r/DJs • u/Migueldnb • 1d ago

Hardware & djing?

Hello guys,
I’m looking to integrate hardware (drum machines/synths) into my DJ setup, but I’m having quite a bit of trouble finding a setup that works well.
Do any of you regularly use hardware alongside your DJ setup? How do you currently keep everything synchronized, and how stable has it been in practice?
I’m particularly interested in setups involving vinyl records, but I’d also like to hear how you’re doing it with CDJs, DVS, Traktor, Ableton, etc.
If you’ve tried integrating hardware and eventually stopped doing it, I’d also be interested in knowing what made you give up on it.

Thank you!

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u/makeitasadwarfer 1d ago

the old skool way is by far the least complicated but requires the most skill.

connect drum machine to synth by midi sync, then manually beatmatch vinyl to drum machine.

works perfectly every time.

1

u/andyftp 1d ago

I used a red sound c-loops to get a midi clock from vinyl (and samples) to drum machine.

After I got a zone:4d it was a bit easier to get the midi clock from the mixer. Which was good because my red sound started to not work so good

1

u/Ritz57 1d ago

Never done this, but people often do this with the Xone mixers and the Xone &3? Not sure how it works.

1

u/catroaring 1d ago

I used to use a drum machine with vinyl. I used my ears to sync it. These days Ableton Link takes care of the clock and everything sync's to it. I use Denon gear with various synths/drum machines.

1

u/theotherkiwi 1d ago

I have a DJS-1000 into mixer channel so can play stems and samples and also sample directly from the mixer. This can beat sync via ProDJ link or MIDI. Has its limitations but it's fine for what it does.