Denon DN-D4500 dual rack mount CD-deck
Several years ago Denon released the
DN-4000, the predecessor to the new
DN-D4500. The 4000's 2 rack units + 2
rack units "fit anywhere" design,
together with its reputation of a simple
to use, easy to rely on, audio workhorse
meant that it got, and gets used and
abused in thousands of venues worldwide.
The new DN-D4500 has built upon the
popularity of its predecessor and added
extra features to it, for little or no
difference to the retail price. MP3
users especially will enjoy being able
to do almost anything with an MP3 disc
that they can do with shop bought audio
CD's - and more besides.
DJ's everywhere will be pleased to find
out that user choice and preference
plays a trump card in this and other
Denon CD-decks.
Drawer closer...and closer.
It's a bit of a tease, but lets start
with the DN-D4500 drawer unit. A
standard 19inch rack mount unit,
measuring only 2 rack units high, with
two proper opening/closing drawers. The
power button is recessed into the front
panel of the unit, and is protected by
an effective hood, which prevents you
off'ing the power accidently while
leaning forward over your gear to talk
to that Tracy who keeps asking for R'n'B
all night, but can't name any R'n'B
artist or track.
Whilst talking of drawers however, isn't
it fun when you accidentally eject a
disc whilst its playing. No, it isn't
really, is it. The DN-D4500 not only has
the semi-common safety feature to ignore
the drawers open/close buttons whilst
the CD in that drawer is currently
playing, but can also be set to ignore
the Track Select control during disc
play too, saving you from the
embarrassment of silence followed by the
even more embarrassing sound of jeering,
which will be engraved into your brain
if you've ever accidentally changed
tracks mid-play.
Another, albeit less embarrassing event
is getting a CD, your fingers, your
headphone cable, roadie etc trapped in a
closing CD drawer, or worse still
walking into a CD drawer that's been
left open. To counter these potential
nasties, the DN-D4500 drawers close
automatically after so many seconds; how
many seconds...aha...you choose! How?
Well, remember above that I mentioned
choice? You can choose an Auto-close
time on the CD-drawers, so if you've
been rammed into a tiny corner between
the 12 piece band and the fruit machine,
and space is tight, you can set the
auto-close time to 10 seconds, so its
open for less time. Elsewhere, where
space isn't so tight but, quick disc
changes are required at short notice
like when the Bride insists on "Girls
just wanna have fun...NEXT !!!, you
might prefer the drawers stay open for
30, 60 seconds or just never close on
their own - eagerly waiting to gobble
your disc. Like all Denon Presets - your
settings are remembered from gig to gig
- even after the units unplugged from
the power - more on Presets later.
The drawers have a slightly recessed
dish in the middle of the drawer,
probably your CD-rom drive drawer has
one too - go on, have a look.... did it?
Oh ok, good. This allows the unit to
play the promotional/cutesy 8cm discs
without some risky flimsy plastic
adaptor, as well as the industry
standard 12cm discs.
Waiter?! The menus please.
Just like on the drawer Auto-closing
times mentioned previously - Overall
there are over a dozen features in the
DN-D4500's Presets, which with other
CD-decks, you're just stuck with the
factory-fitted settings each and every
time you switch on. Would you rather
your DN-D4500 show you the Remaining
time left on a playing track, rather
than Elapsed time (I know I would...I
know whether I've got enough time to
dash to the loo and back before the
track ends)?, and you'd rather the CD
paused automatically when it reaches the
end of each track, rather than playing
the beginning of the next track through
the fader that you accidently haven't
faded out yet? You'd like your Denon
display to flash a warning when theres
only XX seconds of track left to play,
and you'd like your DN-D4500 to remember
all these settings gig after gig,
without you re-adjusting them every
time...you can!... That's the beauty of
Denons Preset Menus.
"C'mon, C.mon...oh yeah, quicker,
quicker, c'mon...LOAD!"
Also good for quick changes, is the
ability which the DN-D4500 shares with
most of the current Denon CD-decks, of
allowing you to select the track number
AS you're putting the disc in the
player, not just after the disc has
entered the CD-deck, loaded the CD's
track info and spun-up etc. True, whilst
leaving your hands free'd up instantly
to move over to your mic and/or mixer,
this feature may only save you 5~10
seconds during a last minute change of
mind (or change of disc), but then what
does 5 seconds of silence sound like -
as far as your audience is concerned?
