Denon takes its biggest swipe yet at Pioneer, with a fully featured, non-motorised platter cross media player that aims to offer something to all types of DJ, digital or otherwise.
Like its bigger brother the SC3900, Denon DJ’s SC2900, which we review here today, is a pro media player and DJ control deck that not only covers the basics, but has a host of added extras designed to entice all types of DJ.
It comes in at below the price of the Pioneer CDJ-900, but with a lot of equivalent features to the much more expensive Pioneer CDJ-2000. And as we’re about to see, it’s more of a direct competitor to Pioneer’s CDJs than the SC3900 is. This means that if you can see past the Pioneer dominance of the pro DJ booth, the SC2900 may well appeal to you.
Denon DJ SC2900 and SC3900: The differences
Firstly, let me point you to the Denon DJ SC3900 review we did recently. Why? Because the SC2900 player is, save a couple of important differences, exactly the same. It is the same size, weight, has the same controls, and so on. There are two main differences:
- The platter – The platter on this unit is static, like on all DJ CD players – except Denon’s other models. Yes that’s right, if you wanted a Denon CDJ with a static platter in this type of design, you were stuck until now, as the SC3900 (and the SC3700 before it) had Technics-style motorised platters with “real” vinyl. So that’s why this is really Denon’s first head-to-head with Pioneer
- Hybrid (DVS) mode – The SC3900 has a “timecode generator” built in. That means it can output the signals that Traktor Scratch or Serato Scratch Live need in order for you to use its platter to control those systems via timecode. Thus with the Denon DJ SC3900, you don’t need to insert a control CD. Here, that’s not the case
As I say, if you’re trying to decide between these two products, it’s definitely worth taking a look at our Denon DJ SC3900 review.
Setting up and first impressions
Setting up
Our sample came straight from an industry launch event, so wasn’t boxed up, as you’ll receive yours should you choose to buy a pair. However, it’s safe to assume you’ll be receiving a power cable, a network cable, a USB cable, an RCA cable, and the CDs (Traktor LE and Denon’s own Engine software), as well as the printed instructions.
It turns out that Engine it’s a significant part of what makes this player different.
We’re going to concentrate on using this unit with Traktor and Engine. Engine is the supplied software from Denon which is kind-of their equivalent of Pioneer’s Rekordbox, but it turns out that Engine it’s a significant part of what makes this player different.
If you’re using a PC rather than a Mac, you need to install the ASIO driver, after which for Traktor, you can install the supplied Traktor LE version and the mapping file.
(Of course, as with all LE software, you’re going to want to real thing, which means upgrading Traktor to Pro. This is now a no-brainer thanks to the recent Traktor price drop; what software DJ is going to buy a US$1,000 media player, then not pay a tenth of that on to to get full software?)
As far as installing Engine goes, it’s plug and play, as you’d expect.
First impressions
As we mentioned, apart from the non-motorised platter, the unit is pretty much identical to the SC3900. It’s heavy, with a metal chassis, a raised screen at the back of the control surface, a plastic faceplate painted in a grey metallic finish, and an industry-standard layout for the buttons, at least on the lower half of the controller. In short, if you’re used to Pioneer, you’ll “get it” instantly.
The main crux of the player – as an all-round workhorse that lets you DJ with whatever methodology or extra gear suits you – is represented by the four buttons across the top of the display.
Denon has gone for hard play/pause and cue buttons, which work better than rubberised or damped ones in that they are more responsive for split-second operation. There is a reverse button, track and fast search buttons, an auto/manual loop section with four hot cue buttons, a USB slot with eject button, a track/menu navigation select knob with associated navigation buttons, and pitch range/slider plus a vinyl mode button for platter control.
Notable additions to a basic DJ media player include mechanical torque adjust, a BPM sync (that works with Engine – more later), manual start and stop time adjusters for accurate vinyl emulation, and a “slip” button similar to that found on the Pioneer CDJ-900 (but inexplicably, not on the CDJ-2000).
Round the back there’s a line-out (RCAs of course), a digital out, a USB for your computer, a link cable socket for networking players together, a power socket and a power switch. (Of course if you’re still using them, there’s a CD slot on the front.)
The four modes
The main crux of the player – as an all-round workhorse that lets you DJ with whatever methodology or extra gear suits you – is represented by the four buttons across the top of the display. It has:
- CD – Not surprisingly, you’ll select this when you want to play from CD. you can play MP3 CDs as well as audio CDs
- USB – Plug in a USB drive (or external HDD), and here’s where you’ll select it
- Link – For sharing files across a network using Denon’s Engine software, you can press this button and make your player (and up to three more) part of a “set”
- Midi – This is the “Traktor button” (or any other DJ software). Hit this and the unit becomes a big Midi controller
In use
The very first thing that strikes you in use is the bright blue lighting around the rim of the platter, with a red “dot” that moves clockwise.
