I started DJing in1987 with my first Technics SL1210s. I’m now looking on KZfaq researching equipment for my son, I’ve been out of the game since 1992, and my god, how things have moved on. No limits, really excellent video review.

It’s actually really sad how Denon DESTROYS Pioneer gear in every single way, but people still choose outdated, overpriced gear like the XDJ RX2 simply because Pioneer is “club standard”. CMON people we have to break this monopoly position of Pioneer so that they are forced to innovate and lower their ridiculous prices. Well done Denon, I’m leaving Pioneer behind and gonna buy the Prime 4 tomorrow. R.I.P. Pioneer

Hands down...the BEST review of the Prime 4!!!! Well done sir

What an excellent review probably the only one I’ve ever completely watched start to finish. Topped only by a wicked track selection, hats off to you sir!

Denon take my money! This is absolutely incredible...

Hey Phil! You've probably seen my comments here'n' there by now, and by heart I'm a digital Hardware DJ. Being a full time Dj at 50, 35 years in the mirror, seen and used pretty much every common player that's ever entered a DJ booth. More important, I've used and owned at least one model of every generation from Pioneer since 1994 till now, and probably will until the very end. BUT, very big BUT, this week I finally decided to let one of my younger DJ fellows buy my two CDJ-2000 Nexus, switching those for the Prime 4. Since I got the NXS2 setup, the Nexus's have been my gear to bring when needed. Still working perfect after 6 years of use, but as they are modular, when a mixer is coming along, three heavy cases to carry is not fun when there's a bit of a walk to the venue from where I can park my car. I've been looking at the Pioneer all-in-one units, but nah, after playing on them they just don't feel right for me, nor does the price. But, the Prime 4 has everything I will ever need, and I don't even think it's gonna be too nerdy. Stuff like the pads will not be my thing, or maybe a couple of hot cues at most. The loop knob will do. My head can't remember what a blank pad does in heat of a gig. I need numbers written on them so I know what will happen. I prefer the search instead of beat jump, and that can be the preferred setting if i want to in the settings. The option to have a built in SSD is great, and to be able to update the music directly from my computer is just cream on top of everything else. I'm using folders on my computer which I just import as playlists. All changes and updates are done in my folders, which I then just re-import to rekordbox. This also means that everything I need to do is to import the same folders to Engine Prime and the job is done. I've tested my SSD's with 14 000 RB analyzed tracks on the SC5000 and it works, but not as good as when the music is analyzed properly in Engine Prime. Very little extra work on a proper workstation. Drag'n'drop and play a game... Using SSD's makes exporting even a big library of music a question of minutes. The one really bad thing, in my opinion, is the vertical wave forms. I just can't get my head around it, but for a while, the locked smaller wave forms will do and I'll just cover that part of the screen where things move in the wrong direction. Denon NEED to adress that quickly. One little thing that I'd really like, is if they added the choice to use RGB wave forms. I've kinda gotten used to that. The one thing that they did change to make me not think twice, is the fact that they skipped the mirrored layout which they use on all previous controllers, including the mcx8000. Many of us old dogs just can't adapt to too many changes that is not just optional. Now, I'm off to play on a 11 day cruise, and soon I hope there's a package waiting for me. Maybe I'll write something from a genuin Pioneer gear heads point of view after a few weeks with the Prime 4.

prime has everything i love from traktor. beat jumping the loop rotary.. everything is there i love the whole denon system

Phil Morse, you are the best Dj reviewer EVER, thank you for this indepth review, I have mine coming in on Monday

Extremely well done overview. One of the best I've ever seen. Thank you! When and if I decide to get a DJ unit, it will be this one.

That controller looks amazing, mmmm Denon

Phil i happened upon this amazing equipment by accident. Thank you alot for the tutorial. I was basically doing a trial by error thing then my friend sent me your link. One word bro, awesome. Love ya in Chicago!!!

