Originally Posted by
Reticuli
It's not everything, but it's an important first step.
You can now set cue and hot cues immediately. Works fine now with unanalyzed tracks. No excruciating wait.
Databases now fully Link, though sometimes not all the tracks show up in a folder across linked decks on first try. You occasionally have to try the folder a second time to get all tracks to come up. We're talking just one or two tracks, though. Pioneers sometimes say entire folders of mine are empty even on the deck the drive is connected to.
Instant doubles.
There is a little bug with momentary-mode hot cues where it stays where you release, but the devs know about this and a fix is under way. It does not affect trigger-mode hot cues.
While NTFS read-only mode is still stated on the Denon site and the manual, it's still not implemented whereas it is on the Gemini. Fat32 is still recommended, though ExFat will apparently also work. Too bad Pioneer doesn't support the latter as ExFat is apparently a little more robust and might make a worthy single drive format for DJs.
The Rekordbox conversion thing on the players from the last update seems to only read cue points and loops from KUVO-era Rekordbox, and this is still the case with v1.2. With old versions of Rekordbox, all you'll get is the playlists converted.
The Engine Prime software added Traktor database import.
Hopefully some additional settings/options will be added in the next update for the players, along with returning to the original pitch resolution and improving the sound quality.
It certainly now holds its own, in my opinion, as a possible install unit with the CDJ2000NXS2, at least if you compare both with key lock/master tempo On at negative pitches. Much below 6%, and the Denon clearly has the better sound with key lock/master tempo On. At positive pitches or with key lock/master tempo Off, the Pioneer has the superior sound, while you get two decks in one on the Denon. So on the whole, I guess for most people right now even without the Denon's sound improved it'd be a toss up in terms of value. For those who could care less about how great the Pioneers sound with master tempo off, the Denon is now probably the better value.
If we want to get anal about the finer details of manual mixing, though, comparing the Pioneer's jog bend deadzone to the Denon's asymmetric pitch bend (forward is twice as sensitive as rearward), both are about as not-quite-intuitive compared to the Hanpin and Gemini players or vinyl. I don't expect that to be a problem on the Denon for long. They've already listened quite a bit on not only the SC5000 but on the X1800 mixer. Can you believe they added the ability to change which side the cue & master are with split cue? That alone is worth the price of admission for me and the wait to add various features or fix some oversights on the Prime system.
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