I’ve been using the X1850 with SC5000s for a while now and overall I really like the setup, especially effects like Wash Out and Dub Echo. Those sound great and are very usable in a club context.
That said, I wanted to bring up something that’s been a consistent pain point for me, the reverb effect.
Compared to mixers from Pioneer or even software like Serato and VirtualDJ, the X1850’s reverb just doesn’t feel as smooth or ethereal. It comes across more muddy and boxed in, almost like that distant muffled sound you’d hear in a club bathroom rather than on the main floor. And as another post pointed out can get super loud. Pioneer reverb or any software does not do this.
Another big issue for me as an open format DJ is that the reverb doesn’t really have a proper tail for smooth transitions. It feels like it drops off too abruptly instead of naturally washing out, which makes it hard to use creatively when blending between tracks.
Because of that, I honestly don’t use it at all in my sets, which is a shame. I’ve even gone as far as running an external mixer through send and return just to use its built in reverb, and it noticeably sounds better. That feels off considering this is a flagship DJ mixer.
I don’t mean this as a harsh critique. I really enjoy the system overall, but I wanted to highlight this in case it’s something that could potentially be improved via a firmware update. Even a refinement to the algorithm or parameter tuning could go a long way.
Curious if anyone else feels the same or has found settings that make it more usable?
Have you spent some “off-air” (not in the middle of a mix) time to try out the various options that the fx section gives - even on a simple effect like Reverb?
i sold my prime-go and bought a prime 4+.. tried it out.
the reverb on prime4+ is hardly better than on the prime-go, quite dissapointing.
i ended up in buying an external FX-pedal Eventide H90 which also has ‘blackwhole’ algoriddim which truly sounds amazing and endless possibilities to tweak everything.
i run prime4+’s output thru my H90.
while i think the same reverbfx can be achieved on denon engine hardware, there would be no need to buy additional external fx-pedals like Eventide’s H90.
i partly agree with that, but i also use algoriddim’s djay pro sometimes and use my prime4+ as a controller. djay pro runs on an ipad and also has fx on it, like the complex-reverb effect also sounds amazing. it doesn’t have to cost that much for the hardware to create great sounding reverbs. i’m convinced that Denon DJ hardware can get better sounding reverbs with the right algorithm baked in firmware. even the older firmwares had better sounding reverbs also known as ‘infinity-reverb’ but for some reason the devs took that out some years ago. i still wonder why. my point is: it could be possible to get solid revebfx with in the Denon DJ hardware. because it is not good enough at current firmware state, i’m forced to buy external fxboxes like Eventide H90
There hasn’t been anything new on these mixers in a long time so I’m worried the development on them and the sc players is done. I would say that what you’re asking for is possible but not likely to happen. I’m thinking they would be more likely to just release a new mixer x-1900 or sc7000s or something. Hopefully I’m wrong tho and they surprise us with some new stuff
