The issue is the grid is missing the first beat for some reason. It happens both on Engine for the PC and on the player itself on streaming tracks. At least they’ve identified it needs looking at.
That’s even easier to fix mate - long press the load button and then use either the slip grid button if it isn’t on beat at all, or use the move one beat button. Mufasa has a video guide on here somewhere showing you what to do. Takes less than 5 seconds once you know what you are doing with a live load.
Edit - https://youtu.be/o8j6f2z2XfY
Not Mufasa’s guide, but same principle. Don’t have a prime 4, but I imagine it’s a similar process as the SCs
Hmm, quirky, yes, valid point. There are also a few hidden features like exit loops, sampler, etc which aren’t implemented in the most intuitive way.But for basic functionality, you should be able to walk up to the player and do your thing.
Ans sync manager isnt the worst. OK, its an extra step if you come from Traktor or similar, but rekordbox works exactly the same:
- Put all your music on your computers main drive
- import them in Engine DJ, possibly via a library import from Traktor, Serato, Rekordbox or iTunes.
- sort it in playlists
- connect your USB stick, SSD drive or Prime with built in drive which you are going to use to play out, open sync manager, choose the playlists you want to sync and hit sync…
- play out
- when you return home, connect said drive again to you computer, open sync manager and press the button to sync back changes (in beatgrid, cues, loops, …)
Sync manager fails if you put your main collection on an external drive. You can however just use an external drive with your main collection, but backups are very important here. And cross syncing to/from rekordbox, Traktor and so on (using Lexicon for example) becomes a pain this way too. There fore i left my main library where it was when using traktor, imported traktor to Engine and used sync manager. If I ever migrate to rekordbox I can still leave my files in place and just migrate the database using Lexicon…
If you would add 9” jogs to a Prime, that prime would be equally large and heavy as 2 SC6000s and a x1850. I think we all understand why that would be a problem: does anyone want an all-in-one coffin for their SC6000 setup, or do we prefer separate cases? Yes, I thought so.
Honestly, I think most mobile DJs today use an all in one for portability and weight savings, and the SC6000 is a product which should be provided by the rental companies (quod non). The only DJs who benefit from bringing SC6000s are back to back DJs due to the dual screen, and scratch DJ due to the jog. An all in one with dual screen and big jogs would be too big to carry by one person anyway.’.
And then there is the business logic in this:
- you cant cater for every specific use case: you have to market a few devices that try to cover most use cases with a bit overlap, so each device has enough sales to earn back its R&D. For example: if you want the bigger jog, you have to live with the dual screen and heavier rig…
- Also, pricewise there has to be a defendable difference. Cutting up your range will create products with marginal price differences. Good tactics if upselling is your strategy…
If you look at the range, I think Denon has succeeded here: you have a fairly overseeable product range with rather correct price differences.
The only thing I think is missing from to the Denon range, to cater for every possible use case, is a DVS system, and a method of dragging tracks from the computer to the player to load, just like Rekordbox. That requires a lot of extra development work in Engine DJ, its a totally different product than the product Denon wants to be, but objectively, its something thats missing in their product range if they would want to lock every DJ on earth into their ecosystem (I put that in Alpha Theta management wording 
)
PS: just looked at the specs of the opus quad. Djeez, it really is almost as heavy as my 88 key stage keyboard which I have to lift together with another band member… And the size is almost the same as my dual SC6000 setup + mixer. You can’t count the DJ booths where I was glad I had 3 seperate pieces of hardware that I could “Tetris” their way into the booth…
1 Like
Prime 4 is percect for mobile djs or home djs or for those with a lack of space available.
For small clubs or restaurants or bars, who don’t have money for a complete mixer+players solution, a bigger unit (like AZ or Opus Quad size) would be better that’s all. In France DJ want big jogwheels.
And not disbelieving you, as it would be an odd thing to lie about, but I still ask the question of why? What do French DJs using controllers need large jog wheels for? What does a large jog do, unless you are scratching? I don’t even use the jog on the SCs for mixing unless scratching, I use the pitch bend buttons instead, similar to hold the 33 and tap the 45 on technics technique.
