Denon DJ SC2900 Thread

[Reticuli]

Rant summary from youtube:
"If you don't need to use Engine with iPad for track selection the review is accurate because the hardware is fine."
I would add to buy decks from a local shop to avoid problems with "lemons" (and yes, it's sad to see Denon have final quality check issues).

My opinion is that the idea was fine (basic CDJ-1000mk3 screens to minimize the price, expand with iPad to have big screen in colour for those who want it) but Engine wasn't near ready and when inMusic bought DenonDJ brand that has slowed down to such extent that the user base is furious (I have not seen anywhere that it has stopped mind you).

Serato boys screwed them over with MIDI-out on Serato DJ (LEDs worked with SSL but changed output on SeratoDJ is not compatible with Denon) but they still work pretty good as controllers for software (midi or hybrid midi/timecode mode).
Virtual DJ has added them as HID controllers from version 7.4 (hell, even the LED ring around the platter works)

They are priced as a CDJ-850, right? That also don't have digital out or high-end DAC (neither does the XDJ-1000). Don't you think you were expecting too much feature wise?

I cannot accept this idea that a sizable LCD screen was ever going to cause the price to go up substantially. Maybe they chose the VFD for display angle reasons. It's just so small and low resolution!

Isn't Engine also for creating a database, searching, and for loading tracks directly into the units using a laptop? I think it's more than just an iPad thing. I also read that the waveform data is pre-generated and saved on the drives you process in Engine, otherwise you get no even crude waveform. That seems strange and I don't know how accurate the comment was.

The ability to use a laptop as a record crate and dump tracks into the units for turnkey playback and reliability is very appealing... not to mention getting your head out of a laptop and back into the music. I will admit, the small screen is less of a deal breaker than Engine and customer support going downhill.

Maybe things have changed in recent months for the better? The new owners do have a long history of dropping products that just need some improvements, though.

[robdquick]

Apparently, Engine has been abandoned by InMusic. It's Torq 2 all over again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=durrEoh5uFU

I really hope Engine hasn't been abandoned..... Although it hasn't been updated for absolutely ages now, and I've posted a few threads on their forum asking if it's ever going to be updated, 1 of them got deleted and the other one was never replied to, which doesn't fill me with confidence....

[Reticuli]

I really hope Engine hasn't been abandoned..... Although it hasn't been updated for absolutely ages now, and I've posted a few threads on their forum asking if it's ever going to be updated, 1 of them got deleted and the other one was never replied to, which doesn't fill me with confidence....

What exactly is the current state of the software? Are these problems in Windows 8 or the newest version of OSX, or is it unstable and basically useless on any system? Was it ever seemingly finished and stable?

[robdquick]

What exactly is the current state of the software? Are these problems in Windows 8 or the newest version of OSX, or is it unstable and basically useless on any system? Was it ever seemingly finished and stable?

It works fine on my Win 7 rig, I use it at every gig, with Engine on my laptop connected to the SC2900's. It's just a very basic piece of software, basically all it does is allow you to create crates/playlists, search and load those tracks to the decks. You can't change the grid position of a song, which is no good when trying to use auto looping. If you add a song to the hot list and play it, it goes green in the hot list to say it's been played, but only in the hotlist and not anywhere else (the same also applies to songs in a playlist, only goes green in that playlist). No export playlist functions. Very basic, and it could be soooo much better with a bit of work!

[Reticuli]

It works fine on my Win 7 rig, I use it at every gig, with Engine on my laptop connected to the SC2900's. It's just a very basic piece of software, basically all it does is allow you to create crates/playlists, search and load those tracks to the decks. You can't change the grid position of a song, which is no good when trying to use auto looping. If you add a song to the hot list and play it, it goes green in the hot list to say it's been played, but only in the hotlist and not anywhere else (the same also applies to songs in a playlist, only goes green in that playlist). No export playlist functions. Very basic, and it could be soooo much better with a bit of work!

Ok. The gridding seems a serious problem then compared to Rekordbox. How's the reliability of the players themselves and tolerance to music files when live? Any problems with glitches, static, noise, or endless bad loops from some track it hasn't read properly? Does jogwheel seamlessly and continuously scratch forward or back from the buffer without getting stuck or needing to be switched into fast search?

[robdquick]

Ok. The gridding seems a serious problem then compared to Rekordbox. How's the reliability of the players themselves and tolerance to music files when live? Any problems with glitches, static, noise, or endless bad loops from some track it hasn't read properly? Does jogwheel seamlessly and continuously scratch forward or back from the buffer without getting stuck or needing to be switched into fast search?

Yep, there's no way to grid tracks at all. In use the players themselves are fine, no glitches etc. Jogwheels work as expected, no glitching/jumping when searching with jogwheel. Waveform is very basic, but enough to know where drops etc. are. Used to have problems with some tracks just slowing down to a halt, but that was fixed with a firmware update a while ago!

[Reticuli]

Yep, there's no way to grid tracks at all. In use the players themselves are fine, no glitches etc. Jogwheels work as expected, no glitching/jumping when searching with jogwheel. Waveform is very basic, but enough to know where drops etc. are. Used to have problems with some tracks just slowing down to a halt, but that was fixed with a firmware update a while ago!

And Engine's at least working fine for dumping tracks directly into the players live?

The 2900 and 3900 are both HID into Virtual DJ?

[robdquick]

And Engine's at least working fine for dumping tracks directly into the players live?

The 2900 and 3900 are both HID into Virtual DJ?

Yep, no problem loading and playing tracks from Engine on the players.

I think so, but don't quote me on that because I don't know for sure..... I don't use VDJ, only Traktor.