OK. Have been hovering over the buy button for the Prime Go for a few months now.
I want to move on from a basic controller to something with more professional outputs (currently using an extra piece of kit for balanced output). The smaller jogwheels etc do not bother me as I rarely do only basic scratching in/out of tracks, but the portability, and battery power would mean I can move on from the Mac and basic controller for out and about gigs with battery powered speaker systems.
My biggest issue would be moving on from Rekordbox. I know I don’t have to, however…
My current workflow is track in (usually from recordpool/beatport etc), process through platinum notes, and mixed in key. I currently don’t use the auto cue point as it isn’t great with RB. Organise in Mac filesystem, and then analyse (not key)/organise in RB through auto playlists, genre based playlists from the folders etc. I also prep most tracks for lighting when I listen through to add cues etc for use with RBDMX1, which got a lot better recently with Gobo support.
I have installed Engine DJ a couple of times but can’t get on board with a few things.
The interface feels too “zoomed in”. Small issue, but I don’t feel I can see enough tracks at once.
Is it just me, or is there no way to analyse tracks without updating the key?
I’ll miss the auto playlists. I can do things manually every month or so, but that is a pain (I’ll assume Denon are working on this).
Little things like highlighting linked tracks or harmonic tracks is great as I like to mix on the fly at times rather than having an set tracklist. I am capable of looking, but it is just easy.
Tagging. I was hoping to get around this by hacking around with the IDtags, but Engine DJ doesn’t seem to give all the column options.
Engine DJ seems to analyse tracks at least as well as RB, sometimes better, but with older tracks Engine DJ doesn’t seem as easy to custom beat grid as RB.
My question is to those of you who have switched from Pioneer/RB to Denon. Can you/Do you get over these things? Did you do a full switch, or do you still prep in RB.
My issues for the latter would be the soundswitch, which looks excellent, and another reason to move over. My test tracks moved over from RB with custom beat grids seemed to screw up the soundswitch analysis, and I use a lot of pre 80’s funk tracks with long mixes so have to use beat sync quite often as I am not good enough to beatmatch a track that can change bpm every bar for 5 bars.
Thanks for reading this far, and appreciate any advice/info you may have.
I have a Prime Go and use rekordbox exclusively for library management. It works great for me. I play at friends/parties a lot with pioneer gear so this saves me having to create separate USB’s. Occasionally on some tracks the beat grid will be off a bit on prime but I just deal with that manually. I don’t use lighting features at all though so can’t help ya there.
First thought is actually if the Prime Go is really your right tool here. While i love the Prime Go, i would not say its a dj controller you should go with, if its your first standalone.
Non standard layout
Lack of standard FX capability (its there but different than in most other dj hardware)
Small
and more is explained jn many youtube videos.
Maybe you should aim for a prime 2.
I am not sure if you would end up with the go and saying you dont like the denon eco system, caused by the prime go.
I am pretty happy with the idea of the Prime Go itself. The layout, and other quirks I will get over quickly enough. The issue for me is more on the Engine DJ side of things I think, particularly the auto playlists and the move across into the lighting.
Appreciate both of your thoughts though, thank you.
What are you using at present.
I wiuld also.say skip the go… go straight for the prime 2 or prime 4. Yes a bigger outlay but you buy the better now you wont be disapointed in 6 monthes time
Im sure the auto playlist will follow in a later update, but when is a question mark. However, since the OS 1.4 where i started, so much happend.
I used soundswitch before with serato and a ddj sz. Thats the main reason why i fully switched to denon, or at least a major reason why i looked closer into denon. Since the integration into the units itself, its marvelous. Couldnt imaging, throwing a party, without soundswitch. I even got a battery powerde dmx fixture to combine with my prime go. But if i use soundswitch witch my sc6000 its oretty cool.
Wait for NAMM, but if SS is really a big Bonus, go for the Denon Stuff. For me personally its a major win on every event i host, and the basic SS integration is done fast. The Pioneer RB-DMX 1 is not even close.
The control one is not really necessary. Try the usb dongle first. If you are really into it you can buy the control one and have the usb as backup.
The control one only gives you a real advantage if you are really creating your own light shows. But you need to learn the software first. Otherwise it is a really expensive deco element.
beat sync quite often as I am not good enough to beatmatch a track that can change bpm every bar for 5 bars.