When you are playing a song in your hotlist, and you add another song to the hotlist while it's playing, the song list on the side that's playing jumps a track, and also puts a tick beside it as though it's been played.

Also, tonight I was doing a 60s and 70s night and had quite a few songs in my hotlist. After about an hour it said hotlist full. Ok I thought, I'll just delete the songs I've already played and add some more. The only problem is that the remove songs option is in the utility menu and you can't access that unless both players are stopped sooooooooo, how can you clear played songs from your hotlist whilst working???

Also, in v1400, will there be the ability to store a hotlist? For example, if I'm doing a wedding, I'll sometimes be given a songlist. It's not a playlist as such, but songs that they'd like played during the event, so I'd like to load the songs into the hotlist at home and then play them during the night, knowing which ones I've played as they'll be ticked off. That's why I don't want to create it as a playlist as I want the tick function. Also if you've spent 30 mins creating a hotlist at the start of the night for later on and then some accidentally turns off the power and you lose it all, can it not be the default setting that all songs in the hotlist are stored automatically and you can then either delete the ones that have been played or delete all (assuming you sort out the ability to remove songs whilst working. SEE ABOVE)

I have noticed that if you call up a track with a memo point which includes any kind of variation in pitch ( ie +1.5% etc) when you go to the next track on that side the speed does not return to "normal"and it tries to play the next track at +1.5%.

Also, if scrolling through the list of songs by a particular artiste, when you go back through those titles, you have to re-enter all the details again.

I have had no problems other than that and enjoy using the 2500 & think this is just a little glitch to be ironed out.

Up to now I havent used the playlist facility, find the lack of instructions a bit daunting, but thats Denon for you!!!

Over to Gary ( Hi by the way!!)

Hmm interesting Glitches in the software

Nik

Glad I decided not to buy one - it would have been returned, as there really is no excuse for programming oversights at that price level.

Maybe HDD controllers are not yet mature enough to compete directly with a PC?

Jeese, youve not had much luck with this ere super dooper bit of kit have ya?

Im sure its something simple - Gary will explain.....

In the HD2500's defence, these are very minor issues . The hotlist can be improved upon, granted, but this was only introduced in the latest firmware, and you don't HAVE to upgrade. The HD2500 does what it does well and is the best of breed as far has HD Controllers go. It is so handy having all your tracks at your fingertips ready to go and using a familiar interface all in 19" 3u package.

Which of course Windows has never found............

No comparrison at all, just two totally different systems, which YOU prefer is the one you should use!!

Personally I own two and would not swap them for 20 laptops......

Exactly so please don't let this thread degenerate into another laptop vs. HDC thread. It's been done loads of times and is getting a bit tiresome.

I have to say there's also a glitch in the Denon DNX1500 mixer firmware upgrade as well, maybe the guy working it all out needs a holiday!

He should have a joint holiday with the guy from Numark. They could get an all inclusive. Director D2 swears i don't have "can't speak french" but I know better!!! No matter - latest firmware/library

I'd just like to clear up any misunderstanding and say that I think the HD2500 is the absolute dogs b ks. I used a laptop for over a year and I had no problems with that, but the Denon has taken it to another level. Yes there are problems, particularly with v1300, but my main reason for airing them is so that Gary/Denon are aware of them, and can therefore look to find a solution, and also for others who my have a similar experience and think that it's something they've done.

These 'issues' are minor when compared to all of the benefits. I'm actually having to work at being a DJ, not just loading songs onto a playlist. I'm mixing and using a lot of the features available and yes, there are somethings which I could do on my laptop which I can't do on the Denon, and I do have my laptop with me, both for backup and for when I need these particular features, but I would never go back to just using my laptop. And it's not about which is best, laptop or HDD controller. It's what you prefer and what does the job for your style of DJing.

My main job is taxi driving, and there are currently two main choices for taxi, TX4 or E7. The TX4 has the turning circle of the traditional 'London' taxi, but has only five seats, although it's available as an automatic. The E7 has the turning circle of a van, as it's based on the Peugeot van, is only available in a manual, but has six seats and better fuel economy. Both will turn around (eventually) and both will get your passengers to their destination, but I like my turning circle and auto box, so I drive the TX4, but if they were to produce an auto E7, I'd probably drive that, and sacrifice the turning ability. Neither is better or worse than the other, just different. At the end of the day it's horses for courses and you use what you prefer.

