Denon Prime 2 Review! Quick Take From A Mobile DJ Perspective

[@superkalel8818]

Brother, if you are concern about losing power, simply buy a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) So your Controller will keep playing and your speakers too, basically for another 30 mins depending on yhe UPS size you get. Is not a reason to drive you crazy cause if the power goes out in the venue....everything pretty much stops bro lol. Good review tho. Thank you

[@tonylackie]

that's a good point- I more just wish that if the power did go out the Prime 2 didn't have to reboot itself to launch in controller mode..I guess that's the downside of using it as a controller

[@apexpredator_jku]

The boot time is long because of of the safety feature where if it accidentally gets unplugged it'll continue to play long enough to plug it back in. How often would you need to reboot mid performance, if ever? Just my personal opinion but It irks me when people use it as a controller. The 1 thing that makes it unique is it's capability of being completely 100% untethered. It's an all in one redundancy killer. With that being said, Prime 4 is by far the better unit for the Mobile DJ. The Zone feature alone is worth the extra money.

[@tonylackie]

Yeah very true...it just freaks me out is all...and I hadn't done a test...but actually witnessed it at event when it lost power- and stayed on long enough to get it going again so it didn't shut down lol. it's an awesome unit- and although I have a SSD installed, and my music library I've DJ'd a few times at events with engine os...still prefer VDJ, for a few reasons...all of it is my personal work flow though- and not because engine os is lacking at all.

[@oldschooldjernie]

i have a suggestion. How about getting a mickey mouse 1/8 to RCA outs from the laptop to the line input or aux, so if the Denon takes a dump or gets unplugged you can still play out from your laptop and then when you get it up and running, toggle the line back to whatever the Denon is running on EDIT: unless the Prime 2 will not play aux or line while the thing is booting up

[@Suntdy007]

I have a prime 4 and prime go, excellent units and I love they had a 2 channel with proper jogs in the prime 2, I know it’s been discontinued probably to make way for the SC live range. But Denon defo crowding the market with some excellent gear at good price points and in some cases the gear does more than pioneer especially with prime 4 being a true standalone 4 channel

[@djsir901]

This is my dream console/controller. I have a Numark Mixstream Pro and lost power for 2 seconds at a gig, so Engine OS had to boot up again. It took a full minute or two to boot up and get VDJ running again. Felt like 3hrs lol.

[@tonylackie]

Yeah man! That's exactly why I will only run this controller with an external mixer...I always run one anyway...but with this specifically because it freaks me out...it takes just as long to boot up from cold lol.

[@djccruz1]

Thank u for the review. I have a prime 4 and love it.

[@ashleystyles6888]

Hi Tony. I'm looking at buying a used unit. Here in the UK it seems like not many were sold and not many are for sale used either. Was this replaced by the sc live2? It works with Beatport link, right? It looks to be WAY BETTER QUALITY than the sc live2..... Is it?

[@nicholasharalambidis2884]

Would you happen to know if it had the latest engine OS update? The one that included sound effects where you swipe your finger on the touch screen to trigger effects. I'm just asking because this item has been discontinued. And I would like to find a second hand 1

[@bdbeats7209]

I'm currently trying to decide between this or the Numark mixstream pro go, and cant decide which one I should go with

[@nikolakatanic]

Thank you for your sincere review, I'm looking lately to by this one. I also think there's no better option currently for standalone DJ gear. Yes it's a bit overpriced but what can you do if competition doesn't give you better...

[@tonylackie]

Honestly. I think it's underpriced for what you get! It's a solid machine! I've used it an entire season now. And appreciate it now more then I did when I originally did this review lol

[@bomboclap8725]

Hola , desde la última actualización no me marca las canciones reproducidas en rojo, sabes dónde se configura? Quiero decir para no repetir temas o canciones, con el firmware que traía la máquina reproducidas y se ponía color rojo , ahora no lo hace , a ver si me puedes ayudar. Gracias.