Each of the two drawers has an
open/close button and a super bright LED
mounted above each drawer to illuminate
the loading area. However...Not even
these hyper bright blue LED's are going
to help when you're trying to read your
self-adhesive CD-label with 250 MP3
track listings printed on it in font
size 2.5 ... Lets talk MP3's
MPfree and easy
Whilst some other manufacturers have
turned their backs on the format for as
long as they could, there's no doubt
that Denon have embraced MP3 as a valid
and workable DJ medium. The DN-D4500
incorporates the same MP3 library
feature that Denons other, top-end
CD-decks boast giving you the ability to
search all the MP3 tracks on a CD in
Alphabetical order, by either Artist
Name, or Song Title. Simply press the
(now standard) Parameters Knob on the
Denon for two seconds to enter the
Search mode, and choose whether you'd
like to search the CD by Artist Name or
Song Title.
With an MP3 disc loaded, featuring a
load of disco favourites, Lets say we
choose Artist name. On screen is Abba -
Dancing Queen. Turning the parameters
knob gives me "Abba - Fernando", "Abba -
Waterloo", "Amy Grant-Baby Baby",
"Anastasia - Left Outside Alone", and
back round to Dancing Queen. Now, If I
turn the parameter knob whilst pushing
it in, I get the B's, the C's, the D's
etc... If I take it up to "T" for
example, let go the display shows
"Tiffany - I think we're alone now",
"Tight Fit-The lion sleeps tonight",
"Tight Fit-Back to the sixties", "T Rex
- I love to boogie" etc... Easy. When
the track that I want to play, is on the
display, I simply press the large
illuminated "CUE" button, the display
says "Searching" for a few seconds -
then the Cue button lights up steady,
and the track is cued at the beginning,
or can be cued manually to any point.
How do they do that? (I'm sorry, I
hyphen a clue!)
Does this stunning MP3 search feature
require any pre-planning, or some clever
Database to be stored on the disc -
well, nope - not really. All you need to
do is make sure that the filenames of
the tracks which you're burning to CDR
are in the format of artist name then
song title, separated by a hyphen -
that's a minus sign to you roadies out
there! Eg: "James Blunt-You're
beautiful.mp3". That's nice and easy and
the only problem that I've found with
this is if you have artist names with
hyphens in them. So, if you had "Murder
on the dancefloor" stored in the format
of Artist name-song title, you'd end up
with an artist called "Sophie Ellis",
and a track called "Bexter-Murder on the
dance floor", not too much of a problem
as you'd be able to find it under the
"S" artist names, and I'm sure that
Sophie wouldn't mind you missing the
minus out of her name.
Obviously, tracks can also be selected
on ordinary audio CD's by number eg:
"Track 12" or "Track 16" etc... but, the
Denon makes accessing these tracks
easier too. Turning the Track select
knob (with a soft click every few
degrees) steps you forward, or backward
through the track numbers 1 track per
click at a time, however, pushing the
Track select knob down while turning it,
steps you through 10 tracks per click.
Audio CD's with CD-text on them, will
have their Album and Track text scrolled
across the main display.
Constantly Variable, or variably
constant?
If I were to ask you how many building
blocks would be need to be placed
end-to-end to reach from one end of a
room to the other, you'd ask what size
the blocks are. If I said "variable"
you'd only be able to make a rough,
approximate guess as to the answer - the
same goes for Variable Bit Rate
Recording - a problematic format, with
only an 11% to 25% average space saving
on a CDR costing 4 pence a piece.
So, when copying your entire vinyl,
cassette tape, and CD singles collection
onto recordable CDRs or CDRW's (The
DN-D4500 is equally happy with
Recordable and Re-writables disc), do
yourself plenty of favours for now and
the future, by only choosing Constant
Bit Rate encoding (CBR), rather than
Variable Bit Rate (VBR) Recording, on
your CD-recording software. Features
relating to precision timing such as
Manual (frame by frame) searching within
a track, accurately editable Seamless
Loops, accurate remaining track/disc
time etc all need Constant Bit Rate
formats. So, stay constant on your
encoding now, and you wont regret it
later, with either this, or other
models. Using VBR can save you between
11~25% capacity (depending on the tracks
musical content), but CDR's are so cost
effective now, that burning 100 discs
instead of 75 will cost you only a £2.50
more in blank CDR costs.
Delivery Bay - yep, 'round the back.
On the rear of the 2 rack unit high
(88mm without its rubber feet) drawer
unit, are a captive (can't fall out)
power lead, a multi-pin socket for the
connection to the Main control unit, a
red and a white phono/RCA socket for the
left deck, a red and a white phono/RCA
socket for the right deck. Each deck
also has an orange digital out socket
running at -6db of normal output, for
distortion-free connection to the ever
increasing number of mixers with digital
inputs.
