Traktor Pro 3.5.3: Use Existing File/MP3 BPM value? Showing as zero without Analysis.

Rytz

Hi:

I'm back once again with something so simple, yet seemingly impossible for Traktor.

I pre-tag all my music files. I already have the BPM values set. When I drag a file from finder into Traktor, it shows as zero unless I analyze the BPM. I wouldn't mind analyzing, however analyzing will display Traktor's BPM value instead of my own.

How can I get Traktor to just simply display my pre-existing BPM file tag data (as shown below in the MP3Tag screenshot)?

Existing Data (MP3Tag)

Traktor: Pre-Analyze

Traktor: Post-Analyze

wayfinder

I wonder if this is a standard compliance issue? ID3 does (surprisingly) not allow BPMs with decimal places, so perhaps one Traktor version handles this non-compliance more gracefully than another? It might also vary with where you're storing metadata (in the file, or in the db).

Rytz

I did some testing with my previous Traktor Pro 3 (TP3) versions.

TP3 v3.3.0.108 is showing my default BPM value (albeit, decimal truncated) when added to the collection (pre-analyze):

TP3 v3.4.2.256 shows zero when added (pre-analyze):

As shown, there was most likely a change between 3.3 and 3.4 that is causing the default BPM value to be zero instead of what is provided by the file tag.

Q1: Can someone from NI please comment on this?

Q2: Can I please get an installer for the final 3.3.x version? The NI "legacy versions" support page only provides 3.4.2 (shown above). I'm not expecting a fix to be provided any time soon. The version notes thread only shows 3.3.0. Thanks.

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/210294645-TRAKTOR-PRO-Legacy-Installers-for-Older-Operating-Systems

https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/official-update-status-traktor-pro-3-current-3-5-2.338963/

Nico_NI

Hey @Rytz, I entered some BPM metadata on a track through iTunes and imported the file to Traktor, the bpm was imported as well. I have the latest 3.5.3 version.

May I ask how do you enter the metadata on your tracks?

wayfinder

I wonder if this is a standard compliance issue? ID3 does (surprisingly) not allow BPMs with decimal places, so perhaps one Traktor version handles this non-compliance more gracefully than another? It might also vary with where you're storing metadata (in the file, or in the db).

Rytz

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/16752#Comment_16752

Wayfinder is correct (thanks). I changed the BPM to 136 (no decimal) before adding it to the collection and Traktor 3.5.3 picked up 136 as the default instead of zero. I find this baffling because Traktor-analyzed BPM values are decimal values that are stored in the collection NML. When writing tag data to files, however, Traktor will write rounded integer values (137.95 becomes 138).

In my opinion, regardless of the ID3 standard, Traktor showing 137.95 and then writing 138 to the file is misleading. Pick one please: decimal or rounded values that match in the collection and in the written file tag. Currently, I'm interpreting this functionality as "our BPM decimal values are okay, but yours are not". The software can obviously interpret and utilize decimal BPM values just fine.

I should also note that Traktor will ignore analysis lock when the BPM is listed as zero.

Traktor is currently the only program I've used that has a problem with decimal BPM values. Unfortunately, it's not feasible for me to truncate the BPM values of my entire collection. Please either revert back to the previous functionality for decimal BPM tag data or just fix it to show the actual file value.

Can someone from NI please provide the final version of 3.3.0? Until this BPM issue is fixed, I cannot use newer versions.

Thanks.