I have both RX3 and P4 (also the Go, which I'm using it 95% of the time actually) and I have to say that RX3 feels, moves and sound like an outdated junk toy compared to any of the Primes. Yes, Rb might have tons of mods (I actually find VDJ much more well rounded for both prep & performance), but in real life 99% of the time I use Engine desktop just to batch analyse then the editing itself (cuepoints/loops) is straight on the player/Engine OS. The most important part tho is, I can just plug in any USB I never seen/heard with almost any music file format and I'm confident I can play/edit/preview/perform confidently almost instantly on Denon's stand-alones. Add the large streaming capabilities, the amazing VDJ integration (for those that are using that - although... why would you on a stand alone), real-time stems (!), Wireless DMX for Hues and SS out of the box, the full multitouch, and all at a fraction of a Pio cost... To end this, I think that the enclosed, monopolistic and quite predatory business model of Pioneer was what really made me look elsewhere, on top of their lack of innovation. Couldn't care less about the "club standard", any smart venue owner should get a Prime4 as a basic setup and they'll be able to accommodate any DJ or event on the planet, SC6000s/M if they have some more to spend and make it fancy or accommodate scratch DJs - but yeah, they might have to look at other brands for battle mixers
I said this before. Engine DJ can only improve and get better. They will need to if they want to license their software to other DJ companies. We know since the parent company of Pioneer DJ now owns Serato the writing is on the wall for Hardware based DJ companies.
There’s certain functions that I love on my Engine OS controller that I can’t find on Pioneer’s, my favorite being song preview. I love being able to quickly click around with a touchscreen and preview a song. Pioneer fans always cope and say “you just need to know the music mannnn” but if I have a massive library, I’d like to actually get a good idea of what the song sounds like before loading it. It’s just an important part of how I mix now, and I hate that Pioneer hasn’t added anything like that. I don’t like “it is the way it is” mentality, so behind the times with technology Pioneer is.
3000s have touch preview, and the more badass, touch cue. But, you are right, Engine OS' implementation of it is so much better. I have to use a Cadinia Mini box with my 3000s to achieve those functions because I use a Xone:96, not a Pioneer mixer. On my SC6000M, I can get that functionality on the Condesa rotary mixer that it is hooked up to without the need for 3rd party gadgets.
Recently switched from a DDJ400 to Prime Go. I still use Rekordbox for analysis, hot cues and library management. Engine OS on Prime Go then imports the rekordbox data. Most of the times grid needs fixing but if you get used to it it doesn’t take more than 10 seconds. This way I’m still using the superior rekordbox software to be “club standard” ready, but still enjoy the freedom of a great affordable and portable standalone system.
@@ReallyChrisMon Mac OS there is a Handy Peace of Software that converts the Record Box Library to Denon with viés and beatgrids it is caled Denon Convention Utility
Engine is moving so fast they are probably watching this right now and already about to ship improvements for all your feedback in 2 months available as an OS update I can download over wifi directly onto the decks.
That was good, lol. And as an Engine DJ user, I totally agree. RekordBox computer software eats Engine's computer software for lunch. But, it is coming along. Painfully slow, but getting there. The star of the show is Engine's embedded software in the hardware. This is where Denon DJ and Numark (to an extent) eats Pioneer's lunch and dinner. No comparison, especially with the Media Players.
Love the Video but It's not a fair comparison. @7:51 you can see that the track selected on the Denon device has not yet been analized. Which makes it take longer to find. Also doing this with a Denon Prime 4 would have been a fair fight against the DDJ1000. Heads up.....the New Age Denon Users learn to prep tracks on the go because of the ease of use that engine brings on its gears. The desktop version of engine is mostly used for analyzing and creating playlists.
Thanks for the comment! It had been analysed ahead of time in Engine desktop, that's why the metadata was present in the list I selected from. I'm guessing what you mean is it hadn't been loaded into the standalone unit before which is why the waveform / grid took a while to load - but I didn't include track loading in the timings. Nonetheless as I mentioned the standalone experience is great overall! Thanks for watching :)
Ok the other hand you can analyze streaming playlists ON YOUR DECK on the fly with engine, and then adjust the beatgrid on it etc. which is pretty killer if you want to play a song off SoundCloud etc you haven’t prepped
I mean you should have compared a standalone version of rekordbox on a XDJ-XZ, or RX3 or even CDJs to compare to Engine OS on a standalone Denon kit ;-) I do agree with the actual library management & analysis being so much better on rekordbox, but the last comparison just doesn't make any sense. But fun video nonetheless !
@@ReallyChrisM Shame on you - you poor TH-camr 😂 Well I wish you success so you can buy yourself a Pioneer Standalone just for the sake of making a video ! And thank you for making fun DJ content to watch you TH-cam 😀🙏 All the best & keep it up !
"Rekordbox is the king of DJ software" Chris, it's been 2 seconds in and you're already rubbing Serato user's worst month in their face! Super glad I spent the time moving my library to Rekordbox... but glad to see that Engine could cause some actual competition for Pioneer/AlphaTheta in the future
@@ReallyChrisM haha, no reason to be sorry to me, I've been on RB for almost a year and don't regret it one bit (aside from the lackluster stems!). The library management is best in class. I just know some DVS DJs will hear that line and have a stroke 😂 their days may be numbered! Great video as always. Been loving using the star system as energy...