The Denon DJ SC2900 jogwheel has a ring of bringht lights with a different coloured light that moves to show rotation.
This is Denon’s version of the illuminated circle of light at the centre of Pioneer’s platters, and shows you rotation of the platter, so you can instantly see when a piece of vinyl would have turned by one rotation.
Of course, if you’re using the unit for scratching, this is fantastic and its arguably more intuitive than Pioneer’s version, just because it is so damned obvious.
You get a choice of colours (red rotating dot on a blue background, vice versa, and a couple of other less intrusive versions), but they all do the same thing, marking cue points too if set. However, with Traktor you done’t get this due to a limitation in the feedback Traktor can give to the player, so worth bearing this in mind if it’s important to you and you’re buying this exclusively for Traktor use.
Here on Digital DJ Tips we are of course digital / software-centric, and so we’re not going to dwell on the CD or USB side of things so much. So let’s look more at Traktor:
Using the SC2900s with with Traktor
Firstly, I am pleased to report that the supplied mapping is very tight. The overall features are mapped well for hot cues, looping, library selection and so on, and there’s a shift button with an extra layer of controls.
If you’re going down this route rather than buying an all-in-one controller, it’s a safe be that you’ll be looking at a hardware mixer, so your control over Traktor will be limited to deck control, and in that case, it’s all here.
Note that you can’t network two of these together with a cable, then only have one USB going into your computer; you need two separate USB cables.
So what of that all-important factor, the jogwheels? I recently tested a pair of SC3900s in Hybrid mode with a Pioneer Traktor Scratch-certified mixer; this basically meant that the jogwheel performance was simply going to be perfect (it was). Compared to that, the jogwheel performance of the SC2900 is good. Very good, in fact. It is responsive, and tight, and for pro use, almost indistinguishable from timecode.
It is still possible to spin the platter aggressively and have the software not respond exactly to the starting and stopping of it.
But I have to report that it isn’t 100%. It is still possible to spin the platter aggressively and have the software not respond exactly to the starting and stopping of it, even with adjusting the start and stop time and even with tweaking the settings within Traktor.
I have been lucky enough to witness some extremely talented DJs doing tricks with a pair of these that I can only personally dream of doing, and they were doing that with the Traktor mapping, so it’s not like this is going to affect 99% of DJs, but nonetheless the mapping isn’t as good as either timecode or the best software/hardware combinations.
With Pioneer’s CDJ-900 and CDJ-2000 now HID mapped officially to Traktor (I haven’t tried either but I suspect the implementations are good), it will be interesting to see if further improvements are made by Native Instruments and Denon for the SC2900 (and indeed the SC3900).
Overall, then, as Traktor control decks the SC2900s are close to perfect, and capable of use at the highest level with very good results.
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Tags: cross media players, denon, denon dj, dj controllers, dj deck controllers, media player, pro dj controllers, pro dj decks, SC2900
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Maybe I’m just skeptical, but I don’t really see how Engine is going to help Denon in a club environment at all. For a home setup, maybe, but in a club, it doesn’t do anything that Rekordbox hasn’t been doing since it’s inception. Most of it’s “advanced” features seem more geared to gimmicky home setups, and don’t really seem club viable. I can see Engine helping to put them on reasonably level ground, but it’s hardly leading a charge on the booths.
Combined with the players being essentially CDJ-850′s with a single flash drive, and costing more than refurb 900′s, Denon really has to bank hard on price to gain a foothold.
[ link ]I have to agree on the price issue, but Pioneer really needs a push to sort out their TERRIBLE Rekordbox software.
The Denon method of pre-loading the entire track makes it probably 100% stable… where recordbox is far to un-reliable to be used in a club, and it is a terrible and unfriendly piece of software.
Record box is “OK” if you are preparing a playlist on USB stick.. but as for club use ‘Engine’ looks like a vast improvement.
[ link ]Is it just me who finds this comparison with ‘refurbished’ 900′s absolutely stupid?
The 900′s were only released 2-3 years ago, so why would their even be a market for such a thing and does this mean said 900′s would need to be ‘refurbished’ again in another couple of years? (in which time they will probably be discontinued and unable to find parts for any way)
I had my denon dns 5000′s for 6-7 years and pounded them pretty much daily as both my home and mobile set up, they went everywhere in NZ and tolerated some pretty dire environments including outdoor festivals. Apart from the letters on the rubber buttons fading I never had a problem with them and only sold them to upgrade to a multi media type player.
