Some people bring CPU upgrades for the latest features to the table. As happens in other places on this forum too: I always start to wonder: do we consider ourselves artists or tech nerds? Actually besides a little bit of quirks in Engine OS Im quite content with it.
Put differently, you dont see mee putting a new CPU in my double bass, Ill just have to practice a bit more. I also dont complain about the size, otherwise I would play the flute…
Artist and tech nerd.
I think the appeal of deejaying is finding the boundries of what can be done. I.e comparable to the self-claimed guitar virtuoso mounting special strings. Getting, learning and adjusting the gear is part of the fun.
Maybe you can vibe code your idea.
True. distorted electric guitar came to be because sone blues players where driving the crap out of those Fender boxes. Jim Marshall jumped on this wagon by demand of Eric Clapton and the likes.
Still, when we start talking CPU upgrades, I still feel it’s not about artistry anymore, something feels different of this.
but hey, that’s just me being conservative as hell 
To my understanding this is a dead end route due to the closed nature of (non pc mode) EngineOS.
I don’t think it’s a question of being a nerd or not but simply of following the train of evolution and taking advantage of the new tools and possibilities of what technology brings us.
As we had already mentioned in another thread, if today you invest €2200 in a prime 4+ whose on-board technology (cpu, 2 GB of ram, etc.) dates from 2014, you are stuck and will remain stuck with that. Maybe it will do the job for what you do with it today, but what will it be like in 3 years or even 4 years? At the rate at which technology is progressing in this industry, who knows what new features linked in particular to AI could arrive in the coming years and what they could bring us to enrich our mixing techniques and make them even more creative.
And what I say is also valid for so-called “new generation” hardware such as the Rane System One, which - although it is a beautiful machine - already shows its limits in terms of computing power with its 2020 chip when we see that it takes almost 3 minutes to perform a stem separation of a 3-minute track.
This clearly demonstrates that whatever new hardware comes out, they are always one or two generations behind in terms of performance/power compared to their PC equivalents or certain tablet models. Not only is the chipset already obsolete when you buy the device, but on top of that nothing is upgradeable and you are stuck with what is in the device.
Now imagine a Rane performer, with a slot to insert the tablet of your choice, an EngineOS application running on it in the same way as it works on a standalone AIO, where you find all the features you like.
Let’s imagine that a new version of EngineOS 7.0 offers stems on the fly and that your tablet does not have a processor powerful enough for you to take advantage of it and well… Just buy a more efficient tablet, install EngineOS on it, insert it into the dock of your Rane Performer and you are ready for the next 7 to 10 years of updating EngineOS without having to replace the entire device which still works very well.
Today I think that in most cases; DJs renew their equipment not because it no longer works, but simply because they want to be able to benefit from the latest technological features and innovations. And most of the time, it is the onboard chipset (chip/Ram) which is the limiting factor and which makes the device obsolete.
This is the problem with how many people look at stuff now…
What should matter is - does the product do what it says?
If you buy DJ kit, can you DJ with it? If the answer is yes, then it shouldn’t matter how that’s achieved. Far too many now get sucked into believing a new version has to come out after X amount of time, new firmware has to be released after X amount of time etc. etc.
I see it so often now. There’s a perfectly good product on the market, but after a while people start complaining like “There hasn’t been a firmware update for [insert short time period here] so it’s been abandonded! Oh no the sky is falling!” 
Yes technology moves on, but some things remain the same. Can we go out and play some great music to a crowd of people and get them dancing? Yes, job done.
I understand your reasoning, but even if the product does what it says out of the box, the fact remains that you are spending several thousand $/€ on a device which is not upgradable in terms of hardware chipset, whose same chipset is already largely dated upon its release, and which you will have to replace more quickly because there will be a time when its limited performance will no longer allow it to receive updates.
For someone who just wants to have fun at home with a $700 mixstream pro, ultimately I’m willing to hear it, but when you start to invest several thousand $/€ in equipment whose chipset is already obsolete, not very scalable and whose power is already limited, isn’t it better for approximately the same budget to opt for a Rane performer type controller + a tablet with software alongside? Because at least it is a solution that can be scalable and will never encounter any updating problems. Is your tablet no longer powerful enough? only change your tablet, it will cost you half as much as buying a complete new piece of equipment, and the on-board power and performance will absolutely not be comparable.
What we just need is for EngineOS to be the DJ application that you can use on your tablet instead of Djay for example.
Exactly what I’m getting at - this mindset that everything need to be upgradable. The over dependence on what’s inside.
I think it comes from the ubiquitous smartphone. The industry constantly pushes new models with better this, better that. The regular firmware and app updates. People have got used to that, so now seem to regard everything as if it’s a smartphone. “We need a new one, we need a better one. It needs an update”. Blah blah blah.
I’ve got loads of old kit here that still does exactly what it did decades ago, regarded now as classic - and often worth way more than it cost me. Not a firmware update in sight.
I don’t think technology replaces artistry—it enhances the ways we can express it. The knowledge, musical taste and experience we’ve built over years remain the foundation. Technology is simply another instrument that helps us communicate music and emotion to the audience. As DJs, we’re never really finished learning, and I believe embracing new tools while respecting the fundamentals is part of how our craft continues to evolve.
Agreed. All marketing; the need to upgrade. As a hardware freak, I’m not complaining btw, just following marketing.
Apart from the battery, my iPhone 13 Pro runs just fine. And then we have something marketing calls “fossil fuel”. People are brainwashed to think it runs out, but it never will.
IIRC, this was a thing well before computers. I mean, vacuum salesmen would go door to door selling new models saying the new model is better than the old for X, Y & Z reasons.
In the world of computers, the expectation to upgrade hardware and software was kind of baked into the entire evolution of systems from the beginning, wasn’t it? It’s just a way faster cycle with smartphones, or as the kids call them today – phones.
Well, that’s kind of proves you are looking at this as “technology”…
A JP8000 synth from the 90s is still relevant today (if you want the typical supersaw sound it produces), regardless of its CPU power. A SL1200 is still relevant to turntablists. My double bass costing 3* the amount of a Prime 4+ doesn’t have a CPU upgrade, and it has only 2 presets (pizzicato and arco)… These products are tools, they are what they are when you buy them…
Yes of course, you can apply it to anything. My point is that if you bought a vacuum cleaner back then, you’d keep it for decades. It’s a vacuum cleaner. It sux.
People bought it for what it did & kept what they’d bought. They weren’t moaning about not getting free updates or new features on a regular basis, or a MK II version because it’s already been out a whole year.
Good luck discovering your artistic side with that vacuum cleaner 
Jokes aside, CPU upgrades for DJ gear should be viewed as enabler of software capabilities. In the hardware world, we already accept this concept through replacement accessories and retrofit kits; another example, MIDI retrofit kits that add modern functionality to acoustic pianos without replacing the instrument.
Isn’t this part of the selling point of EngineOS? Extrapolate it to hardware and you have the topic at hand. It has potential.