Serato will never be topped unless the new owners sabotage it. And even then, I could just stay on version 3. Engine might be great, dunno I never used it. I know Denon's hardware might be more overpriced than Pioneers, which is crazy. I'll die a Serato DVS user.
@@Bigheadedwon Denon's hardware is a good bit under the cost of Pioneer's. For example, the Prime 4 standalone 4 deck controller retails for $1900, where the nearly comparable Pioneer standalone (I forget the model number) is $2400, and won't run 4 decks without the aid of a laptop.
I've been running the engine environment for a long time now (v1.5) and I have to say that the things you highlight are pretty spot on. I'll say I have much better luck with beatgrids. Probably closer to 10% need fixing, but downbeat detection is pretty spotty. This has improved drammatically in the past two years though, so I'm hype to see it get better. The real area that Engine shines over RB is the player features and uniformity. This is probably the advantage of getting to start later then pioneer, but the fragmentation on supported audio formats and features across the pioneer gear is annoying. Showing up to the club and having half my USB not be compatible with 2/4 players because the club cheaped out and got older players for those... not a fun time. The lighting controls and other features are pretty neat too. DMX lighting straight from the players and Hue lighting controls at home makes it pretty fun, and they just recently added touchFX to the players. Overall though, yeah... if you're already invested I wouldn't say it's a good move to go denon if you can afford pioneer. That said, the rekordbox tax is real, and you'll still get a good experience with denon
Your (intentional lack of) personality makes your dry sense of humour shine through. You are the Karl Pilkington of the Dj community and I’m here for it! ❤ Awesome content and massively helpful. Gained a loyal subscriber mate, keep it up! 🤟
Love the video! I while ago, I moved from Traktor to Rekordbox for the Library management and I love it, to be honest. I usually play on standalone gear but the ability to jump to performance mode and prepare a bunch of Beatsource tracks for an open format gig is just lovely. The Denon gear is amazing but I personally value music preparation and the relative ease of finding tracks more. Also, just a note, since the CDJ2000NXS 2, all decks have had a filter function that works exactly like the one in the software....magic.
Engine is ok - but it's still not ready for prime time. Also, on Engine you can't tag, edit, or rate tracks on the units. Still requires a computer to prepare tracks.
I subbed after watching 2 videos, because DnB DJs are obviously the best. I used to DJ but stopped in 2019. I started producing again this year though, so eventually i might go back out there. Rekordbox and CDJs have always scared, and scarred, me, so your content is super useful.
@@ReallyChrisM Absolutely good, both Rekordbox and the XDJ-XR3 that I use standalone. Last week I had 3 djset on 3 CDJ2000NX and a 900 mixer just using ma SSD hard-disk and it worked good. I couldn't do that without training at home with the XR3. I followed a lot of your useful videos at the beginning of my transition from the old to the new gear. Thank you, go ahead with it 🤩
Thanks for the vid! The star system for energy level...brilliant and I feel dumb that I didn't think of it. I have a background noize (low energy show) that I am going to start doing and this solves my problem of finding all that music on the fly/and or easily setting the metadata. thanks.
I tried Engine once, shortly after the original version was released, but its bpm detection left much to be desired. I'm sure it's better now. If Engine ever does DVS, I might try it again.
@@ReallyChrisM When I tried it, I had to manually import BPMs from Traktor Pro to get the grid right. At the time Engine didn't even have a metronome function. Gridding my, not-so-big, library, was so tedious that I just gave up.
Great test and spot on. The Engine DJ desktop software is so bare bones, you almost want to do the prep on the hardware, but that is also not complete (can't edit any texts or even give a song a rating on the hardware) Rekordbox is just so much more advanced, the library management, the easy tagging and being able to prep/tryout mixes on your laptop is great if you are on the move. Engine DJ is so basic, no setting of BPM, EQ's, effects, nudging. Just cue point and saved loops. But I'm sure in a couple of years it will be a nice contender. The Tidal support is pretty useless on the hardware and can't even access it on the desktop version. I have a Denon Prime Go and it's fun, easy and pretty powerful. And it helps to read the manual :-)
If engine gets the bpm and grid wrong try right clicking and select reanalyze, it generally gets it right on the deeper analysis. Odd but seems to work.
if youre pulling in your library from another piece of software (i.e. rekordbox) engine uses the beatgrid you already have analysed as it might be that you have adjusted all bveatgrids so dont want to ruin that.... the reanalysis will do the Engine analysis on the track so will overwrite - prob why its correct
Super cool to see the comparison with RB as I’ve never used it. Recently got into Engine and was completely amazed by how much better it is compared to Serato when it comes to analyzing. Much more accurate grids and BPMs for the music I have. So I was wondering how would Engine compare against RB. Thanks for answering 😅
Crazy cus I’ve done a lot of research in this. I found serato to be the best and rekordbox to be the worst at beat grid. Engine and rekordbox are pretty comparable for beatgrid analysis i would say tho
On engine the best way to do a energy filter is just to create a new crate within a playlist. That's what I do do anyway. I just have Low - Med - High. Filtering energy through 5 stars would send my perfectionist aid side nuts😂
What’s funny is the first time I saw rekordbox in 2016 the first thing it did was crash the demonstration machine it was running on. We have had DJ software for close to 2 decades and the library management still sucks on most of them. Traktor was bad, Serato worse. When you had to use iTunes integration it was awkward. Engine will get there. Pioneer have a lot more money, invested in Rekordbox especially now with the subscription side. Plus now with Pioneer buying the biggest competitor Serato, in music may have to invest more in Engine as their main DJ software with virtual DJ being an alternative. Engine can now run from the laptop/desktop as a source, so it may become performance capable at some point. Stand-alone Engine is awesome for what it is right now. I have an SC Live 4 just for home use. Saved me replacing my aging MacBook just to run DJ software.