"Don't get me started!...oh go on then"
The DN-D4500 is also blessed with a
standard 3.5mm stereo jack fader start
socket for each deck, meaning that you
can have your chosen track start up
instantly, the moment that you move the
crossfader or channel fader on mixers
equipped with the fader start function -
a handy feature for when you're already
juggling a microphone, a request slip,
and a mixer fader.
Back to the Front:
Ok, enough teasing. We're onto the main
front panel. At only 62mm deep (+ 18mm
if you keep the rubber feet on), and
only 2 rack units (88 mm) high the
control panel should fit effortlessly
into the top slanted section of any DJ
console or flight case - or of course
above or below a 19inch wide DJ mixer.
As with all current Denon dual CD
Players, the controls for the left deck
are identically laid out when compared
to the controls for the right hand deck
- not mirror imaged as I've seen on some
units - that was a little too confusing,
even for me. (Ooohh? Who said
"Especially for you?" cheeky!).
Dots and Dashes.
To enable a minimum number of buttons to
operate and adjust the plethora of
features offered by the unit, four of
the buttons have two functions on them.
A brief press of the button gets you the
feature labelled with a dot in front, a
2 second press gets you the feature
labelled with a dash. Thankfully, Denon
have thought carefully about which
functions need a full 2 seconds to
access them, and which actions you need
to be able to perform instantly. For
example, a low priority function, like
seeing how many Hours, Minutes, and
Seconds you've got left to play on the
CD, or adjusting your favourite presets,
is a 2 second press. Important buttons,
which need rapid/instant control, such
as ermmm PLAY!!! Is instant (and
internally illuminated, handy as we work
in the near-dark). The Cue button is
also illuminated. Both buttons are
large, rubbery, have a good tactile feel
and a reassuringly deep travel - rather
than the flush metal "Lift call" type
buttons found on some other units.
The largest control on the panel is the
Search wheel, which allows you to move
back and forth through the frames of a
track to accurately find your perfect
cue point, just like a mini vinyl
record. This same control also acts as a
pitch bend when the track is playing,
enabling you to nudge the track a little
faster, or dab down the track a little
slower to match beats with another track
when beat mixing. For those DJ's who
prefer to do their Pitch bending with
buttons, two tactile Pitch Bend buttons
(+ and -) are featured on the panel
also.
Around the outside of the Search Wheel
is the Scan Collar. Which, when you're
cueing up a track, allows you to jump
quickly forwards or backwards by a so
many seconds. How many seconds? What
works best for you? 1 minute jumps, 10
seconds jumps...sorry, I'm teasing
again... the DN-D4500 Preset menu,
mentioned earlier, allows you to preset
how big you want the jumps to be,
10seconds? 20? 30? 1minute? You choose -
and it remembers your choice, gig after
gig after gig - until you want to change
that setting, which takes seconds.
Operating the scan collar is a little
like holding the lid of a jam jar, a
nudge a few degrees clockwise jumps you
forward, a nudge a few degree
anti-clockwise jumps you backwards. Get
roughly where you want to get to using
the scan collar with your own personal
preset jump times, then home in to the
exact frame that you need, using the
inner search wheel. Thanks to the
user-adjustable jump steps, fast
accurate cueing doesn't get much quicker
than this.
Sales Pitch
The DN-D4500 two pitch sliders (one for
each deck) are pretty much the full
height of the 2U high control panel, and
confirm to the usual layout of Zero in
the middle, slide down for faster, slide
up for slower. How fast and how slow?
Again this is adjustable to the DJ's
preference and musical needs, using a 2
second press of the button marked "Key
Adjust/Pitch Range". The pitch range is
selectable between +/-4% for easy
precision where the tracks you're mixing
are close in BPM terms, 10% (a happy
medium), 16% (for those tracks where
their BPMs differ a lot, also 24%, and
even 50% and 100% (The only way to play
the Birdie Song, or Opps upside your
head).
For the beatmixers among you, who like
to keep long running mixes held in sync
for ages, you'll be interested in
knowing that the pitch increments are
0.1% at pitch ranges up to +/-16%, and
1% increments at the higher pitch
ranges.
Chipmunking vocals at high pitches and
Darth Vader vocals at slow speeds is
avoided by a very smooth "Key Adjust"
system (which some my know as "Master
Tempo". This feature is simply switched
on, or off from a brief press of the
Pitch Range button and can even be set
in the units Presets, to come on as
default everytime you power up, which
saves any nasty surprises on your first
mix of the night.
