COMPREHENSIVE Denon DJ MCX8000 Review

Hello and welcome to another DJ controller review, next up is the DJ MCX8000 by Denon.

Pioneer has been dominating the DJ market for a number of years now with a lot of their products industry-standard and for good reason, as they’re products are excellent. Due to Pioneers dominance, it does make it a hard task for other brands to gain any market share.

Denon, however, has produced two beasts in the Prime 4 and the MCX8000 which are both great devices but in this review, we are taking an in-depth look at the MCX8000, its features, functions, build quality and more.

Lets Dive In

Table of Contents

Everything You Need To Know About The MCX8000

PROS

Has both laptop and standalone capabilities
Extensive Input & Output potentials
Solid, Professional build quality
Two HD screens displaying all relevant track information
Comes Bundled with Serato DJ

CONS

Most pad functions will NOT work in standalone mode
The screen sometimes has some freezing issues
Denon’s engine software needs adjustments and improvements
The Device Is Expensive

Design & Build Quality

The build quality of the Denon MCX8000 is solid, made from mostly metal adding a premium feel the controller gives in the mix.

Although the device has been mostly constructed of metal, Denon has done a great job in keeping the controller lightweight and easily transportable.

The layout is excellent, it is intuitively designed with the whole controller feeling spacious, allowing plenty of room to work when in the mix.

Beautiful HD screens, large responsive jog wheels, long pitch faders, and 8 performance pads fit perfectly in the deck section. The same can be said within the mixer section, even though its a 4 channel controller, Denon has done a great job utilizing the space with no sacrifice has being made to any of the components.

The pads, knobs, and buttons all feel quality. The pads are rubberized and responsive, the buttons are hard plastic and the knobs have a rubberized feel all adding to the professional feel that Denon has in the mix.

Deck Section

HD Screens

Located at the top of the deck section are 2 crystal clear HD screens that display all the relevant track information including BPM, Zoomable Waveforms, full track waveforms, and track info.

Unfortunately, there have been reports that the screens freeze in use, although this doesn’t directly affect your mix I’m sure you can imagine it can begin to become problematic. According to some reports, reducing the brightness via the settings can fix the issue, this problem doesn’t occur on every device but it’s still not something we expect from Denon.

DJ controllers with built-in screens can be invaluable to a DJ, they display the vital information described above which can really help you in the mix. We still recommend mixing as manually as possible and avoid becoming dependant on the screens and their information as this can be detrimental to your growth as a DJ.

Jog Wheels

The MCX8000 sport 2 x 5″ touch-capacitive jog wheels, with scratch behaviour on the top of the wheels and a nudge setting at the edge of the jog wheel.

In use the jog wheels are super responsive and fun to use, they are also large which is nice to find on controllers, there is an LED ring that can be found around the jog wheels that indicates the track position, this is a bit gimmicky as it doesn’t add anything or help in any way. We would have preferred to see something more like the LED displays in the centre of the jog wheels like the DDJ-1000 by Pioneer.

Pitch Faders & Control Knobs

Located to the side of the jog wheels are the pitch faders, these are long, smooth and precise, which is extremely important when beatmatching by ear, allowing you to make fine-tune adjustments to the BPM. A green LED light informs you when the pitch faders are in a central position.

The Key sync and Keylock button are located above the pitch faders. The key sync button is used to keep the key of the track the same when the tempo of the song is changed. The key lock has scratch detection, which automatically turns off when scratching giving a more natural sound.

Below the pitch faders are the pitch bend controls, these are indicated with + and – buttons, this allows you to vary the pitch.

A slip button is available, this allows you to manipulate the track in multiple ways without ever going out of time or phrase.

Above the cue button is the sync button which allows the software to manually match the BPM for you.

Performance Pads

Below each of the jog wheels, you can find 8 multicoloured rubber performance pads. The first set of functions on the pads are; Cue, Roll, Slicer, and Sampler, and by using the shift button you can access the second set of functions, which are; Cue Loop, Saved Loop, Slicer Loop, Velocity Sampler.

The pads are responsive and fun to use, along with them being illuminated making them visually pleasing.

Looping Controls

Located to the bottom left of the deck section are the looping controls; Reloop, Loop In, and Loop out. These are used to create your own loops in beats or bars using the software.

The Reloop/Autoloop button is for starting or exiting a loop of the selected size, either in beats, bars, or measures.

The Loop In and Loop Out buttons control set the start and end of the loop again in beats, bars, or measures.