I'm a Denon DJ and I feel your contest was fair. Smart playlists were only recently added to Engine Desktop and they're not particularly useful. What I love on my Prime 4 is improvising - using a combination of playlists and keys, and then auditioning songs by tapping them to decide which track to play next. Choosing my songs on the fly is something I could never do with my previous setups and I just love this freedom.
The radio station I play on has a full Denon set up. I tried to work with it but Engine blows chunks for analysis/curation, doesn't even have a play count FFS. Then they got some CDJ3000s and life was right again.
Streaming "analysis" should be better for you now.... it crowd sources all beatgrids, keys and BPM for all streaming tracks.... If you change your BPM, Key or beatgrid.... it saves it to your profile forever
Your review is very fair and I agree with it... but there is one thing where RKBX sucks more than every other software... and it's DVS (not comparing it to Denon but in general) I'm hoping combining this with Serato DVS it will create the perfect software
Uh well I don’t know maybe u got a unique rekordbox software becuz so far Rekordbox has been nothing but a nightmare for me…I’m going on the third time Tryna analyze my music because my music seems off…and navigating in the software is horrible…Denon to me is more user friendly…I was DJing from out the box when I got my Denon controller…not at all with Rekordbox…smh
This comp dose not make sense because engine is strictly aimed at standalone so it shut be compared to Pioneer standalone gear. Alsow all of your Record box playlists can be converted with denon conversion Utility. if you prefers to use Rekord box. The strength of the Engine products are in Price incision of Streaming services and better functionality as standalone players then Rekordbox products.
The Engine software and Denon DJ devices are much more user friendly IMHO than Rekordbox. I prefer the way Engine manages loops instead of the obscure memory cues of Pioneer. I have and use both often; I often find myself wishing Rekordbox was more like Engine than vice versa.
In 2022 it was the most used DJ software, taking the spot from Serato In 2023 it switched back to Serato, probably because of the introduction of stems before RB (they are almost neck and neck) Of course Serato is now owned by the same people as RB, so I guess their user stats should be combined as SeratoBox in the future Third is Virtual Dj, and fourth is Traktor After that there is a long way down to 5th
@@klausmogensen8691 if what u're saying is true then RB wasn't king when this vid was made, but i get it. Even i'm a bit software biased, but only with good reason.
King in subscription because hardware was sold with Inclusiins to software. But mannif you were to do a video blow for blow. Virtual Dj will come on top...I'm seeing InMusic working with virtual DJ as pioneer now acquired Serato
I'm very surprised your grids where bad in engine. I use both for house and rekordbox is consistently worse at setting a grid for the seemingly simple genre. The only thing I like better in rokerbox is the key detection. Mixed in key usually agrees more with rekordbox but this all becomes a moot point once you check with mixed in key.
To be fair Ive since tested with house on engine and it did a bit better. But I deliberately chose d&b for this video to make it more challenging to analyse
First things first …. Rekordbox is not even close the best DVS software - maybe in the future after the purchase of Serato. They can rip all technology they are put in on rekordbox. But to say it’s the best is a joke …. Maybe popular cause there are so many new DJs everyday and they don’t know anything … mainly because misleading statements by post like this and Pioneer saying that their gear and tech is superior
I use both since i have a ddj400 and a denon prime 4. And i must say he was pretty spot on with his comparisson. Just calling him out and not stating why doesn't mean anything.
Wait, do I really need rekordbox subscription for 3000 streaming? I have professional plan but planning to cancel this month as it’s so useless for me. I use 3ks at home, so Beatport is must.
@@ReallyChrisM yes I guess if streaming comes secondary, no point paying 30 a month. Metadata loading requires you to use cloud drive (Dropbox) in 3000s, which will load similarly(dl) but with extra steps as to Beatport. Not streamlined. Does it justify unless you are using terabytes of free space? Btw love ur videos 🙌🏻
id like to know what DJS have told you enginedj is good but its shamefull i own denon prime 4 while the equipment is pretty good the software lacks MASSIVELY its needs work and lot of it.
Agree not used it recently but back when the sc5000 came out I was on engine and spent two weeks solid building my database up and the thing got corrupted and had to start over. Backup got corrupted also. They seriously need to get rid of this whole green theme as well. Everytime I use engine i worry about something messing up needs serious work, my brother has had issues with it on his prime2s as well.
I'm cursing Pioneer/Rekordbox to to the ends of the earth at the moment. Everything was working fine with the free version until the last "update" (6.7.3) when suddenly my controller stopped working. I uninstalled and re-installed 6.7.1 which had always been stable to find the same! Pioneer's customer service did everything to shift the blame back to me, "We noticed you had a Wacom graphics tablet, that could be the issue" before deciding stubbornly that it was my computer, but it worked previously? How can sudden non-compatibility be MY fault? Other DJ software is still working fine. This was on a desktop, I got a new laptop and all seemed just dandy... until I wanted to record a mix. Right there on the plans screen recording is greyed out for the free plan. In the meantime I've used Virtual DJ which I quite like, there's different skins (one in particular comes with 'color' filter that's quite interesting -dramatically altering pitch while staying in time can make interesting transitions) The recording of a mix is what I mainly want. Without that, the software is pretty pointless to me, We've all done amazing mixies when messing around that we just didn't record. Another where rekordbox loses points for me was on the recording, only massive WAV files? Others record in mp3
Something that infuriates me about the rekordbox environment is that some Cdjs won't play certain sample rates like 96000. I think most of us like me could care less about having a song with that high of an SR. But what irks me is that this glorified CD player costs like 2.5k and ur telling me it "cAnt PlAy tHat sAmplE rAtE" Bonkers.
