The basics options are not there in engine DJ desktop!

Engine DJ Software Engine DJ (Mac & PC)
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Would it be possible to have software (Engine desktop) worthy of the name before wanting to add options that professional DJs don’t care about at all (bluetooth).

Since I became a DJ, I have had the opportunity to work on different mixing software:

-Mixvibes -Serato -Rekordbox

  • Tractor
  • Virtual DJ

and, unfortunately, Engine DJ Desktop.

I worked with an MC7000 for 7 years coupled with a virtual DJ Pro.

Virtual DJ in Europe is considered amateur DJ software but, for me, it is the most complete software in terms of database management. The possibilities for filtering your songs are endless!

All DJ software has, at a minimum, the following possibilities:

  • Star rating
  • Song color
  • Reading and writing MP3 tags

On virtual DJ, I worked a lot with 3 or 4 colors in order to have a quick view of the intensity of my songs. I hesitated between purchasing a prime 4+ or a pioneer solution with rekordbox.

Being very happy with Denon, I went for the Prime 4+. I knew I wasn’t going to find the colors on the Prime system and I was going to use the star ratings.

In 3 clicks on virtual DJ, I give star ratios based on my old color codes on virtual DJ.

Virtual DJ correctly writes the star rating in the mp3 tags.

When importing my library into engine, it does not recognize the stars coming from the MP3 tag.

It is still the basis of any mixing software!

Additionally, Engine does not write to the MP3 tag.

Dear Denon developers, stop wanting to put the icing on the cake when the dough is not yet cooked!

Before working on Bluetooth, stems, touch FX, first try to provide database management software worthy of the name. Already base yourself on Serato (which is the most basic software) and offer us a desktop engine with the same possibilities.

And the last thing on engine DJ on the prime 4. Why have to choose between PC mode or standalone?

We played with 3 DJs on a Pioneer

  • 1 in link rekorbox
  • 1 on usb key
  • 1 on serato via USB

No need to restart the console to play on one of the 3 systems. Why isn’t this possibility available at Denon?

I have seen a number of messages on the forum dating from 2020 asking for mp3 tag management.

We will soon be able to toast bread with the prime 4 but the basic functions expected by many DJs are not there.

Working like this, Pioneer still has good days ahead of them.

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Now this is funny :grin:

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Basic functions expected by many DJs are surely: Crossfader, Line fader, EQ, pitch faders, good music :slight_smile:

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I don’t speak about the denon hardware but about the desktop software. We are in 2024 and the desktop software seems to be from 25 years ago. After 28 years old of deejaying and after playing on SL1200, CDJ500, CDJ100, Serato rane, mixvibes DVS, controllers and now standalone, I think that I know what basics functions a DJ software need to have. But it’s clear that if you prepare a playlist for a set of 2 hours only for a party where you play what you want, engine dj desktop do the job.

When you play between 6 and 8 hours on a private or corporate party where there are differents kind of people, I would like to have my database of 30K songs organised as I want.

There are a lot of posts since 2020 asking the devellopers to have the ID3 Tags available to be read and write in engine dj as all the dj software have.

Sorry if this is not so important for you.

Before to post my message, I try also to use Itunes and Lexicon but the syncq with itunes is a nightmare when you want to update your engine dj database

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Unfortunately it does seem very common for people to misunderstand the purpose of Engine desktop software, because they often compare it to DJ performance software (VirtualDJ, Serato, Traktor etc) when it’s not performance software - it’s library software.

It doesn’t need to be equivalent to Serato etc. because the Prime units are all standalone, intended for people who wish to DJ without needing software.

It’s simply there to create a database and copy music from source to destination - which it does.

Yes it could be better, but it already does what it was designed to do.

BTW my collection is almost 50,000 tracks and they were all imported to Engine DJ and transferred to my Prime 4. I’m open format, DJing all types of events.

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What do you mean “just festival DJs”? If you’re playing festivals, I dare say, you’re a professional DJ.

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I guess he means DJs like Eric Prydz, Andy C, Fatboy Slim, Idris Elba, DJ EZ, Camelphat, Groove Armada (all “just” playing Glastonbury this year).

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Doesn’t that bring us to:

or

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Festival DJs are the only pros out there for sure.

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Please do not confuse professional and media DJs.

there are a large number of djs, all over the world, who play up to 12 events per month (weddings, corporate parties, private parties, bars, littles clubs,…). They do not appear on television, are not at major festivals but are paid for their performance. They charge and pay taxes. I consider these to be professional DJs because it’s a job when you manage to have between 50 and 120 events per year.

But we agree that we are not paid the same price as professional DJs (festival / producer) :slight_smile:

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It’s cool to have bluetooth on the Prime 4+ (for example). But the library software need to be update!

