How to Beatgrid and Use Sync Properly in Serato DJ 

i find manually beatmatching to be easier than sync for some reason

Manually mixing isn't exactly hard is it mate? Especially with bpms displayed etc...

I believe you can just drag it from your itunes library straight to serato

Yes you can use turntables with Serato. You need a DVS device Serato sells SL2 for two channels about $500 or up to SL4 for 4. Or get a mixer with Serato DVS installed cheapest mixer is the Akai pro and for 250 but you have to pay extra 100 for the DVS upgrade. you also need coded Vinyls that play a code read by the DVS to sync with the software.

Yea Traktor’s sync is more accurate and easier

Miggy Miggy - Perfectly said. No one is in the dj booth at a club verifying that you aren't using sync. Play good music and keep the party live. No one cares how you do that except dj snobs. Fact.

Short Fuse Music - It is what it is. I'm not taking anything away from anyone. DJs are going to dj how they want to and bitching about it is a waste of time. I personally don't use sync that much but I have on occasion. I just don't think it's that big of a deal. Sync doesn't scratch for you or bring in the mix at the proper time. Sync doesn't even work properly if your beat grids are misaligned. DJing is different from when I started in the 1980s. Everything changes. Why did people think things will stay the same? They never do.

because its part of the performance.its a show of skill.would you be fine if a drummers snare would occasionally hit itself if hes off beat?or if a guitarists guitar would strum itself?would you ride a bike with training wheels on it?would you play baseball with one of them pedestal things that hold the ball in place so you can swing at a stationary target? yes,things have changed and theres nothing wrong with that.im not anti technology,anti digital,im not advocating everything should be 100% analog and vinyl...BUT! we arent talking about different ways of doing things here...we are talking about automation that dumbs down the whole process(a process that is already a joke in it of itself)..lets face it,DJs that arent "turntablists or scratch DJs" do next to nothing.just pretend to push buttons around 95% of the time...and now you wanna make these edm- pushing buffoons' lives even easier than they already are? your mentality is "it makes things easier so why not?"..but you know whats EVEN easier?stop DJing,download somebodys elses set,sit back and listen to it(if least effort/maximum result is the final goal)...and at the end of the day..isnt is supposed to be part of the FUN?if people find these things tedious maybe they shouldnt be doin em in the first place..whats the point if you want everything to be automated and involve as little skill as possible?

Miggy Miggy - Is this Milli or Vanilli? Beat syncing is like lip syncing. The talent is lost and severely disrespected with that attitude. Yeah it's a tool that can serve as an aid in the learning stages (like training wheels), but man at some point you need to grow up and learn the craft instead of treating your audience like ignorant sheep. Otherwise keep comments like that to yourself because you make "real" DJs look like shit.

Short Fuse Music - Fuck yeah. People today are lazy as hell. That's not even just about mixing. Cars are going to be automated soon enough along with many many other things we used to have to learn and train for. What the hell is the point of doing something if you're not DOING anything?? Jesus.. that's more of a rant but this topic is just another indication of it all. Don't let it go too far guys.

Hey brad, The tempo in Serato Dj is always determined by the majority value. Meaning that if the majority of the song is at 70 bpm that will be reflected in the BPM column. If its majority is 128, then that will be shown in the Bpm Column. There isn't a wat to choose the Tempo, however when you load the track, whatever tempo the BPM is at where you load it from, it will be shown in the track view as the current bpm.

its strange because it used to work perfectly fine.

same, i dont understand why "talented" djs feel so threatened by sync.... at least that's what i see, cuz sync can be a bitch

Hblocktreehunna actually find it stupid. You can't stop the advancement of technology. Dj-ing is the only art form where we shun every single technological advancement in the field. It makes us look so pretentious and insecure. All the "old school" guys would be very happy if we were stuck in the vinyl age and all dj-ing could ever amount to was mixing one song into the next.

Palasako I know what u mean technogical advancements are great and in fairness even on the serato homepage they acknowledged sync is controversial but u can just turn it off every Dj should be able to beatmatch we can't all be turntabilists and I'll be the first to admit vinyl's limitations but I understand that general skill level is on the decline and on a performance level it detracts from the enjoyment of the Dj but does it affect the listener probably not. My 2p worth

mdove89 YES, but the way i see it, if your going to use sync button, do mashups with loops in your songs, and use samples, and effects to create something original and cool. THe possibilities are endless with the amount of equipment out there.

Agreed

my bpm is not showing up on my numark platinum controller there are 3 lines where the numbers supposed to be . anyone knows why

Do you mean using turntable decks through the Denon MC6000 as the mixer? The MC6000 (the mk2 version - the mk1 version isn't usable with Serato) is DVS-enabled, meaning that you can use turntables plugged into the controller/mixer, so the answer is buying the base version of the Serato DJ program, then purchasing the DVS plugin on top of that. The plugin is $99USD, or you can subscribe to get all the plugins for $9.99USD per month ongoing. serato.com/dj/expand-your-setup/dvs

That's what I'd like to know.. I have my transition tracks labeled by Starting-BPM... I don't want to change that.

Unfortunately Serato labels the track's bpm from the longest consistent stretch of beat-grid within that track. It's a bit annoying because you really want the track's beginning bpm labeled rather than what it transitions to.