So… will you #changeyourrider to Denon DJ Prime?

Tens of thousands of words and pictures later, that was our take on the Denon DJ Prime range. We've wanted to throw things, but overwhelmingly welcome their addition to the DJ scene. But what does it all mean for you, me, and every DJ out there? Read my rambling opinion to bring closure to this epic week.

Aaaand we’re done. The weight lifts from our shoulders, and we can step out of Prime world.

It’s certainly been an interesting ride. We experienced the giddy schoolgirl delight at opening many boxes of fresh shiny. Our eyes lit up at the multicoloured extravaganza that was the VL12’s lightshow. We revelled in the first few plays with raw USBs and watching the SC5000 Prime’s touch screen give us a pixel perfect display of our music. We were witnessing the future in our rural northern Worxlab.

But then we got into the nitty gritty of the reviews, where we peel away increasing layers of surface PR gloss, leaving the raw unedited product in all its glory. Gone is the initial hoopla, the smell of fresh shiny, and the rush of playing with new toys. Christmas morning is over, and it’s time to get serious.

Thankfully, most of those first impressions remained, apart from when we started using the Engine Prime desktop software. That’s where it all went decidedly pear shaped, and our beaming smiles soon turned to frowns. That hasn’t changed, but as our kind of review shows, the next version is coming which should remove all our objections, and indeed turn our frowns upside down.

So... will you #changeyourrider to Denon DJ Prime?

It’s the hardware that excites the most. The VL12 Prime turntable tries to be different, but knows it can’t start too far from the established 1200 blueprint. But the execution is lacking in some key areas, and should have gone further with the aesthetics. The isolation is however outstanding, and for some is a key feature that negates the need for feedback fixing solutions. It’s just a shame it’s so expensive.

The X1800 Prime mixer is the perfect centrepiece for the Prime family, and is an equally great unit for users of other brands of players. It’s full of everything you would need as a club mixers, plus some smart features like the touch strip. It sits very well in the high end digital mixer market with the plethora of digital ins and out, and being Serato DJ (and rumoured Traktor) ready, it’s a solid plug and play option for the booth too. It’s real strength however is a hub for a selection of SC5000 Prime players.

But the SC5000 Prime is the unit that most really care about. Mixers are great, but they fail in the obvious front end gloss and revolutionary features department compared to a next level touch screen media player. And the SC5000 Prime delivers in just about every possible way.

Above all, Denon DJ has delivered a coherent family, something that was necessary to make #changeytourrider a practical possibility.

So... will you #changeyourrider to Denon DJ Prime?

Game Changer? No.

I cannot express just how much I wince when I see those words in PR or on a web page. Like swearing, it’s best to reserve it for those occasions where genuine impact is needed. Calling everything a game changer or world’s first in PR, especially for an iterative product really diminishes the powerful message. Experience shows that new product (with notable exceptions) doesn’t change anything, and being first is often a subjective call.

For me, a DJ game changer delivers a fundamental shift in the way music is played. CDJs, Final Scratch and Scratch Live, and controllers like the VCI-100 were real game changers. But as undoubtedly lovely as the SC5000 Prime is, it’s all been done before. That said, it’s never all been done in quite the same outstanding way — the sum of the existing parts makes for a next generation whole.

The gesture enabled screen delivers a very familiar mobile phone experience. The dual layer approach (first shown over a decade ago by Denon’s HS5500 player) is amazing in practice. And adding familiar controller pads to the unit makes so much sense given their ubiquity in the controller blueprint. The design is first class, the execution is exemplary, but it really is a collection of the best bits of other bits of gear.

But industry changer? Hell yes.

This is the difference as I see it. Aside from pouring over whatever box of tricks the industry cares to put in front of me, it’s this said industry that garners much of my attention, how it operates, and importantly how it attempts to make a real difference — not just to the bottom line (which is their main priority), but also to your DJ life.

Now I’m all for standards, and I get why certain units have become booth fixtures. The 1200 is in the booth because it does everything it needs to, does it so well, and delivers what’s required for the majority of users. Other turntables are available, but the extra features found on them are more niche.

The CDJ came along at the right time, and nailed the basic features of the turntable with a few extras thrown in. Free units were showered onto the clubs and key DJs, and in the absence of competition became another industry standard.

