My Denon Prime 4 Journey

[Imagine]

This afternoon, my new Prime Go landed and I can't quite decide what I think of it. I have just had a bit of a play with it using Tidal while I sync Engine DJ onto an SD card, so I'm going to reserve judgement for now.

It does almost everything that the Prime 4 does, but makes it a lot more difficult to do it. My initial impressions is that Denon have tried to give the Go too much, and everything I've done so far feels like a compromise - "Yeah, I can still do that, but I have to press this, followed by that whilst standing on my left leg and tapping my head with my right index finger." I think it would be a better controller if some features were taken away.

It's a very curious controller, and I am looking forward to seeing what I can do with it.

As someone with experience of both Benny, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it because it's looking like a serious purchase for me next year

[Benny Smyth]

As someone with experience of both Benny, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it because it's looking like a serious purchase for me next year

Are you looking to use the Go as your primary, or a backup?

[Imagine]

Are you looking to use the Go as your primary, or a backup?

Probably primary playout Benny if I'm honest. If I can sell the P4 at what I want including the flightcase, then it's not that much of an investment to buy one as main, and one as backup.

As much as I LOVE the P4, it's too damned heavy for an ageing gent such as myself. They don't make the P2 anymore (which I should have got in the first place because it's very rare that I use 4 channels). And I'm very much aware of the limitations of the GO (such as no internal HDD...I use an external USB drive anyway). I'm not one to use too many of the effects etc either. It has SoundSwitch and Tidal built in just like it's bigger brother...what's not to like?

I'm already well and truly initiated into the Engine DJ playlist/synchronisation thing (unlike a certain Old Git who has many lessons still to learn on that front) so can't really see any problems in scaling down. The weight factor alone is going to be worth its weight in gold.

[Benny Smyth]

Probably primary playout Benny if I'm honest. If I can sell the P4 at what I want including the flightcase, then it's not that much of an investment to buy one as main, and one as backup.

As much as I LOVE the P4, it's too damned heavy for an ageing gent such as myself. They don't make the P2 anymore (which I should have got in the first place because it's very rare that I use 4 channels). And I'm very much aware of the limitations of the GO (such as no internal HDD...I use an external USB drive anyway). I'm not one to use too many of the effects etc either. It has SoundSwitch and Tidal built in just like it's bigger brother...what's not to like?

I'm already well and truly initiated into the Engine DJ playlist/synchronisation thing (unlike a certain Old Git who has many lessons still to learn on that front) so can't really see any problems in scaling down. The weight factor alone is going to be worth its weight in gold.

I doubt that my view on the Go is going to be of value to you, if I'm honest. Don't get me wrong, my thoughts are still coming and do with them what you will, but it seems like that we're coming at this from different angles.

I suspect that you and I use the Prime 4 in very different ways. I'm not saying that I am one for effects myself (in fact, I only use the filter and the wash effect), but having four decks is very important to me. Even though my horizons have been broadened as I've gotten older, my younger years were very House music dominant, and I still have a soft spot for it. Being able to throw in acapellas and samples on the fly is part of what I do. At the start at a lot of my weddings, I kinda set my stall out not too soon after the first dance with a bit of creativity, but still suitable for what I'm playing at that time. It's my way of saying "Yeah, it's a wedding and we will be playing music to please your Nan, but I can do some really jazzy stuff, so stick with me."

On top of that, I've always looked at the Prime Go as a backup, whereas you're looking at it as a potential primary. Every time in my DJ career that I've had a failure of my primary playout (which, thankfully, has been very few and far between), my confidence always took a huge knock. As a result, my backups have always had one purpose: help me limp across the finish line. I still do what I need to do, but the level of creativity drops because I'm suddenly not confident in the systems that I'm using. For me, the Prime Go is there to help me get to the end of the night after there has been a huge stuff up.

And for that purpose, it'll do that just fine for me. After syncing Engine DJ and banging in the SD card, I've had a fiddle with it and the word that comes up a lot for me is 'compromise'. I've only played with the controller for a short time and I still need to get my head around it, but I suspect that my overall conclusion will be the same later on as it is now: I cannot recommend this as a primary playout system, but that is purely based on how I work. Your mileage may vary.

The reason I'm at that conclusion mirrors what I said earlier, in that I think it's trying to do too much. If I may use an analogy, the Prime 4 makes me feel like that I've been playing football on a standard size pitch for the last year, but playing on the Prime Go now makes me feel like that I'm restricted to somebody's back garden. I can do it, but I have to change a lot and it's extra work to get where I want to. Creating extra work in a scenario where I'm already busy does not fill me with joy. As weird as it sounds, I kinda wish it's a bit more stripped back, and there'd be no shame on Denon's part in doing that. It's half the price of a Prime 4, and there's surely no problem with saying "Yeah, the Prime Go does less because it costs less. If you want the full shebang, buy the Prime 4." I don't think that I would be as critical of this controller if Denon didn't try to squeeze a Prime 4 into less than half of it's form factor + battery. I also don't think that I'd be as critical if I bought the Go first, then the Prime 4 one year later.

