Rane System One Standalone Motorised DJ Controller Review

Video Review

First Impressions / Setting up

Straight out of the box, the Rane System One feels serious. It’s metal, it’s heavy, and those adjustable feet give it a nice high working position. The unit arrives with the platters separate – you need to attach them yourself, which takes maybe five minutes. The platters themselves are the same high-quality 7.2″ motorised units from the Rane One controllers, complete with slipmats and vinyl tops that feel really nice to use.

That vertical screen immediately catches your eye. It’s 7″ and sits flush with and right above the upfaders and crossfaders, pushing the EQs to either side, which is completely new for this kind of gear. Rane has gone for vertical waveforms by default, though you can switch to horizontal if you prefer. I quite liked the vertical layout – it feels fresh and gives you that classic Serato Scratch Live perspective on your tracks. The waveforms have also moved to RGB colours rather than the blue/green Engine DJ has used for years, which is a welcome update.

Setting up should be straightforward, but it wasn’t, actually! The unit walked me through connecting to Wi-Fi, then prompted me to update the firmware and connect to my Engine DJ profile. Trouble was it took a couple of reboots to recognise my WiFi, then the same to finish the rest, and in the end it became a bit of trial and error.

If you’ve already been using Engine DJ software to prepare your music, you’re basically ready to go: just plug in your USB drive or SD card. The unit gives you plenty of options here: three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, an SD card slot, plus the option to install a 2.5″ SATA drive internally (sold separately). That’s more connectivity than most standalone units offer.

One thing worth pointing out early on – you need to analyse your tracks for stems ahead of time using the Engine DJ desktop software. The unit can analyse beatgrids itself, but stem analysis on the hardware wasn’t available at launch (though Rane says it’s coming in early 2026).

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In Use

Over an admittedly shorter than ideal period of testing, the System One does what it sets out to do – it’s a standalone unit with motorised platters. Those platters are good. The torque is adjustable (low or high), and you can set the stop time to simulate vinyl spindown effects. They’re responsive and smooth, though whether they feel “like the real thing” probably depends on how precious you are about turntable feel. They’re exactly the same as previous similar products from this brand, so if you like those…

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The mixer section is solid Rane hardware. Those Precision Feel channel faders are smooth, and the Mag Four crossfader is good – certainly better than most standalone units. You can adjust the tension on the crossfader from the front panel and the rest by removing the mixer faceplate, which is easy to do, and there’s crossfader cut-in adjustment in the settings. For scratch DJs, this hardware will feel familiar.

Effects & stems

The effects implementation is comprehensive. You’ve got sweep effects (five types including filter, noise, wash, reverb, and dub echo), main BPM effects (over 25 of them), touch effects (10 different ones you control via the touchscreen), and fader effects (four types). The paddle-style effect triggers work well, though the sheer number of options takes time to learn. I’m sure (like most people) I would find myself sticking to maybe six or seven effects in regular use.

Stems implementation works as intended. With a stemmed track loaded, you get instant acapella and instrumental buttons for quick blends. Press them with shift held down and you get echo-out effects on the other stems. The stem level mode lets you use the EQ knobs to control vocal, melody, and drum levels independently. The pads can also control stems with visual feedback on the little OLED displays above each pad.

The stem quality itself is what you’d expect from current AI separation technology – usable in the mix, less convincing when isolated.

The playlist bank buttons (A, B, C) are useful in daily practice. You can save tracks directly to playlists assigned to these buttons and recall them instantly, which helps with building sets. On the opposite deck, you get global controls for microphone effects and output EQ – There’s a 10-band EQ for both main and booth outputs, plus microphone reverb and echo with controls. The anti-feedback feature also works.

Limitations and design quirks

Now onto the limitations: The biggest one is that this is only a two-channel unit. If you regularly mix on three or four decks, this isn’t for you, full stop. More significantly, there’s only a single auxiliary input. You can’t plug in turntables or CDJs for a DVS-style setup. This stops the System One being the complete all-rounder it could have been – if you wanted to use this as your main mixer with external sources, you’re limited to one auxiliary input plus your two built-in decks.

For a company with Rane’s heritage in turntable mixers, that feels like a significant omission. I strongly suspect we’ll see a Rane System Two or System Four at some point with four channels and proper phono inputs, but that’ll inevitably push the price up significantly from this already expensive starting point.

The motor off behaviour is another long-standing personal frustration with this platter design. When you turn the motor off (to DJ like you would on CDJs or non-motorised controllers), you lose the ability to do vinyl-style scratching and cueing on the platter itself. You can still nudge for pitch adjustment, but you can’t grab the top and treat it like vinyl. This is probably a technical limitation, but it’s disappointing.