[quote name='bigMCben' date='Jun 29 2008, 06:26 PM' post='216069']
I'd just like to clear up any misunderstanding and say that I think the HD2500 is the absolute dogs b ks. I used a laptop for over a year and I had no problems with that, but the Denon has taken it to another level. Yes there are problems, particularly with v1300, but my main reason for airing them is so that Gary/Denon are aware of them, and can therefore look to find a solution, and also for others who my have a similar experience and think that it's something they've done.

These 'issues' are minor when compared to all of the benefits. I'm actually having to work at being a DJ, not just loading songs onto a playlist. I'm mixing and using a lot of the features available and yes, there are somethings which I could do on my laptop which I can't do on the Denon, and I do have my laptop with me, both for backup and for when I need these particular features, but I would never go back to just using my laptop. And it's not about which is best, laptop or HDD controller. It's what you prefer and what does the job for your style of DJing.


I totally agree!!! My point was only raised so that Gary "clocks" it and hopefully it will be rectified next time around.

My tip: Make the database as bomb proof as possible in as much as remember to re-build it whenever you add to it.

And whether it's a laptop or HDD controller, I hope you never have to utter those dreaded six words

I WISH I'D BACKED IT UP

Totally agree with you on that statement Kingy..and in respect to your comment of:







...consider it clocked... I've already been able to replicate the couple of items mentioned and have submitted a button-by-button "how to see" sheet to "the powers that be". Obviously I cant say that "this" and "that" will definately be adjusted in firmware Vxxxx - much in the same way that Bill Gates cant say that Vista will be 100% glitch/crash free by the end of 2009 when its superceded by yet another brand new operating system - currently nicknamed "Windows Vienna".









...and I agree wih you Kingy, for agreeing with BigMcBen on that too...



and...






I agree on that too, although with only minor glitches rather than anything really worth avoiding on the Version 1300 firmware - it's well worth upgrading.



Crikey... I agreed with him, that, him, that, and him, and that... I'm just so agreeable.



Right onto those questions:



HOTLIST - (and how to remove played/ticked tracks from it, with music running.)

The Hotlist stores upto 99 tracks that you think you might want to play - eg: Songs that you noticed in search results whilst you were searching for something else and thought "Hmmmm, I might play that later", and also for storing peoples requests for "Can you play this'n later on...?" etc.



I also use the Hotlist to build my list for an evenings "Buffet Break Music" during the pre-buffet music..a few tracks at a time, based upon what requests people have submitted during the first have of the evening - so..all those "half worthy" requests for "Please play anything by..." get represented during the buffet. The DN-HD2500 with play through a Hotlist with Crossfade on...so it'll give a smooth, gentle crossfade out of one track into the next, from whichever position in the Hotlist you started it from.



Every track in the Hotlist has a tick placed by the side of the track name when the track is selected and played. Ticked/played tracks can be removed from the Hotlist using the Utility Menu. However, as the Hotlist can store 99 tracks, which is over 6.5 hours worth of music (roughly) you may not need to clear the played/ticked tracks all that often during the course of an evening - depending on how many bursts of inspiration and/or requests you've had.



You can clear the playlist of played/ticked tracks using the "Remove Played Tracks" feature in the Utility Menu...and still have the DN-HD2500 supply music to your atmosphere-hungry party-animal audiences...(oh yes you can...honest).



The Utility Menu cant be accessed whilst the DN-HD2500 is reading music from harddrive. This is a safety feature. With features such as "Format Drive To FAT32" and "Create Full Database" both of which would either empty your hard drive, or stop it from playing music, or both - so...these are more the sorts of housekeeping functions that you'll use "off-stage" at home for example - rather than something that you want to activate accidently - mid track... (eeek!) and in the middle of a gig, as mentioned on another thread, its all too easy to get distracted.



But...there are indeed two ways of keeping music playing using a DN-HD2500, whilst using the "remove played tracks" command from the Utility Menu, on your Hotlist.



1) Users who have any of the 3 types of professional CD-Drawers (BU-4500, DN-D4500, or DN-D4000) attached to their DN-HD2500 can simply cue up and start off a track from their CD decks, change the Source back away from CD...press Cue (so that side is effectively stopped) and just spend about 5 seconds to activate the "Remove Played Tracks" feature. Hey Presto.



2) For anyone using a DN-HD2500 without CD-drawers, you still have a way of keeping music going whilst accessing the Utility Menu and running the "Remove Played Tracks" feature. PM me if you'd like the details on that.