If I don't treat the Prime Go like a Prime 4 and use it to limp across the finish line, I can see the Prime Go being absolutely spot on for me. To do that, I have to ignore the fact that a lot of it's features comes from the controller at the top end of this range.

Updated thoughts coming at a later date after I've broken it in.

[Excalibur]

As someone with experience of both Benny, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it because it's looking like a serious purchase for me next year

So this seasoned GO user's thoughts count for nothing, eh?

Probably primary playout Benny if I'm honest. If I can sell the P4 at what I want including the flightcase, then it's not that much of an investment to buy one as main, and one as backup.

Serious comment- I'd dearly love to see someone using one of the compact Prime units ( not Mr Jackson's monstrous pic'n'mix gear ) as a main playout. I've grown so used to the luxury and capability of a Laptop/VDJ system that it's almost like trying to go back to a Cortex. with the GO!

I'm already well and truly initiated into the Engine DJ playlist/synchronisation thing (unlike a certain Old Git who has many lessons still to learn on that front) so can't really see any problems in scaling down. The weight factor alone is going to be worth its weight in gold.

This playlist mullarkey, and lack of track info may indeed lead to me creating some drives purely for the GO, with no duplicate or useless tracks on. Tidal cuts down the need to have all your music on a storage drive.

I doubt that my view on the Go is going to be of value to you, if I'm honest. Don't get me wrong, my thoughts are still coming and do with them what you will, but it seems like that we're coming at this from different angles.

Funnily enough Benny, a Wise Old Man told him something very similar.


On t

I've always looked at the Prime Go as a backup, whereas you're looking at it as a potential primary. For me, the Prime Go is there to help me get to the end of the night after there has been a huge stuff up.

And for that purpose, it'll do that just fine for me. After syncing Engine DJ and banging in the SD card, I've had a fiddle with it and the word that comes up a lot for me is 'compromise'. I've only played with the controller for a short time and I still need to get my head around it, but I suspect that my overall conclusion will be the same later on as it is now: I cannot recommend this as a primary playout system, but that is purely based on how I work. Your mileage may vary.


If I don't treat the Prime Go like a Prime 4 and use it to limp across the finish line, I can see the Prime Go being absolutely spot on for me. To do that, I have to ignore the fact that a lot of it's features comes from the controller at the top end of this range.

.

For that reason, I suspect you will love it, Benny. Your biggest problem may be unlearning where buttons are. Denon definitely used a curious layout to cram in as much as they could. ( and for what it's worth, the pitch fader on deck 1 should have been on the opposite side, away from the volume fader, Grrrrr! )

Good luck both of you, I'm eager to know how both of you get on.

[rth_discos]

Probably primary playout Benny if I'm honest.

If only it had some EQ on the mic, then this would be a contender.

No EQ makes it unusable for me sadly.

[Imagine]

So this seasoned GO user's thoughts count for nothing, eh?

They would, IF you had experience of BOTH units (re-read what I wrote )

Thanks Benny - certainly food for thought. I've slimmed down the P4 for the Xmas party season and it's reluctantly back in it's softshell case so it can travel in the warm cab of the van and fingers crossed not have the "I'm not going to work" attitude it's been having of late.

[djdj]

I love the P4 and the go both look good and will do the job!
Why didn't I buy them...
Well as a seasoned MC6000 user they just didn't make me say wow.
The sc5000m's and Mixer while VERY F***ing Heavy re -engaged my enjoyment of performing.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Well as a seasoned MC6000 user they just didn't make me say wow.

I was the same, I wanted a 6000 but long been since discontinued and so the second hand ones are beat up too. 8000 looked good but no stock so ended up having to get a p4. Zero regrets thougg the size and weight difference didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.

[Excalibur]

If only it had some EQ on the mic, then this would be a contender.

No EQ makes it unusable for me sadly.

I hear what you say/read what you type.

But:

It may not be as much of a hindrance as you fear. It is fairly reasonable, and it does have something I've not had for thirty plus years- Talkover! I'd recommend a play with one if you could. I foresee the Live version really taking a big market share of those who value performance above badges.

They would, IF you had experience of BOTH units (re-read what I wrote )

Thanks Benny - certainly food for thought. I've slimmed down the P4 for the Xmas party season and it's reluctantly back in it's softshell case so it can travel in the warm cab of the van and fingers crossed not have the "I'm not going to work" attitude it's been having of late.

Hey, I've twiddled the knobs on a display P4 in the showroom!! I've glanced at various other models, and I'd be interested to know how you lads cope with the layout. All have pros and cons. I'm not sure that for you lads, anything is perfect. Good luck to you both, keep us posted as to how you get on.