The USB ports are all round the back, which I don’t love. I’d prefer at least one on the front for quick USB swaps (and for safety). At least the SD card slot is better safety-wise – it’s flush to the unit and thus more secure. But sticking USBs out the back just feels awkward to me.

Software learning curve, sound quality and stability

For a beginner, especially one new to Engine DJ, the learning curve here is real. This unit does a lot, and you need time to get comfortable with it all. The touchscreen is responsive and well laid out, but there’s menu diving if you want to access the deeper settings. Once you know where things are, it becomes familiar enough.

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Super casual DJs can immediately hook up their streaming service because it comes with Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Beatport, Beatsource, SoundCloud, and Tidal Music. But learning how to properly build a collection in Engine DJ’s laptop software, including learning the quirks of the system, is another thing newcomers would have to figure out at some point. Engine DJ can import your Serato collection, which makes sense given this is clearly aimed at Serato scratch DJs who haven’t considered going laptop-free until now.

Sound quality is clean with plenty of headroom. The main outputs are either balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA, booth outputs are balanced TRS, and there’s proper gain structure throughout. The microphone preamps are transparent with good gain range, and the anti-feedback processing works without colouring the sound too much.

The unit is stable. I didn’t experience any crashes or freezes, and track loading is quick whether you’re pulling from a USB drive or using a streaming service. As said, the System One supports all the major streaming services, plus Dropbox for your own music. You need subscriptions to these services, but the integration works.

Finally, I have to mention that this is the first DJ unit I’ve seen that has a locking USB-C. They provide a USB-C cable with an extra screw-in lock and a corresponding thread on the back of the unit. Were you to lose this cable, you could use any USB-C just fine. But stick with their cable, and you’ve got the assurance of the USB-C not accidentally getting jiggled out.

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Conclusion

The Rane System One does what it says – it’s a standalone unit with motorised platters. If you’ve been waiting for that specific combination, here it is. The build quality is good, the platters work well, and Engine DJ has more features here than in previous standalone units. Technologically, this is a highly accomplished achievement.

Of course, it’s worth asking whether you actually need motorised platters. If you’re a scratch DJ or you learned on vinyl and want that tactile feel, then yes, motorised platters make a real difference. But fixed jogwheels are often easier to use and more precise for nudging, and if you’ve been brought up on fixed platter controllers or club-style CDJs, this unit might not be for you. It’s possible you’ll be better served by something like the Denon DJ Prime 4+, which offers more channels and costs less.

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Whether the System One is worth £2,199 depends on what you need. For open format DJs who mix on turntables or motorised controllers and want to drop the laptop, this fills a gap nothing else fills. You’re getting decent hardware, extensive effects, stems support, streaming integration, and those motorised platters in one package. It’s fun to use and the virtual screen is genuinely innovative – we don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The competition isn’t direct because nobody else makes a standalone motorised system. The closest is the Denon DJ Prime 4+ at £1,999, but that has fixed jogwheels. If you specifically want motorised platters, you’re choosing between this at £2,199, or a DVS set-up with separate turntables plus a mixer, which gets expensive and requires a laptop.

Rane System One: Who’s it for?

The two-channel limitation will matter to some. If you mix on more decks, look elsewhere. The single auxiliary input means you can’t build this into a DVS setup with external turntables or CDJs, which stops it being the complete mixer solution some DJs might have hoped for. These aren’t small compromises, and as I said, I’d bet we’ll see a Rane System Two or System Four down the line with more channels and inputs – though expect to pay more for it.

This controller also shines for DJs who want the flexibility to switch between standalone mode and different software platforms. Should it work seamlessly with Serato alongside Engine DJ (as promised), with both making use of that big screen, it’ll appeal to Serato users who’ve tried standalone but want to keep their options open. Whether they occasionally need laptop mode themselves or want to share the unit with friends who haven’t made the standalone leap yet, that flexibility matters.

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Of course, working with Algoriddim’s Djay Pro software is another benefit, because when it comes to stems and beatgrids, that software is pretty much leading the pack and, at the moment, winning a lot of fans year-on-year. So, to an extent, that also makes this unit more valuable than it would have been otherwise.

Rane’s parent company inMusic has a history of updating Engine DJ firmware with new features, which should keep this unit relevant. Just remember that this is a fairly specific tool for a fairly specific need – standalone DJing with motorised platters. If that’s what you want, this delivers it. If you need more flexibility in terms of channels or external inputs, you’ll need to wait or look elsewhere.