features that being said 3 years is a long time and I do not want to be introduced to new hardware if the software still laggy.
Just hoping that the denon team roll out the software before the weekend 
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For the reasons mentioned above, about a track that Engine prime 1.5 says is one bpm but the deck reads it as another bpm, I donât think theyâll release engine prime 1.5 until they have firmware for all engine prime compatible hardwares. So theyâll need to have firmware simultaneously ready for
5000 (and m) 6000 (and m) Prime 4 Prime 2 Prime Go
and MCX although they might have to add some caveats there instead. There might not be the brainpower for mcx to keep up with prime - it might be more a mcx firmware update that doesnât re-analyse bpm on the mcx if thereâs an engine prime 1.5 Bpm value in place in the database
true, but the player doesnât need to analyze tracks if EP has already analyzed them. The video says that tracks analyzed wit the older algorithm will need to be re-analyzed to take advantage of the new BPM detection.
The significant word in my remark is require new firmware. In other words. will a drive prepared in EP 1.5 still work on older firmware versions (=backworth compatible).
If You update Your complete system, why should you want to go back?
True, if you dj on an island (or your bedroom) then this is not important.
However if you qualify for one of the situations below it becomes extremely important to have back-worth compatibility:
- the venue you play at happens to have a Prime system in the booth.
- You put Primes on your rider for your first festival gig
- The friends you back to back with have Primes
In neither of those situations itâs guaranteed that the players are on the latest firmware. And stage managers are not happy if you decide to upgrade the (rental) equipment minutes before the gig. Given they allow you to upgrade them at all.
edit and Iâm not sure this is an issue at all in ep1.5 since Iâve not yet touched the software. Just saying.
Iâve yet to see Prime gear used at a large festival or anything significant for that matter. The only time Iâve seen them is when a DJ is being paid to promote them. Iâm no Roger Sanchez but even for me Prime is still pretty poor so I canât imagine it being used for anything important right now. I managed to get a MCX8000 in one club I worked in but as soon as I left it was replaced with Pioneer.
In my City not one club or pub with fixed gear has anything Denon at all.
true, however if you have the luck/quality that your sets on mixcloud have gone viral, then changes are you are booked for a festival and that means you can put Primes on your rider if that is your platform of choice.
Donât forget Denon DJâs mision is to conquer a pressence in the DJ booth 
Maybe in a hundred years⌠I admire your enthusiasm and would love this to be the case but slow development and hardware / quality control issues definitely need fixed first.
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