watched this and really the 2. I absolutely can not relate to. Most of the time Rekordbox makes crazy beatgrids and engine I only need to adjust a few things. Most of the time its absolutely acurate. In Rekordbox its most 150.05 bpm and then everything is crazy going :D
Engine computer software is not good, I use serato for preparation and import into engine after. Engine on the players or controllers is fantastic, it more than makes up for how rubbish engine is on a computer
I still prefer Rekordbox but will take the Denon s5000’s or a by of the new Denon cds any day over Pioneer css’s. I've playoff on Pioneer cds since the 800’s through till now 3000’s. Bought thr Denon S5000’s during covid and they eipe thr floor withbany Pioneer cdj’s with ease of use ans now plsyimh on Pionners even thr 3000’s feel like an atari & Denons aee a fraction of thr price. Pioneer rapes oeiples wallets and they feel cheap. You csn buy a car for 2 Pionner 3000’s. Its nonsense wnd id tske the entry Denon s5000’s anyday uein Rekordbox software
If you mean by userbase, then yes. They took the position back in 2023, after RB shortly having it in 2022 They are now basically neck and neck But they are now owned by the same company, so I guess about 60% of the SW market share is now SeratoBox :)
Hello Chris. It's nice to see that you finally bought the Numark Mixtream Pro Go you mentioned in one of your previous videos. I never used Rekordbox as Pioneer is more expensive than Denon controllers. I can't compare Engine with Rekordbox. What I can say is that I never used the desktop Engine DJ app. It looks weird on my laptop. It's so zoomed that I can't find the X button to exit the app 😂 I use the standalone mode. Once that tracks are already analyzed on the device, it takes milliseconds to load. It's fast. Regarding beatgrid, it depends on the music genres. It's 90% right when it comes to house, techno, trance... It fails to read a breakbeat rhythm 40% of the time. Tempo is usually right as I set it to higher range so it doesn't read it at half breakbreat. Enjoy your new lighter controller 🎧 Great video as always 😊
Yeah I did some extra tests with house etc after and to be fair it gridded them ok, but that’s like congratulating a calculator for being able to add 2+2 😃 Nonetheless I’m having fun with it!
@@ReallyChrisM I laughed with the sentence "congratulating a calculator to be able to add 2+2". Nevertheless, the new beta version of DJUCED is a bit broken and the beatgrid of simple house/trance tracks is wrong 😅🤣
The last challenge is very unfair imo. If you would've used a Pioneer standalone like the RX models the results would have been comparable
haha yup totally
I agree. Plus EngineOS search function wasnt used and proper filters.
I love the great DJ info you provide on this channel, but it's the humor that always has me coming back. Keep it going man. This is the best.
I have both RX3 and P4 (also the Go, which I'm using it 95% of the time actually) and I have to say that RX3 feels, moves and sound like an outdated junk toy compared to any of the Primes. Yes, Rb might have tons of mods (I actually find VDJ much more well rounded for both prep & performance), but in real life 99% of the time I use Engine desktop just to batch analyse then the editing itself (cuepoints/loops) is straight on the player/Engine OS.
The most important part tho is, I can just plug in any USB I never seen/heard with almost any music file format and I'm confident I can play/edit/preview/perform confidently almost instantly on Denon's stand-alones. Add the large streaming capabilities, the amazing VDJ integration (for those that are using that - although... why would you on a stand alone), real-time stems (!), Wireless DMX for Hues and SS out of the box, the full multitouch, and all at a fraction of a Pio cost... To end this, I think that the enclosed, monopolistic and quite predatory business model of Pioneer was what really made me look elsewhere, on top of their lack of innovation. Couldn't care less about the "club standard", any smart venue owner should get a Prime4 as a basic setup and they'll be able to accommodate any DJ or event on the planet, SC6000s/M if they have some more to spend and make it fancy or accommodate scratch DJs - but yeah, they might have to look at other brands for battle mixers
I said this before. Engine DJ can only improve and get better. They will need to if they want to license their software to other DJ companies. We know since the parent company of Pioneer DJ now owns Serato the writing is on the wall for Hardware based DJ companies.
There’s certain functions that I love on my Engine OS controller that I can’t find on Pioneer’s, my favorite being song preview. I love being able to quickly click around with a touchscreen and preview a song. Pioneer fans always cope and say “you just need to know the music mannnn” but if I have a massive library, I’d like to actually get a good idea of what the song sounds like before loading it. It’s just an important part of how I mix now, and I hate that Pioneer hasn’t added anything like that. I don’t like “it is the way it is” mentality, so behind the times with technology Pioneer is.
You can actually do this with RB in performance mode but I agree it’s super convenient in engine!