Pioneer better take note because Denon is truly innovating and listening to DJ needs. I will definitely be picking one up once the Serato version is released.

I had a chance to play with the unit last week. It is simply amazing. Only gripe is instant doubles were laggy and jog wheels not having tension adjust was a mistake.

Wish it had bar counter like on nxs2. It is so good feature for live shows if you have to play tracks that you dont remember well.

Got me so pumped after no gigs.for such a long time. Excellent review.

Thank you. I just purchased this on new years eve and i been looking at reviews and tutorials and you are the only one that has covered everything and then some

Thanks Sr! Powerful and complete review of this amazing product!!! Thanks to the video I just took the decision of buying it!

at least and standalone controller. Actually there was one before: a super oem machine , the amreican audio versadeck. Nowadays the only company who still made this amazing machine is SYNQ

Quick tip for analyzing on Denon Prime 4. Most of us only use decks 1 and 2 for mixing, leaving decks 3 and 4 for other purposes and housekeeping (Analyzing). Use decks 3 and 4 to pre-load songs that haven't been analyzed. It seems because of the powerful CPU in the Prime 4, it can analyze songs simultaneously. This lets you analyze a crate full of songs by pre-loading them while your main songs are playing, edit beat grids, and other chores. Now they just need a BPM tap to correct songs that have been analyzed by Denon Engine prime incorrectly.

The only drawback of this unit is that you can't use more than one effect at the same time. that said, this is the best piece of DJ equipment made in recent times. Thumbs up to Denon and of course to you, Phil for this comprehensive review.

damn pioneer needs to step up their game x1000 rn denon is killing it

I’m still waiting for any of the makers of high level controllers to go back to mirrored decks. I like my pitch sliders on the outside edge of their respective sides. This remains to be the reason I’m sticking with a mid-level controller. I have yet to find a high-level controller that have mirrored decks with long pitch sliders.

I've been rocking a Numark Mixtrack 3 since I first started DJing two years ago. I've thought about getting a new controller for the past month or so, but then I saw this system, and started thinking about standalone systems. The Pioneer XDJ - RX2 looked nice, but this one is just so much better. I'm definitely want to get this for my hardware upgrade.

Wow Phil that was a massive review well done I notice that you didn't even really touch on the sound switch and stage linq Denon is about to be a real force to reckon with if people can get past there brand loyalty

Only one con. The top of the screen should be flushed in with the rest of the unit. Otherwise this is a forever unit. A unit that doesn’t need replacing for years to come.

I hope this gets WiFi for getting tracks on the fly. As a working DJ we get requests or we may want to get a song that we may not have. That is extremely useful!!

Thank’s a lot for this review, i was in long way to choose from pioneer rx2 or denon dj prime 4, and now i can say this piece of hardware is amazing, and you helped me to decide, just ordered prime 4 and can’t wait to get my hands on it, thank’u

i watched this review after almost 3 years,I think this is still the best.if not change my mind

A really good solid review guys well done! I think it's going to be a nightmare for all the technophobes out there, but still a pretty decent piece of hardware. Let's hope the Investment from Denon will improve the software significantly enough to compete in the market

Is the fxs quantize ?

Fantastic review. U covered alot and ill prob watch it again. That said, i just bought a prime 4. Went back and forth between prime 4 , Rx2 and XZ.

