Where Does the Music Come From? What’s the Source?
My current playout system is the Denon DJ SC Live 4. The first time I have ever used a four channel playout system as a mobile DJ. There are many did manufactures of DJ decks and I have chosen Denon.
There are a few reasons why I have stayed with Denon DJ who are part of the InMusic group of companies.
I will later go through all I have ever used during my time as a mobile DJ. In the mid 2010’s I purchased a Denon DJ MC4000 controller which was the little sister to the very popular MC6000.
I still have this controller to this day, its still in a case and can be used as a back up controller at anytime.
I used the MC4000 with Serato DJ pro as my playout on a MacBook Pro 2012. This worked great and the sound quality was excellent.
I was then going to dive into DMX for lighting so decided to try out SoundSwitch which was later acquired by InMusic.
Soundswitch ran in the background when using Serato DJ Pro and this was great as it used the beat grids to create a light show with with either scripted tracks or auto loops and even static looks for those special occasions etc.
InMusic had brought out various Denon DJ controllers that has a in built screen which ran Engine Prime (later just Engine) on both media player and the computer programme to sort of your music. These players included Prime 2, Prime 4 and Prime Go.
InMusic then decided to get their more entry level brand Numark into the Engine eco system and released the Newmark Mixstream Pro. Engine updated their software to 2.0 which allowed Soundswitch integration into the media players. So allowed the players to run your light show buy plugging in the Soundswitch dongle, later SoundSwitch Control One.
I jumped at this chance and purchased a Numark Mixstream Pro and this would allow me to take less equipment. As a wedding dj time is short on room turn arounds.
I stuck with the Numark Mixstream Pro. I then later purchased a Denon Prime Go and the Numark Mixstream became the backup. Both players could read the same library from the SSD drives or SD cards. I also dived into Tidal and Beatsource streaming services as Engine allowed these services. These were good for the odd request as WiFi or phone hotspot can never be relied upon. Engine also allowed at this point to bluetooth a device into a channel, a cheat to allow you to play Spotify tracks.
Engine updated to allow Apple Music streaming integration. Apple Music was a better cost than tidal and a better quality than the standard Beatsource. However the two engine playout systems I had the Numark Mixstream Pro and Denon DJ Prime Go had the old Digital Rights Management processor inside them and would not be able to use Apple Music streaming.
I was undecided at that time what to do.
I then seen my local dealer Iain at Glasgow Sound Centre had the Denon DJ SC Live 4 in the brand new white colour. I knew this was a three year old controller as it had been out in black. This was a more stripped back version of the Prime 4 +. The Prime 4+ would be nice but for me it would be big and heavy and I did not want to back down that road again.
The Denon DJ SC Live 4 was lighter and did all of the functions of Engine I loved plus the addition of Apple Music integration.
The reason I have stuck with In Music is because the price is competitive and also Engine as an operating system continues to grow and grow. The team are always updating it in the time I have had these products.
My playout out systems over the years after CD players were:
Beringer BCD 2000 running OTS DJ
Hercules RMX running OTS DJ
Denon DJ MC4000 running Serato DJ Pro
Numark Mixstream Pro – Engine
Denon DJ Prime Go – Engine
Denon DJ SC Live 4 – Engine
