In the leadup to NAMM, Denon DJ has posted a sneaky video showing off the results of a partnership with Resolume that first was announced in August of last year. While at the time it was exciting to hear that such a prominent visuals software was partnering with Denon DJ, the announcement lacked a solid demo. Now we’ve finally got one.
In the video above, a linked Prime setup connected to Resolume controls a lot of the visuals. Essentially, almost any control on the Prime mixers and players can be mapped to different parameters and effects in the Resolume software.
The appeal is immediately attractive: filter knobs creating distortion, loop rolls dynamically retrigger clips, reversing the deck reverses the video clips, channel faders control opacity levels, EQs control color, and so on. All of these are just examples – you could theoretically have the reactive features change with every clip you trigger in Resolume.
Why This Demo Now?
The timing of this video’s release (the week before NAMM) is especially interesting. We already know that Denon DJ is set to launch a new product very soon that is likely a four-channel standalone unit. If that unit is also StagelinQ compatible, Resolume could suddenly become a very attractive visuals solution for smaller DJs playing clubs, bars, and mobile gigs.
This type of ecosystem building is where Denon DJ is hedging their bets against Pioneer DJ. If they can build out a set of tools that DJs will really use, it makes the Prime hardware far more attractive to DJs looking to buy new gear.
We constantly get questions from DJs wanting to know how they can have good quality, easy to manage visuals as a part of their setup. It feels like there’s major opportunity here for Denon to give those DJs a solution that works intuitively.
We also suspect Serato and SoundSwitch could really benefit by competing in this space. Why limit themselves to DMX/lighting solutions?