I have watched just about every big and little review on this unit. I have bought one on pre-order and I know with the hands on hardware control for EQ, looping and beat pads and global loop fx and 100% pitch adjust with perfect key lock sound and instant key matching and adjusting. Top FX banks as well as global FX and and the 4 decks all hands on in a fully featured controller with no breakable, crashable "lost your settings" laptop in the way. Just hands on control for everything. So I can get very creative with this! Laidback Luke has great demo of it showing his real DJ techniques on this. Using all the features. A club or DJ can easily be sending out a music signal to a more chilled back room for hanging out. Or even a pumping pre recorded mix. So its definitely a plus for.a promoter that you can DJ for two rooms at the same time. Same for a festival all night or day with a chill place to relax and chat or alternative dancey vibes. I have bought the XL urbanite fabric case by UDG which fits. Its lightweight but still well padded and supportive. Can get a flight case later too maybe. But this one is very good and portable. Also reccomend a keyboard X stand so you can set up anywhere. Also in a club just stick it on top of the pioneers Maybe with some eva foam (like a yoga mat) in between. The Denon conversion utility is great for sorting out tracks on it. So can use whichever software you prefer to use to organise playlists first. I like to use the colour coding cue points in the future for say yellow for vox red for drops. Green for intro, blue for outro etc. I love being able to make playlists on the fly with a quick swipe left to load tracks in the prepare folder or drag and drop multiple tracks for the set ahead into a new playlist. Also love the idea of a completely key matched set using any track! And open format Deejayimg too is awesome on this. And so you can mix with any pitch, up or down on the build ups, dropping into any genre and tempo. Or whatever using fx sync lock on the 100 per cent pitch adjust with the new track matched to whatever speed! Laptops can be so tricky. This is all hands on. And solid to really learn. There will be lots of firmware updates to add multi drive capability for choosing tracks from USB at the same time. But with the built in 1TB ssd that will be easy for.now with 1 drive. They have a 5 year plan for firmware updates. Like it being a Serato controller and horizontal waveforms I prefer vertical cos in line with the channel strip. Or crossfading on the zone out or even auto mix and sync and phrase match and key even? So the hardware is solid and the in built software and extra 3rd party help with denon conversion utility and your own preferred DJ software. I use iTunes for playlists and sorting new tracks first. So you can be as creative an artist as you want even with singers on top and control the M.C Yourself or getting a drum miced up or whatever you fancy. Plus midi can come too with a future firmware update as it's got it's own CPU for the the Prime system OS. Or how about easily fit a USB wifi dongle for streaming spotify. And even change the screen display for video mixing At the end of the day I want to be as creative and in the flow as possible. I like to play 2 tracks with some extra layer tracks on top and maybe a sample track cued to go. And previewing on a spare channel too. And play any genre whenever and mix it up mix it up with 10 trax in 5 minutes! Right now with deCu it is good to go! Now get amazing skills and just mix and enjoy the learning curve. See what you can do with this all in one!

Request: could we test mic sound quality with the preference settings?

Hopefully they can make one with motorized platter.

Hats off to you Denon! This unit is killer. So many great features and easily the best mobile dj unit available. I've always used Pioneer but this makes me want to make the switch!

You put a lot of work into this. Hugely appreciated, have now subbed, keep up the great work!

Being in the business for as long as I have been, software releases and intent to “better the software” is exactly what it is until it’s released......vaporware

it's not the end of laptop djing, because this standalone unit is $1700 aahha

This controller has all the amazing features. It's only missing a few features 1 is the Tap function 2 is the access to a streaming service. I still use the Numark NS7 III with Serato DJ Pro. I've got really use to DJing with the streaming service Tidal and Sound Cloud. It's so convenient to have any song on the fly. If Denon add this main feature I would definitely jump on board

1. Does it connect to WiFi so can stream like you do with Virtual DJ 8 ? 2. Does the search facility pick up any song from your library as long as it is there ? 3. Does the software save your analysed songs and recognises it next time you load up ?

Had to rinse my eyes after seeing Pioneer's overpriced abomination

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!

good to hear that Denon is investing on more software and firmware team

I would really like to see how faders can/can not be replaced. Not just the Xf Typical inmusic fashion has been to rely on (poor) solder joints of the fader for mounting. I.e. the NS7. I REALLY hope they had a higher standard with the Denon line! If it is easy to replace faders....sold!

Hey Phil great review. This review was done April 2019...has Denon updated at all as we start approaching 2022 with some of those pieces you were speaking of? I currently run the 1850X Prime as a DVS deck...i was thinking of trading it in for the controller and finally saying goodbye to vinyl. Use serato currently. Have they made many of the advances? I know you can do DVS with this thing by the looks of it...I think.

