Traktor bpm values

[sofika]

Hey Guys

I have a quick question about how traktor reads the bpm values?
You see what happened is that a friend of mine has virtual DJ and I went to check it out. It looks cool and all but what happened is he played a song and I had to have the song. When I got home and loaded it to traktor it was sitting at 62 bpm where as on virtual DJ it was sitting at 123 bpm. Why is it like that is traktor not reading the song correctly or was it virtual DJ that was incorrect?

[Ozei]

Sometimes Traktor's beatgrids fail. Usually it's either the right tempo, but half/one beat off, or the tempo is off by either 50 or 100 percent (happens to me mostly with dubstep and dnb, grid is at half the tempo versus the song). Some rare cases I've had something like 150 BPM on 128 BPM song, but really not so often.

This is because Traktor reads the tempo from the audio file, and it's impossible to make an algorithm that would work with every possible song. So every now and then the algorithm produces wrong values.

You need to check your beatgrids if you're going to use them, every once in a while there are some nasty surprises.

[sofika]

Sometimes Traktor's beatgrids fail. Usually it's either the right tempo, but half/one beat off, or the tempo is off by either 50 or 100 percent (happens to me mostly with dubstep and dnb, grid is at half the tempo versus the song). Some rare cases I've had something like 150 BPM on 128 BPM song, but really not so often.

This is because Traktor reads the tempo from the audio file, and it's impossible to make an algorithm that would work with every possible song. So every now and then the algorithm produces wrong values.

You need to check your beatgrids if you're going to use them, every once in a while there are some nasty surprises.

Hi Ozei

Thank you for the reply. This is all good when you happen to know what the bpm of the song is but when you don't this is going to be more then a nasty suprise.

[VanGogo]

If you use the 2x button in the grid panel on the 62bpm track it will change it to the proper BPM. Traktor detected it as half the actual bpm. Probably due to how spaced apart the kicks or snares are.

Part of your track importing process should include checking the grids and adjusting as needed.
Bonus tip: also check the auto gain setting and adjust as needed then click the lock button to keep your grid and auto gain from changing, and so you know you have already prepped the track.

[TCMuc]

Thank you for the reply. This is all good when you happen to know what the bpm of the song is but when you don't this is going to be more then a nasty suprise.

This is why you always check your beatgrids by ear.


In your case with Traktor analysing a track at 62 bpm when it's actually 123 bpm it's quite obvious it set it at half the actual speed.

Also, you should make sure Traktor set the beatgrid not only at the right tempo but also the correct phase, by turning on the metronome in Traktor and checking if the grid lines up with the punch of the kick. Due to differently shaped transients the grid sometimes sits on different positions of the kick, which can make your mixes sound slightly off, even though the grids are perfectly synced.

[sofika]

This is why you always check your beatgrids by ear.


In your case with Traktor analysing a track at 62 bpm when it's actually 123 bpm it's quite obvious it set it at half the actual speed.

Also, you should make sure Traktor set the beatgrid not only at the right tempo but also the correct phase, by turning on the metronome in Traktor and checking if the grid lines up with the punch of the kick. Due to differently shaped transients the grid sometimes sits on different positions of the kick, which can make your mixes sound slightly off, even though the grids are perfectly synced.

Eish sounds like a lot of tinkering just to get bpm correct. Its ok though in the long run it will help me I suppose

[SlvrDragon50]

Yeaaa. I had a weird situation where Traktor was telling me the song was 127.5 bpm. It sounded right, but I didn't believe it.

I go online to Beatport and the song says 130 BPM.

I try 130 BPM, definitely not right >.>

What you should do is make sure the tempo range is not too wide. If you know your songs are ~128 ish, no reason to include 64 in your BPM range. Just search like 90-140 bpm.

[Jester]

grid every track manually. when in doubt, tap it out

[johney]

yeah, science!

[Chubby Racer]

Eish sounds like a lot of tinkering just to get bpm correct.

Yes, but it's not just traktor. Every beat detecting engine gets it wrong every once in a while. Hence why we have the tools (grid shift and tap) to correct them.