Sure can one of my favorite features on Rekordbox
3000s have touch preview, and the more badass, touch cue. But, you are right, Engine OS' implementation of it is so much better. I have to use a Cadinia Mini box with my 3000s to achieve those functions because I use a Xone:96, not a Pioneer mixer. On my SC6000M, I can get that functionality on the Condesa rotary mixer that it is hooked up to without the need for 3rd party gadgets.
agreed love the preview feature. I use it 90% of the time before loading the next track
Recently switched from a DDJ400 to Prime Go. I still use Rekordbox for analysis, hot cues and library management. Engine OS on Prime Go then imports the rekordbox data. Most of the times grid needs fixing but if you get used to it it doesn’t take more than 10 seconds. This way I’m still using the superior rekordbox software to be “club standard” ready, but still enjoy the freedom of a great affordable and portable standalone system.
Great solution tbh, i also noticed the grids were wonky when importing but avoiding engine desktop is worth it for now i think
virtual dj is the best.
@@ReallyChrisMon Mac OS there is a Handy Peace of Software that converts the Record Box Library to Denon with viés and beatgrids it is caled Denon Convention Utility
Engine is moving so fast they are probably watching this right now and already about to ship improvements for all your feedback in 2 months available as an OS update I can download over wifi directly onto the decks.
Their development cycle is definitely fast compared to pioneer
That was good, lol. And as an Engine DJ user, I totally agree. RekordBox computer software eats Engine's computer software for lunch. But, it is coming along. Painfully slow, but getting there.
The star of the show is Engine's embedded software in the hardware. This is where Denon DJ and Numark (to an extent) eats Pioneer's lunch and dinner. No comparison, especially with the Media Players.
This
Love the Video but It's not a fair comparison. @7:51 you can see that the track selected on the Denon device has not yet been analized. Which makes it take longer to find. Also doing this with a Denon Prime 4 would have been a fair fight against the DDJ1000. Heads up.....the New Age Denon Users learn to prep tracks on the go because of the ease of use that engine brings on its gears. The desktop version of engine is mostly used for analyzing and creating playlists.
Thanks for the comment! It had been analysed ahead of time in Engine desktop, that's why the metadata was present in the list I selected from.
I'm guessing what you mean is it hadn't been loaded into the standalone unit before which is why the waveform / grid took a while to load - but I didn't include track loading in the timings.
Nonetheless as I mentioned the standalone experience is great overall! Thanks for watching :)
Ok the other hand you can analyze streaming playlists ON YOUR DECK on the fly with engine, and then adjust the beatgrid on it etc. which is pretty killer if you want to play a song off SoundCloud etc you haven’t prepped
Yes this is a big bonus!
Well, now Engine Dj got Match functionality. Take that!
Can’t believe this content is free. By FAR the best DJ content/tutorials on TH-cam. Thank you Chris :) ❤️
Totally agree. You compare it to 99% of the over the top Dj tutorials, it’s a huge breath of fresh air! ❤
I mean you should have compared a standalone version of rekordbox on a XDJ-XZ, or RX3 or even CDJs to compare to Engine OS on a standalone Denon kit ;-)
I do agree with the actual library management & analysis being so much better on rekordbox, but the last comparison just doesn't make any sense. But fun video nonetheless !
Ran out of cash for a CDJ after the Numark 😂 But yes, this would be a good future vid!
@@ReallyChrisM Shame on you - you poor TH-camr 😂
Well I wish you success so you can buy yourself a Pioneer Standalone just for the sake of making a video ! And thank you for making fun DJ content to watch you TH-cam 😀🙏
All the best & keep it up !
"Rekordbox is the king of DJ software"
Chris, it's been 2 seconds in and you're already rubbing Serato user's worst month in their face!
Super glad I spent the time moving my library to Rekordbox... but glad to see that Engine could cause some actual competition for Pioneer/AlphaTheta in the future
Sorry 😢 But yes, Engine is slowly catching up I think..
@@ReallyChrisM haha, no reason to be sorry to me, I've been on RB for almost a year and don't regret it one bit (aside from the lackluster stems!). The library management is best in class. I just know some DVS DJs will hear that line and have a stroke 😂 their days may be numbered! Great video as always. Been loving using the star system as energy...
Serato will never be topped unless the new owners sabotage it. And even then, I could just stay on version 3. Engine might be great, dunno I never used it. I know Denon's hardware might be more overpriced than Pioneers, which is crazy.
I'll die a Serato DVS user.
@@Bigheadedwon Denon's hardware is a good bit under the cost of Pioneer's. For example, the Prime 4 standalone 4 deck controller retails for $1900, where the nearly comparable Pioneer standalone (I forget the model number) is $2400, and won't run 4 decks without the aid of a laptop.
@@skektekrzx
Smart Playlists have just improved drastically eith their recent 3.3 update
I've been running the engine environment for a long time now (v1.5) and I have to say that the things you highlight are pretty spot on.
I'll say I have much better luck with beatgrids. Probably closer to 10% need fixing, but downbeat detection is pretty spotty. This has improved drammatically in the past two years though, so I'm hype to see it get better.
The real area that Engine shines over RB is the player features and uniformity. This is probably the advantage of getting to start later then pioneer, but the fragmentation on supported audio formats and features across the pioneer gear is annoying. Showing up to the club and having half my USB not be compatible with 2/4 players because the club cheaped out and got older players for those... not a fun time.
The lighting controls and other features are pretty neat too. DMX lighting straight from the players and Hue lighting controls at home makes it pretty fun, and they just recently added touchFX to the players.
