It’s hard to believe that Sync in DJing is still controversial today. I encountered this for the first time back in 2009 when I made the switch from CDs to using Traktor on a desktop PC (yes, a DESKTOP!).

I was using a Behringer BCD-2000 controller with tiny plastic jogwheels whose tops melted after a few shows.

Sync did the tempo and beat matching for you at the press of a button. No more using your ears to match beats and phrases.

It was convenient.

It also wasn’t fun at all.

15 years later, I still don’t enjoy using Sync to play one song after another. Part of the fun of DJing is using your hands and your ears, which Sync tends to oversimplify.

When you’re playing four songs though, or weaving it loops and samples from other apps like Ableton Live or Maschine, then it becomes a different conversation altogether.

For that kind of DJing, Sync becomes a necessity if you want everything to be as tight as possible.

Sync itself isn’t bad – it only becomes bad when it becomes a crutch for the fundamentals of DJing.

The issue isn’t in whether or not “real DJs” use it (eg Richie Hawtin uses it to great effect in his Traktor x Abelton set-up).

The issue is when DJs use it as a shortcut instead of learning how to beatmatch by ear.

If you use Sync and you don’t know how to beatmatch, you’re using it wrong.

We only have two hands – when you feel like you need a third or a fourth one, that’s when Sync comes in.