Is repitching required?
Hi,
I am considering a move to Traktor Pro, so I have been playing with the demo now for a while. So I set cue points and the beat grid, then I lock the beatgrid. The trouble is… the tracks don’t remain in time. More often than not, I will need to ‘SYNC’ or constantly pitch bend. Surely I must be doing something right..
When a beatgrid is set (correctly), do you ever have to re-pitch like classic DJing with decks?
Cheers all..
Hey buddy. Technically if the grid is set correctly you would not have to re-pitch ever. what you need to do is once you have that first gridpoint set and locked is follow the track through and check for “drift”. that is when the bpm the grid is set to doesn’t match the actual bpm of the track. If this happens you will need to fiddle with the bpm of the track to get it spot on. a good example of this is mp3’s ripped off vinyl, which have a natural drift anyways.
I have plenty of experience with Ableton and have been warping tracks for 4 years… it’s much easier than setting a beatgrid… of is that just me being a newbie?
So I set the first grid point, leave it unlocked and move to the end, check the grid again and move if required. Then I lock it? Pretty sure that’s what I’ve been doing 
its not the grid, its the bpm that needs to be adjusted. get that first grid point right on the “pip” of the first beat and adjust the bpm till the grids are pretty much spot on for the entire track. warping yer tracks first in ableton will help heaps as well. don’t trust the bpm readings that traktor gives you, they are usually way off. I play a lot of psytrance and goa which is in the 135-150 bpm range, so when traktor tells me the track is 115 bpm thats the first sign that the track needs some attention lol.
hey
well the only problem i could see there is that once you set the start grid point the song could have drifted by say 2 and a half grid markers over the course of the song but if you just jump straight to the end it’ll be hard to tell this and you may only adjust it half or 1 and a half, or 3 and a half or whatever, which will look right for a few bars or even a verse but which will gradually drift.
Better to set the first grid point and the scroll through the song quickly. watch for it drifting and correct it as you go, so that you are sure by the end that it is exact.
should hopefully give better results.
k
thats pretty much how i do it kev. once i’m happy with the first point i let the track go and tap tap tap on that bpm till it sits right.
What’s the advantage of warping the tracks in Ableton first? I warp all my tracks in Ableton, so is this going to help in Traktor - how?
well it makes the track have a uniform tempo right the way through, so when that grid is set up, in theory you wont have any drift at all to deal with. Bento is the ableton expert tho, but thats my understanding of what warping does.
Oh I know all about warping, just not sure how this would help a track in Traktor. Perhaps if the track was warped and exported to a fresh WAV - but then that’s a lot of work. I can see this as a solution for a vinyl recording though.
not sure then, only other explanation may be that the track just isn’t even all the way through, very common when your talking about bands or live musicians and drummers.
or tracks that have a deliberate tempo change at somepoint in the track, man they are a pain in the ass end to grid.
Yes, yes, and yes 
Um… are you asking whether or not you need to change the pitch of a beatgridded song to beat match with the next song?
yes… ugh… and the ones with live un-quantized drumming.
I had a hell of a time beatgridding “Soulwax - E Talking” for my latest mix… In hindsight I probably would’ve saved my self some time and headache had I just warped it in Ableton. ah well, i made it work eventually lol.
this subject comes up frequently here. i think the general consensus is that there are a few different ways to skin the cat in this scenario. Ableton Warping, Multiple Grid Points, Riding the Tempo and Pitchbending are your options. Each have their own sets of pros and cons and what works best differentiates from Track to Track depending how they were produced.
To be honest, when i’m preparing tracks to do a recording, i will meticulously go thru the tracks i’m gonna use and check the grids etc. At parties i dont really care, if it aint gridded then i just bust out the mean skills lol. the first thing i would say is take off that stupid option traktor gives you to put a default grid down.