I’ve had the same setup for over a year: Prime 4 with a SATA SSD and my M1 Macbook Air with the Engine DJ software. I keep the Engine software and Engine OS up to date with new releases, currently 3.2.0.
Beginning recently, modifications to playlists in Engine DJ get clobbered when I connect the Prime 4. Here’s what I do:
The laptop is not connected to the Prime 4. Start Engine DJ
In Engine DJ, remove a track from a playlist. Close Engine DJ
Start Engine DJ, verify the track is still removed from the list
I can close and open Engine DJ, the playlist is the way I expect
Start Engine DJ, connect the Prime 4, switch the Prime 4 into Computed Mode
Watch as the track reappears on the playlist in Engine DJ
Open Sync Manager: it shows that there are changes to send to the Prime 4. No changes to go from the Prime 4 to Engine DJ. Send the changes.
In Engine DJ, eject the Prime 4. Verify in Finder that it’s not mounted. Put the Prime 4 back in Standalone mode
On the Prime 4, edit the same playlist to remove the same track
Switch the Prime 4 back to Computer Mode
In Engine DJ, open Sync Manager; it shows no changes to send from the Prime 4 to Engine DJ
This happens because EDJ Desktop shows everything in your collections, both local and remote (in Prime 4).
I suggest you make changes to the main collection when you have connected your Prime 4 to the computer, so when you delete a playlist or track from the collection on the computer, it will also be changed in the Prime 4.
Start Engine DJ on my laptop, remove a track from a playlist
Connect the Prime 4, put it in Computer Mode
See the track reappear on my Playlist
Don’t make any changes, don’t even open Sync Manager, eject the Prime 4
Put the Prime 4 back in Standalone mode
See that my playlist in Engine DJ still has the removed track restored
Just connecting the Prime 4 to the Engine DJ software seems to cause it to permanently modify playlists in Engine DJ. It’s not simply showing me the union of tracks on both devices, it’s modifying what’s on my laptop with no action on my part.
As you suggested, I removed a track from my playlist in Engine DJ while the Prime 4 was connected. I then used Sync Manager to sync the changes to the Prime 4. This time I got a pop up telling me it would remove tracks from playlists on the Prime 4: a good sign. I ejected the Prime 4 and then restarted the Prime 4 in Computer Mode again. The removed track stayed removed.
I also noticed that in Sync Manager the Engine DJ side keeps indicating that there are changes it can apply to the Prime 4, no matter how many times I hit the corresponding sync button. This may be the normal behavior and I just hadn’t noticed it before.
Removing tracks from playlists while the Prime 4 connected is a workaround of sorts, but it’s a terrible workflow if it’s the only way I can do this. I’m pretty sure I’ve been able to do this in the past just on the laptop and sync the changes later; I’ve seen the Sync Manager warning about removing tracks from playlists before.
If you like that request, you can give your vote to it.
Yes you are right. That arrow always indicates that you can update the remote unit, even when you have just updated it. I can’t tell you why that happens, but it happens.