I searched the forum for posts using the term “ID3 tags”.

There are over 50 results talking about this topic. The first message is from 2018!

I understood very well that Engine DJ desktop was just software allowing you to organize your library and is not used for performance.

But if you take an example from other brands that also have their library organization system, with a simple analysis, you will realize that Engine DJ is far below the others in terms of library management.

I love Denon equipment but the management of the library is well below all the competitors.

Now it depends on how you manage your library

If you only create simple playlists and drag and drop the songs into your playlists (crates) I 100% agree that engine dj does the job!

I mainly work with smartlists.

For example:

-All 2024

  • Top 2024

All 2024: smartlist based on the year 2024

Top 2024: year is 2024 and star rating is above 1

I also use comments for various additional filters.

So far, so good. The engine dj smartlists don’t allow for big crazy things but the basics are there.

The problem mainly occurs at the star rating level which does not modify the mp3 ID3 tag of the file.

since 2003, I have changed software 4 times. before the arrival of “intelligent crates” I had to completely redo my entire library depending on the software used.

I also managed my library with iTunes but I only once had a problem synchronizing my iTunes xml with serato which completely put me off using this system.

When you manage your library with ID3 tags, you can change software as you want, you just have to recreate your smartlists and all your music will sort automatically.

I have certain clubs or bars that have pioneer equipment on site and where we play with 2 or 3 DJs during the evening. I have a similar database on Rekordbox in order to be able to export my library to the pioneer system.

If I change the rating in engine DJ and it does not physically change on the ID3 tag of the file, when I add the file to another DJ software, the rating is 0 stars for all files.

My question is why other software manages all ID3 tag fields and not engine DJ!

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Some are, some aren’t. Some just hit play then fiddle with the knobs on channels which aren’t live… well, when they’re not standing in a crucifix pose, climbing all over the booth, or wearing a giant sweet on their head lol - many do far less work, with far less skills than their brand name affords them.

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I think the overall point is, what one person claims are ‘basic features that every DJ needs’ is not what another person would deem as ‘basic features that every DJ needs’

Many will not care in the slightest whether the DJ app is writing star ratings back to the ID3 tag, many won’t care at all about things like that. The same many won’t use hot cues or saved loops or beat grids etc etc.

What percentage of people represent either side of this argument, who knows?

Best thing to do is raise it as a feature request then see how many votes it gets, then it can be actioned.

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There are all sorts of reasons behind why an artist (not just DJs) may not be performing 100% live - that doesn’t mean they’re not a professional.

It’s not necessarily their choice.

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Firstly, I agree with your overall point - it would be really useful to be able to store the star rating right in the file tags. But it’s not as straightforward as you make out. The POPM tag is the most commonly used in mp3s, but there’s little to no consistency - do you store ratings from 0 to 5, or 0 to 255? Do you allow half stars? How do you handle a tag which stores multiple ratings for different people (yes, this does happen)? What about mp4s, which don’t have the POPM tag? What about WAVs, which don’t support tags at all?

If Denon made a call on these questions and wrote an implementation, then they would ■■■■ off some people who want to coexist with other software. Personally - PERSONALLY - I think that would still be worthwhile, but I understand why they’ve made a different call.

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This has gone rather off topic, and nobody has actually bothered to address the actual substance of the request.

  • Star rating - there is a star rating system in Engine. What you’re asking for here is supporting the import of star rating. Feel free to write this additional requirement up as a feature request.

  • Song color - if you want this feature, please vote for it. https://community.enginedj.com/t/custom-color-column-to-give-an-additional-way-to-tag-songs-in-the-database/48193. It’s currently around the 80th highest request in the feature request area (requests with 9 votes take up the 80th to 90th positions here).

  • Reading and writing MP3 tags - Can you explain more? Editing meta data in the song list will result in this being written back to the MP3 file. Is there specific workflow that you expect tag data to be written back where it is not?

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I think the OP was asking for the star rating specifically to be written back to the file Vince, embedded into the metadata so it can be carried across to other software.

I think Phevans makes a great point as to why it might not be feasible however.

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OP also talked about writing star ratings using VirtualDJ, then importing to Engine.

How? Engine (still) doesn’t have an option to import from VirtualDJ.

Presumably then, whatever method was used to get from VDJ to Engine, that’s where the problem lies.

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I think this is an important piece of information. Some people make a request (not a demand btw, a request) and then, believing their request is the only request pending, seem surprised when other features get implemented ahead of their request.

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I’m afraid if you get very critical of In Music Brands it won’t get very fare in here.

Denon on YouTube most certainly considered Engine Prime as it was 1st called performance software.