Deck controls
Sync
Sync matches one deck’s tempo to the other automatically and holds it there, using the beatgrid the software calculated. It removes the arithmetic of beatmatching, not the decision about which record follows which.
Measured in our catalog
Across 7,254 hand-sequenced transitions the median tempo correction is 0.83% — and on 27.4% of them there is nothing to correct.
1,991 of those transitions join two records stored at the identical tempo. At the other end, 663 sit further apart than ±6%, which is past the travel of a CDJ pitch fader — so on 9.1% of transitions sync reaches somewhere the hardware physically cannot, and those are the ones where it is doing something a DJ could not.
0.83%
Median correction
27.4%
Need no correction
90.9%
Inside a ±6% fader
663
Beyond fader travel
Measured on 11 August 2026 across 7,254 adjacent transitions in flows sequenced by hand on Mixgraph, both tracks carrying a stored tempo (saved flows only, machine-generated running orders excluded). Method: the full transition dataset and its chance baseline.
Why it matters
The argument about sync is almost always about whether it makes DJing too easy. A more useful question is how much work it is actually doing, and the answer across sets built here is: very little, because the records were already close.
What it cannot do is notice that the grid underneath it is wrong. Sync will hold two tracks in perfect agreement against a beatgrid anchored half a beat late, and it will do it with total confidence — which is why the skill it replaces is arithmetic and the skill it does not replace is listening.
Frequently asked
Is using sync cheating?+
It settles an arithmetic problem that mostly is not there. On 27.4% of hand-sequenced transitions here the two records are stored at the same tempo already, and the median correction across all of them is 0.83%.
Why does sync sometimes sound wrong?+
Because it aligns to the beatgrid rather than to the music. If the grid is anchored on the wrong beat, or the tempo was detected an octave out, sync will lock the two tracks together exactly as instructed and the result will still drift.
Does sync change the key of a track?+
It changes tempo, and changing tempo changes pitch unless key lock is engaged. The corrections involved are small — under 1% at the median here — so the shift is usually inaudible, but a large stretch is not.
Related terms
Beatmatching
Beatmatching is lining up two tracks so their beats land together — matching the tempo, then nudging the phase until the kicks coincide. It is the base skill every other mixing technique sits on top of.
Beatgrid
A beatgrid is the map your DJ software lays over a track marking where every beat falls. Once it is right, sync, looping and quantise all work; once it is wrong, everything built on top of it is wrong too.
Beatgrid drift
Beatgrid drift is a grid that lines up at the start of a track and slides out of alignment later — the tempo the software stored is close to the real one but not equal to it.
Quantize
Quantize snaps your actions to the beatgrid: a cue point, a loop or a hot cue fires on the next grid line rather than the instant your finger lands. The setting decides how coarse that grid line is.
Explore: What DJs actually do · BPM compatibility · Beatgrid · All DJ terms