I manually beat match tracks (sync mode is off at all times) and after the beats/phrases are aligned, they start getting out of sync as the tracks move on even though their BPM is the same. E.g. Track A is playing at 138 bpm and track B is originally 136 BPM. I increase the track B’s BPM to 138 using the pitch fader and beat/phrase match it with A. Everything sounds good for some time but eventually, the grids start syncing out and aren’t matched anymore. Not by a lot but still quite noticeable to me.
Could someone please suggest ways to avoid this? Thanks!
The chances are one of the tracks is 128.001 bpm and the other track is 128.004 as an example… so given a few bars, they’ll drift.
Try mixing the same track into itself, that way, you’ll be mixing 128.003 into a track that’s 128.003 as an example again. If that same track won’t hold in the beat then there’s other possibilities like a platter thinking it’s being pressed briefly when it isn’t etc - but it’s much more likely to be the different BPMs
I’ll add try a reanalyse of the tracks (highlight & right mouse click).
Engine DJ uses trusted BPMs within the tag and when importing assumes this is correct. If you reanalyse your tracks you’ll find you “may” get a tighter grid or more accurate BPM.
It may not change a thing but it’s just an extra option to think about as Engine DJ nowadays has quite a good BPM algorithm compared to yesteryear and could prove more accurate.
I don’t think is the console issue, please check this tracks in other software like traktor or rekordbox, see if the track grid is right. Is possible when the tracks are downloaded from various internet sources to loose some bits then this is the result, is happened to me many time specially when are not official sources.
Because many of us want to DJ by mixing manually, it takes time to learn and perfect and is an earned skill. If you can’t understand that, thats a you problem, not an us problem.
I can understand vinyl djs doing it. That is a skill. There’s absolutely no need to do it if you are using digital equipment. If you have a track at 128.1 and a track at 128.4 and you think it doesn’t quite sound right, then just hit the sync button. That is what it’s there for. The people you’re playing for don’t care. Unless you’re djing with vinyl, what does it matter? The skill for me, is choosing the tracks you mix. Digital equipment allows you to sync, so why not use it? There are other skills to learn and enjoy with the equipment we have now. I for one am a little tired of the old school djs suggesting that people that use sync are some how less skilled. If the beat is matched, you can concentrate on all the other features technology has blessed the 21st century with. The skill is playing the right tracks and putting your own stamp on it. Happy djing however you do it.
So for me personally, i don’t prep any music, i just buy it, analyse it then play it… i dont want to trawl through music aligning beat grids etc. I can line a track up in under 30 seconds so i just get on with it. I also don’t want to stop doing it because like many things the skill disappears if left dormant.
“If the beat is matched, you can concentrate on all the other features technology has blessed the 21st century with”
This is a bit of a tired old statement that is banded around now, that almost sounds a bit of an excuse more than a genuine reason. Roger Sanchez, Morillo, Carl Cox, the Stanton Warriors etc all manage to ‘concentrate on the other features’ whilst manually matching tracks together, as do many of us… I can manually beat match, add vocals, loops, beat samplers, effects and anything else on 3 decks with zero issues, im never left lagging behind because ive had to align the tracks.
If this thing about ‘allowing me to focus on other things’ was true, why are there so many bang average DJs out there doing nothing but blending single genre, similarly sounding music together? all this ‘creativity’ we keep hearing about, where is it? im not seeing it?.. well correction, there is a guy posting videos on here who does, but he is literally the only person ive ever seen actually living up to that mantra.
I can mix manually by ear, & I’ve been able to do that for many many years. …but I’ll normally use sync as I’m lazy & it’s convenient.
That doesn’t take anything away from being able to beat mix manually though. It’s still an essential skill for tracks that haven’t been analyzed correctly, or you’re playing something old with real drummers.
So in short… learn to mix “properly”, you never know when you might need it.
Because…you literally are less skilled? It is a single skill yeah but if you do not master it, no matter how trivial it is, you know one skill less. It is as simple as that.
That’s exactly how i see it Ian… the odd occassion i use it is when i wire my gear up downstairs and too lazy to go upstairs for my headphones haha, if im just messing around blending a couple of tracks together, or testing sometihing is working or not.
Because it doesn’t always get it right - then, instead of sounding like a DJ, the person with their fingers on the sync button sounds like a wombat shaking a box of spoons
I turned up to my old residency one night and the CDJ-2000 ethernet port was broken, meaning I had to use my spare USB in the 2nd deck… it would be a long old night for a DJ who needs to press that button, 4.5hr set guessing.
