Denon Prime Go vs iPad 12.9 (2020) + Reloop Mixtour Pro + Djay Pro 5
I’m on the lookout for a compact DJ solution.
I’m looking at two options:
Denon Prime Go – a standalone DJ system. I think I’ll stick with what Denon provides – Engine 4 – and not customise DJ Pro 5 to work with Denon.
Or I could get the…
iPad 12.9 (2020) and buy the Reloop Mixtour Pro and work through DJ Pro 5.
If it’s not too much trouble, we’d be really grateful if you could take a moment to vote for your choice.
Denon Prime Go (Standalone DJ System)
iPad 12.9 (2020) + Reloop Mixtour Pro + Djay Pro 5
There are certainly reasons for one or the other. With the Prime Go you have an all-in-one device, with the iPad and the Mixtour Pro you have a bit more cabling, the Prime Go has jog wheels, the Mixtour Pro has dedicated neural mix buttons, with the Prime Go you can use the XLR connections directly to the PA, with the Mixtour Pro you should use an external mixer …
Both settings are compact and easy to transport. I prefer the variant with the iPad and the Mixtour Pro. I don’t think Engine DJ is bad at all, but with DJay Pro I can prepare tracks, playlists etc. directly on the iPad or on the go on the iPhone and work with them straight away.
I want a single, ready-made solution that eliminates the need for additional gadgets and the purchase of an iPad to work on Denon with djay pro 5.
Even if the Engine beat grids are rubbish, it can be corrected. I played on Denon a few times and did not notice any problems with the grid. My tracks were all straight 4/4 with a clear beat, so that probably explains it.
Quite a few “spare” buttons on there to be mapped to whatever you want,
The choice between the two would definitely be the Go although it is a dearer option but the build quality would be better
I’m currently using an iPad with the Reloop Mixtour Pro and really like this setup. Simple and very portable, but with a lot of powerful control options. Especially for advanced custom MIDI mapping.
I also used to have a Denon Prime 4 that I used with an iPad and djay. Great setup that also worked well so I can imagine it being good with Prime Go too.
To be honest I don’t really know as I haven’t had it long enough to do any outdoor wireless events but I would think so because the screen goes into an almost sleep mode so that doesn’t wouldn’t draw any power…
Also If you switch off the Bluetooth and Wifi within the Prime Go, the battery should last longer as well.
I have bought an adapter that fits a Makita 18V battery which also has a usb output built into it and I can plug that straight into the Denon Go to extend the battery life as well as power up the iPad as well.
I will soon do a test to see how the Go battery lasts as well with a test with the Makita 6.0ah battery as well.
Here is what I bought,
The adapter was like $25 on EBay
The USB ports are 5v 2.1amp
The centre DC port was 12v but I opened up the adapter and simply de soldered the wires on the 12v connection and soldered them to the direct 18v connection of the Marita Battery terminals within the adapter, pretty simple and took 5 mins to do,
I have a few of these batteries so it would last me all night if I used them all.
Looks great. Those batteries will last for day’s.
I’ve ordered a prime go today. I think you can get leads to suit usb power banks now so will check it out when it arrives.
Thanks for the info
You won’t regret it,
The Go was supposed to be my back up unit after my Rane One but it seems to be the other way around now.
The only real gripes I have with the unit are,
It would have been really good had they put a USB C outlet in the back of the unit for charging purposes (There is a USB outlet for plugging in a USB stick if you want to play off that but I think it only has enough power to charge a phone and not an iPad)
The High, Mid, Low knobs would have been better placed had they been in the traditional vertical layout as opposed to the horizontal layout, you do get used to it but sometimes you forget especially from deck to deck.
The High, Mid, Low & Sweep FX knobs also have a dead spot approx. 2mm either way from centre where they don’t make any adjustment to what they are supposed to be controlling, I don’t know if this is just with my unit or if it is an issue with the way Dj Pro responds or if that’s just how it is…
Other than that I love the compactness of it, I have a hard shell soft case for it as well as a small flight case that I can use to transport it around.
I have heavily Midi mapped my unit to my liking which you are more than welcome to use if you don’t want to use the official map
That’s a great help thanks.
I can live with a few small foibles. My main priorities are a compact well made solid device with good sound and djay integration.
From all I’ve learned and read this is the one.
Are you using the iPad internal storage or a connected external drive? If connected, what’s the hub you use?
I saw your post on the Engine DJ Community regarding the battery status not showing on the Prime GO in computer mode. Yes, it’s irritating. Too bad, there’s no response on that. I guess that might be why you went for those extra batteries.
Regarding midi mappings, DJ TechTools has a board for posting those. It’s a great centralized resource. I hope it gets used more. https://maps.djtechtools.com/
Thanks,
It started off as a Tablet stand that I bought off Ebay for around $30 that was connected to an aluminum base which I initially tucked under the Prime Go but I modified that as well to make something more semi permanent.
In the pics you can see where I have screwed the tablet stand to a small angle bracket and then screwed that into the back of the Go using the original screw holes.
The clamp part detaches and the stand can be folded down and the unit can fit comfortably in its hard shell case or flight case.
My iPad Air has 256GB of Storage, I use 320mbps Mp3 and I have around 2500 tracks on there which is taking up 150Gb of the storage which still leaves me around 100Gb of storage left…
I guess if you have a much larger library or are using WAV, you couldn’t fit as much on it.
I could plug a USB stick or even an External drive to the USB Hub but I find searching tracks doing it that way is much harder.
I don’t know why Denon Engine don’t implement the Battery status feature into Computer mode, How else are you meant to know when the battery is running low?
The only way of seeing that is to switch out of computer mode and back to Standalone mode which would stop the music from playing…