For momentary increases/decreases in the
speed of the track that's playing, eg:
when getting two beatmatched songs into
sync with each other, there are Pitch +
and - buttons provided, which are
progressive, eg: The longer you keep
your finger on them, the more effect
they have on the playing speed. When
you're using a pitch range between 4%
and 24%, the pitch bend buttons offer
+/- 32% bend, at higher pitch ranges you
get +/-99% which can lead to some very
interesting effects.
Here we go loopy-loop...
The DN-D4500 boasts two seamless loops -
that's more than most CD-decks, not
quite as many as its bigger brothers,
and definitely the right amount for
convenience and remix-ability for most
mobile situations. Unlike a mere
sampler, the seamless loops can be of
any length - not just so many seconds.
For the uninitiated a seamless loop is
simply a feature where you can set a
beginning point and an end point in a
track, which will then play over and
over again, without a gap, or break in
the music. This practice has got a
number of big benefits to mobile DJ's
and Remix DJ's alike. With Seamless
loops you could loop the short
instrumental intro of a song, giving
yourself as much "talk-time" as you need
to announce the guest of honour, the
current bar promotion that the landlord
wants you to plug, the reminder to the
guests about signing the bride and
grooms guestbook, make fun of that
blokes day-glo tie etc,etc.
You could also use the 2nd seamless loop
to make the middle couple of minutes of
a popular audience favourite last even
longer - just think, 6 minutes of
Amarillo?, 8 minutes of Dancing
Queen?...It's like being able to change
any of your "radio edits" into 12inch
extended mixes - without all that wishy
washy instrumental breakdown
three-quarters of the way through. Just
be sure to call an ambulance first if
you're going to try 12 minutes of "Lets
Twist Again" at the local Old Peoples
Home Xmas Dinner Dance...
When you (or your audience) are ready to
exit the loop, press Loop Exit (at any
time, it doenst have to be
"on-the-beat") and the remainder of the
track will carry on, seamlessly (of
course), as if you'd never looped any of
the track at all.
Off to a Hot Start.
The A1 and A2 buttons which you use to
set the beginning of each loop, can also
be used without looping - simply to let
you set a point where you want to be
able to jump forward (or back) to,
instantly and seamlessly. For example,
you might want to play a very
recognisable beginning of a popular
track and then when the first chorus
comes up, instantly jump to the last
chorus - thereby allowing you to
effectively shorten a song, enabling you
to finish bang on-time, much to the
delight of that creepy hall caretaker
who hovering by the main hall light
switches waiting for 11:59:59...
Miss Jones? Take A memo.
Now, once you've got your cue point
(avoiding that boring bit at the
beginning of the song), your one or two
seamless loops, or maybe a couple of Hot
Starts, wouldn't it be a shame for all
your meticulous settings for that track
to be lost...well? yes it would really.
So...Thankfully the DN-D4500 has 1000
memo points which will store all this
information for you. The next time you
insert a CD (in either drive) which you
saved memo points for, the DN-D4500 will
ask you "Memo Call?". If you press "yes"
then the unit will set up the cue
points, seamless loops, and hot starts
for you, just the way you left them.
Memo points can also be deleted manually
if required - for example, if a client
lends you their shop bought original CD
of their favourite artist and you've
wanted to set specific cue points up for
some of the tracks, you can delete the
memo points for those tracks once you've
finished playing those tracks. You can
also delete blocks of 200 memos at a go
too if required.
Conclusions:
Overall, the Denon DN-D4500 promises to
be every bit the rugged workhorse that
its much respected predecessor, the
DN-D4000 has proven to be. Taking up a
space of just 4 rack units, and weighing
in at 13lbs 7oz (6.2kg) for the drawer
unit, and 4lbs 2oz (1.9kg) for the
control unit, any club or mobile disco
should be able to fit this easy-to-use
machine in almost anywhere.
This is very much the type of machine
that anyone could walk up to and start
playing music from. The 4500's adoption
of Denons user-definable presets, give
you a great sense of this being your cd-player,
and make using the unit both convenient
and more natural - avoiding that feeling
you get when you just "know" that
someone else has adjusted your car seat
and mirrors, and you then have to spend
vital time re-adjusting things from the
factory "norm".
For DJ's looking at saving
transportation and venue space, (and
their spines), this really is the entry
level for superb MP3 track handling,
especially the MP3 Artist/title search
system - a feature previously unheard of
on any dual deck.
The 1000 memo points too mean that
whilst you've still got full artistic
control over cue points, hot starts and
seamless loops, you can save your
efforts and save yourself time setting
up tracks that your audiences enjoy,
without risking the sporadic results of
BPM driven "auto/emergency loops"
chanced by some players
For more equipment reviews, along with
hints and tips on running a mobile
disco, then check out our International
DJ Community Forums at
http://www.dj-forum.co.uk
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