For more information on the features, functions and how a DJ Controller works, be sure to check out our guide on how to use a DJ controller.

The Mixer

Denon’s mixer is as impressive as any on the market today and offers to run in standalone mode, removing the need for a laptop.

The mixer boasts 4 channels and has 4 deck capability. This gives you multiple set-up options, the MCX8000 is DVS ready allowing you to connect turntables or CDJs.

The first 2 channels support Serato, Engine (Engine software is used when you want to operate in standalone mode), and Line input.

Channels 3 and 4 also support Serato and Line input which includes DVS setups for adding external hardware such as turntables or MIDI devices.

Looking at the central part of the mixer, located at the top are the input controls, these are used to select the desired audio source for each channel.

Below are the channel controls, each individual channel has a master volume control, full band EQ, and filter controls along with individual VU meters to check your levels.

Cue buttons are located below the filter knobs along with a CF assign which is applied to either the left or right of the crossfader.

Below are the volume faders for each individual channel, these feel solid much like the rest of the controller.

Located at the bottom of the mixer is a sturdy and durable crossfader.

To the left-hand side of the mixer are the mic controls, a master control along with high and low-level EQ knobs on each microphone giving you full control over the sound. There is also an echo effect button that can be applied to the Mics.

Located on the right-hand side of the mixer are more controls and buttons; A master volume knob for controlling the master output.

Below are the booth volume controls with high and low EQs.

Underneath the booth controls, you can find a master VU meter indicating the output level from the master input which helps to avoid clipping in the mix.

Below is a master sampler volume, split cue, phones mix, and phones level. The split cue, phones mix, and phones level determine the volume control output to your headphones.

Software & Connectivity

Software

The Denon MCX8000 comes with the full version of Serato and when being operated in standalone mode the device runs Denon’s own software called Engine.

Serato DJ

Serato is a great piece of software that has been around for a long time and is used by some of the biggest and best DJs in the world. The brand has years of reliability and innovation and is by far our favourite software.

Denon has included a new feature called “pitch n play”, this is available with the pitch n time expansion pack that comes with the Denon MCX 8000. This feature allows you to play your cues across a range of different keys, as you can imagine this does take a while to get your head around but is super fun to learn and master, it also adds a new creative dimension to your mix. For a deeper understanding into the pitch n play feature, click here!

The device is also DVS ready which allows you to use timecoded vinyl with turntables – A great setup, used by the likes of Marco Carola and Loco Dice.

Engine

Engine is Denon’s own software and is similar to Pioneers Rekordbox software. The software allows you to play without the need for a laptop which is a great feature, especially for mobile DJs.

Using the software you are able to sort your playlists, cue points and more. You can then load them on to a USB drive to take with you and plug into the Denon controller.

By using Denons Engine software and a USB you are able to play in standalone mode, removing the need for a laptop. This means all of your playlists, data and information loads on to the controller and the track information will be displayed on the HD screens provided.

Connectivity

There’s plenty of connectivity options with the Denon MCX8000 controller including the ability to connect turntables to the controller in what’s called a ‘DVS’ set up. This is a really cool feature and can really expand your creative capabilities.

OUTPUTS; 2 x Master Outputs (XLR/RCA) | 1 x Booth (TRS Jack) | 2 x Headphone Monitor (1/4″, 1/8″)

INPUTS; 2 x Line/Phono (RCA) | 2 x Line (RCA) – This gives you the option of adding external hardware such as turntables or MIDI.

USB; 2 x USB Ports.

MIC; 2 x Mic (XLR, Jack Combo)

The Denon MCX8000 offers great connectivity and is DVS capable, whatever your perfect set-up is, this beast of a controller will be more than ready to help.

Related Read: For more on DJ set-ups connectivity and more, check out our guide to DJing here.

Final Thoughts

Denon has done an amazing job with this device and produced a controller which rivals the very best controllers on the market. The device is super fun to use, great to learn on and offers an array of features and functions to unleash your creativity.

Want to see how the MCX8000 stacked up against the rest? Be sure to check out our comprehensive buying guide on the top-rated DJ controllers.

The device has standalone capability.
Beautiful spacious layout.
4 Channel Mixer
Serato DJ Software Ready
Excellent build quality, light, and durable – Perfect for the mobile DJ.
Two HD Screens displaying all relevant track information.
Responsive touch-capacitive jog wheels.
Excellent Pitch Faders
Great FX Options

The MCX8000 is an expensive high-end controller, for cheaper alternative DJ controllers click here.

We Thank You For Reading & Hoped To Have Helped.