This is a case where Denon have a product that’s layout and work flow is so similar to pioneers that anybody needn’t worry about or pay for the ‘industry standard’. Leaving them only needing to assess the quality and value of both brands and making up their own minds.
‘Refurbished 900′s’ Haha that’s just silly!
[ link ]Hi! I have a guestion not so much about this player but, if I would buy these players (or any players really) can I play track from them without using midi mode and then use software (traktor) for mixing? So that the signal would be digital analog (on the player) first and then digital (on the software, that is controlled with a midi controller)?
[ link ]Yes, if you read this and the 3900 review, you’ll get a gst of how it all fits together.
[ link ]I disagree with sishdisma. Denon finaly came up with an alternative to the cdj 900 and the cdj 2000 with actually more features on their player. The workflow on engine – especially with an ipad – is superb! This makes up completely for the fact that the players don’t have a full colour screen.
In my opinion the players have the same feel as the cdj series. So instead of spending my money on overpriced players I will use these and will be perfectly able to perform on the cdj series when i am playing in the club.
To make a long story short. WAY TO GO DENON!
[ link ]I have been a Denon fan since forever and although CDJ’s are ok and knowing them inside out is a must if you ever play on house systems, I can’t help but think that the general build quality of Denon seems a tad better than that of Pioneer. Again, I am biased though
.
I do think that you need to compare these babies to 2000′s and then the financial proposition is suddenly pretty good. At only 55% (!!!) of the cost of a 2000 and even only 75% of the cost of a 900 I’d say you would be hard-pressed to justify the extra money. Brand bonus only goes so far in my humble opinion.
Add to that the fact that (as another reader commented earlier) Rekordbox is a total an utter piece of disaster software (I have been using it rather intensively recently for the mobile discotheque I sometimes work for and I have gone noticeably more grey since) and Engine seems better featured and way more user friendly and intuitive by comparison
So yeah, WAY TO GO DENON!
[ link ]I just bought a pair of these, to add to my technics 1210 setup. Using them in combination with Engine on the PC is really liberating – loading tunes in over the network works instantly and well.
The last CD deck I had was a long time ago, and not a great experience. It will be a long time before my entire vinyl collection is ripped, but I’m really enjoying using these alongside in an analogue/digital setup!
[ link ]These were announced shortly after I purchased my CDJ-850K’s, and would have certainly been a contender for me if available at the time.
I’d also consider one as a third backup player, but since I am so used to the Rekordbox work-flow, and don’t want two music management applications, my third player will likely be another Pioneer Rekordbox-compatible unit.
What would be really great is a standard open format for music management applications – export from Rekordbox, and play on a Denon, and vice versa.
[ link ]Thanks for the detailed review, Phil. As far as whether you would find one of these in a club:
For many years, before CDJ’s were standard gear in clubs, I would bring my CDJs and plug them in. I was expert at the transition routine from vinyl to CDJs. Of course the same type of acrobatics were repeated when we started showing up with our laptop and controller.
My point is that I don’t think it would be an insurmountable problem to show up to a gig with something like a Denon 2900 and plug it in. So my recommendation would be that if you really want to use something unique like this and master it, you should be able to take those skills right to the gig along with your controller.
[ link ]Thanks for the detailed review of this Phil. Looks to me like the best CD deck Denon have ever produced for “mixing” DJ’s and could well give them a bigger slice of Pioneer’s pie.
The only area it doesn’t quite compete in yet Traktor integration. As Denon were early pioneers of HID integration with Traktor I’m a little surprised not to see it there for these decks.
I wonder if its a strategic move to woo DJ’s away from Traktor. As a long time Traktor user, I have to admit it has me wondering whether I would actually still need Traktor with a pair of these and Engine. I really like the idea of having the advantages of big screen library management (laptop or ipad) but all the “real time” info when you are playing being there on the control surface (the decks).
There are some times when I want a really minimal setup though (e.g. laptop + X1 controller) so I’m not sure I’m quite ready to ditch Traktor just yet. If Denon can add advanced HID support I’d be sorely tempted by these. Even adding Traktor support to drive the LED ring around the platter would be a great improvement… at the moment when using them for midi control there doesn’t seem to be anything to indicate which deck is currently playing.
[ link ]If you prepare your tracks ahead of time, do you still have to use a laptop when you use the Link mode?
[ link ]Good review, thanks! I have a pair of these an I found that using USB without engine preparation takes some time to analyze the songs. How is this with pioneer?
I was told in the dj-stuff shop that they are working on HID integration…. Can anyone confirm?
