Review: Denon DJ Prime 4+ DJ System

The name Denon is synonymous with audio tech, and has been since long before I cobbled together my first clandestine DJ setup in the early 90s. In fact, you could barely find a DJ booth that didn’t have some Denon gear installed in it back in those days. Their rack mounted CD DJ systems are legendary, and built to withstand anything that a club DJ could throw at them. It’s a legacy that has carried the Denon name through the decades and a quality of product that has kept them relevant to this day. But, we are still a long way from the end of this story, as Denon DJ continue to deliver cutting edge products, like the Prime 4+, a fully featured, standalone DJ system that brings one word to mind: “Wow!”

Catch up on all the latest music gear reviews here.

Alright, so we have seen the ‘all-in-one’ DJ system time and time again, it is nothing new. There’s always a wide range on the market, from the compact home use to the bulkier professional units. However, Denon DJ have taken this concept to a whole new level of innovation with a host of features and a rugged build quality that is set to see the Prime 4+ become a sought-after unit amongst DJs the world over. We’re not just spinning a couple of beat-matched CDs anymore, this thing is off the charts. It’s blurring the line between DJ, producer and live performer, with an ease of workflow that allows you to excite, inspire and create on the fly.

Denon DJ Prime 4+ DJ System

The multi-touch and multi-gesture touch screen is the heart of the Prime 4+, with the addition of the push-button jog wheel just below it. You’re able to scroll through your track libraries and easily assign them to one of the four channels, as well as browsing effects and other features. The waveforms for the current tracks are shown here along with a load of additional information. This waveform display can be shown in a number of layouts with both vertical and horizontal scrolling of waveforms, along with larger and smaller waveform views to allow for other options like library and effects to be shown too. You can jump through these different screen options by holding the Shift button and then tapping the View button to scroll through and find the layout that works best for you.

Of course, you don’t want to have to go to university to be able to drive one of these. Denon have ensured that any DJ who is competent with other systems will feel right at home on the Prime 4+. All the standard features are there, laid out in the standard configuration. The top deck has the look and feel of two desktop CDJs with a four-channel mixer in the centre. Both decks have a collection of multi-function pads, a large 6-inch jog wheel with central LCD screen for additional information, pitch controls and of course the typical navigation controls including Play, Cue, Sync and Loop features. The central mixer offers a 3-band EQ on each channel, a host of assignment options and a super responsive crossfader.

There’s even a dedicated “Zone Output”, which allows you to send a separate track, mix or playlist to another room, meaning you can control the main room and a chillout space, all from the one engine. How wild is that!

Being built around the Engine DJ operating system, the Prime 4+ still has more to offer, even with the impressive feature list on offer. Continual updates to Engine DJ mean that new features can be added to the unit in the future as the need arises, and control options are prepared for this with the touch screen able to be adapted to new features that cannot be simply assigned to existing hardware controls. This means your DJ console is going to grow over time, offering even more features and improvements to workflow and audio quality.

And it’s in the Engine DJ software that the Prime 4+ becomes such a powerful tool. With a desktop app available for both Windows or Mac, you can easily manage your music libraries, including those working with Serato, Traktor, Rekordbox and Apple Music. Tracks, playlist, hot cues and loops can all be arranged and loaded onto an SD card from the desktop. Once inserted into the Prime 4+, these appear right on the screen, ready to perform, without the need of any further connectivity. You also have several USB ports for connection to external drives, as well as the option of adding a SATA drive in a cavity underneath the unit. However, all this may not even be necessary, as the Prime 4+ seamlessly integrates with your entire computer’s music library via Denon’s Engine Remote Library. Wireless access to the computer via Wi-Fi connection allows it to be used as a source without the need for cables, USB sticks or SD cards. This also allows you to update your library as you perform, with changes made to tracks, loops and hot cues transferred back to your laptop and stored for future performances.

Amazon Music

Of course, if that isn’t enough, the Prime 4+ has the capability to connect to Amazon Music with a few simple steps to get the connection aligned. Once registered and aligned with your Amazon account, your Prime 4+ unit will have access to over 100 million audio tracks. That’s more than 8 million hours of music, or close to half a million days, plus your existing library on your hard drive. To think that I used to struggle to decide which hundred records I was going to cram into the box before heading out each night. Now, you can take just about every bit of music that is available with you. So, there are no excuses for not having a track that someone requests— for better or worse!

The huge array of effects can be added to each channel with four simple Sweep Effects, or with the two Main Effects section that can be assigned individually to any channel. Here, you have a big range of effects with multiple parameter options that can be adjusted by the knobs in each effect’s section. You can also go to the touch screen and use it as an X/Y controller for even greater control over a larger array of parameters. With Engine DJ updates, there’s no telling what this may hold in the future.

All this combines into an incredibly powerful workspace for any DJ with the drive to create. I have barely scratched the surface of what the Denon DJ Prime 4+ is capable of. And let’s be honest, you need to see and hear it to fully understand. So, why don’t you get into your local Denon DJ dealer and give one a test drive. I think you too will be left saying “Wow!”

For local Denon DJ enquiries, keep reading at ELFA.