Hey Matt from Roland here to talk to you about an exciting new feature for DJs called TR-SYNC.
If you're familiar with Roland DJ controllers you'll know that
each one has a built in TR drum machine and sequencer which contain many of the
most classic Roland drum sounds—fully syncable with your Serato set.
Roland and Serato have now developed a method for adding our standalone TR drum machines
to any Serato DJ Pro setup. This means if you already own a third-party Serato
controller or play on a Serato DVS vinyl setup, you too can now sync up our
legendary TR drum sounds seamlessly with your set for re-drumming, remixing
flipping genres, transitions and other new school performance possibilities.
TR-SYNC is a free feature upgrade for compatible TR drum machines which include
TR-08, TR-09, TR-8 and TR-8S.
To set up TR-SYNC, download the TR device driver and latest system program from
our product page. Install the driver onto your laptop and follow the system
program instructions, also known as firmware, on how to update your TR.
Then simply connect your Roland TR drum machine to your laptop via a USB cable
You'll need to connect the audio outputs into a channel on your DJ mixer or
controller or into a sub mixer.
After you launch Serato DJ Pro you'll want to activate sync in your setup menu.
You have two options: 'Simple Sync' and 'Smart Sync'.
Each sync mode operates slightly differently but ultimately does the same thing.
If you want to use a Serato DVS vinyl setup with TR-SYNC or unquantized
classic tracks, we recommend using 'Smart Sync' mode.
For more information on Simple and Smart Sync, refer to your Serato DJ Pro manual.
Next up, you want to activate TR-SYNC on your drum machines. This is done slightly
differently on each machine.
On the TR-08, hold down the menu button and turn the find value knob toward the right.
On the TR-09, hold down the 'Enter/Total Accent' button and turn the 'Tempo' knob toward the right.
On the TR-8, hold the 'Tap' button and turn the 'Tempo' knob toward the right,
and on the TR-8S, hold down the 'Mute' button and turn the 'Tempo' knob towards the right.
Now press play in your Serato deck and when you're ready, start the TR on the first beat of the bar.
If you drop it slightly offbeat, press the 'Sync' button on Serato
to tighten up the timing. You can now change the tempo on any device and the
BPM of any other synced device will follow.
Beatgridding! Now listen, this is important.
The key to any Serato TR-SYNC setup is having tracks of beatgrids set up properly.
If you don't know what these are, beatgrids overlay your song and mark the bars and beats,
so that songs and devices can be synced together in time.
To set the beatgrid of your song, unplug your
Serato device and analyze your files in offline mode ensuring set beatgrid/BPM
is selected in the analysis settings.
Now when you load the song under the deck, you will see the beatgrid appear on top of the waveform.
If you don't see this, make sure you turn 'Sync' on in your DJ Preferences tab in the
setup screen as well as checking the 'Snap to Beatgrid' box.
There will be occasions that the beatgrid is positioned incorrectly over the track,
use Beatgrid edit mode to correct this. For landing in beatgrids on unquantized music,
set individual beat warp markers on the first beat of every bar.
These will appear as a red line and should line up visually with a transient at the
beginning of the bar.
If you notice any latency or lag in the beat sync,
make sure to check the 'MIDI Clock Delay Compensation' panel and adjust the timing
in the manual setting or leave automatic selected if the timing is correct.
So now you know how to setup your TR-SYNC system.
Flip genres, beef-up classic tracks, remix and transition between songs and new ways.
Anyone can play the next big track. How many DJ's can make it their own?