Overall though, yeah... if you're already invested I wouldn't say it's a good move to go denon if you can afford pioneer. That said, the rekordbox tax is real, and you'll still get a good experience with denon
So much easier to fix the grid on the Engine hardware than the software
I’m in agreement here
Your (intentional lack of) personality makes your dry sense of humour shine through. You are the Karl Pilkington of the Dj community and I’m here for it! ❤ Awesome content and massively helpful. Gained a loyal subscriber mate, keep it up! 🤟
Love the video!
I while ago, I moved from Traktor to Rekordbox for the Library management and I love it, to be honest. I usually play on standalone gear but the ability to jump to performance mode and prepare a bunch of Beatsource tracks for an open format gig is just lovely. The Denon gear is amazing but I personally value music preparation and the relative ease of finding tracks more.
Also, just a note, since the CDJ2000NXS 2, all decks have had a filter function that works exactly like the one in the software....magic.
Great video! Engine is on the up
@@PeteSherriff agreed. I’m excited to see what they will bring out next.
I love that the game OUTRUN is playing in the background
Is there this tag techniques /find track in serato lite? Or other software?
This is my new favorite channel. Thanks for the valuable information. I’m an Engine DJ user 😭
This is like comparing a baby & a teenager. Yeah the older one is going to win, it's got like 10 yrs more development time over the other.
Great video as per usual. Also brownie points for the Outrun running on the little screen, so cuuute.. Is it just a decoration?
It’s just a little led panel that plays gifs- outrun had some bangers though
really cool! And yes it did have some good tunes! Regards from Manchester
Engine is ok - but it's still not ready for prime time. Also, on Engine you can't tag, edit, or rate tracks on the units. Still requires a computer to prepare tracks.
You can't tag period. Unless am missing something.
Love the Outrun screen going in the background!
8:17 the Spock reference 😆
The legend himself! Thank god someone caught it 😂
I subbed after watching 2 videos, because DnB DJs are obviously the best. I used to DJ but stopped in 2019. I started producing again this year though, so eventually i might go back out there. Rekordbox and CDJs have always scared, and scarred, me, so your content is super useful.
So funny. I really like the way you create your videos. A recent Rekordbox fan (as I migrate from a Traktor consolle to a Pioneer XR3)
How are you finding it so far?
@@ReallyChrisM Absolutely good, both Rekordbox and the XDJ-XR3 that I use standalone. Last week I had 3 djset on 3 CDJ2000NX and a 900 mixer just using ma SSD hard-disk and it worked good. I couldn't do that without training at home with the XR3. I followed a lot of your useful videos at the beginning of my transition from the old to the new gear. Thank you, go ahead with it 🤩
Thanks for the vid! The star system for energy level...brilliant and I feel dumb that I didn't think of it. I have a background noize (low energy show) that I am going to start doing and this solves my problem of finding all that music on the fly/and or easily setting the metadata. thanks.
I tried Engine once, shortly after the original version was released, but its bpm detection left much to be desired. I'm sure it's better now. If Engine ever does DVS, I might try it again.
Judging by my tests here.. it’s not 😃 at least not in anything without a typical 4/4 beat
@@ReallyChrisM When I tried it, I had to manually import BPMs from Traktor Pro to get the grid right. At the time Engine didn't even have a metronome function. Gridding my, not-so-big, library, was so tedious that I just gave up.
i use both platform weekly and i have different results than yours if you are interested i will link a video@@ReallyChrisM
2:59 aaand, no KEY analysis?
Great test and spot on. The Engine DJ desktop software is so bare bones, you almost want to do the prep on the hardware, but that is also not complete (can't edit any texts or even give a song a rating on the hardware)
Rekordbox is just so much more advanced, the library management, the easy tagging and being able to prep/tryout mixes on your laptop is great if you are on the move. Engine DJ is so basic, no setting of BPM, EQ's, effects, nudging. Just cue point and saved loops. But I'm sure in a couple of years it will be a nice contender.
The Tidal support is pretty useless on the hardware and can't even access it on the desktop version.
I have a Denon Prime Go and it's fun, easy and pretty powerful. And it helps to read the manual :-)
If engine gets the bpm and grid wrong try right clicking and select reanalyze, it generally gets it right on the deeper analysis. Odd but seems to work.
I’ll give that a try 🔥
if youre pulling in your library from another piece of software (i.e. rekordbox) engine uses the beatgrid you already have analysed as it might be that you have adjusted all bveatgrids so dont want to ruin that.... the reanalysis will do the Engine analysis on the track so will overwrite - prob why its correct
Dang, I was looking forward to that Tech House set 😂
Very nice review but it unfair not mention that Rekordbox is 5 years older, and has, thus, benefitted from iterative improvements
Super cool to see the comparison with RB as I’ve never used it.
Recently got into Engine and was completely amazed by how much better it is compared to Serato when it comes to analyzing. Much more accurate grids and BPMs for the music I have.
So I was wondering how would Engine compare against RB. Thanks for answering 😅
Crazy cus I’ve done a lot of research in this. I found serato to be the best and rekordbox to be the worst at beat grid. Engine and rekordbox are pretty comparable for beatgrid analysis i would say tho
love this!
On engine the best way to do a energy filter is just to create a new crate within a playlist. That's what I do do anyway. I just have Low - Med - High. Filtering energy through 5 stars would send my perfectionist aid side nuts😂
What’s funny is the first time I saw rekordbox in 2016 the first thing it did was crash the demonstration machine it was running on.
We have had DJ software for close to 2 decades and the library management still sucks on most of them. Traktor was bad, Serato worse. When you had to use iTunes integration it was awkward.
