Traktor Pro 4 Flexible Beat Grid Issue

mistaHAN

Hi all,

Very excited to run TP4 at my gigs in Chicago but I'm noticing an issue with flexible beat grids that are happening to me and also present in the flexible beat grid video published by NI. I'm hoping there's an easy fix.

So when there are multiple beat grid markers, the 1st beat grid marker value always changes to something Traktor dictates while the other beat grid markers show the different BPM value correctly set by the user. It seems to only affect the 1st beatgrid marker.

Personal Example:

• Transition track goes from 150 to 126.
• Beatgrid marker for 150 set no problem
• Beatgrid marker for 126 set no problem
• Go back to 150 beatgrid marker and the value has now changed to 150.xxx
• If I try to manually set that beatgrid marker manually back to 150, the value changes to 150.xxx
• If I try to drag up or down the bpm value on the track closer to 150, it will keep changing to some other nearby value that isn't 150.
• If I try to use the fine tuning beatgrid, it stops letting me once it gets to a certain value that's close to 150 but isn't 150.

Video Example:

• 1st beatgrid marker set at 137
• 2nd beatgrid marker set at 119.980
• 1st beatgrid marker auto changes to 137.010

This is an issue because the traktor is resorting to an initial beatgrid bpm value that isn't correct and the program itself seems to lock it and any attempt to manually overwrite the value doesn't get acknowledged by the software.

Thank you NI team for the constant work and improvement on Traktor. It's crazy I've been here since Traktor 1. Not seeing any flickering browser so that's fantastic!

OliverGross

Hi @mistaHAN,

The behaviour that you see is by design because of disallowing phase-skips. Here is the explanation we got from Friedemann how the new beatgrids are working in detail:

"What you observe for the BPM of a given tempo zone is "by design" as we disallow phase-skips. This means that the BPM have to match the length of the interval between to subsequent grid markers to ensure an integer number of beats between them.So the approach to set flexible beatgrids is a bit different from a static BPM beatgrid. In the past you adjusted the BPM to align the grid to the beats - now you set grid markers and let the BPM automatically snap to the right value to fill the interval. It sometimes happens that the BPM "miss" the correct value and place 3 beats where there actually should be 4. In this case you can drag the BPM value up which will make the BPM snap to the next allowed value, leading to correct number of beats between the markers that you have set before.

Traktor FlexiGrids in their current version allow to define multiple zones with steady tempo between two grid markers. It is not making tempo a transition from tempo 1 to tempo 2 by itself.So tempo transitions must be realized via multiple grid markers - usually one per bar is enough in areas of strongly fluctuating tempo.In contrast to the old, steady BPM beat grids, which reset the beat-phase at each new grid marker (keeping the tempo steady throughout the track, FlexiGrids disallow phase skips, by prescribing the tempo between two grid markers to ensure an integer number of beats between two manually set gridmarkers.This fundamentally changes the way of setting grids away from typing or tapping BPM towards manually setting grid markers and let Traktor calculate the BPM between two markers.You can correct Traktor's BPM assumption by typing in a ballpark BPM, which Traktor will round to the next allowed value."

Hope this explains it for you why you have this values when you grid the track. The great advantage with the disallowing of phase-skips is that you get a very tight syncing overall.

OliverGross

Hi @mistaHAN,

The behaviour that you see is by design because of disallowing phase-skips. Here is the explanation we got from Friedemann how the new beatgrids are working in detail:

"What you observe for the BPM of a given tempo zone is "by design" as we disallow phase-skips. This means that the BPM have to match the length of the interval between to subsequent grid markers to ensure an integer number of beats between them.So the approach to set flexible beatgrids is a bit different from a static BPM beatgrid. In the past you adjusted the BPM to align the grid to the beats - now you set grid markers and let the BPM automatically snap to the right value to fill the interval. It sometimes happens that the BPM "miss" the correct value and place 3 beats where there actually should be 4. In this case you can drag the BPM value up which will make the BPM snap to the next allowed value, leading to correct number of beats between the markers that you have set before.

Traktor FlexiGrids in their current version allow to define multiple zones with steady tempo between two grid markers. It is not making tempo a transition from tempo 1 to tempo 2 by itself.So tempo transitions must be realized via multiple grid markers - usually one per bar is enough in areas of strongly fluctuating tempo.In contrast to the old, steady BPM beat grids, which reset the beat-phase at each new grid marker (keeping the tempo steady throughout the track, FlexiGrids disallow phase skips, by prescribing the tempo between two grid markers to ensure an integer number of beats between two manually set gridmarkers.This fundamentally changes the way of setting grids away from typing or tapping BPM towards manually setting grid markers and let Traktor calculate the BPM between two markers.You can correct Traktor's BPM assumption by typing in a ballpark BPM, which Traktor will round to the next allowed value."

Hope this explains it for you why you have this values when you grid the track. The great advantage with the disallowing of phase-skips is that you get a very tight syncing overall.

lord-carlos

Is there an actual issue with the grid besides you not seeing a round number?

You could slightly move the second grid marker, that will change the bpm of the grid before it. But I don't know if it's possible to get it to be exact .00

mistaHAN

@OliverGross

Thank you for the in-depth explanation and your explanation was exactly what I thought was going on. That explanation also gives me full comprehension of the mechanics so I was able to find a work around to get the values I need when necessary.

@lord-carlos

Yes, say for instance a track starts at 150 and goes to 126.

When I load said track by setting two beatgrid markers (1st beatgrid on the 1 at 150 and then 2nd marker on the 1 at 126), because the 1st beatgrid marker would change to 150.233 or 149.976, etc the beat grid itself would drift off from the actual beats. As a DJ, it would instinctual to set two beatgrid markers by thinking the song is in 2 zones. You can see because of the value calculated by Traktor, the beatgrid drifts and when unaware in a live situtation, this would be massive headache.

I would also like to add the reason why setting two beatgrid markers was instinctual was because that's how I would do it in every Traktor version prior. I would set a beatgrid marker on the 1 for every "zone" and then type in the bpm value manually.

—

The workaround / proper way to do it.

Set beatgrid marker for every "zone".

1st zone 150, 2nd zone bpm change (or end of 1st zone), 3rd zone 126.

Can't wait to delve deeper into Traktor 4!