to sync or to not to sync
is using the sync feature inside traktor cheating? even though it allows more dedicating your time to you creativity
HEHEHEHEH
No.
Syncing is cheating …if you not going to be doing much more than just playing tracks IMHO.
When you do you homework and beatgrid your tracks…you are then able to use Sync Lock. This is better than using the sync button every few secs.
This allows you to expand…in a BIG way.
For me personally having only just restarted djing back in July after a 13 year hiatus, I use sync, being an ex vinyl DJ that started back when I was 16 so that’s erm 1986 I went through break beats not the made up ones but the original breaks and beats albums, Electro,House R&B Hardcore and when Jungle came along i stuck with House as I was older and preferred to play to that type of crowd, sync allows me to learn while in the mix,EQ if you check my latest mix to test my VCI which has been fixed, after a few listens I spotted some blatant bad parts but that’s why it was 45 minutes of just testing, so I stuck it up anyways Being as I only use digital it’s all very very new to me lol, I mean effects? eq’s on a mixer none of this existed when I last played, so I really enjoy being able to mess around with the eq fx’s and keep tunes synced just allows me to really play around, hopefully as time goes on i will incorporate the LPD8 I bought and the Xone 4D and really start to utilise better than what I am now, that’s why personally sync is good 
If you are a beginner learn to beatmatch by ear, the satisfaction level is there and what this means is not being dependent on the sync button. By all means start using sync when you learn to beatmatch as it’s a big time saver and you can get into really fun stuff. I was dependent on sync in the beginning and it’s been a bit of a sabotage because I don’t feel right calling myself a DJ if i’m dependent on the computer. Plus it pays honor to the tradition. We are lucky to be born in this time where DJing is VERY accessible but at the same time that’s a danger in itself since anyone thinks they can do it with the push of a button. Learn to beatmatch by ear and you will have the confidence and skills that really makes a DJ as oppose to the insecurity that anyone could basically walk up to the decks hit the sync button and accomplish the same thing you did.
In order to use syncing etc you need to spend a lot longer prepping your tracks than the time it would take to match by ear alone. To my mind you are replacing a job which is only 20% of djing but takes 80% of your time behind the decks.
When i’m on the CDJS, i might have just enough time to select an effect and press the big orange button on the DJM, Whereas with well gridded and keyed tracks, i can now spend 80% of my time mucking aound with effects and deck layering, that sort of thing.
To sync or not to sync, the article: To Sync or not to Sync - DJ TechTools
Personally, I sync before I even cue up the next track, simply to get the bpm’s matching. Traktor is already showing me what it thinks the bpm is, so I use this shortcut rather than manually changing the bpm either directly through the software, or through messing with the pitch fader.
That being said, after that I don’t touch it, and make beat matching adjustments by nudging the jog wheel, and if the bpm is off by using the pitch fader. I haven’t invested the time to manually beat grid all my tracks, so I really can’t trust they are perfectly lined up (or even the right bpm.) This way I am constantly practicing the skill of beat matching by ear. Not to mention, I think making these kind of adjustments impresses upon those watching you that you are actually dj’ing, and not just pressing buttons (well, at least those who are familiar w/ what a dj does in the first place.)
I’m not against using sync, but definitely think you shouldn’t rely on it. I see this as the difference between using Traktor and using Ableton. If I was going to painstakingly grid all my tracks, than I might consider using Ableton for all the benefits it provides. However, in my situation, I prefer the more dj minded (less sequencer oriented) approach of using Traktor. That allows me to make quick adjustments on the fly with material I may not have had the time to really lock in beat grids on.
NO.
Syncing is totally cheating. I mean, instead of actually DJING we’re just sitting there and letting Traktor do all the Djing for us. I mean, if we’re not beatmatching manually, arduously, mindlessly, then I guess all we’re really doing is becoming a human jukebox.
Which is TOTALLY different from those guys on CDs, who, y’know, have the BPMs written down on little post-it notes, as well as the cue points, and can do math to figure out the percentage change, and have played the same 50 songs for 10 years. But they did it all by hand so many years ago, and still have to, like, mix by hand, cause I’m just letting iTunes do it for me.
I’m totally cheating. And lord knows that the next two months I’m going to spend meticulously going through my collection to beatgrid, cue up and organize my entire collection is going to result in only more cheating, being I won’t have to spend as much time flipping through pages in my books trying to find the next CD cause I have a search function, and can use effects with super knobs to force fit songs in the mix. That’s all cheating too, you see.
And then I have the keys mapped out, and lord knows that’s something you should be able to do by ear, and using Mixed in Key is cheating because it makes something simpler. And then the loops get dropped when a hit a button and I don’t have to do it by hand, which is also cheating, and I can jump to different cue points by hitting a button which is saved in the song, and I don’t have to set it every time I load the CD, which is also cheating, and I can beat jump accurately every time I hit a button, which is also cheating…
God I hate everyone.
Go go gadget DvlsAdvct!