[ link ]Ahhhh theres the Denon haters, I knew they’d be here somewhere!! OK in the “real” world of less than superich pubs and clubs there lives a whole sea of CDJ1000s MK1,2 & 3s… they all have (in my experience) 2 things in common. 1) Theres bits fallen off them – knobs – faders – USB flaps 2) They are overly complicated and not intuitive. Ok so I came from a world where you had a start button, summats to speed it up and a box of records virtually straight into Digital so I didnt have the love affair with Pioneer that I had with Technics. Mebbe thats why the “industry standard” seems overly complicated to me. BUT that doesnt account for the build quality. I’m not on about your cherished/covered home rig either. Pioneer stuff is put into venues, often, by owners not DJs. They do what the salesman says. Or take the word of the bloke with the CDJs at home who swears he can book them top bands. In my humble experience Denon stuff stands up to the stress of the road a lot more. How do you compare a Merc to a Lexus? (hehe… wheres the Brit entry?) I downloaded Engine just to check it out, its free from the DenonDJ site. Very nice. As for the SC2700, its a beautiful piece of design… Take another look… As long as laptops/ipads CAN crash there’ll be a need for a CD slot (or USB doh!) I love the blue lights… I think it looks prettier than its more expensive sibling… I wonder if my kindney will fetch enough for 2 of them and an ipad?… I wonder if Phil will ban me for being a gobshite?…
[ link ]I just got a pair of these this morning and wondered?…the jog wheels,are they supposed to be noisey?
[ link ]Mine whir and squeak a bit and have a bit of play in them,is this right?
Sorry if i sound an idiot but,I didnt expect them too.
Any info would be great
Had a quick go on them and,they’re not too bad.I went back a step to these as I’ve had a few controllers over the last year but the experience left me empty.I needed to reignite the extinguished flame left by controllers and get back to seperates.
I can say I’ve tried but,you can’t beat the feeling of rooting through the CD and vinyl collection and finding that tune you haven’t heard in ages…I’ve missed that…getting it back though.
Great YouTube videos from you guys and,they’ve really helped with my decision to buy these.
Many thanks,
Steve
Good luck with your new direction! Yes they’re meant to be that way.
[ link ]Thanks Phil,I thought I was being a tad on the stupid side:)
[ link ]Both units won’t link up to my smaller portable hard drive yet,Ive copied some of the mp3′s onto an sd card and they work fine in a USB card reader.
No doubt I’m doing something wrong as I’ve been a typical bloke and…NOT read the instructions:)
I’m going to get a router and cables and try engine as,I’ve not got my CDs out of storage yet so…I’m stuck with mp3′s for a bit yet.
I’d just like to say also…
I got a numark m4 mixer in the package and…it’s not too bad.If it had an f/x loop,I probably wouldn’t have to upgrade…that’s after my bank account is out the coma it’s going to be in until the summer lol.
No doubt I’ll be checking out YouTube and here for sound advice(pardon the pun)
Keep up the sterling work guys
Right…I’ve got to add this to inform you of my findings on the sc2900.
[ link ]Three weeks on and I’ve got major concerns…the platters.
Everyone bangs on about them but,I’m experiencing big problems.I’ve posted a YouTube video today showing the issue so,if you search for denon sc2900 platter/jog wheel problem…it should be there.
Whether on cd or mp3 I hold the platter in vinyl mode and…the music still plays frame by frame…like you’re repeatedly tapping the platter.
Also…I personally think the jog wheel should’ve been built better.I was expecting something that would resemble the platters on the dnmc 6000 but…I was very mistaken.
I had a reloop rmp3 alpha a few years back and the platter build quality was so much better…denon have not come up with the goods in my opinion.
I’m awaiting denon’s reply on the platter problems so,I’ll leave a comment on both their customer service and explanation.
I’ve not updated firmware as,I’ve had this problem since unboxing.
Not impressed and thought people should know.
If you’re in the market for a these…find somewhere that has a demo pair first…
I didnt…I went on reviews and YouTube
My own fault lol
Steve, I think thew first thing you should have done is to update the firmware maybe that bug is already solved, you are not likely to be the first that finds that problem after more than a year I guess.
I’m thinking of getting a pair too, I don’t see any decks with a more “value for money” currently so I’ll follow your experience with the 2900 quite close.
You are so right, before spending that quantity, one should go and do a demo somewhere to see if at least at first touch they appeal to you even if that’s not easy where I live.
About getting Pioneers being more convenient to be ready to play in clubs, if you can beatmatch you can beatmatch on everything, whatever brand there’s at the booth and you don’t even need to prepare anything at home just take a couple of USBs with you and you are ready to go, that’s the beauty of the old school style
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