What a great review!! I didn’t think I would watch the whole thing, but coming from the DDJ SX controller, I feel this mimics that controller and makes things so much the same. The transition from the DDJ SX to this would be so easy! I will be looking into this all in one stand alone at my local music shop soon!! Thanks again for the in depth review and walk through of this great product!!

Excellent review. 18 months later and with the teething issues seemingly addressed, I've just bought one to replace CDJs and Allen & Heath mixer.... Looking forward to getting used to the new changes!

This is spectacular! Thank you for this in depth and thorough review Phil!

Awesome video! Thank you Phill. Hard to choose between this one and the Pioneer DDJ-RXZ, but I think I'm convinced now

Brilliant to see the judge on KZfaq 😉 brilliant review

Very great review. I would like to see its performance when it's stressed somewhat more: multiple decks playing (>2), some fx on top of it, ...

Best darm reviewer of DJ Gear,straight to the point no BS

Big Up Phil, Digital Dj Tips and Denon Dj, Can't wait to blast this player already!!!!!!!!!!

Thx Phil! Good review! I’m going with the SC5000M and X1800 but for the future this is a interesting kit!

Nice review! For the first time in a long while, I have my beady eye on Denon. The ability to have an internal hard drive is a game-changer!

Gentleman absolute convinced now to invest in the Prime 4, thank you.

Wow such detailed review 😮 🔥💜

Great review! I am (was) a Pioneer only DJ. This changes the game. I am ordering one today. Can't wait! Seems to be better than the XZ and a lower price.

I have an XDJ RX2. If Pioneer wasn't the club standard I would trade in and get one of these. Great review man.

you had quickly mentioned the key lock Key sync part hope you will include it in another video, in deeper context. Great review even learn more about this controller as I've watch the namm videos.

I originally was using the Denon 6000mk2 Mapped to Traktor Pro2 till I bought an Pioneer XDJ-RX 3 years ago but sent it back for sound quality issues. About 8 months later I bought the Denon 8000 which again I returned due to the awful sound quality when using in key lock as to did a personal friend of mine who I wont Name. So I was back to my trusty 6000mk2 with Traktor on my Macbook Pro. I be honest I said that's it I won't look at another stand alone unit which was why I bought the pioneer and the Denon 8000 in the first place to get shot of the laptop look. This Prim 4 "WOW" after watching this video I'm sold on getting one. Amazing demo by Digital DJ Tips. Yes granted the Engine software needs more work but as you've said it's work in progress. I will add that the same personal friend of mine was invited to see a demo of it a few months back with a few others but was sworn to secrecy.

Excellent detailed review! Really cool to see all the ins and outs of this unit. Cheers!

Awesome very dense and detailed review. Covered everything.. I want it, but may get the 2 as doubt would need 4 decks :) thanks mate

Fantastic, detailed and passionate review. I'm sold. Roll on pay day!

GREAT REVIEW sir! Got the info that I wanted. Subscribed. :)

Great review, Good Work Denon!!

Really great review!! Well explained, clear and concise. What a terrific bit of gear and good enough for me to jump and buy I think. Thanks, keep up the good work!

Great video. Really in depth. I'd be keen to find out more about it's integration with Traktor. For instance, how easy would it be to export your entire track collection and bring all your transients, beatgrids, cues, loops and track info across to make it literally a plug and play swap from one platform to another?

awesome review Phil very in depth looking at maybe getting prime for myself!!!!!

Well that's new innit! I guess with enough time spent, some folks will really groove with it, spoilt for choice these days, still like having the lap top nearby, personally love the traktor software, thanks for the demo.

Great review as always, thank you.

4 DECKS MIX - Denon DJ Prime 4 This is what I thought about and wanted the most. There is no need to carry many accessories. We look like we are very professional.

