Ok, we’ve no reason not to expect that the Research & Development firmware writers are already part way through the next exciting feature s and nothing should stop them working on what they’re already doing.
But… while new features are always welcome, it must also be acknowledged that
No coding can be perfect. Every existing or new function could contain typos or have unexpected results on itself, or on associated features .
Whilst we all love new free features, especially when they’re features which we as individuals would use, and will benefit from should we instead seek stability and dependability for the firmware already offered?
Each new firmware release usually offers a combination of new features and the infamous all-encompassing single bullet poin of “Various bug fixes and stability improvements.
However, do we all feel that the balance between stability fixes is correct, compared to the number of new free features?
After all, Prime is already ahead in terms of features - even compared to the ridiculously overpriced CDJ3000.
So once the developers have finished their current firmware offering should they ….
A) Focus more on stability and bug fixes with no new firmware features for 12 months
B) Keep adding new features and don’t worry too much about stability of the existing ecosystem
Side question, what prompt did you use to render the Denon machines in the AI image? I get either a Pioneer deck or a error because of a potential copyright infringement.
180° DJing, oh yeah! As long as the cables are at the right place…
Anyway, it’s always stability for me, and more focus on older but popular user requests.
For SoundSwitch (which I heavily rely on), I would indeed like to see a higher pace when it comes to new features or GUI improvements, it was very quiet there in the last months.
After the initial image request, I did get some rubbishy pioneer looking gear in the picture so as a follow up prompt I said “. “ Change the equipment to look like Denon DJ Prime equipment
Out of curiosity would finishing off/altering/maximizing existing features be part of the stability & maintenence ie tagging/rating & a few tweaks that people have been asking for etc (bringing it closer together to what you can do on desktop compared to standalone & vice versa)
I’m not moaning or asking for anything just an honest question, I’m quite happy with what I got & I voted for stability & maintenance as that’s the most important thing as it’s no point having all the bells & whistles if nothing works correctly.
From my own personal experience I find the balance is just right at the moment (obviously that’s not everyone else’s mileage but my personal standing).
Each new firmware and bug fix drop lands around two to four times a year. I feel it works as it is although as Stu said, EDJ could do with some love. As a preparation tool it could do with a few more prep-friendly features and definitely streaming prep. Whether anyone uses streaming it not, it’s here to stay and may as well get a few tweaks to make bedroom DJs or open-format ‘play once’ DJs have better tools.
As said, the sampler could do with love. One thing I like about InMusic is their product range encompasses a lot of big brands but also various target audiences. This means they can outsource internally without taking away from their own job list.
Another improvement would be to have Philips Hue use separate lights as fixtures like all other iOS apps do. Currently all lights do the same thing.
SoundSwitch co-developed Engine Lighting which is a separate team and who knows if Akai can develop a plugin that has a sampler & sequencer that is DJ friendly? There’s Arkaos that can do AV stuff as well as Mixmeister IP for flexible grids and Decadance and Torq for the Engine DJ improvements. There’s lots of departments to leverage and I think that would help push the products forward while still keeping focussed on bug fixes and stability.
Engine OS does most of what I need and find the stability great. New things are fun and can only hope there’s some new features on the way that can take inspiration from other InMusic departments.
Hmmm, I detect some bias in the wording of the poll choices there!
I certainly do think DDJ need to work more on fulfilling requests that have been outstanding for literally years, tying up our votes, meaning most of us can’t vote any more.
I realise we’re not entitled to have something added when it’s requested, but some of these old requests really would be helpful. IMO it doesn’t happen often enough.
I agree, although that should have its own thread. I feel sure that there must be some requests in the hundreds of requests on the forum which have been totally ruled out by the developers- in which case, we’d like our votes back
Over 8 years later and the Prime gear’s Engine OS still makes lossless audio files sound as bad as lossy audio files on other gear, and sometimes even worse. If you play a full bandwidth 44.1 FLAC file on Prime gear, the high frequencies will produce aliasing distortion that can muddy up the rest of the audio lower in the frequencies, especially if there’s a lot going on to begin with. Layer two or more tracks together, and it’s even worse. With a very well-encoded bandwidth-limited 128kbps MP3, you can sometimes get better sound on Prime than using the original full-bandwidth lossless version of that file. The moving of the anti-aliasing filter slightly up in frequency to slightly placate complaints of treble roll-off in some ways actually made the sound worse.
As an aside related to hardware quality and not firmware…
They also need to quit with the fast strobing LEDs on future hardware. If you lower the shutter exposure length of your web cam, you will see this on all the Prime gear. I believe this engineering choice is a mistake that’s contributing to eyestrain and headaches in users, and overall user fatigue in combination with the ear fatigue contributed by the aliasing intermodulation distortion. There’s a big push in this area on computer monitors’ LED backlights, and I don’t think it’s something that ought to be ignored on music electronics like this, especially in dark environments.
They should stop cheaping out on faders, replace-ability of upfaders, and simple things like motor grease. Repair-ability should be key, but there’s no excuse for some of this stuff to be skimped on like this. Grease turning into the consistency of chalk? Upfaders that need to be replaced so soon? Not being able to replace them easily is annoying, but the materials quality in spots is pretty poor in the first place.
Back to the firmware…
Second priority can then be stability and overt bugs, but to be honest they do try quite a lot on those. You’re right, though, that with each new feature more bugs are being introduced. Therefore putting stability and solving bugs over feature development would be useful.
My list is quite long but if I had to refine it down to one or two things:
Lag on the Prime 4+ is abysmal. I have barely 1000 tracks loaded on a USB and navigating even a small number of playlists is like walking through treacle.
The Desktop app. Even the most basic of UI features fails constantly. Want to scroll? No. Sort? No. Sync in less than an hour? No. I’ve literally missed the start time for my weekly online show because I started to sync a meagre 10 playlists of a few dozen tracks 40 minutes before my start time.
Bear in mind, my collection is minuscule compared to most people. Barely 1500 tracks total. It shouldn’t be collapsing under such tiny load. I’m running it on a Macbook M1 Max so there’s no issue with my hardware.
There’s been a couple of threads lately tying album art size to lag. Can you check the size of your album art and see if any are around 30/40mb and several thousand pixels along each edge? Try shrinking them down to say 500x500 pixels and re-tag them to the tracks and re-import the track data.
Mine is 6000 tracks, mainly lossless and it’s really snappy.
For the export, again that sounds really abnormal, if you have a USB 3.2 flash drive and a good quality hub for connecting it to the MacBook, it should take minutes to export your full library from scratch. There has to be something wrong in your personal workflow there, if it was common there would be uproar.
I wonder why you always blame the engine or the hardware? Even a friend of mine with SC Live 4 complained about the slowness, then I asked her what USB she used? She told me I got it from AliExpress in 128 GB and paid 2 euros for it! Before blaming Denon, I would like to see what USB or SSD cards they used!
