Traktor 4 flex beatgrids broken for anyone else?

bloodlessdemons
bloodlessdemons Member Posts: 5 Member
in Traktor Software & Hardware

Ever since I've tried using the Traktor 4 flex beatgrids I've had an issue where once I add a second tempo/downbeat marker the tempo of the one before becomes broken so rather than being the same tempo on both sides of the marker section one now has some long decimal on it. This decimal can't be rewritten and stays even when I try to set it to another tempo.

I'll give an example here. I have a track at 120 bpm that has a moment in the middle where I need to change where the downbeat is. I make a marker at the start of the track for 120 bpm and then make another marker where the new downbeat is later in the track. We'll call the section from first marker to second marker Section A and from second marker to end of track Section B. The moment I place the second marker Section B is created with a 120 BPM as expected, but Section A now is at 120.117 BPM and changes back to this BPM even when I try to erase it and write it to be 120 again. This is the same for if I'm changing tempos between sections. In this example when I tried to switch Section A to 115 BPM it automatically changed it to 115.312 BPM. Section B remains the correct BPM but if I make additional markers all sections left of the right most one will have these weird tempos. These random decimals (I say random because upon deleting and re-adding markers they are different every time) on the ends of the BPM I try to set essentially ruin the beatgrid for that section since it's not slightly faster than needed, making it pointless to ever try to grid a song with more than one tempo/downbeat marker.

I've had this issues since Traktor 4's launch and it persists in 4.1.1. Curious if anyone else is having this issue and might know a way to fit it.

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Answers

  • bloodlessdemons
    bloodlessdemons Member Posts: 5 Member

    **since it's slightly faster than needed

    I should also note here the tempos can be too slow as well. Like inputting 120 and getting 119.*insert decimal here*

  • lord-carlos
    lord-carlos Member Posts: 4,169 Expert

    Yeah, that is as designed. The you set two grid markers the beats between them gets evenly distributed. You can't have half a beat.

    You would have to move one of the gridmarkers slightly.

    If you use beatjump from the first gridmarker, and then set the second one exactly on the first grid, the bpm should not change.

  • bloodlessdemons
    bloodlessdemons Member Posts: 5 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/197820#Comment_197820

    For real? In that case the flex beatgrid feature feels almost useless to me. Every song with a tempo change is going to slowly ramp up to that tempo instead of change to it instantly, and songs where the downbeat is moved because because the beat stops and then restarts quicker than the length of a measure are not uncommon.

    In Traktor 3 at least I could set downbeats that fully reset the measures and it worked as intended.

    Is there any other way to work with the flex beatgrid to make it behave as wanted?

  • lord-carlos
    lord-carlos Member Posts: 4,169 Expert

    I'm not sure I get it. Do you want a slow grid ramp up? Because that is currently not possible unless you set a lot of gridmarkers.

    With traktor 4.1 you can also reset the downbeat, it was not working with 4.0

  • bloodlessdemons
    bloodlessdemons Member Posts: 5 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/198145#Comment_198145

    Alright, so after rereading how you described the grid system to work I was able to get songs with tempo changes to work by making three tempo zones. One for the first tempo section, one for the second where the tempo is actively changing, and one for once the new tempo is now consistent. That way I can set the tempo of the first and last of these sections and let Traktor put whatever tempo it wants for the middle section to make the grid still work.

    My perceived issue before is that I was only setting two sections instead of three so I thought Traktor just couldn't work with songs that have sections where the tempo is slowing/speeding. However using three zones seems to work great.

    I'm not sure how to reset the downbeat in 4.1 though. When I try to do so Traktor still has the issue of changing the tempo of the previous section to make the grid unbroken. Is there a way in 4.1 to set just the downbeat without making another tempo zone in the process that I'm missing? And thanks for your continued help on this for me to better understand it.

  • lord-carlos
    lord-carlos Member Posts: 4,169 Expert

    I'm not sure how to reset the downbeat in 4.1 though. When I try to do so Traktor still has the issue of changing the tempo of the previous section to make the grid unbroken.

    If you set the gridmarker on the exact beat (get there with beatjump OR cue + snap + quant) it should not change the bpm of the previous section. If it still changes the bpm of the previous section it should be so minimal it will not be noticable.

  • DJDQmusic
    DJDQmusic Member Posts: 36 Member

    I totally understand what your going through and I have tried a million things to make it work but explaining it doesn't help. I was told to revert to the last version of traktor where it worked. I shouldn't have to do that.I hope they can put it back to the way it was.

  • red_nick
    red_nick Member Posts: 337 Pro
    edited December 2024
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/198682#Comment_198682

    Think of the markers as being around zones. Each zone has to have an integer number of beats (well technically the ones at the ends of the song don't, but anything in the middle does). Might be best to share details about what the song you're working with is like. Are you trying to sort a grid with a section that's a different tempo? Does the song have a steadily increasing/decreasing tempo? Or is it a track that has a bar with an uneven number of beats? Or a combo of the above?

  • red_nick
    red_nick Member Posts: 337 Pro
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/198509#Comment_198509

    Are you dealing with a track where the bar has a weird number of beats before a reset (for example 3 and half beats then the next section starts)? If so, the trick is making a little section just for that one weird bar. That way the tempo on that stupid 3 and a half beat bar stretches, and doesn't affect the rest. You could even make the section just the half beat.

    Middle sections must have integer numbers of beats.

  • bloodlessdemons
    bloodlessdemons Member Posts: 5 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/198686#Comment_198686

    Yes, I was talking about a track that restarts the downbeat on a part of the grid previously not on a beat marker. Your suggestion worked perfectly for what I needed. Makes sense that it's the same solution as sections with a tempo change as well. The section that has an actively changing tempo or weird beat switch up is allowed to be at a weird tempo so the sections before and after it with a consistent down beat are set to the correct value.

    Thanks again to everyone for the help on this!

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