Traktor Remix Decks - bad or bug?

Terrordisco

I'm trying out the remix decks for the first time in a long while.

I was surprised that it has no "automagic" features, like automatic loop bpm syncing, so it was pretty frustrating to work with.

I read in this forum that a user was having problems in March of this year, those problems sounded a lot like mine. An NI employee responded that this was being "worked on".

So I'm wondering if I should a) wait patiently for bugs to be fixed, or b) find some teaching material regarding the best workflow to work with the stem decks - if I'm missing something obvious.

I just expected to throw some seamless loops in there and get up and go, so I'm a bit taken aback by these problems.

Thanks,

S.

Sûlherokhh

Have a look at this:

Make sure deck SYNC is enabled. Click on the sample (or trigger it any other way) and then (in advanced layout) enable SYNC for the sample. You can also adjust the sample offset with the two buttons of which i highlighted one.

Edit: Also quantize must be active. Best set it to a low value, like 1, 1/2 or 1/4, otherwise it orients itself to phrases and triggering the sample may not start it right away.

MrCee

Just getting back to you. NI has recorded this with the internal reference: TP-17745 and writes:

Unfortunately, this is an ongoing bug that is already being investigated by our team. Here you have the Bug ID for reference:

 TP-17745 - Once entered in "record" mode for a remix deck, no way to get back quantization

Sûlherokhh

How have the remix decks failed you? There may be usable workarounds for your issues even if NI doesn't address them in-house.

Terrordisco

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/28906#Comment_28906

Mostly it's the loop syncing thing: I drop in a loop and it plays at some random speed. I adjust the speed and it still doesn't necesarily launch on the start of the first beat, even after i fiddled with every control I found.

Got any ideas?

Sûlherokhh

Have a look at this:

Make sure deck SYNC is enabled. Click on the sample (or trigger it any other way) and then (in advanced layout) enable SYNC for the sample. You can also adjust the sample offset with the two buttons of which i highlighted one.

Edit: Also quantize must be active. Best set it to a low value, like 1, 1/2 or 1/4, otherwise it orients itself to phrases and triggering the sample may not start it right away.

Terrordisco

Aaah! Quantise! I'll try that. Thanks!

Sûlherokhh

Is it snapping to the beat now? 🐭

Terrordisco

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/28971#Comment_28971

I'd done everything as you specified, and I was still having problems.

Then I figured something out.

There is a specific bug two co-joined bugs in Traktor's remix deck.

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So when I drop a loop into the slot, the BPM defaults to 120 bpm, for no good reason.

• The loop I dropped in was 145bpm. All the loops in the set are 145 bpm. Traktor is set to 137 bpm and so is the deck. But loop goes to default value. this is BUG #1.

Fair enough.

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So I manually change the CLIP BPM VALUE to 145.

Enter BUG #2.

So when I've set CLIP BPM VALUE to 145, the CLIP BPM VALUE will just display that number. So I think "ok everything is at 145 bpm. now.

But it's not.

BUG #2 is that this value seems to just get stuck.

But wait! there is more!

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BUG #3: SON OF BUGS 1&2 (Now in theatres (KINO))

So I just need to manually type "145" into that field again and again to fix this, right? WRONG!

If I type 145 over the field that already says 145, it doesn't recognise the change.

I need to type in another value, and then type in 145, only then will Traktor set the right loop speed, and let the loops interact nicely.

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I may add to this thread as this roman tragedy progresses.

Cast and characters:

Traktor 3.6.0 325 Pro Plus on a MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max 64gb memory 2tb SSD

PS:

@Kaiwan_NI is there a way to spare me from writing this up again whereever the bugs are supposed to go? I honestly couldn't figure that out.

Sûlherokhh

The remix decks certainly need some love and attention from N.I. to work on the fly; which is why i prep a wide array of samples beforehand in a set so i can iron out all the kinks with care and dilligence. 🦋

Phill

I Just got back to using Remix decks like you, having just bought an S3. I'm having no problem with Syncing but you MUST have deck sync on and set Quantize properly. I'm finding Q=1 works nicely for me for my skills and needs YMMV.

I do agree that remix set prep is essential. I used to do a fair bit of on the fly sampling and drop the samples into slots live but I need to raise my game for a while before getting back to that.

Terrordisco

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/29050#Comment_29050

Sounds like fun! You have to keep things interesting.

Kaiwan_NI

sure @Terrordisco I passed your report on to the support team. They'll get back to you by email.

Terrordisco

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/29529#Comment_29529

Thanks! Is it cool to drop bug reports here or is there another, prefered channel?

Kaiwan_NI

@Terrordisco Best to get in touch with our support team directly here: https://bit.ly/n1trakt In some cases you'll be asked to run a support tool so we can have a better understanding of your setting - which will help us identify a bug 🙂

MrCee

@Terrordisco Would you be able to test this?

FIRST!!!! Restart Traktor Software and load up a remix set and use Club Encore for this example. Don't go crazy and start using the record button (16 step sequencer) until later! Set it up with the following:

1)    SHIFT + LOOP ENCODER to set the quantize whatever you prefer. I use 8 or 16. Press the encoder knob to ensure the blue dot is enabled if it is not (blue dot is usually enabled by default with value set to 4). Note: SYNC should be on everywhere meaning on the controller Deck and in Advanced Remix Deck options in the software. This is usually the default.

2)    Hit trigger your loop sample. Everything will work perfectly fine, and your further added quantized loop sample will even count down if you hit the sample early, as it always has worked.

3)    Press the record button to record a 16-step pattern using one-shots or loops in the remix deck loaded. 

4)    Disable the pattern, switch off the sequencer record button and try and go back to using Club Encore loops as you normally would. You can't.

The moment you use the 16-step sequence recording and turn if off later (even if you hit the record button for a second), quantization for loops in your remix set is broken.

The sample loops from Club Encore start as one-shots, out of time; yes, they loop, but note… that the particular remix deck will not work as it should again until you quit Traktor software and have relaunched it.

I'd like to know how you go. I think this is something in-between and/or related to the bugs you have raised. The main point here is that Traktor software can perform as expected with quantization in remix decks... until you hit that record button. Then it's broken for that deck, the loops start as one shots, nothing is quantized again for that remix deck, until a restart.

I'm using MacOS Ventura. What are you using?

Sûlherokhh

There are two toggles in the remix deck that have conflicting behavior:

• Quantize: gets ignored (but not turned off) when SequencerOn is toggled to ON.
• SeqencerOn: takes precedence over Quantize when toggled to ON (regardless of the recording function), but is silently running in the background of the deck without ever being turned of by the native controller mapping.

The native REC button mapping looks like this:

• Press for the first time: SequencerOn set to ON, Rec set to ON.
• Press the second time: Rec set to off. Delete Pattern. SequencerOn stays ON forevermore.

What i did to solve this was to

• map SequencerOn to go OFF whenever i trigger Quantize (both ON/OFF), which on my S4Mk3 is assigned SHIFT+LOOP. I did this via the normal overmapping route as well as in my qml mappings for all my devices.
• map Quantize to go OFF whenever i press the REC button. This is so that i know when i have entered the Sequencer mode, even after stopping the pattern recording.

Then it works. This is an oversight of the NI team that designed the native qml mappings. I found it to be quicker to fix it myself than to wait for NI to fix it.

MrCee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/47814#Comment_47814

Amazing, that's exactly where I was at just now in this exact moment tonight, weeding my way through all options. I'll give this a go now.