Play stopped mid-track! And other unacceptable problems

I use the P4 since its availability, firmware 1.5.2.

I use an internal ssd or sd card… no problems, Only had pbs with beta versions or bad usb keys (usb 3.0 recommended)

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Mine also stopped mid track on Deck 2. V1. 5.1 & no issues until yesterday. Just randomly happened. Reboot solved it but clearly an issue.

I don’t think this is hardware at all. Lots of people now suddenly reporting issues like this.

Deck 2 and 4 alternate playing for me one will not operate then but the other does, it swaps at random times sometimes 20 seconds ,sometimes 10 minutes . Today however I was using for 2 hours and had no issue all streaming from tidal Maybe it has to do with the tidal issue from a week ago

My Problem is: Deck A stops in the middle of a track. I can use hotcues (track jumps to its position) but i cant play the track again. When i load the same track in deck B C or D then, i can play it as usual. When i restart Prime 4 the track plays normally. After some random time i also have that problem again. - Always on deck A -

2nd Problem, when i play a track on deck A, i cant sratch the track, (Deck moves from Sratch into CD mode).

I backuped my Musikdata, Formated my internal SSD Drive, and reloaded a completely new Musiccollection on internal drive. - same problem, not as frequentlich as before, but still exists.

I found that some of my issues were solved by going into Utilities → Platter Touch Sensitivity → Calibrate. I was noticing that the left platter wasn’t changing color when I pressed on it, and recalibrating fixed that. Apparently the platter thought it was being pressed down, hence stopping playback. That still doesn’t explain how pressing & holding the “Next Track” button would make that same track continue playing.

I was having the same issue scratching too. This whole thread also talks about jog wheel issues, and this comment specifically about scratching: Denon prime 4 left jog wheel issues - #16 by dave-b

thanks for your help, i recalibrated the touch sensivity, and last hour mix worked fine, i will do some more testing…

  • after more time i figured out, that there is a problem with specific tracks. the left deck has some scratching issues on some tracks, others work fine. i still think it is a software problem some minutes ago i installed an older softwareupdate to see ob its okay, if not i will contact the support. the Denon prime 4 left jog wheel issues - #16 by dave-b thread helped here in some parts, not for final solution
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Sadly, I have had a similar issue since JULY OF 2019 and it took three separate support tickets and multiple follow ups to finally get someone at InMusic to reply, and that person told me to wait until the 1.6 firmware is released and try again, which allegedly fixes this problem. But if it wasn’t fixed with 1.4 or 1.5… I’m not confident 1.6 is going to do anything either. I have been unable to perform live with my Prime 4 since summer of 2019 and even recording a studio mix in my home has been totally frustrating and stressful because I never know when deck A is going to crap out.

BTW it is definitely NOT platter sensitivity, vinyl vs. CD mode, corrupt files, or corrupt/improperly formatted hard drive, at least in my case. I have tried all possible settings, and files on an internal SSD, external USB HD, and USB flash drive, and this behavior persists across all of those mediums and regardless of what file I’m playing. Deck A will actually finish playing the current track, but then when I stop and load a new track, it refuses to play it. Hard reboot is the only solution, which obviously is not a solution for live performance gear.

The P4 has been a real struggle to get used to after years of successful mixing and performing with Traktor, and this issue (firmware? hardware? who knows) has really pushed me to the brink of giving up and going back to what I know works. But I will give it this one last chance to see if the 1.6 firmware eliminates the issue. (EDIT 2/23: v1.6 is out - testing it over the next several days and will report back on results.)

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That is really poor customer service on Denon’s part. How long do we have to wait until 1.6 is released? If this was just an odd one or two then fair enough, but the amount of people that are having the same problem and if they know what is causing it then get the repair out now. I feel that we will be left with a useless piece of very expensive equipment not fit for purpose. Come on Denon prove us wrong.

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I wrote a ticket to the customer service two days ago. Hope I get some help. Today i got the new Update 1.6 - not solving my problem i thought. Last steps i did was, reinstalling 1.3 update to 1.4 - 1.5 - 1.6. problem still existed. Like half an hour playing around with all information i had until now, the clue was: Go to Utilities - change the responsibility from high to mid or low and then recalibate Before 1.6 update, this did not work on my Prime4, now it did.

What was the case? It hang up, i went to Utilities and changed the cablibration. Went back to the track and then it worked. On Update 1.5 i tried the same, but it changed nothing, i always had to reboot.