These two units, for better or worse, are true industry standards. The idea of anything coming along that might usurp them from the booth is utter folly. Until the arrival of the SC5000 Prime that is.

Denon (sans DJ) has tried for so long to bring something that might have a hope of sitting in a booth. But even with revolutionary features, they never quite managed to release the vice like grip that Pioneer (sans DJ) has had. Quantum leaps or even out-there ideas are not enough to turn the heads of people who require tracks to be played reliably for an entire set, something that Pioneer DJ gear delivered over and over again.

So... will you #changeyourrider to Denon DJ Prime?

But we find ourselves in different more evolved times, ones where the features found on controllers have moved some way past those on the industry standard media players. And it’s these features that the SC5000 Prime brings to the tabletop player paradigm. And frankly it beggars belief that Pioneer DJ hasn’t done it before now. Remember, the Prime system brings features found on controllers more so than brand new untested ones. They have been proved to be popular in the mass market, so there’s no reason why they won’t be popular in the booth either. Just for once, it seems that the trickle is up rather than down.

For the first time, Pioneer DJ’s hold on the hearts and minds of booth dwellers has been loosened. VIP DJs are happy to add their name to the growing list of endorsers — money can do that, but equally belief in the product itself can be a powerful motivator, especially if it is actually better than what was on offer before.

Importantly, I’m seeing the Prime series turn up in social media posts of less high profile DJs. Why is this important? Well it’s easy for Denon DJ to put aside a few hundred units and ship them off to VIPs in return for exposure (interesting juxtapose there for a change). But when mere mortals start posting pictures of the set that they actually bought, it becomes clear that regular people are dipping their toe in the new waters. It’s a sign of market penetration.

SUMMING UP

One thing is certain — the DJ scene is richer for the introduction of the Prime series. Not just for what it delivers, but also for the kick up the arse that it gives Pioneer DJ who can no longer deliver iterative updates and expect the heavens to rain money on them by default. If the recently launched DJS-1000 is an example of their future offerings, we’re all in for some fun times. And glimpses of SC5000 Prime challengers can be seen in this week’s DDJ-1000 controller.

So has the Prime series changed the game of playing music? No. But the industry within which it’s played definitely has. Time will tell if it’s a pretty lights fuelled distraction, a cash heavy marketing powered blip, or a sustainable trend.  My hope is for the latter, because choice is good, especially in the booth.

OVER TO YOU

If you’ve read the full five days of Prime coverage — thanks so much. But what’s your lasting feeling of Denon DJ’s takeover bid for the booth? Are you ready to #changeyourrider?

Mark Settle
Mark Settle

The old Editor of DJWORX - you can now find Mark at WORXLAB

Articles: 1228

16 Comments

  1. Early adopter here (not something I’m normally comfortable doing, but had a gut feeling the first time I saw these). I said it in one of the other posts, but I haven’t enjoyed playing this much in years, and it must be infectious because while I’ve always been firmly in the camp that nobody but other DJs care what you use, since I started bringing these out to shows I get regular customers every night just watching me do my thing. Yup, the good folks at Denon did it. They’ve converted me.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a9ccb2dd8ff5d20e0c619ef6362755fa69b3c03b72b74ae39c0d9e5daf06c823.jpg

    • When I was out DJing with my HS5500’s they attracted a lot of attention too, from the general public and from DJs. Lots of “is that a real record?” comments (motorised platters with actual 7″ singles attached) and people just interested in how they worked, where the music was coming from (internal hard drives).

      They’re retired now (unfortunately the firmware restricts the size of internal drive). I’d love for Denon to bring out an updated version.

  2. While it won’t make me change my rider (still require Technics 1200’s or equivalent), it will help change what is looked at as industry standard as a whole. We need real competition for there to be real innovation int he market.

  3. If Denon DJ want to have the industry standard media player in the DJ booth, they’ll also need to play nice with Serato, Traktor (and possibly even Rekordbox). If there’s no impediment for DJs on the software side, then they can win because on the hardware front, the SC5000s look streets ahead of Pioneer’s CDJs at the moment.

  4. I sold my first and only pair of Cdjs 4 years ago as i found no real benefit of owing them. I just alternated between turntables and controller if I’m bringing gear to a gig. If a venue is fitted with CDJs I use them.