[@LioSintra]

Thanks for your review. I love it, the only reason i won't buy it yet is because it dosen't work as external mixer to connect my turntables like prime 4. The aux input has a cue but can't control low mid and high or apply effect. I guess i go for prime 4, even i don't like the screen isnt stabe like in prime 2 or xdj rx3

[@tonylackie]

Yeah...that's true. Can't do that with the prime 2 unfortunately :/

[@arjanvanmidden646]

Saturday played my first Prime 2 gig in a club for 350 people, i have a SSD installed, but tracks where loadedd from Dropbox? Sometimes screen just don't respond, and also it locked up once and it rebooted when loading a certain mp3 file. I'll post my story on the InMusic community.

[@tonylackie]

Did you switch the library source to your SSD? I found when I installed it, I had to install it and plug it into a my laptop to format the drive and load my library into engine os desktop app to sync it....the hard drive doesn't work like a ext drive or USB...mine wasn't able to read directly off of it without formatting and syncing it with engine OS first....maybe the mp3 had issues since you were loading from dropbox?

[@tonylackie]

That's what freaks me out especially with the long load time....did you have another source you could play while it rebooted? Or did you have to wait for it to boot up?

[@arjanvanmidden646]

@@tonylackie the file where my prime 2 locked up is on local SSD and i can reproduce the problem with the same file at home. With a iPad attached as backup, the prime 2 reboot, the music stops for a second.

[@arjanvanmidden646]

@@tonylackie i had to format the ssd also on my pc and then detect the ssd by engine os. The file where prime 2 stops working and reboots is playing fine on rekordbox. No problem at all.

[@tonylackie]

@@arjanvanmidden646 ok, so when you're playing out of the aux the music only stops for a second? Not the whole boot up time? That's weird man...is there anything weird with the file? Is it a standard mp3? I wonder if it got corrupted when syncing? Maybe try making sure it plays using the engine os desktop app...if it doesn't could try to remove the song and re add it...if it's not standard mp3 it should be fine, which is what leads me to believe maybe it got currupted...

[@d17mop]

I think this I’ll be phased out and the prime go and prime 4 will be the standard.

[@djsir901]

I have the Numark mixstream pro and honestly I think it makes more sense to phase out the prime go. The lineup should be the Mixstream, Prime 2, and Prime 4.

[@tonylackie]

Yeah...I think they will unfortunately....Sweetwater already says they discontinued it

[@gareththomas78]

Would love one of these 🙏 Anyone got one they don't want because I will have it 😁

[@saskatchewandave]

This thing looks great! But man, complaining that it takes 6 secs to boot? Lol, that's not really a fair negative on it.

[@tonylackie]

I love this controller over all. But it is a real negative for this. Granted. It wouldn't be as bad if I used engine OS... But it's more having to wait for it to reboot that worries me.

[@kevinbrown-rm6ce]

Cool

[@DJMadVibes1]

Denon shouldve made a Prime 2+. That SC line is shite. For the price Id rather have the Numark MIXSTREAM PRO

[@andrewterrazas3041]

Are laptops compatible with this controller? I understand it may require a certain USB format in order for the USB to work on the controller

[@tonylackie]

Yes laptops are compatible. As far as format I hadn't realized anything. As soon as I got it I was able to use my laptop with it...I had to find the drivers online in order for the screens to work.

[@bboymac84]

5-6 sec?? C’mon just have an iPod on deck bro! They need playlist search!!

[@tonylackie]

That's why I'm only going to use an external mixer! If it's booting up, you cannot use the auxiliary or get any signal from it! Yes they do. They also need support for M3u playlists!

[@bboymac84]

@@tonylackie yessir! Can’t wait for their next update!

[@bjornvanleynseele8653]

For you.. is the xdj - rx2, a more complete device.. then the dj prime 2 ?

[@bboymac84]

@@bjornvanleynseele8653 the fact that I can get music live and I don’t need to bring a computer to analyze the files then I’m sticking with the prime system

[@tonylackie]

@@bjornvanleynseele8653 the XDJ RX2 is a good device. I wouldn't say it's more complete though...both have pros and cons. The Prime allows you to stream from Beat source or Beatport link or even drop box. And install an ssd....the rx2 doesn't....I'm not familiar with rekordbox...but I think I have to prepare your flash drives in rekordbox before the rx2 can play the files...that isn't the case the engine...I was able to plug my ext hard drive in as soon as I got and start playing from my library.

[@kevinbrown-rm6ce]

Cool