User Guide English Manual Version v1.
Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................... 5 Box Contents ..................................................................................... 5 Support .............................................................................................. 5 Product Registration .........................................................................................5 Setup ..........................................................................
Operation ................................................................................ 15 Touchscreen Overview ..................................................................... 15 Performance View ........................................................................................... 15 Track Overview & Waveform ......................................................................................... 15 Central Library Preview .....................................................................
Appendix ................................................................................ 30 SATA Drive Installation ..................................................................... 30 FX Parameters .................................................................................. 31 Technical Specifications ................................................................... 34 Trademarks & Licenses ...................................................................
Introduction Thank you for purchasing the Prime 4. At Denon DJ, we know how serious music is to you. That’s why we design our equipment with only one thing in mind—to make your performance the best it can be. We’re honored and excited to play a part in your musical & creative DJ journey! Box Contents Prime 4 Standalone DJ System Display Protective Cover Display Cleaning Cloth IEC Power Cable USB 3.
Setup Important: Occasionally, we may update Prime 4’s firmware to add exciting new features and improvements. Visit denondj.com to check for available firmware updates, especially after you update your software (firmware updates may address new software features). 1. Visit denondj.com and log into your account. (Create an account if this is your first Denon DJ product.) 2. In your account, download and install the latest version of Engine Prime. Double-click the .exe (Windows®) or .
Devices & File Analysis Prime 4 can play music files from USB drives, SD cards, or other connected Prime media players. Make sure you are using only the supported file systems (for USB drives or SD cards) and file formats (for music files) listed below. Supported file systems: exFAT, FAT32 Supported file formats: AAC/M4A AIF/AIFF (44.1–192 kHz, 16–32-bit) ALAC FLAC MP3 (32–320 kbps) MP4 Ogg Vorbis WAV (44.
Features Top Panel 62 63 64 64 67 68 55 56 57 57 57 58 60 61 1 55 56 57 57 59 58 65 66 66 69 50 48 49 47 45 37 52 51 53 54 8 30 31 46 38 22 32 24 9 9 11 11 11 11 2 5 6 7 8 9 9 11 11 11 11 25 26 33 40 41 42 43 11 12 12 13 13 14 34 10 14 35 28 39 36 29 15 15 16 17 11 10 18 12 13 19 20 14 21 11 53 54 30 31 45 37 46 22 32 23 24 11 52 51 38 23 10 27 4 8 8 3 50 49 48 47 10 12 25 26 13 14 27 33 40 41 42 43 34 35 28 15 15 39 36 29 44 44 1
8. Channel FX: Use these buttons to route audio from the corresponding channel to the Effect 1 or 2 module. 9. Channel Level: Turn this knob to adjust the level of the pre-fader, pre-EQ audio signal for the channel. 10. Channel Level Meters: These LEDs display the audio signal level of the channel. 11. Channel EQ: Turn these knobs to boost or cut the high, mid-range, and low frequencies for the channel. 12. Sweep FX: Turn this knob to control the effect selected by the Sweep FX buttons. 13.
22. Platter: This capacitive, touch-sensitive platter controls the audio playhead when the wheel is touched and moved. When the Vinyl button is on, move the platter to “scratch” the track as you would with a vinyl record. When the Vinyl button is off (or if you are touching only the side of the platter), move the platter to temporarily adjust the track’s speed. 23.
32. Pitch Fader: Move this fader to adjust the speed (pitch) of the track. You can adjust its total range with the Pitch Bend buttons. When you select another Deck with the Deck select buttons, the position of the Pitch Fader may not match the Pitch setting for the previous Deck. Slowly move the Pitch Fader in the direction indicated by the green takeover LED arrow until it turns off. At this point, the Pitch Fader matches the Pitch setting of the previous deck and can control it again. 33.
62 63 64 64 67 68 55 56 57 57 57 58 61 60 55 56 57 57 59 58 65 66 66 69 48 47 50 49 52 51 53 54 48 47 50 49 52 51 53 54 47. FX On: Press these buttons to enable or disable FX 1 and FX 2. 48. FX Select: Turn these knobs to select the active effect for FX 1 and FX 2. 49. FX Parameter: When lit, press this button to activate the secondary parameter for an effect. 50. FX Parameter Knob: Use these knobs to adjust the effect parameter. 51.
Front Panel 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 3 1. Headphones (1/4”, 1/8”) (6.35 mm, 3.5 mm): Connect your 1/4” or 1/8” (6.35 mm or 3.5 mm) headphones to this output for cueing and mix monitoring. The headphone volume is controlled using the Phones Level knob. 2. Input Selector: Set these switches to the desired audio source from this channel: Engine/USB (a track playing on that layer in the software, or from a connected USB flash drive or SD card), or Line (a device connected to the inputs on the rear panel).