    Despite my very horrible experience with my very first Denon Product the MCX8000 (crashed mid gig a few times, and the hostile forum responses) I still couldn’t resist and bought a pair of the SC5000.

    Mind you no Pioneer CDJ/XDJ has ever made me reconsider buying/owning CDJ/Media players .

    I didn’t buy them because I wanted to change my rider. They are primarily going to be located in my den at home. I will never bring them to gigs. I’m still suffering from the after effect of my experience with the 8000.

    I didn’t bother buying the X1800 mixer due to the reason above, I just repurposed my Rane 62 to be it’s mixer (I then realised Rane mixers don’t have autobpm detection for analogue sources unlike Pioneer mixers…that’s another story).

    It was a luxury purchase for me, same way someone who lives in a city buys a BMW M5 with no intention to ever race it on track.

    The SC5000 are great value for the things you get compared to it’s competition. Engine Prime is the weakest link right now.

  5. Tried the set-up below last year for about 6 months, before deciding to sell the Denon. I was very disappointed that the Engine software wasn’t ready. I agree with all the constructive criticism here and it’s not something I enjoyed reading having been a Denon fan for 20 years now, from the 2500F to 2500HD to HS5500 and to the MCX. Bought the Pio SX2 as a deviation a few years back, the feel of that controller was better despite being plastic, but the sound was not good, so I sold it too. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b51af6d06c951a54de533988c42b4cad21e9dca5492e9e700710c3e536f19f8.jpg

  6. I am sorry to say I have lost faith in Denon. Their software has always been abysmal, poorly supported and sluggishly updated. For now I will keep on using my ”standard” of a pair of Denon SC3900’s, analogue mixer and an fx pedal, but I will not be considering Denon for any future gear purchases. They abandon their own products way too early, and this ”programmed obsolesence” thing just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I’d perhaps stomach it if the prices were lower, but at this level, fuggetabuutit.

  7. No! I was all set to buy a trio of SC5000s and an X1800 mixer, but bad forum moderation forced me to see through the hype. The truth is, the hardware on the SC5000 (save for the capacitive platter…bad move w’ that decision) is truly next level gear and worthy of praise. However, Denon, despite being bought out by InMusic, continue to drop the ball w’ the software side of things, as well as how they interact with their current and potential customers. Given that, I have completely lost whatever smidgen of faith I held out for them. Too bad we couldn’t hack the SC5000 to run on Rekordbox (USB).

  8. As a owner of previous generations of Denon hardware that is not supported and won’t be supported under Engine Prime, I won’t be upgrading.
    They had almost a year time to bring Engine Prime up to competitors standards and they are not even able to bring it up to Engine 1.5 standards regarding features (no linking with players over ethernet, no MCX8000 export mode for creating usb sticks).

    The bluetooth and wi-fi chips in the SC5000 will suffer the same fate as the StageLinQ port on the MCX8000.

  9. Where is the InMusic Denon DJ rep. I would like to hear his feedback on these comments I am reading. Truthfully while I have never owned a product made or sold by any InMusic brand I see they’re making an effort. Is it the effort the consumers want to see to make them consider using and promoting their products so that more people will be attracted to them? From what I have seen they need to do more. The biggest hangups I see are two things.Firstly it seems that people are not satisfied with Engine Prime software even though in my opinion they have made pretty good strides in making it behave reliably while trying to incorporate more features into it in a natural way. A natural progression. The second issue I see are the old school Denon fans as well as the early adopters of the new Denon DJ under InMusic’s ownership. These people for the most part (I have not seen comments from every single one mind you) feel left out in the cold. Isn’t there something Denon DJ can do to make Engine Prime somewhat backwards compatible with the original Engine wit the basics so these people don’t feel so left out? While I know that program was created by a different Denon there has to be something possible for these people. I think something like this would make good strides in really giving this group warm and fuzzy feelings of the InMusic Denon. I hope they can do something to make something like this happen. Just my $0.02. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1743a5b6f196b89c6d7f53a06fb5b2b921febaefdd43133944a1faf56368942a.jpg

    • Totally!! Although I shouldn’t be surprised, it still amazes me that no-one from inMusic/Denon could even be bothered to step-up & defend their name. I guess they really don’t have anything to say in their own defence.

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