Honestly, I dont think bars, clubs and restaurant without money will even invest in modern DJ gear. I play on a regular basis at one of these places: they expect you to play on the CDJ900s they bought ages ago, or they expect the DJ to bring their stuff along and plug in into their soundsystem…. After all, they know just as well as you do that most DJs in that circuit have their own controller or standalone…. And of our residents, 2 DJs play with Pioneer, 2 play with Denon. No way my residency is gonna buy both a Pioneer standalone and a Denon standalone….
Look, DJ gear land is way too cluttered up, and changing too rapidly for a bar to keep up. The days a DJ would be happy with a 10 year old twin CD player are gone. Everyone wants the latest, the greatest, and there is no standardisation between brands, like CD or vinyl. But this expensive gear has to be paid by selling mere drinks. Ever wondered how many 3$ drinks you need to sell in a bar, just to pay the rent? Staff? Beer? Broken glass? Cleaning? Taxes? Power? Gas? Water? The owners food and clothes? And now the DJ is asking for a 3000 euro piece of gear?? Thats way too expensive! And since DJs practically bring their own light portable controller automatically when your dj booth is outdated, why would the owner even bother??
Oh, and in bigger clubs, there are often collaborations with a local rental company, with leasing and maintenance contracts on the sound and light installation. That way the lighting rig gets updated once in a while, and the old lighting just gets rented out to events by the rental company. And when some big name wants special gear, that just gets rented too…
1 Like
honestly, the others said it all especially @Johan who is absolutely right, most bars no longer have any interest in having their own equipment since now each DJ brings his standalone, or his controller and his laptop with which he is used to working.
And even in small clubs you can bring your own equipment.
I am French and it is true that I like fairly large jogs, the larger the Jog the more precision it offers for adjusting the beatmatch. But honestly on a 6 inch jog it works very well.
I have two sc6000M + 2 LC6000 here on which I am used to working + a prime 2 that my friend recently got.
And honestly once you put the prime 2 jog nudge sensitivity to the minimum in the settings, the 6 inch jogwheel offers excellent precision, it is very pleasant to use and does the job perfectly. I almost want to say that I prefer the feeling of the prime 2 with this sensitivity setting at minimum, rather than my LC6000 connected to my sc6000M which have no nudge sensitivity setting (there is a hardness setting on the lc6000 but that’s something else).
The bigger the jog you have, the heavier and more cumbersome your unit will be. I think that mobile DJs who carry their equipment from right to left are looking for a relatively light and compact unit rather than walking around with a 12 kg aircraft carrier.
3 Likes
I totally agree. I own a Prime 4 (4+ years), two SC500Ms (3+years), and a 1850 (1 year). NONE of them are outdated. I use the P4 multiple times a week. Never any major issues with any of them. I’ve watched the ‘competition’ release device after device and none of them had made me rethink my move towards Denon DJ.
The only thing that some of my fellow DJs really ask for is larger jogs on the P4. That’s it.
Personally, I use my P4 more for blends than scratching and the jogs are perfect for that. When scratching I go to the SC5000Ms.
I’m extremely happy with my decision to go with Denon DJ and happy with the constant firmware upgrades (which is far more than the competitors do).
1 Like
I agree but I wish I see more Denon deviced
Well, there is nothing wrong in wishing, but as we explained above: we don’t believe a Prime 6 with big ass jog dials has a huge market. Therefore it would not be a profitable business decision, and therefore we can conclude its not going to happen.
And be real, if you can shell out 3000 euro instead of 2000, because you want no compromises, you’ll probably also be able to shell out 4500 euro and go for the luxury of SC6000s and a x1850.’’
1 Like
The part about the mixer i am totally in agreement with I was put off the prime 4 due to the mixer layout
For pitching, the jog wheel size on my Prime 4+ is perfectly adequate.
What I would like is a narrower mixer layout. A lot of space is wasted here. This could make a new Prime 4 a little narrower.
Or with slightly larger jogs in the same housing size. Then the jogs don’t seem quite as lost as they do now in the large housing.
I liked the wide mixer layout, I found it comfortable. Agreed on the jog wheel size and it was also fine for my (very) poor scratches.
I praise you and your good eyesight. I had to upgraded to the 6K series for the bigger screens / bigger fonts 
1 Like
I admit that it feels weird when I go from the 7-inch screen of the prime 2 to the 10-inch screen of the sc6000M.
on the prime 2 screen the smallest font size is unusable for me and the largest font size is the minimum for my bad eyes.
1 Like
I’m still hanging on for dear life
1 Like