Beat Grids On Live Music

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Beat Grids On Live Music
Posted on: 10.03.2009 by Nickole Krautbauer
Whats the deal with beat grids on live and old disco music that naturally drifts in tempo thoughout the track. Trying to put a beat grid on this type of track is a evening mare. Any help would be most appeciated.
Desire Piedmont
10.11.2012
Originally Posted by djproben
Whooooooaaaaaaaa necrobump.
Maile Dekerlegand
10.11.2012
Originally Posted by Slackman25
Whats the deal with beat grids on live and old disco music that naturally drifts in tempo thoughout the track. Trying to put a beat grid on this type of track is a evening mare. Any help would be most appeciated.
Whilst not everyones cup of tea, Serato Itch & the new Serato DJ software has elastic beat grids kinda like ableton's warping. You can go through and stretch the grid out in places to account for drift. Can take a little while if its a really drifty track like a james brown funk song or something, but once its done you can just cue and forget.
Desire Piedmont
09.11.2012
Originally Posted by Slackman25
Coming from 18 years of djing vinyl the transition to digital is tricky in respect of the hands on nudges and drags that I would use to keep an old disco in tempo during the mix.
I can do this well on vinyl, but far less successfully with my S4, making me far less adventurous when I mix digitally. I'm hanging to get a Traktor Scratch set up running.
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct

You obviously know something

.
Oh NO i feel a terrible rumour about to begin hahaha
No i dont know anything really , it was suggested in one of the On The Record Sessions that an Traktor will have 'variable grids' implemented in a version after v1.1

We live in hope
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Originally Posted by Zac Kyoti
Keep in mind, at least at this moment in time, Traktor can only recognize one BPM per track. Meaning: Setting multiple grid markers only restarts the grid from that point. Changing bpm will change bpm of EVERY grid in the track.
Yeah multiple grids in the same part of a track is pointless but for 4 bar intros and 4 bar Outros it can work.
A Warping ability in Traktor is a little way off yet.
Elaina Hoerger
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by duerr
a human feeling? i do not compute.

ahahaha
Belen Wermes
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct
a human feeling.

a human feeling? i do not compute.

Desire Piedmont
10.11.2012
Originally Posted by djproben
Whooooooaaaaaaaa necrobump.
Danae Dumler
10.11.2012
Whooooooaaaaaaaa necrobump. I read the first two pages with an odd feeling of deja vu before I realized the thread was over three years old.
Maile Dekerlegand
10.11.2012
Originally Posted by Slackman25
Whats the deal with beat grids on live and old disco music that naturally drifts in tempo thoughout the track. Trying to put a beat grid on this type of track is a evening mare. Any help would be most appeciated.
Whilst not everyones cup of tea, Serato Itch & the new Serato DJ software has elastic beat grids kinda like ableton's warping. You can go through and stretch the grid out in places to account for drift. Can take a little while if its a really drifty track like a james brown funk song or something, but once its done you can just cue and forget.
Desire Piedmont
09.11.2012
Originally Posted by Slackman25
Coming from 18 years of djing vinyl the transition to digital is tricky in respect of the hands on nudges and drags that I would use to keep an old disco in tempo during the mix.
I can do this well on vinyl, but far less successfully with my S4, making me far less adventurous when I mix digitally. I'm hanging to get a Traktor Scratch set up running.
Roberto Viccione
11.03.2009
I don't believe it's as simple as that. Ableton permanently changes the file. I couldn't see the resources of this, especially in a live situation, being a simple deal.
Nickole Krautbauer
11.03.2009
Yes if you could drop markers and adjust the tempo in the same way as ableton that would be a fantastic upgrade (come on NI this must be well within your capabilities)
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Until Traktor Warp Mwahahahaha. Then i wont even utter the word Able-thingy..

For now im a pitch rider !!!
Yuonne Cauthron
11.03.2009
Consensus!

Ride the pitch, or Ableton Warp!
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Yeah im not convinced about variable grids myself. I believe that may have just been a way of saying 'Warping' without stepping on any Ableton toes.
Time will tell.
Roberto Viccione
11.03.2009
God damn t3h intArweb rumorz!

Well, Id love variable grids, but I don't believe that's gonna be very handy for drift from live drummers (at least as handy as Warp is).

so yeah, um... HOPE!
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct

You obviously know something

.
Oh NO i feel a terrible rumour about to begin hahaha
No i dont know anything really , it was suggested in one of the On The Record Sessions that an Traktor will have 'variable grids' implemented in a version after v1.1

We live in hope
Roberto Viccione
11.03.2009
Oh that wasn't directed at you, Karlos. It was just a follow-up to Slackman's question.

You obviously know something

I've been wondering if Traktor would ever implement a Warp function... I'd see it happening at about the same time they implement a VST function. Just don't believe it's something that really works in Traktor's workflow, unless NI wants to start developing their own complete DAW solution to compete with Ableton. Now that would be something.
Xavier Emanuels
11.03.2009
Now if only Traktor had a decent enough sync with Ableton to make it possible to use the master tempo on a track with changing tempos. Which would change abletons tempo in time with the music.