I love to see your videos man, kind like an adict to see them in 2x jajajaja. Cheers from argentina.

This was a great review!

Because Denon Engine software does not import the bpm from Serato, Traktor or Recordbox, it reanalyzes it on each library and track import and often wrongly analyzes bpm. Check this technical article www.reddit.com/r/DenonPrime/comments/a5iade/full_explanation_how_beatgrids_bpms_and_keys_are/

Another fantastic review by Phil, thank you Phil -you deserve all our support. One thing that annoys me with my Pioneer RX2 is that I cannot pre-listen tracks, that's why I'm thinking to switch. Can you do so with The Prime 4?

Fantastic review! I was already leaning heavily towards this unit. I have been using the Numark NVII with Serato for almost 3 years now. I would love to get this unit if only for the fact that I can DJ without a laptop. But the features are very nice. The only thing I would miss from Serato would be the sampler but that is a minor inconvenience. Thank you.

Awesome Review.. I had already bought this before watching the review....awesome bit of kit..

Phil . Well done mate as this is a full hands how too. I received mine 21 June 2019. The Prime Engine software is so limited its embarrassing compared to pioneer. I look forward to Atomix Virtual DJ mapping which they inform us they will be . Phil thank you .

I'm on backordeer, can't wait!

Cool review! However, you didn't mention three downsides I have with this unit, that let me stay with the DDJ-1000 for now. First, in theory I could leave my laptop at home when going to a gig, but as a wedding dj I have to deal with spontaneous music request. Therefore I still need a laptop if I want to mix these tracks properly and not running a smartphone on one of the channels. I know that I could connect the laptop with the unit and put the files on the ssd inside or put them manually on a flash drive, which could be a workaround. But the problem is still that I need to have my laptop anyways. One day, these units will have internet connection (the prime 4 already has wifi built in). Then you could download on the unit!! The second problem I have or let's say, feature I miss (as of now) is, that the screen doesn't tell me, which tracks works great with the currently running track (bpm, key, genre, etc). This is a feature I love about rekordbox dj. Third, I often use the sampler features of rekordbox dj. One-Shots and these kind of stuff are not possible with the prime 4.

Hi phil.I have downloaded engine dj on my laptop.When i put my usb stick in too analyse my tracks.I have 3500 tunes my stick but on the engine dj on the laptop it is only showing 105 tracks?

Hello do you think they will get Virtual DJ to be added to the system. I use VDJ in the past years, and I love using it very much. I have to start from the beginning.

Great review & overview! 3 questions: 1. When you import a Serato library, do hot cue colors import as well? 2. Can you change colors of the 8 cues on the tracks and do the buttons sync? 3. Does the filter knob have a click mark at the 12:00 position to indicate that you’re back to 0% / default level?

Great video….one question. Can you connect a laptop to this and copy music from the laptop hard drive to the Prime 4 hard drive?

Fantastic review Phil. Really detailed and explained everything very well. It is an absolutely phenomenal controller to be fair but I simply can't justify paying nearly 2k for a controller. I know a lot of DJs have already purchased this piece of kit and many more will but I cannot get my head around how people are affording to shell out near two grand for this unit. You would have to do nearly ten gigs to make the money to pay for this unit. I know you will come back and say get better-paid gigs but I don't know how that will happen as there are lots of lads at it here and a lot of undercutting going on. Not much happening at the moment with gigs but hoping to be back gigging by end of the year or early 2021. Another point I would like to make is I never have a designated playlist for gigs. I have an idea of what I will play depending on the party, be it a 21st, a 40th birthday or a wedding but I always go by the crowd. It could be a young crowd at a wedding or an old crowd and if you program a load of old music on your USB for the controller and then go into a wedding and they want all young music, what do you do then? I like to have the selection to chop and change and mix it up with new and old but with your songs already pre-loaded on to the USB, then you can't do that. If someone requests a song you don't have preloaded, you have to go to the laptop and find it and load it on then to play it which adds to the stress of the night. Just a few points. I don't usually look at my music before a gig. I will usually download a few new up to date tracks if I am playing in a bar or at a 21st or an 18th or might download one or two songs that are new for a wedding but most of my gigs are last-minute calls to do parties so I only find out an hour or two beforehand what gig I am doing. This is just the nature of the job where I am as people cancel or bars ring up the guy I am working for late to get a DJ so hard to prepare a setlist for that. Keep up the great videos.