Thanks for the update.

I wonder if the Denon people read this forum at all. If they are reading, they got a couple weeks to figure out and fix this issue before I see all my DJ friends in New York and Philly, because I either tell them about the good customer service, or I tell them to never buy crappy Denon products because they are unreliable and the company has no interest in fixing it. (Then they’ll laugh at me and say, “See, told ya so.”

As your story is only 14 days old and the new firmware came out just yesterday, I doubt there’s been enough time for denon to investigate and write, beta test and include any sort of firmware about your 14 day ago thing.

I don’t think the next update is going to be within your 14 day blackmail period. Previously the firmware updates look to be further apart, sometimes by months.

Your first post of this thread does make it sound more like a hardware problem on your particular prime 4, or localised to a corrupt track. If it was firmware issue then everyone with a prime 4 would be saying what you’re saying, which they aren’t . So I think it’s something just in your prime4 or files.

I’d give them the benefit of the doubt except that many people seem to have contacted Denon with the same issues for many months and gotten nowhere with it. Sure I’ll upgrade and cross my fingers that it just works, but the optics would be really terrible if Denon demonstrates that they sell equipment that doesn’t work. It’s not blackmail whatsoever, it would be me sharing my personal experience. Now, if Denon comes through on this and my gear is fixed instead of a $2300 “maybe it works maybe it dont”, I’d still tell my friends how the thing didnt work but at least they have good customer support.

For anyone following this thread I can confirm firmware 1.6 does not fix the problem of frozen/unresponsive decks. If anything, my deck froze faster than ever before after the update. I believe an early batch of Prime 4 units have some kind of hardware issue and I was one of the unlucky ones to receive one of those (I was one of the first preorder customers after all). Thankfully Denon has promised to replace my unit with a brand new one since I have been reporting this issue to them for so long. But now the question becomes do I even give this another go - I’ve lost a lot of confidence after this 20 month, frustrating experience :expressionless:

With that in mind , I’d just get a replacement Prime 4 - there’s nothing else out there that offers and does what the prime 4 can offer. And you certainly don’t want to go back to laptops

Well that’s the dilemma isn’t it? Prime 4 has been a battle from day 1 so I actually have been wanting to go back to a laptop + controller setup to have the kind of flexibility I got used to as a Traktor DJ for so long:

  • Ability to batch analyze files or entire folders on the fly while DJing
  • Auto-analysis of new files added to my music library
  • View BPMs in folder/list view while browsing my library

And the list goes on. I’ve held out with Prime and Engine because like you said, nothing else out there can be completely standalone like this, or offers as many features for the price. I’m a HUGE fan of what this new platform is capable of, but it’s been a constant struggle for me, with a distinct lack of timely support from Denon, lost gigs, and even just a lack of passion for DJing anymore because I know at some part during my set it’s going to lock up. I will at least give the second unit a chance and see if those issues are totally gone, but the damage is also kind of already done if you know what I mean.

Oh well, your choice.

It’s difficult as I think you have only a faulty prime 4 building your experience of a prime player upon

Most likely that’s true, but still, but first impressions are the most important. If your girl cheated on you and you gave her a second chance would you ever forget she cheated on you? It’s kind of like that… :stuck_out_tongue:

As I said I’ll still give it another go. I’ve put too much time and energy and money into this new rig to just give up especially on a first generation device like this. Remaining cautiously optimistic but the verdict is still out until I’ve performed at least 3 livesets on it without issue.

But she only did it because she was ill, but now she’s medically 100%

The more I think about it, and the more I read about the alternatives to prime also crashing or failing or waiting or unable to be used because of OS upgrades or driver issues, the more I think you should go for the replacement prime 4

Let’s always remember that here on the forum we come to indicate our problems with the equipment, we hardly come to praise the flawless operation because we take it for granted.

There are also people who have bought the P4 but are not even registered on the forum. I think there are more people happy with their P4 than people who would like to throw it in the garbage can. I (as I have already written) have never had defects that cause the music to stop and so far I consider the P4 a reliable unit and therefore I have no problem using it in public (if there was no COVID).

Do I love my Prime 4? Yes a lot.

Would I like it better? Yes, so I make my criticisms and suggestions for improvement.

Would I trade it for a Pioneer? No.

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Glad they have offered you a replacement. Mine is going back this week and let’s hope I get the same result as like you it was one of the early ones.

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