I dont believe we will be seeing that any time soon - i suspect we wont see anything until HD midi is supported by both programs.
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Yeah dude i agree. What im describing is just using a grid just for an intro for a few bars . Then set another grid right at the end of the track for 4 bars.
Obviously for a lot of music it just wont work but its worth a try for those guys that need grids to mix.

I also prefer to ride the pitch.

Its only a matter of time until Traktor has the same warping ability as Ableton.
Now that is a tasty prospect.
Roberto Viccione
11.03.2009
You can load the track in Ableton and use the Warp function to normalize the tempo.

In Traktor you can set multiple beat grids, but that might not help in this situation as all the second beat marker does is restart the grid from that point with the same tempo. With the nature of drift being what it is, I wouldn't do this.

I would either ride the pitch or warp it in Ableton
nayit ruiz jaramillo
11.03.2009
Originally Posted by Zac Kyoti
Keep in mind, at least at this moment in time, Traktor can only recognize one BPM per track. Meaning: Setting multiple grid markers only restarts the grid from that point. Changing bpm will change bpm of EVERY grid in the track.
Yeah multiple grids in the same part of a track is pointless but for 4 bar intros and 4 bar Outros it can work.
A Warping ability in Traktor is a little way off yet.
Nickole Krautbauer
11.03.2009
Being a drummer myself I totally understand the concept of drifts in tempo and that on old electronic records recorded or edited via tape to tape there will always be tape stretch to take into consideration. Coming from 18 years of djing vinyl the transition to digital is tricky in respect of the hands on nudges and drags that I would use to keep an old disco in tempo during the mix. So to get this straight I can edit the track in ableton to move the drums around or set muliple grids in traktor ( how many grids can you set?) or ride the pitch in a similar way to vinyl.
Reece Murray
10.03.2009
Keep in mind, at least at this moment in time, Traktor can only recognize one BPM per track. Meaning: Setting multiple grid markers only restarts the grid from that point. Changing bpm will change bpm of EVERY grid in the track.
Elaina Hoerger
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by duerr
a human feeling? i do not compute.

ahahaha
Belen Wermes
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct
a human feeling.

a human feeling? i do not compute.

nayit ruiz jaramillo
10.03.2009
Yeah my suggestion for Multiple Grids is if you want to keep that 'live' feel and dont want to Warp the track.
Virginia Ortiz
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by RSDJMoniker
right, getting out of the discussions of 1-2-3 and AI....
woah yeah sorry... way off track
Yuonne Cauthron
10.03.2009
right, getting out of the discussions of 1-2-3 and AI....

Devils is right. if you NEED to get the beatgrid exactly on. Use warp in Ableton, it's really the only way you'll get that to work.

I tend to just "ride the pitch" on those tracks. Less time consuming and works great!
nayit ruiz jaramillo
10.03.2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_logic

Interesting stuff. Basically using approximate logic instead of just Yes / No logic.
Apparently Japanese Traffic Light systems use fuzzy logic..!
Virginia Ortiz
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct
What's fuzzy about it? A wonderfully programmed drum machine, in my opinion, will never compare in feeling to a live drummer playing a part. *shrug*
of course it will never compare. because you can feel a live drummer, and you can feel it because hes using fuzzy logic to drum, and youre using fuzzy logic to listen to his drumming.
the brain can relate to a live drummer because every strike on the drum he makes is to some degree, fuzzy logic. im no expert, these are my assumptions based on what i know. but i find it highly interesting. feed me info
Roberto Viccione
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by Kaon
fuzzy logic
What's fuzzy about it? A wonderfully programmed drum machine, in my opinion, will never compare in feeling to a live drummer playing a part. *shrug*
nayit ruiz jaramillo
10.03.2009
Its also possible to set multiple grids on tracks. You often find the intro to a track is pretty spot on and the track drifts after that . In my experience its because drummers get a little excited in the chorus and speed up a bit.
But in all seriousness try setting a grid point for the intro to bring the track into a mix and set another grid point for the outro . It works .


@Kaon, i once mentioned Fuzzy Logic in one of my philosophy lectures (when i was a student) and was told that it was b*ll*cks and it was just a case of having more parameters . I was dissapointed and a little embarrassed !!! Bastard lecturer !
Virginia Ortiz
10.03.2009
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct
It is a fact of live musicianship, and is what gives music a human feeling.
fuzzy logic
Roberto Viccione
10.03.2009
Live tracks are recorded with a live drummer. It is practically impossible for a live drummer to not drift the tempo as he's playing by a number of milliseconds, causing a drift when looking at a beat grid.

The only way to fix this is with Ableton Lives Warp function, or to manually adjust the grid as you place. It is a fact of live musicianship, and is what gives music a human feeling.

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