It's all great, nice and beautiful but I miss the CD slot ... I've been collecting CDs for so many years and then some weird policy of moving CD units from all the players starts .... So sad.. I think that i will stay for a long time on my DENON DN-S3700 with CD drive.....

The only thing I am worried about is a how to back-up your music and playlists from the internal SSD. Ofcourse you can do this manually but this is not how humans work. For instance at this moment I use Serato with a Denon controller but my music and playlists are in sync with my cloud. This way I always have a backup. I wonder how exactly you can manage your music on this device.

Phil.....as a mobile guy, once this communicates wirelessly with speakers (with acceptable lag), we have a game changer. Imagine.......plop your speakers down, plug em in, sync your controller (with all your tracks) and away we go. We're almost there! (and if battery technology improves.......)

Knowing how much time you have left on a track is not a feature on all controllers? As a vinyl dj (very rusty) I can’t imagine having to guess how much time is left on a track on these kind of devices. Looking at a needle on a record is the most guessing I could afford. I’ve never used a controller but was thinking of trying it as I want to mix again but can’t find a source for new vinyl

Great review. Seems like it's worth the money. Just one thing is bothering me. You can't play 2-3 effects at the same time.. Not counting the Mixer Fx Section.. Beside that, excellent job Denon.

If i were to choose NOW i might take this over the new Pioneer XDJ-RX2. They cost roughly the same, but the Denon seems like a more advanced/up-to-date system. ALTHOUGH i still have some concerns about Denon DJ as a brand, and not 100% sure if they ever gonna take over Pioneer in the professional scene... I feel that they are trying to do something better, but Pioneer has a big (well deserved) reputation in the business and after this Prime 4 - i am pretty sure - they will give an 'answer'. :) I know they there are famous DJs out there who started to promote Denon, but won't be easy to convince people buying something different if you spend this amount of money. Nice review Phil! :)

Great review! If they get the engine software right, it will get even bigger. Also, does anyone else think that Denon and Traktor should work together. Given the power of this thing, why couldn’t your load traktor onto this thing and run it just fine. Considering Denon future proofed this, it would be amazing thing to consider

me and my friends run a youtube channel and dj and we don't know what our main controller should be what would you recommend or do you think the denon is for us, also i don't understand one of my FX on my dj control compact by hercules dj.

WOw!! This is simply INSANE!! Great job on the review! I came on here after the Pioneer XDJ-XZ which does not even come close to this unit! How is the soundcard of this unit!? Is it as effective the Pioneer? Or better?

41:09 808 State x Carly Rae? That's a wild mix, haha. BTW, love the idea bc I had to buy a whole new laptop when I ran Serato, when it would randomly crash on my old laptop. Only thing I wish it had was a way to import VST effects like Virtual DJ can do.

Probably too addicted to Pioneer but I really dislike this Denon Prime 4, I don't know what it is about it. I recently just bought the RX2 and does me exactly what I need for the clubs, I like that the screen isn't so big and in your face. Personal preference I guess. But it is nice to see Denon taking things further and listening to what some DJ's have wanted

Hey Phil nice review, but I'm after the name of the track your playing 17mins in...

Superb review. Great job as always Phil!

I have a question, I am a totally blind DJ. I am interested in getting the prime for. My question is can I plug-in, a external hard drive at the bottom of the unit. In that little compartment. And can I navigate. The folders on my external hard drive with the buttons on the prime four. And what is a good external hard drive that, you recommend to get. Denon said I can get a 2 TB. And it would read on the prime four