New to Beat Gridding - Drum & Bass

Legacy Products Engine PRIME
1

I’m completely new to Beatgridding and it’s become quickly apparent that Engine doesn’t analyse drum and bass that well, especially if it has beatless intros.

What i seem to be finding is when i try to line up the grid with a snare or a kick it seems later on down the track the beat grid goes out, which to me suggests that it’s getting the BPM wrong.

Are there any tips of suggestions or links people can point me to for beatgridding drum and bass using Engine Prime and also is there a reason why it seems so hard to line the grid up with the beats throughout the entire track?

2

You can shrink the grid lines spacing using the plus and minus sign in the grid edit menu

ie

if the grid starts correctly but starts drifting in a consistent manner, scrub ahead and use the plus sign or negative icons

it will correct the bpm and the grid will line up

if its definitely a track that has consistent tempo, then you can scrub to the end, adjust the tempo using + or -

3

Here’s a video of a track I’m trying to beatgrid, I’ve lined up the first beat with an anchor but throughout the rest of the track it’s all out.

https://watch.screencastify.com/v/pY2Qw7PdSSfbjpbocSRM

You can see I’ve tried using the + - buttons in the beat grid edit menu but they just seem to move the grid bars and not actually shrink the gaps in between.

This is the first time I’ve ever tried bid gridding because my house tracks normally get analysed perfectly without the need to do this, but now I want to start DJing drum and bass.

4

that track is 172 bpm

Screenshot 2021-09-30 223941
Screenshot 2021-09-30 2239411977×219 37.9 KB

even though Engine Prime detects it wrongly you can still make the correction in the first couple of bars

  1. identify the first downbeat, drop an anchor, make sure its on a whole number, if it isn’t slide the grid to get it on a whole number.

  2. after that press CUE, the number on that point will reset to 1 (we need it for reference)

  3. now press play and listen for a 8 beats

  4. stop the music there, now use + or - to bring grid line (9) to where it should be

  5. that will give you a coarse idea of the true BPM

  6. now start beatjumping forward in 16/32 beats and use the + or - to fine tune the BPM

@Reese you may want to consider a merger with this Drum & Bass and using Sync

5

I’m trying to follow these steps but I’m really not getting it. I think i need a visual tutorial or something.

Where did you get the 172 bpm from for Onslaught?

6

One is EOS and the other is EP although both deal about the same.

7

dealing with the same concerns…i better be getting a xmas card from soundfish

1 Like
8

I’ve actually found a quick and easy solution after speaking with @mufasa on another thread here:

In Engine Prime I set the BPM settings to 98-195 and the imported all the DnB from my list into collections and it analysed it really well and corrected the BPM so they are all between 172 - 175 now.

The beatgrid lined up almost perfectly on all including Onslaught although I had to shift it sometimes by 1 beat and the odd one a little nudge but it took no time to do.

I’m now creating an EP playlist of the tracks and will look into how to transfer that to my SD card and will see how well it syncs on the Prime Go :slight_smile:

9

If most of what you play is in that BpM range, just leave the settings at 98-195 permanently

Even with auto analysis enabled in the settings, I often find that a second pass with REANALYSIS brings better results

10

@mufasa recommended REANALYSIS too!

Yes I only play Hardhouse, Tech House, PsyTrance, DnB, Old Skool and Happy Hardcore. All in the higher BPM range so this is a great solution!

11

My workflow starts with;

  1. searching the 1st main drop of the track.

  2. fix the grid (with a red line from the grid) on that point (regardless of the bpm) using the arrows to slide back or forward.

  3. i assign a cue marker on this point (this will help later on.)(we call this “Drop1”)

  4. i look for the second drop and fix the grid on that point as well… now i can mark another cue there as well…(“Drop2”)

If those 2 points are marked in the cue lists, i start entering the bpm value (mostly starting from 170bpm…(older dnb tunes 165bpm). The grid will apply the bpm now.

  1. I click on cue1(going to drop1) i fix the grid to that point (be sure you fix the RED line)

  2. Now i click on cue 2; hoping another red line hits that second drop marker…

If not i repeat the process with a bpm higher…

if you finally enter the right bpm & the grid was perfectly alligned with drop 1… you’ll notice by hitting cue2 the grid falls perfect to place.

Finally; the intro; i hit cue1

  • and use the jump buttons (on 32 or 64 measurement) backward untill the starting point of your track. (if your intro doesn’t contain rhythmic elements but only pads & atmo’s… this is the perfect way to define your startcue)

I will upload a little video to illustrate what i’m trying to explain here, it’s easier than it looks!

(also, check beatport, the bpms are listed there…)

1 Like
12

@NoiseRiser we found a brother! :+1:

1 Like
13

here’s my workflow in video

14

Great share

  1. to take out the guess work of BPM, you can use the + and -
  2. once you locate the 2 drops as reference like you did, i would have dropped a temporary anchor on the 1st drop (whole number)
  3. then zoom out so i can see both drops
  4. then use the + and -

if the second drop is to far way, i will listen to the first 4 or 8 bars and line it up

many ways to skin a …

15

there’s a reason i chose the second drop that’s further away in the waveform…

because of that location you can really notice if the entered bpm is 100% on point.

but yeah to each his own of course :wink:

1 Like
16

This topic was automatically closed 24 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.