In the introduction, I mentioned how the current generation of stand-alone units require media analysed by a computer, and you maybe confused to learn that Denon DJ has its own software that it recommends you use with your music before using the Prime 4. However, whereas the competition at the moment relies on you doing this before a vast majority of performance features are at all possible, the Prime 4 has it’s own built-in processor and can actually perform the analysis on the fly should you skip the computer part. Using Rekordbox, Serato and Traktor on the Prime 4 The Denon DJ Prime 4 also offers more ways than ever to play your media on the unit. Featuring a huge, 4 USB ports (one of the USB’s being especially to charge your phone/camera with a higher output voltage), 1 SD card reader and a 2.5″ SATA Hard drive bay you will never be short of ways to load music into the Prime 4. I have been putting off for years upgrading my playout system as there was nothing from other brands that excited me or featured everything I needed has a professional mobile DJ.

The onboard sampler was brought about with Engine 3.0 and has 16 pad-triggered slots, which can now be routed to any channel, giving DJs more flexibility to sculpt their sound. So how does it compare to the competition? When we initially reviewed this, there really weren’t any, because nobody else had a four-channel standalone DJ system (however that has changed since the arrival of Pioneer DJ’s Opus Quad – here’s our review). Let’s look at some other systems/controllers etc you may want to consider alongside this one though: Collection and delivery costs are included for the first 2 years in the event of an item becoming faulty Unlike the previous MCX8000 unit, the Prime 4 of course has a big central screen (that unit had two smaller ones). It’s a big improvement.The feature will become available as a beta later this summer, so watch this space… Now with a secure music streaming chip On paper, the Denon DJ Prime 4 is one of the most powerful standalone DJ systems ever made – no laptop required! DJing from USB, SD or SATA hard drive, you get four full channels of digital audio, a big touchscreen that’s smooth and responsive, and pretty much all the performance features you find on the best DJ software. Fully customizable crossfader with curve control knob, channel assignment switches, and Fader Start. inch metal jog wheel with expanded touch surface, assignable color, and center HD displays for album art. A final but important use for the screens is to control the two settings/options-type menus, to choose between input sources, and to record your sets: A long hold on the hardware “view” button (also used to toggle between library and waveform views) brings up the options here.

Only down side, Engine Prime is a bit of a pain to analyse a very large music collection that a mobile DJ has, its definitely not the laptop used to run engine prime on, as said laptop is a very high spec gaming laptop costing over 3k

New Engine DJ Software Update Version 2.4

So much so that hardware updates to PRIME 4+ are minimal, with the true focus being on the awesome software updates opening up most of its new capabilities. The database in 2.0 has been completely rebuilt to provide accelerated browsing, lightning-fast song analysis, enhanced system stability, and a significantly smaller database size. These new under the hood adjustments offer the user a streamlined experience when managing, browsing, and playing the music they love. We felt the pads were excellent. We feared they might just feel a little bit small, but in fact they were a joy to play on – finger drummers need not fear a thing here. You can also disable the pads entirely if you wish – a smart move for DJs who never use them and may fear hitting them by accident. Things that could be improved A nice touch is a stereo/mono switch for the master outs: Not all sound systems are in stereo, and often even with ones that are, you’d prefer your output to be in mono. It’s a good-to-have option. The screen This is not a review of the software, but in short: It’s OK, but not as good as Rekordbox – it misses dynamic playlists that populate according to your choice of rules (“all my house tunes from 1988 to 1992”, for instance) and there are none of Rekordbox’s powerful tagging features, either. Denon DJ is investing heavily in software development so hopefully some of these features are coming.