Got the Prime Go a year ago, still don't like the feel of it... your thoughts?

Engine DJ Hardware Standalone Controllers
1

OK so, before saying I am a knoob or I need practice, please know that I have been DJing for 25 years. From Vinyl, to CDJ, from laptop with controllers… played with all the mixers from Pioneer, Allen & Heath, to a Raine to a Urei… everything. I also read the manual of course.

My last set-up was faderfox controllers, soundcard, and my laptop with Traktor… plugged in any mixer available in the club.

I never had any problem adjusting or feeling my mixes…

I have a Prime Go since a year, thought it would be a good idea to put all my setup in one box.

But I just can’t get the feel and flow of the Engine Prime. My mixes are bad, the tracks don’t blend well, the EQ is weird, It is surprisingly… how can I say this… sudden and obvious. I just don’t dig the sound and the EQ and the way everything blends together. At all.

Am I the only one feeling something like this? Of course I tried adjusting the EQ, going from norm to isolate and such… But some tracks I could easily put together, now feels like nothing really blends seamlessly. Even the difference between the tracks 1 to 1 is so noticeable (loudness, clarity)… as if the sound actually reveals too much. Does that makes sense?

Now I understand, I think, that this is software EQing, and not real EQ audio processing. I’m not sure. And maybe that’s what I don’t like or feels strange.

Also a few things gets on my nerves like:

1- can’t adjust key in half tone. Use to love adjusting my key in cents in Traktor.

2- No simple way to get out of a Key sync (either adjust manually by pressing the screen or reload, that really ■■■■■)

3- Sync: sometimes feel like it’s never quite “there”, even adjusting manually and precisely.

It’s the first thing I use that I can’t get the feel of, and I’m thinking of selling it.

Would love to know if i’m the only one that comes off with that impression about the sound and functionalities

Thank you

2

If you don’t like it, you don’t like it and it might be worth to look at alternative solutions. You might want to check the Prime2 (or 4) to see if that mixer section suits you better.

To be honest. I had a go on a x1850 mixer and I did not like the feel of it either and decided to stick with my Xone:96. But I do love my SC6000’s and the workflow, whenever I play out on a CDJ setup it always feels like a downgrade from my home setup :slight_smile:

1 Like
3

If indeed the pitch range is +/- 8, the precision is not terrible! I set it by default to +/- 4 on condition that I don’t need more, the jogwheels are too flexible for catch-ups, it takes a lot of weeks of use to adapt to this sensitivity / flexibility.

Its level will actually be lower than Native Instrument Traktor, but it’s still very decent for a nomadic product. But it is clear that we are very far from Soundcraft quality or Allen Heath Xone 92.

1 Like
4

Thank you I appreciate your reply. Maybe I was too innovative by thinking I could bring all my set-up in one box… and maybe I need to stick with a real mixer.

5

I have come to Prime Go from Pioneer/Reloop - I loved my Mixon 4 and Algoriddim DJay Pro AI!!

I had a similar experience to you in terms of the EQ and the general feeling but I think for me it has settled down.

I do miss having 4 channels/8 pads but actually love the (go) unit now . I fully get the sync issues - IMO not being able to fully adjust the beatgrid has made that useless - I can only move left/right not change the length/bpm… That said - I do love it!! Yes - the layout is quirky and the hot cues are in the wrong place/hard to remember (am I on BANK or not) but it does make me concentrate… For the EQ side - I adjusted according to an article I found (Link below) and this made all of the difference for me - gave me more confidence!)

If only I could add more channels/better FX/Sampler pads etc…

1 Like
6

Thank you Pwnda, very insightful, I will do some these with the EQ range

And thanks everybody for keeping this post instructive. Goal is not to bash on Denon but to understand why it is so hard for me to adapt

Thanks!

7

BTW, thanks Pwnda, I just tried these settings

Low: 420hz and down Mid: Center point at 1200hz High: 2700hz and up

And +4 instead of +8, I can already feel everything is much smoother and natural with the audio EQ and syncing.

I appreciate it.

8

AMAZING!! I felt similar about the EQ until I read that! Feels much better now I have adjusted!

9

I have a Prime 4 and a Prime Go and love my Go. It’s been fantastic to take away on a cruise ship where the main Prime 4 would take space up. It took a short time to get used to the EQ location but really don’t mind at all now. I actually quite like it.

Other than it lacking lighting gain on the cue and EQ on the mic it’s been amazing.

10

I have similar feelings as you described with the Prime GO, for sure it has a lot of things to improve (both via firmware updates and even new hardware improvements in a possible mk2) but at the same time, my priority right now is to have a dj system as small and portable as possible, and the Prime GO is unique in this regard…

Another option would be to dj with a midi controller attached to a mobile phone or tablet or laptop, but for mow I will stick with the Prime GO.

11

Yes, in that regard the GO as many advantages. As a second unit or something that is very portable. And of course, that’s the targeted audience. So it does what it says.

But i’m obsessed with sound quality, and I don’t do hard cuts but long mixes and blending tracks together. So if I was to choose my set-up again, I would keep a real external mixer. Because sound wise, it’s not as nice. The mistake I made was to take for granted that the mixer would sound like a regular mixer. I like the physical feel of it, the button feels nice, but I can hear a big difference when it comes blending tracks together and EQ behavior.

It just doesn’t bring the best out of the tracks and doesn’t have a warm nice blending feel. Sound tends to be very crispy and noisy, and reveals too much, therefore pushing the difference between tracks to an extreme, making them difficult to mix seamlessly. So I guess it comes down to not being a fan of the Engine, for the type of music I play.

That’s my take on it. But i’m glad i’m not the only one that feels that way

12

Hi,

may i ask how u adjusted the center point? In my P4 i can only adjust the iso eq high xover and the iso eq low x over in mixer settings. Is the a setting more in the prime go?

:thinking:

13

Traktor scratch is very responsive and precise for beat matching, I have SC6000’s and they do feel sloppy by comparison, it’s a little disappointing given the price tag.

The Prime Go costs about the same as a decent quality standalone mixer. At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

The general consensus is that Denon is behind the competition in the mixer department, perhaps that will change over time.

The XONE PX5 might be a good option if you decide to upgrade:

14

I didn’t adjust the center point, only high and lows.

15

ok. then the 1.2k is the fixed centerpoint in the go ? i did not know.

thx

16

Absolutely, I wasn’t expecting it to replace a 3000$ set-up, i’m just surprised by the some of the behavior, sound and functionalities that I think, is more software related. Because it’s a quality piece of hardware for it’s price.

1 Like
18

I believe this has also something to do with the behavior of the eq pots which do not use the full scale possible. Between 7 o’clock and 9 o’clock position there is zero difference in loudness. You can check this in isolate mode. No sound bleeding through until the 9 o’clock position, which makes EQ-ing much harder

I wrote a feature request about it here: https://community.enginedj.com/t/prime-go-eq-behaviour/39861

3 Likes
19

Well you are basing your opinion of all-in-one mixers on Denon’s entry level one. It might be better to try the Prime 4 since your expectations are higher.