Rear Panel 16 2 1 5 3 4 6 7 8 12 9 12 14 15 11 10 13 13 1. Power Input: Use the included power cable to connect this input to a power outlet. Prime 4 has a protection circuit to safely eject all media after an unexpected power loss to protect your data from corruption. Reconnect your power source to return to normal operation. 2. Power Button: Press this button to power Prime 4 on.
Operation Touchscreen Overview Performance View Track Overview & Waveform Track Overviews Toolbar Loop Beat Points Hot Cue Points Playhead Loop Key Sync Time Remaining/ Elapsed Track Waveforms Tempo Track Progress Swipe left or right on the track overview to scan through the track while the track is paused. Note: You can use this feature this during playback if Needle Lock is off. If Needle Lock is on, stopping the platter with your hand or palm will allow you to swipe through the track overview.
The toolbar at the top of the display will show the current quantize status, continue status and recording status. Swipe down from this area to open the mini-menu, where you can quickly adjust the following parameters: • Quantize: Tap this to enable or disable quantization. When enabled, time-based features like triggering cues and loops will snap to the beat-grid according the Cue/Loop Quantization setting in the Preferences.
Library View Use the full Library View to view your music library and load a track to the deck. You can also search through crates and playlists, add tracks to the Prepare list, and search through your tracks using sorting and filtering features. Important: Visit denondj.com/downloads to download the Engine Prime software.
Platter Display Overview Normally, the platter display shows the following information: • the current position of the playhead. • the album artwork of the current track, or your custom artwork. The platter display temporarily shows the following information: • the current size of an auto loop after you turn the Auto Loop knob. • the current layer after you press the Layer button. • the position of the secondary playhead when Slip is active.
Searching & Filtering Tracks To search, tap the Search field and use the keyboard that appears in the display. The search results can be based on the following criteria: title, artist, album, length, key, comment, BPM, genre, label, year, date added or filename. By default, only Title and Artist are selected. Use the dropdown menu next to the search bar to select other categories, or to Search All categories.
Editing Crates and Playlists Tap the edit button at the top of the display while viewing the crates or playlist screen. While editing is active, you can do any of the following: Tap to Enable Editing Tap to Select Tracks To make a new crate, tap + Create Crate in Crates view. To make a new playlist, tap + Create Playlist in Playlist view. To make a new folder, tap + Create Folder in Playlist view. To add tracks to your crate or playlist, tap a track to select it, and the open circle will become filled.
Playback & Cueing To play or pause a track, press Play/Pause (/). To scratch a track, move the platter when the Vinyl button is set to On and audio is playing. To set the cue point, press Shift+Cue at the desired location during playback. To return to the cue point and stop, press Cue. To return to the cue point and keep playing, press Shift+Play/Pause (/). To censor playback, press and hold Censor. To return to normal playback, release Censor.
Looping & Beat-Jumping To create and activate an auto loop, press the Auto Loop knob. To set the auto loop length, turn the Auto Loop knob to select the number of beats: 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64. Note: You can set the default Auto Loop size in the Preferences menu. When a track is loaded, the Auto Loop size will be automatically reset to your preference.
Pad Modes The 8 performance pads on each deck have different functions in each pad mode. The Parameter / buttons will make adjustments specific to each pad mode. To enter each pad mode, press the corresponding button: Hot Cue, Loop, Roll, or Slicer. Hot Cue Mode In Hot Cue Mode, you can use each pad to jump to an assigned hot cue point. Tip: You can use the Engine Prime software to set, name, and assign colors to your hot cue points. The names and colors will appear in the display for reference.
Roll Mode In Roll Mode, you can press and hold each pad to trigger a “loop roll” of a certain length while the track’s timeline continues (the lower half of the waveform in the display will continue moving forward). When you release the pad, the track will resume normal playback from where it would have been if you had never done anything (i.e., as if the track had been playing forward the whole time). To trigger a roll, press the corresponding pad.
Menu Press and hold the View button to open the Menu. Here, you can access the following pages. Click the links below to jump to that part of the guide: • Utility – This screen is used to edit the settings of the Prime 4 hardware. • Preferences – This screen is used to edit your performance preferences. • Source – This screen is used for selecting your source media device. • Record – This screen is used for recording and saving your performances.