PLAYLISTS with HOTLIST FEATURES (and Vice versa)

It's unlikely, that there will ever be a "Save Hotlist to a Playlist" feature... and doubtful that there'll be the reverse feature eg: "Copy Playlist to Hotlist" feature - although I acknowledge how that might be useful to get ticks displayed alongside the tracks in a list that was sent to you by a Bride & Groom, weeks before the big day - rather than crossing off tracks from the B&Gs printed list. so, I have submitted that to TPTB - on the off-chance that it might be possible - either on the DN-HD2500 or maybe a future model. It wouldnt be the first time that a DJU members request for firmware features has been taken worldwide by Denon DJ.





PLAYLISTS:

Playlists can also hold 99 tracks in them (6.5 hours of music per playlist). You can store up to 1000 playlists per hard drive. Playlists can be created using Music Manager on a PC/laptop living at home, then transfered to the hard drive for use at gigs from then on, or created on the DN-HD2500 itself at a gig via the 2500 front panel.



Rather usefully, before you even start compiling any playlists, you can set-up categorys for playlists...so...for example, I have a category called "Ballroom Dancing" - under that catergory, I have a playlist called "traditional Waltzes" with about 80 traditional track in it, then another playlist under the same category called "modern waltzes", another playlist there called "traditional tangos" etc.etc.etc.etc... Categorys are really useful for grouping playlists together.



Playlists can be crossfaded smoothly from track to track as described above - but also, you can load a different playlist onto each side of the DN-HD2500 and let them crossfade one track from the "left" playlist, crossfading into one track from the "right" playlist...then the next track from the left playlist, followed by the next track from the right playlist etc.



Playlists are stored on the drives themselves, so stay with you from gig to gig - also, if you take a hard drive of all your music and playlists to a venue with a DN-HD2500 installed - all your playlists go with that drive, and therefore, with you.



Oh, and Alicat (on the Numark D2) - the search problem you have with the Numark D2 finding "Can't Speak French". I'm guessing, but it might be the apostrophe in "Can't" which could be causing the problem - especially if the track listing came off of one of the CDDB or other Internet based, user-submitable databases. I know of a hard drive / ripped tunes user who had similar search issues with other tracks with foreign characters (ok, I know that apostrophes aren't "foreign" but...well, you know). The user who had submitted/uploaded the track listings tag info, had typed everything in using (it was suspected) a Non-UK keyboard. So when the tag inputer was pressing @ on their keyboard, the ascii code for a pair of speech marks was actually being stored by the CDDB database - similar mis-matches could (?) happen with apostrohes.



It could be a similar mis-searching/Non char matching issue that you're having on your Numark D2. Try tag editting the track in question using your own PC keyboard (I'm guessing that's a UK English one?), so that Librairian is 100% sure of all the characters used in all the tags. The DN-HD2500 has a keyboard locality setting, and also a region setting, to help get around related problems, but I really dont know if the D2 does, or doesnt, have similar settings.

Lol I own 3 laptops and can do so much more with one of them than 20 HDC could do all linked up lol.

I know windows has its problems but my point is I was slated on here for using windows and software problems would never happen with the Denon as the software is written for a single unit and not an all encompasing thing like a PC... I marvel at how complex a PC must be for one bit of software to work for the most part perfectly with all the other components from other manufacturers and all the variables that this would entail.

As for the HD2500 it is manufactured by one company and so the software should be rocksolid for the one and only unit it was written for.

I would agree it is probably the best HDC out there but then carlsberg dont make HDC's...

If they did it would do all that my laptop can do with out missing a beat

BTW good to see you back on here Kingy...

Nik

Thanks Gary, great responce as usual.

And Hello Nik!!

.. Denon don't make very good beer either.

To be fair the unit IS rocksolid. I'm a member of the Denon forum awell and most of the problems are either user error, not using the with recommended external hardware (i.e powered hubs) or occasionallly a broken hard disk. All of which could happen on a laptop.

Having used the Denon for a year there are still a few reasons why I carry a laptop.

* Inspiration - There is no way to see lots of tracks on the screen to decide what to play. Personally I use Mediamonkey to give me a screenfull of tracks I can look at ratings, genres etc to decide what is next.
* Playlists - No easy way to construct them on the fly. Personally I don't like the way they appear to create duplicate tracks, though this may have changed in a new firmware version. I stopped using them months ago. The laptop is better for the start of the night and the buffet break.
* Hotlist - It's in its infancy and therefore not great

Reasons why I use the HD2500
* It's tactile. You feel part of the DJ experience, mixing, chopping tracks in and out. Personally i'm trying to use the mic less as I am a bit of chatterbox, so I want better than fade in / out. I don't like clicking a mouse to play a track. It is much easier to hit the right button on a controller and there is zero latency. I want to feel as I am doing to work to make the crowd dance like 15 years ago when i was using records and cds
* It's actually cheaper than a good laptop with good software, soundcard and a controller.