I often worry that people are buying Traktor and never learning how to manually beatmatch. I use sync, and I think it’s brilliant - but the learning process of beatmatching gets you thinking about everything in EDM; the structure of music, phrasing, even for some people the beats in a bar - which is hugely important! I worry that sync may allow people to skimp on analysing their tracks in that level of detail, and just rely on the thickest part of the waveform to find their drop, which doesn’t inspire great creativity I don’t think…
On the other hand - I think it’s indispensable as far as economising your mixing time is concerned. Heck, without it, half of the effects in traktor aren’t properly quantized, and thus sound rubbish! SO, sync away
The first real deejays didn’t have a pitch fader to change the tempo of the tracks they were playing so they had to push by hand or fingers their records to keep up with the tempo.
Then came turntables with pitch for speed and the REAL deejays said: ‘you’re cheating, that’s not djing!!’
Then came CD players with their hotcues, master tempo lock and many other great new features, then the REAL deejays (the ones who were using vinyls of course) said “you’re cheating, that’s not djing!!”
Then came the time of softwares…
You know the story…
My point is: technology doesn’t make you a deejay and in no way technology would replace : good tastes for music, creativity, technical knowledge, how to create a good set, how to mix tracks together (automatic sync doesn’t mean you know how to mix two or more tracks together in case you didn’t realize), etc…
Yes technology now may offer you shortcuts and eases some of the tasks so you can know focus on making your music more creative. And? Is that a bad thing?
“Noobs” are able to mix fluently with a software?
Yes that do mean if you want to stand above them you’ll have to push your skills to their limits. I think that’s what a lot of whiners are in fact pissed about…
But still it is really easy to see a noob:
- he BRAGGS about his mixing skills and how he rocked the party (he started three months ago and he’s using a sofware…and if the sync function doesnt’ work or if the beatgrid isn’t correctly set or if the tempo of the track changes..he’s lost)
- his playlists come from the most well known main stream deejays
- he plays techno at 133 bpm at 23pm at a house music party, throwing every single blockbuster track he knows…
ps: in all cases, you don’t have to take sides, play with what you want and feel comfortable with. It’s how you use it, not what you use that is important.
Is it still Cheating if you only get a blow job and dont actually kiss the girl ?
no it’s called that’ll be £100 please, sorry no kissing..
i can put a beat in in about 5 secs flat and so can anyone else that practices. there’s nothing magical about it. those djs that complain about people using sync are just upset that the hard work that they put into learning the skill isn’t really recognised anymore. if i had the time i would love to beatgrid all my tunes so i don’t have to spend most of my time keeping records in.
on the flipside though i think a lot of digital djs a) use FX far too much and b) mash together 3 or 4 records for long periods of time - these are things that could never happen with manual beatmatching (except for a few very very technical djs) and it’s not a change for the better. also a lot of people who have never learnt to beatmatch manually think just because the kicks are aligned, the records work together. sorry buddy but unless you get your phrasing right it sounds like as much of a trainwreck as if you’d crunched the beats
Lol …
Seriously though, what about Anal ? No vaginal, is that still cheating.
Come on guys . Were passed this arent we. Fucking cheating , fuck me NO its not cheating using Sync. Its a stupid question. I dont need a history lesson and i dont need to prove myself , i could beatmatch two cats. I use sync cus im busy doing other shit with my DVS …
Is it cheating driving to work instead of walking..? NO its called PROGRESS.
… What about just a hand job, is that still cheating.
lol
Technology moves on, let’s be honest when the car came out did a bloke on a horse say that’s cheating? probably but look where that got him, same goes for anything that can be technically advanced, eventually they were going to bring something out that would change how dj’s worked, when I played with my TT’s last time no one would even have imagine using a laptop or a midi to mix with! let alone have efx, now look at it?
can’t stop progress that’s the human race and the world in general ever spinning ever advancing..
as for Karlos if you don’t say anything it’s not cheating imho, nothing wrong with brown wings!
There is nothing worse on this planet than a terrible vinyl DJ. I swear to god, I heard one once. It was so awful I needed to leave the place.
This has nothing to do with being digital, it has to do with being bad. They shouldn’t be confused. Bad DJs come in all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of equipment. What you’re describing can easily happen with CD DJs, especially when they have spent their money on equipment they don’t understand.
What amazes me is that this was brought up on a website dedicated to digital DJing. Karlos is right. This whole debate is silly. Learn to not suck however you want, but using the tools at your disposal isn’t cheating.
I could make more witty comments about progress, as Karlos did, but he summed it up.
i agree it can happen with CD or with vinyl DJs, my point is really that the new possibilities of the technology open up new opportunities for people to suck in different and unexpected ways. i think (hope) that as the novelty of laptop djing wears off a bit the number of people trying to produce their own version of DE9 without the skills or musical pedigree of mr hawtin will reduce drastically
at the end of the day i dont mind using the sync button if it means i can do more stuff with the song with hot cues and loops and effects
it all comes down to tracks you play and how you play them
even if your using the synch button and spinning shit songs your a shit dj
or you could betmatch play shit songs and still be a shit dj
i would happly watch a dj live using the synch button as long as he was not just standing there but using his free time to make the tracks more interesting
and this is where controllerism comes in
i learned to dj without syncs and etc, so I can beatmatch pretty easily with my 2xdn-hs5500 setup, But you know what.. when I use my vci-100 + traktor setup, I use the sync button with no shame. It’s there. It gets stuff done when you use right, and i dont have time to waste on the romantic concept of ‘being real’
Mixing music is far more involved than something as trivial as mixing by ear or pressing sync.