Device Info • Model: This is the product name. • Firmware Version: This is the current version of the unit’s Engine Prime operating system. Tap Check for Updates to search for firmware updates when connected to the internet. • Prime4 Mixer: This is the current version of the Prime 4 mixer software. • Prime4 Controller: This is the current version of the Prime 4 controller software. • Prime4 Left Display: This is the current version of the Prime 4 left display software.
Preferences Press the Save To My Drive button to save your settings to a connected drive. User profiles can be loaded when a media device with an Engine Prime profile is connected to Prime 4. Playback • Track Start Position: This setting determines where the beginning of a track is after it loads. Select the actual start of the file (Track Start) or the automatically detected beginning of an audio signal (Cue Position). • Default Speed Range: This setting determines the range of the pitch fader.
Display • Track Title: This setting determines whether tracks titles are shown as the track's Filename or its embedded Metadata (tags). • Time Format: This setting determines whether or not pitch adjustment affects how the track time is displayed. When set to Static, the track’s time corresponds to locations in the track as usual; adjusting the pitch does not affect it. When set to Dynamic, the track’s time will automatically adjust to account for changes in pitch.
Source The Source menu allows you to select a connected media device for use with Prime 4. All connected media sources will be shown on the display. Tap the device name to select it as your media source. The currently selected source device, if any, will show Source next to its name. The currently select recording device, if any, will show Rec next to its name. Tap the computer icon at the top of the display to switch Prime 4 to computer mode.
Appendix SATA Drive Installation To create more internal storage space on your Prime 4 hardware, you can purchase a SATA (Serial ATA) drive and install it yourself, but read this chapter first. Your Prime 4 can support nearly any standard 2.5” SATA drive on the market—either a solid-state drive (SSD) or hard-disk drive (HDD). Make sure it uses a 2.5” (63.5 mm) form factor and uses (or can use) the exFAT or FAT32 file systems.
FX Parameters Reverb Parameter Value Range This effect adds reverberation to the original signal. Decay 0–100 Frequency <60 Hz – <18.2 kHz, All Bands, >60 Hz – >18.2 kHz Dry/Wet 0–100 Echo Parameter Value Range This effect adds echoes of the original signal. Feedback 0–100 Frequency <60 Hz – <18.2 kHz, All Bands, >60 Hz – >18.
Flanger Parameter This effect adds a slightly delayed copy of the original signal Frequency to create a comb-filter effect (often referred to as resembling a jet plane engine). Beats Value Range <60 Hz – <18.2 kHz, All Bands, >60 Hz – >18.2 kHz 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 2, 4, 8 Dry/Wet 0–100 Filter LFO Parameter Value Range This effect varies the cutoff frequency at a regular rate. Resonance 0–100 Frequency <60 Hz – <18.2 kHz, All Bands, >60 Hz – >18.
Beat Break Parameter This effect samples the 4 beats of each bar of the original Pattern signal and replays them (within the same bar) according to a Frequency preset pattern, creating a “stuttering,” “breakbeat” effect. Value Range See below <60 Hz – <18.2 kHz, All Bands, >60 Hz – >18.2 kHz Beats 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 2, 4, 8 Dry/Wet 0–100 To select a pattern to use, turn the FX Parameter knob to select one of 10 patterns, as shown in the second display.
Technical Specifications Digital Audio Supported Media Bit Depth 24-bit Sampling Rate 44.1 kHz Type SD/SDHC/SDXC card, USB mass-storage devices (flash memory, 2.5" internal SATA, external HDD) File Systems exFAT, FAT32 Audio File Formats AAC/M4A, AIF/AIFF (44.1–192 kHz, 16–32 bit), ALAC, FLAC, MP3 (32–320 kbps), MP4, Ogg Vorbis, WAV (44.
Connections Displays Power Dimensions (width x depth x height) Weight Audio Outputs 2 XLR outputs (master left/right, balanced) 1 RCA output pair (master left/right, unbalanced) 2 XLR outputs (booth left/right, balanced) 2 XLR outputs (zone left/right, balanced) 1 1/4” (6.35 mm) stereo output (headphones) 1 1/8” (3.5 mm) stereo output (headphones) Audio Inputs 2 RCA input pairs (line-level, unbalanced) 2 RCA input pairs (phono- or line-level, unbalanced) 2 XLR+1/4” (6.
Trademarks & Licenses Denon is a trademark of D&M Holdings Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Denon DJ products are produced by inMusic Brands, Inc. Kensington and the K & Lock logo are registered trademarks of ACCO Brands. macOS is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. SD, SDHC and SDXC are registered trademarks of SD-3C, LLC. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
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