AlphaTheta has dropped two new products in the last two weeks—today’s announcement being the second. Meanwhile, it’s been 3–4 years since the last Denon Prime 4+. So… where’s the Denon Prime 5+?
I just hope Denon doesn’t follow the same trend as Pioneer by removing physical knobs and buttons. Those hands-on controls are part of what makes DJing so fun.
If Denon is listening, here’s my dream controller:
10-inch touchscreen
True standalone operation
Dedicated physical stem buttons like the Pioneer DDJ-FLX10
High-gloss white finish
That would be an absolute game changer. I’d buy one in a heartbeat.
I doubt we’ll see a 5-channel unit, so will probably be some sort of successor to the Prime 4.
Both the CDJ 1500x and XDJ-AN are successors to products that was released 8 years ago.
The AN is probably the equivalent of the SC Live 2, which still seem like a far superior product - and which is still just a few years old.
There probably isn’t a direct equivalent to the CDJ 1500x, but if we just compare it to the SC6000, the 6000 still wipes the floor with the 1500, and while it starts to have a few years on its birth certificate, it’s still not nearly as old as the XDJ 1000 MK2 that the 1500x is replacing.
I’m super excited for new Engine products to come out, but I don’t find it to be urgent - current products still hold up perfectly, and I don’t think they should rush anything through, just because AT (finally) releases new products - products, that gets “mixed reviews” at best from their own fan-group.
As for your wishes:
The 7 year old Prime 4 already checks the first two points of yours, and considering the System One has dedicated stem-buttons, I’d be surprised if this wouldn’t end up being the case for the P4 successor. Then we’re just the high-gloss white finish away from changing the game
So basically what the current P4/P4+ already provide. My limited P4 is all white (looks lovely, btw).
And I rather wait a bit longer than getting a rushed product. Whatever is getting cooked, you can expect it to be good. The Rane System One already proves it.
By comparison, neither the CDJ-3000X (screwing all CDJ-3000 owners), nor the CDJ-1500X or the XDJ-AN were good releases at all.
Alfa Temu released another dumbed down device for a price of aircraft carrier… Yeah, they are doing so good, no one knows why the backlash of the dj community on their products is enourmous…
It’s not easy, but realistically right now all Denon has to do is let AlphaTemu continue its self-destruction while making small improvements to the current line. This will require at least 10 years for Denon to take over the clubs, but at least now I can see a possibility while before the 1500 and AN I couldn’t see a way.
Currently clubs that are still on CDJ 2000 nxs2 (2016) will either go for used CDJ 3000 or jump to a 3000X. So after that they won’t be buying gear for at least 10 years.
But… IF AT keeps shooting itself on the foot and release a CDJ 4000 as shitty as the 1500 or AN, then the ONLY option for professional DJ gear would be either used CDJs or Denon gear.
And this is how I can see Denon taking over the market. Long stretch, sure, but at least now I can see a realistic way of this happening.
As for my wishlist: Denon just needs to invest more in mechanical jog wheels. After buying a FLX-10 I decided I will NEVER buy DJ gear without a mechanical wheel (with tension adjust), that’s non-negotiable for me. This is the top reason I stopped using my Prime 4+ and will be selling it as soon as I can.
Denon/Engine are likely waiting for Pioneer to catch up to what Denon dropped 3-4 years ago only to drop new products that are light years ahead given the at best luke warm responses to the cdj1500x and the XDJ-AN Denon probably just smiling away like they are not ready for what we got coming
All fine and dandy, but today I was looking for a Prime 4+ to complement my SC6000 set. Turns out I can’t find any in stock, not even order in Europe… All while Alpha Theta is bashing my head with XDJ-AZ marketing….
I mean, how can anybody seriously consider Denon superior to AT if they can’t even deliver the hardware?
Usually the company has to let the old devices sell out and depleting before dropping the new gear to increase sales. In music does this all the time. They just did it with the MPC Key 37 and live 3. That’s where the suspicion comes in, will they be dropping a new Prime soon? It’s been a few years already.
Thanks for the tip. And very strange this didn’t even pop up at the top of my search… first like 10 flightcases, bags, even a prime go+, and then this white b stock device
This makes one think hard and long if you want to invest in it: is there new hardware on the way? Are there solvability issues? What about parts and repairs?
Anyway, that’s my own decision process… But I did find it noteworthy to mention that there is no new EU Prime 4+ stock. And this happened before, both with the Prime 4 and SC6000, without new replacement devices in sight. IMHO, if you want to sell devices as a company, you’ve got to roll the dice and create stock, even if this is dead money… Right now, the only serious competitor to an XDJ-AZ is out of stock…
A month or 2 ago I wondered why my local shop (s2store) has no prime devices left in their showroom, only Pioneer (and Akai, yes InMusic). Well, this stock rupture is the answer: A dealer doesn’t care about features, he cares about stock availability and after sales service.
Also, fun fact: a week ago I hooked up a Bluetooth speaker to my laptop to program a soundswitch light show. Only to learn the entire show ended up being nearly one beat behind due to the Bluetooth delays.
Bluetooth out actually comes in handy for cases like “send playlist to zone” where it doesn’t matter whether the delay is half a second or a minute.
Bluetooth is a standard which is being actively developed and there might be an iteration supporting low latency. But we aren’t quite there yet. Until then both Aiaiai and AT provide dongle based solutions for headphones which work just fine.
I don’t understand why Spotify integration requires a new hardware release. But this could be just me…
Yeah but if the headphones and mains are delayed and time aligned, it still doesn’t delay the meters or input signal, so any timed eq moves and fx from the mixer will be late or out of sync making you sound like crap or amateurish at best.
Nobody is looking for bluetooth outputs. Have you tried mixing anything over bluetooth? “Delays, delays, nothing but delays.”