There is a Pioneer unit now which does Karaoke, but I wouldn't swap it for that.

Give me a unit that does video, picture slideshows and music, plus the ability to output to multiple screens and i'll buy it, otherwise i will stick with a (cheap) laptop and the HD2500.

Some great points for and against both forms of play in.... I have nothing against the HD2500 I just hate how some people think it there god given right to slate DJs who dont use it in favour of a laptop...

As my quote says at the bottom of this post its the music that matters, and the service we provide to our customers....

As for your last point I would also like a HDC that can record on the fly from my mixer allow me to edit the recording and play it out instantly.....

Untill a HDC can do all you wish for plus my above item it dont come anywhere near being as useful to me as my laptop, and this thread goes to show that even the mighty Denon have problems with software..

Nik

Talking of Pioneer....I believe they are looking into the 'controller market'.

Probably be over priced and limited on the effects, but let's wait and see!

Apologies for hi-jacking the thread!

Carry on!

Presumably you would want this for Karaoke ?
See my other post about taking the show to the next level. I have no interest in Karaoke per say (you should hear me sing!), but if a laptop with the right software would help me go to the next level then maybe I can use my combination of both for better results. I know use OTS Nik, but I have trialed it and I can't seem to get on with it. You don't see to be able to do a lot of things that other software can do, or am I missing the point. Cue In / Outs / Automix / Beatmatching etc. Do you use it in conjunction with a mixer and / or a Hardware controller ?

I too have hijacked this thread, but all good conversation in understanding the pros and cons.

i'm honestly amazed so many of you are digital already

big mac

... requireing you to buy the EFX1000 equivalent....?

But the DJM800 is a nice bit of kit, and seems to be the 'standard' in a lot of the clubs I've been to, along with at least 2 x CDJ1000's..


David

No I just use the controls on the keyboard... All this stuff about need ing jog wheels etc or I dont feel like im in Control... Sory you lost that when you went from vinal to CD... I can do just about everything on my keyboard that you can with a control unit. As with going from vinal to CD its a learning curve and being prepared to work differently. you used to put the needle on the record (Cue for a tune) you then used to put a shiny disc in a draw now you click a mouse and hit F2.. Its just progression IMHO...

Sorry to have Hi jacked the thread also...

HD2500 is junk laptop is cool.... There you go back on thread (just to confirm this was a joke)

Nik

Glad to see you using your own pic at last Nik. What a handsome guy!

Ah well it was taken about 10 years back... Boy you should see me now i've had plastic surgery...



Nik

Well both devices - Laptop and MP3 controller - achieve the same desired result. Yes I accept that they're many things you can do on a laptop but the same can be said for the controllers. I opted for my D2 purely becuase a) a cannot afford 2 DECENT laptops and b) it's nice to have everything in one case.

My D2 has skiped or paused up at times - due to opening a corrupt WAV file and for browsing through files without building the library. Luckily this was only when I was learning to use it in my house and both occasions were my fault. I agree that dedicated kit should not be prone to failiure like this BUT it is us - the consumer - that are real testers. It's only when these products get released in the market that the faults etc get identified.

I'm just glad that manufacturers such as Numark are keen to iron out the bugs with their firmware releases. But I do accept that they seem to choose to ignore other issues - such as the ones identified and posted on the their forums. But mind you, some of the problems do seem to be down to ignorance or a lack of detail in the reference manuals from Numark - their manuals are suprisingly light on information!

This is a fairly old post, relatively speaking, although the off-topic parts about avatars etc kept it bumped for a while.

With regards to the firmware (Version 1300) originally mentioned in the topic/thread title, it's no longer the current firmware. Users who are keen to have the latest firmware on their units may want to download version 1400 which is now available.

As general advice, almost all, if not in fact "all" the hard drive controllers such as the Cortex1000/3000/5000, the Denon 2500/5500/1200, the Numark D2 (and others) have had several firmware updates released for them since those units first became available.

If anyone is having any remaining concerns with their chosen make/model, it would be well worth their while checking their manufacturers websites to check what the latest firmware version numbers are, compared to what version of firmware each user has in their chosen Hard Drive Controller. There's usually a mixture of fixes, enhancements and brand new features in all the manufacturers firmware updates.