I am about to hop on Denon 6000s. The only thing that is holding me back is the conversion of tracks, as I am regularly playing out in clubs and therefore will have to play regularly on CDJs. I don’t really want to prepare my tracks in Rekordbox, as I usually like to add cue points, loops etc. on the fly while I am mixing.
So my question would be what is in your opinion the best workflow for converting your tracks for CDJ use (including cue points, loops, etc.)? I saw a couple of old threads around this, but they were already a bit older, so maybe there is better ways to do things these days.
Maybe because DJ’s are used to mess around with crappy software and no one is complaining. Honestly I don’t know any other software category where applications are so dissatisfying.
No matter what you are going to use, Traktor Pro, Denon DJ, … all is a nightmare and many features you would expect are missing
… and development is moving on soooo soooo slow because all of them argue of there old legacy code. But hey, its one code base for any operating system, sounds great
I guess, then, developing a bulletproof Engine software would really help to convert some of the pioneer, Traktor, etc folks. Let’s face it, the weak spot of the Denon universe is certainly Engine.
I believe Lexicon managed to export tracks directly to Pioneer’s database, which is a big plus: Rekordbox is very closed, and normally requires a lengthy XML import… You still need Rekordbox to export Pioneer USB sticks however…
What also works BTW, is inserting a Pioneer USB stick into Denon players: Denon will import changes in the fly.
But don’t take anything for granted, test your workflow before you buy! And the story is bigger than library management. Denon has certain weak spots in its software, Pioneer has others…
I invite you to try to put your Rekorbox USB into your Prime2/4/go and import playlists with same tracks in more than one playlist. If a track is already in previous imported playlists, doesn’t import track. This make almost useless Rekordbox import feature when you share same tracks on many playlists. Tryed with different USB, playlists, tracks. Always same bug.
I just purchased the DJCUS (for streaming ) sone days ago and it looks like it’s working as expected (have to give it more time). Unfortunately it’s not only an app, it is messing up your Mac with python and other stuff which is required to make it work.
Now I am able to prepare Tidal tracks on my iPhone on the go with DJay. After running DJCUS on my Mac it converts the tracks in something my SC6000 can read. Not perfect but it works somehow.
It’s really time for Engine DJ do deliver a companion app for mobile which allows us exactly this. Pioneer user already have this possibility.
Lexicon with $35 per month looks to be much more pricy . There may be professionals willing to pay this but for me it’s unrealistic. The one time purchase of DJCUS with $17 looks fine for me.
Do everything on an external drive.
Run it through serato then import serato libray to engine… then you have serato and engine on same disk in the orders that you recognize.
Just make sure you backup external drive.
Keep internal drive for your goto CPR tracks or known must plays
I run all my tracks through Rekordbox, export entire library as XML and then import into MixedInKey so I can add Rekordbox hot cues and then import in Engine.
Oh that is pretty bad, maybe I should reconsider switching if even simple things like this do not work out. What you mention also means that you cannot make changes to your tracks in rekordbox to then ‘update’ these changes on your prime device, right?
Yeah, Engine definitely needs to deliver here. I agree with you that the average consumer, even prosumer DJ is shying away of having to pay 35 a month…for the rest of your DJ life.
Thanks for your reply. Although what you are saying sounds intriguing, I am not sure I completely follow what you mean. Do you think you can elaborate on the process in a bit more detail? That would be awesome!
But how do you go the other way around? If you set cue points on the fly while using a denon device, how do you sync these to your ‘main library’?
Put everything onto an external drive. In one madter folder Make all playlists and cue points on that drive directly from the master folder.
No need for syncing or exporting. Its more wysiwyg.
No more red tracks because you dont need to move tracks about once they are on drive. Updating drive and playlists is easy because its just adding to what is there already. And its laid out in a way you understand on both pc and primes.