Engine will get there. Pioneer have a lot more money, invested in Rekordbox especially now with the subscription side.
Plus now with Pioneer buying the biggest competitor Serato, in music may have to invest more in Engine as their main DJ software with virtual DJ being an alternative.
Engine can now run from the laptop/desktop as a source, so it may become performance capable at some point.
Stand-alone Engine is awesome for what it is right now. I have an SC Live 4 just for home use. Saved me replacing my aging MacBook just to run DJ software.
This video is entertaining while being informative
Engine will get better give it a year and most of what is missing will be added
and what about serato and virtual dj?///
AlphaThea who's the parent company of Pioneer DJ owns Serato now.
Virtual DJ is light-years ahead. The only reason you don't hear much about is they are not plastered on every controller on the market
You can now use serato with Engine DJ.
I'm a Denon DJ and I feel your contest was fair. Smart playlists were only recently added to Engine Desktop and they're not particularly useful. What I love on my Prime 4 is improvising - using a combination of playlists and keys, and then auditioning songs by tapping them to decide which track to play next. Choosing my songs on the fly is something I could never do with my previous setups and I just love this freedom.
For a freestyle mix Engine is great 👍🏼
The radio station I play on has a full Denon set up. I tried to work with it but Engine blows chunks for analysis/curation, doesn't even have a play count FFS.
Then they got some CDJ3000s and life was right again.
Hey @chris can I ask what you use to edit and make your videos ? They always look amazing and so do your thumbnails !
Thanks! I use Davinci Resolve
I realy like your humor 😂
Brooo still have my pair of Denon DN-S1000
Do they still work??
@@ReallyChrisM the other deck won't load the CD. Still can be fixed but haven't touched it since I got my DDJ-SX
Streaming "analysis" should be better for you now.... it crowd sources all beatgrids, keys and BPM for all streaming tracks....
If you change your BPM, Key or beatgrid.... it saves it to your profile forever
Your review is very fair and I agree with it... but there is one thing where RKBX sucks more than every other software... and it's DVS (not comparing it to Denon but in general) I'm hoping combining this with Serato DVS it will create the perfect software
Uh well I don’t know maybe u got a unique rekordbox software becuz so far Rekordbox has been nothing but a nightmare for me…I’m going on the third time Tryna analyze my music because my music seems off…and navigating in the software is horrible…Denon to me is more user friendly…I was DJing from out the box when I got my Denon controller…not at all with Rekordbox…smh
The last test was kind of unfair. You should’ve done it on a Cdj or xdj controller
i think youre just enjoying the mixtrack pro. that thing is fun as hell
funny tho...... the DN-1000 was before inmusic bought the company so new denon dj gear is a completely different company
This comp dose not make sense because engine is strictly aimed at standalone so it shut be compared to Pioneer standalone gear. Alsow all of your Record box playlists can be converted with denon conversion Utility. if you prefers to use Rekord box.
The strength of the Engine products are in Price incision of Streaming services and better functionality as standalone players then Rekordbox products.
The Engine software and Denon DJ devices are much more user friendly IMHO than Rekordbox. I prefer the way Engine manages loops instead of the obscure memory cues of Pioneer. I have and use both often; I often find myself wishing Rekordbox was more like Engine than vice versa.
That was ace! 😂
When did rekordbox become king of dj software?
In 2022 it was the most used DJ software, taking the spot from Serato
In 2023 it switched back to Serato, probably because of the introduction of stems before RB (they are almost neck and neck)
Of course Serato is now owned by the same people as RB, so I guess their user stats should be combined as SeratoBox in the future
Third is Virtual Dj, and fourth is Traktor
After that there is a long way down to 5th
@@klausmogensen8691 if what u're saying is true then RB wasn't king when this vid was made, but i get it. Even i'm a bit software biased, but only with good reason.
King in subscription because hardware was sold with Inclusiins to software. But mannif you were to do a video blow for blow. Virtual Dj will come on top...I'm seeing InMusic working with virtual DJ as pioneer now acquired Serato
I'm very surprised your grids where bad in engine. I use both for house and rekordbox is consistently worse at setting a grid for the seemingly simple genre. The only thing I like better in rokerbox is the key detection. Mixed in key usually agrees more with rekordbox but this all becomes a moot point once you check with mixed in key.
To be fair Ive since tested with house on engine and it did a bit better. But I deliberately chose d&b for this video to make it more challenging to analyse
First things first …. Rekordbox is not even close the best DVS software - maybe in the future after the purchase of Serato. They can rip all technology they are put in on rekordbox. But to say it’s the best is a joke …. Maybe popular cause there are so many new DJs everyday and they don’t know anything … mainly because misleading statements by post like this and Pioneer saying that their gear and tech is superior
I use both since i have a ddj400 and a denon prime 4. And i must say he was pretty spot on with his comparisson. Just calling him out and not stating why doesn't mean anything.
Wait, do I really need rekordbox subscription for 3000 streaming? I have professional plan but planning to cancel this month as it’s so useless for me.
I use 3ks at home, so Beatport is must.
You can use it but can only sync your meta data using Cloudsync which is a sub. I believe it can store the metadata locally on a USB however
@@ReallyChrisM yes I guess if streaming comes secondary, no point paying 30 a month.
Metadata loading requires you to use cloud drive (Dropbox) in 3000s, which will load similarly(dl) but with extra steps as to Beatport. Not streamlined.
