Hey, new user here. I am actualy just about to receive Prime 4 in a few days. I wanted to prepare my music collection before it arrives, so i donwloaded the engine dj for Windows. I am familiar with how beatgridding works, but i only used traktor before. I found this issue on several tracks (all bought from beatport, no warez). Sometimes i simply cant fit the grid on the very first beat of the track and the grid is missing on the first beat completely. If i manage to get the grid on the first beat by moving the grid, but the grid is off for the entire track afterwards. I am enclosing the picture to represent the issue. How could this be fixed?
i presume it has something to do with the music file begingin immediately with the beat with absolutely no pause in front of it, but in traktor i could easily move the grid or cuepoint way far in front of the first beat. Am I missing anything? Thanks!!!
I would go for a region in the waveform where there is a clear transient (for example the 1st actual drop of the tune)
Indeed it’s sometimes not too handy to relocate the grid precisely onto that point.
You can navigate the grid with those arrow buttons left from the play button.
If that zone is marked ok enough… the rest of you grid should follow perfectly throughout the whole track IF THE BPM IS CORRECT OFF COURSE
Long story short;
Define correct bpm
Mark from the 1st droppoint
Rest of the grid should ok and accurate enough to work with…
Hey, thanks for your time and effort! Not sure i understand though. If i do what you suggest, i am still missing the vertical bar of the grid on the very begining of the track. That means, i cant make the first grid red with number one. That means, that all the other red bars are miscounted in a rong way. I am not saying its a disaster, but at the same time i do not think its supposed to work this way. My bpm is set correctly 100%.
It looks like Your track has wrong BPM set in, so the grid is having different spaces than the transients. Or it is not a 100% steady beat (tempo fluctuation).
As i said, the bpm is set right, there is a problem in the very begining of the track. There is this milisicond of some problem on the first beat that doesnt match the tempo of the remaining track, but engine simply doesnt allow me to put the grid there anyway, even if it was off (a few milisiconds left from the track begining).
Whilst it is not ideal - it looks like it is “aligned” - if you put a hot cue at the start you will just need to remember that the numbers of each bar are for the bar that has just played (not the next one)
I just tried that track on my Go and got the same as you. I was able to manually adjust the beatgrid backwards on the unit though once loaded… (just getting a photo)
Some audio renders of tracks are not starting exactly at te start where needed… (i’m talking nanoseconds here)
Where some producers give the recordlabel a render of their track that goes to the mastersession with some seconds before the 1st measure, others give the track starting instantly from the beginning measure.
And indeed that last one is doesn’t cut it when you want to set you starting cuepoint on grid.
UNLESS: !!
Pwanda: Whilst it is not ideal - it looks like it is “aligned” - if you put a hot cue at the start you will just need to remember that the numbers of each bar are for the bar that has just played (not the next one)
Indeed! You can fix this easily with setting a performance pad marker onto the location where that starting point should be… from that point you can cueset. I set the beatgrid with correct bpm to the 1st drop. and jump to the start and i indeed notice the 1st measure is of grid… No worries, the set marker is still on the right location, you just have to assign a pad marker and you have you startcue
Notice: the beatgrid is’nt visible on the startpoint, but your padmarker is fixed to it… hope that helps?
To conclude to point Pwnda & I were making:
Go to the start marker and hit the cue button on your deck or in Engine, you’ll notice it will set itself there as well (indeed, not a visual marker (white triangle) as usual in the cue-zone but the function is there… i promise!)
Thanks a lot to you all guys. N.D.M. - i understand your suggestion, but after doig so, the bar count would still be off, right? Meaning the track wont start with “1” ?
Do you think this is how denon intends the software to work or is this something they are still about to fix?
I just noticed in the second video that even the first bar is before the first beat, you still have the right counting on the bars. How did you do that? I do not see the explanation in your text nor the videos. Or i am just being dumb Thanks!
This gets fixed by following @N.D.M suggestion in the first vid - using a fictive cue point allows the markers to step back.
Personally I would use the route I suggested because I care less about the numbering but really that is personal choice!
Enjoy!
Skart Thanks a lot to you all guys. N.D.M. - i understand your suggestion, but after doig so, the bar count would still be off, right? Meaning the track wont start with “1” ?
Talk to your producer because that actually shouldn’t happen with correct bpm setting
Also… if your 1-measure is really far in the left “no grid-zone” … so what? Still use it bruv
Skart I just noticed in the second video that even the first bar is before the first beat, you still have the right counting on the bars. How did you do that? I do not see the explanation in your text nor the videos. Or i am just being dumb Thanks!
hehe to make the counter ocd-proof?(trust me… i know the pain lol) simply use these:
I took the liberty to map the tune in engine, don’t worry about those minor details as long as your drop & second drop markers are on point you’ll be able to map from those set ups:
Pro Tip:
set the beat jump to 64 (64 beatscycles or mostly 4 beat phases (bars) in dnb) or 32 (32 beatscycles or mostly 2 beat phases in dnb)
use CTRL/CMD + Arrow left/right to beatjump
use 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 on numeric pad to assign padmarkers.