With the #ChangeYourRider hashtag, Denon DJ rather brazenly planted its flag squarely on Pioneer DJ’s doorstep. What it neglected to offer however was an easy way to transfer finely tuned rekordbox collections right into Engine Prime’s own library format. Rekord Buddy is getting there, and the more maverick DeCU does a similar thing too. But Denon DJ has finally addressed this terrible shortcoming in fine style by releasing a firmware update that lets you read and convert a rekordbox library right on the SC5000 Prime.
As ever, the Denon DJ PR machine has a prepared missive:
FIRMWARE FOR GROUND-BREAKING SC5000 PRIME™ MEDIA PLAYER UPGRADED TO ENGINE PRIME VERSION 1.0.3
Direct import of rekordbox® database highlights the new firmware’s greater functionality.
Cumberland RI, USA (November 2, 2017)—Denon DJ (www.denondj.com), a leading manufacturer of premium DJ products and solutions, today announced that their revolutionary SC5000 Prime media player has received a significant upgrade with new Engine Prime v1.0.3 firmware. The new firmware will give DJs performance enhancing pitch resolution, and most importantly, will now import rekordbox® files and database content directly into the SC5000.
A quick re-cap of the stunning Denon DJ SC5000 Prime media player: Winner of two DJ Mag Tech Awards for ‘Innovative New Product’ and ‘Ultimate Club Deck,’ the SC5000 Prime sets a new standard for ease of use and comprehensive creative features. It is a professional unit with 7-inch multi-touch display that enables gestures and swiping for the ultimate DJ expression and immediacy of interaction. Adding dual-layer playback on a single unit, making it possible to mix a full DJ set on just one player, plus on-board trigger pads for expressive live performance, the SC5000 represents the future of professional DJ performance, right here, right now.
The new 1.0.3 firmware delivers two important upgrades, which significantly improve the SC5000’s operational effectiveness:
• Direct import of rekordbox® database — automatically and elegantly converts hot-cues, saved loops and playlists into Engine format, directly within the SC5000 player
• Adjusted pitch resolution for more accurate BPM setting during DJ performance
The new 1.0.3 firmware is a solid indication of Denon DJ’s commitment to continuous improvement for their revolutionary Prime Series equipment.
Digital DJ Tips says, “This [the SC5000] is the singularly most impressive piece of DJ technology we’ve ever reviewed and ushers in a new era of DJing.”
The 1.0.3 firmware will be part of SC5000 Prime media players starting in November 2017.
U.S. retail pricing for the SC5000 Prime is $1899. It is available globally now.
CAT AND MOUSE
Finally. This should have been ready on day one. I’ve had explanations as to why it wasn’t, and the absence of it doesn’t seem to have slowed down progress. But now this is available, it should set a few minds at rest and see more triggers being pulled on purchases.
My biggest question is how Pioneer DJ will react to this, if at all. A few people have now worked out how to convert the rekordbox library format, but not Pioneer DJ’s mortal enemy up to this point. This does change things somewhat, and I wonder if Pioneer DJ will do anything to throw a spanner in the conversion works. Encrypting the database adds a layer to the playing process and means firmware updates to every single rekordbox unit whenever changes are made. Nightmare. It might be best for Pioneer DJ to just suck it up and not make things messy for themselves. After all, if they respond, it’s acknowledging Denon DJ as a real threat.
I’m not in The Worxlab this afternoon so I can’t give the firmware a quick bash. But the above video from DJ TLM answers my one big question — the SC5000 Prime does a complete conversion of the rekordbox library right back to the original USB drive, importantly leaving the original rekordbox library untouched. I’m looking forward to seeing how easy that will be to roll back into Engine Prime desktop too.
This update amongst other things will be incorporated into revising the pretty much finished reviews of the Prime suite. There’s little point putting out reviews next week that are immediately out of date. Prime Week will now start 13th November, and will be the most complete and detailed set of opinion filled reviews you’ll ever read about the Denon Prime range. Obviously.
If Rekorbox has their own format and system Denon will break the law.
If Pio don’t has…well tey are very naive and this is result!
The best response from Pioneer should be a new unit that’s better than Denon’s. Changing the Rekordbox format is a bad idea considering things like Rekord Buddy and the the changes that units will need in the firmware (as mentioned in the post). Maybe Pioneer and Denon could start working together towards a library standard (for basic metadata) which can be extended with unit or brand specific features (hot cues, loops)? This will make 3rd party integrations easier and units supporting this standard more popular. Maybe NI could implement the same library format in Traktor…
Sorry, I know I’m getting a little bit lost in my little fantasy ;)
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44077a476b5deb38e377a4a8cbe38d1be32d574cfee186632b6752ee45741130.jpg
That would be like Denon DJ making an Engine Prime to rekordbox converter, and giving it away. And they absolutely can do that. They all can, but never will.
There’s more chance of Microsoft, Apple, and Google working together on a common OS for desktop and mobile devices.
Savage.
T’is nothing but light hearted badinage. ViveLeRoy said that it’s fantasy.
So this is 1 way import only I presume? No syncing back changes made on the SC5000 to the RB library? And what about merging changes made in the RB library to the Prime library? Incremental or full reimport needed (deleting any changes made in the Prime library)?
@dibb see my comment a bit back
wouldn’t it be better the other way around?
preparing the prime library at home and importing it in a cdj at the club.
denon should update the prime software that it could export in a pioneer friendly format.
would make more sense from a dj perspective
Exactly my point. Syncing from Prime -> RB is essential for adaption by dj’s.
It’s actually a good point. I get the mentality of getting people into the Prime world and trying to shut everything else out. But thinking about it, if they need Prime to Rekordbox, then they’ve already bought Prime units, and just need the flexibility of being able to perform anywhere. The prevalence of CDJs in the pro environment can’t be ignored.
It is something I could implement in the Denon Conversion Utility as well as opening / exporting playlists/history lists. However before i spend a lot of time and resources in developing it I first want Engine Prime to gain some momentum. At this moment users of DeCU do their track preparations on other platforms and simply use the the hardware because atm it’s the best there is. But I can’t see lots of DJs preparing in the current carnation of Engine Prime if they have the option to do it somewhere else.
Mark Could you double check your facebook messenger? I tried to contact you over there.
This is the first wave. Think of it from Denon’s perspective. They want clubs to start installing these players over CDJs. Well a large percentage of DJs have their music prepped in Rekordbox. If they walked up to a booth with SC5000s, sure the player would recognize, analyze and play all of their files, but they would lose their cue points and playlist. Now, when they walk up with a Rekordbox drive, a few minutes after installing said drive, all of their music will be right where they expect it to be and they can concentrate on the player’s features instead of finding their music. Taking this step is huge. They might add the ability to export to Rekordbox in the future, but that would have to be in an Engine update.
but what is the benefit for a club owner to buy denon player ?
The club owner can now cater to both groups of DJs:
The ones who use Pioneer and the ones who use Denon.
If a larger group of DJs will start to use the SC5000s, the club owner will only need to buy/rent one set of media players: The Denons.
Huge step in the right direction for Denon DJ.
What about the second time you plug into a Denon? If you made changes to your Rekordbox library on the device, will it recognize that the libraries are out of sync and ask if you want to sync changes? That should be a really easy check and I hope they have already implemented it.