Does it justify unless you are using terabytes of free space?
Btw love ur videos 🙌🏻
So you made this video to write off the numark?
That's not what I gathered from this video at all lmao
@@ImTotallyTechy Yeah it was really just something funny i thought of when i was watching the video
Do virtual dj vs rekordbox
Pioneer is PC / Denon is Mac
It wants to destroy something. Then get those ones who made CD demon
id like to know what DJS have told you enginedj is good but its shamefull i own denon prime 4 while the equipment is pretty good the software lacks MASSIVELY its needs work and lot of it.
Agree not used it recently but back when the sc5000 came out I was on engine and spent two weeks solid building my database up and the thing got corrupted and had to start over. Backup got corrupted also. They seriously need to get rid of this whole green theme as well. Everytime I use engine i worry about something messing up needs serious work, my brother has had issues with it on his prime2s as well.
I'm cursing Pioneer/Rekordbox to to the ends of the earth at the moment. Everything was working fine with the free version until the last "update" (6.7.3) when suddenly my controller stopped working. I uninstalled and re-installed 6.7.1 which had always been stable to find the same! Pioneer's customer service did everything to shift the blame back to me, "We noticed you had a Wacom graphics tablet, that could be the issue" before deciding stubbornly that it was my computer, but it worked previously? How can sudden non-compatibility be MY fault? Other DJ software is still working fine. This was on a desktop, I got a new laptop and all seemed just dandy... until I wanted to record a mix. Right there on the plans screen recording is greyed out for the free plan. In the meantime I've used Virtual DJ which I quite like, there's different skins (one in particular comes with 'color' filter that's quite interesting -dramatically altering pitch while staying in time can make interesting transitions) The recording of a mix is what I mainly want. Without that, the software is pretty pointless to me, We've all done amazing mixies when messing around that we just didn't record.
Another where rekordbox loses points for me was on the recording, only massive WAV files? Others record in mp3
I loved my DN-s ´s 😂😂
Someone had to 🙃
Something that infuriates me about the rekordbox environment is that some Cdjs won't play certain sample rates like 96000. I think most of us like me could care less about having a song with that high of an SR. But what irks me is that this glorified CD player costs like 2.5k and ur telling me it "cAnt PlAy tHat sAmplE rAtE" Bonkers.
watched this and really the 2. I absolutely can not relate to. Most of the time Rekordbox makes crazy beatgrids and engine I only need to adjust a few things. Most of the time its absolutely acurate. In Rekordbox its most 150.05 bpm and then everything is crazy going :D
Interesting! What genres do you play?
@@ReallyChrisM rawstyle, hardcore, Hard techno, schranz. So fast distorded and some have many percussions
dont use streaming services .Do not rent your music
Djay Pro AI beats Serato and Record Box. 😊
u the best
Engine computer software is not good, I use serato for preparation and import into engine after. Engine on the players or controllers is fantastic, it more than makes up for how rubbish engine is on a computer
Why did you buy a product before checking it out. Duh! Wobbly pads and knobs should have been noticed BEFOREHAND.
I still prefer Rekordbox but will take the Denon s5000’s or a by of the new Denon cds any day over Pioneer css’s. I've playoff on Pioneer cds since the 800’s through till now 3000’s. Bought thr Denon S5000’s during covid and they eipe thr floor withbany Pioneer cdj’s with ease of use ans now plsyimh on Pionners even thr 3000’s feel like an atari & Denons aee a fraction of thr price. Pioneer rapes oeiples wallets and they feel cheap. You csn buy a car for 2 Pionner 3000’s. Its nonsense wnd id tske the entry Denon s5000’s anyday uein Rekordbox software
Jajajaja nice
Rekordbox is not KING. SERATO is. You pioneer loyalist kill me 😂😂😂😂😂.
If you mean by userbase, then yes. They took the position back in 2023, after RB shortly having it in 2022
They are now basically neck and neck
But they are now owned by the same company, so I guess about 60% of the SW market share is now SeratoBox :)
Serato sucks. Haven't used Serato 2byears anow after using Virtual Dj. Track analysis is Supreme to all
engine dj is beetter for me sorry .
Hello Chris. It's nice to see that you finally bought the Numark Mixtream Pro Go you mentioned in one of your previous videos.
I never used Rekordbox as Pioneer is more expensive than Denon controllers. I can't compare Engine with Rekordbox. What I can say is that I never used the desktop Engine DJ app. It looks weird on my laptop. It's so zoomed that I can't find the X button to exit the app 😂 I use the standalone mode. Once that tracks are already analyzed on the device, it takes milliseconds to load. It's fast. Regarding beatgrid, it depends on the music genres. It's 90% right when it comes to house, techno, trance... It fails to read a breakbeat rhythm 40% of the time. Tempo is usually right as I set it to higher range so it doesn't read it at half breakbreat.
Enjoy your new lighter controller 🎧
Great video as always 😊
Yeah I did some extra tests with house etc after and to be fair it gridded them ok, but that’s like congratulating a calculator for being able to add 2+2 😃 Nonetheless I’m having fun with it!
@@ReallyChrisM I laughed with the sentence "congratulating a calculator to be able to add 2+2". Nevertheless, the new beta version of DJUCED is a bit broken and the beatgrid of simple house/trance tracks is wrong 😅🤣
king is a Traktor
dead is a traktor
Rekordbox sux Serato rox
Rekordbox isnt even as good as traktor.