Hi,
This may seem a bit lame but I want to add a bar or two before the start point/zero on the time ruler and cant see a way of doing this.  Basically, I often get sent tracks from a studio where the track commences on the very first beat of the bar of the song arrangement whilst others come with a running log telling me the time on the ruler for the in and out points in the overall mix.  Apologies but is hard to explain all this!  Basically once I have dropped all these tracks on the time line, I often want to add a count-in to help with syncing everything but if I put this at the Time Ruler start/zero point it then pushes all the tracks forward on the timeline changing the in/out points on the ruler compared to the running log I have been given.  While it may not be the end of the world to have to do some maths and add on some seconds to the figures it can be very confusing and it means having to remember all these details if you come back to it at a later date.  Many other programs allow for the start point or axis of a ruler to be moved along the time line (drawing programs etc.). 
Can anyone advise if this can be done in Sonar to enable a count in to be applied before the start point?
I would be very grateful for any help.
Thanks,
Bob

the feature request is here http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3159057

GuitarBob34
 
Can anyone advise if this can be done in Sonar to enable a count in to be applied before the start point?

Even though you can't put "negative time" on the timeline, you can have a count-in that occurs before the start, specified in beats and/or measures, for record and/or playback. Click on the metronome button on the control bar, and enter the desired count-in values.

Anderton

GuitarBob34
 
Can anyone advise if this can be done in Sonar to enable a count in to be applied before the start point?

Even though you can't put "negative time" on the timeline, you can have a count-in that occurs before the start, specified in beats and/or measures, for record and/or playback. Click on the metronome button on the control bar, and enter the desired count-in values.

I tried this, and the timeline marker starts still starts moving immediately (to either play or record, depending on what I'm doing). There is no count-in before it starts moving, in either record or playback mode. Shouldn't it pause in moving for the designated length of the count-in? Thanks... 

I think you've found a bug. I just tested and count-in isn't working on playback. However, it does work for recording. The only workaround I can think of for now is to create a dummy audio track set to record, and use record even just when playing back.
 
Could some other folks please test and see what you find.

Are you referring to the Record count-in? It is active for recording only and works the same in X2 and X3 as it does in the current version of SONAR.

The tick boxes to the right of the record count-in setting are ambiguous. They turn the metronome on or off for recording and playback, but look like they could apply to the count-in.
 

Yes, that's exactly it...even though it says record count-in, having the buttons in close proximity led me to think otherwise. But come to think of it, I don't really see any reason to have a count-in during playback, other than practicing a part that comes in at the beginning of a song.

Apologies, it seems I've stumbled upon an old chestnut here.  Thanks for all the useful replies, even if I've failed in every attempt to get a count-in to work via the metronome feature when recording or playing back - but that is not particularly important at the moment!!
Whilst I'm quite experienced at using Sonar, I haven't used forums much.  Are these threads monitored by Cakewalk, if so do they contribute to discussions where appropriate?
The reason I ask is that I'm keen to know why being able to slide the start point around on the ruler hasn't been built in when it is clearly an issue for many of us?  After all, it is only a guide to where we are in an arrangement, technically I wouldn't have thought it is too challenging if it's possible in other software such as drawing programs etc.?  Having said that, I'm not a software engineer but would be very interested to hear from Cakewalk about it?
 
Any info Cakewalk?

GuitarBob34
Whilst I'm quite experienced at using Sonar, I haven't used forums much.  Are these threads monitored by Cakewalk, if so do they contribute to discussions where appropriate?

Before answering that, I did have an idea: Select All, then move everything so the project starts at exactly 1 hour. Then all the minute and second timings would be correct, and you wouldn't have to do any math. When you're done, Select All and move everything back so it starts at 00:00:00. 
 
Anyway...this is primarily a peer-to-peer forum. While some Cakewalk staff monitor it, and their occasional appearances are always welcome by the community, they have to devote their time to the software. It's particularly true now as staffers are pitching in for support while the new support hires are being onboarded.
 
Whether a feature gets implemented or not depends on many things, mostly how important it is to how many users, and the effort required to implement it. As to the latter, it's really hard to predict...something like modifying how the timeline works may be buried so deep in the code it would be difficult to implement and it might be perceived as something that's important to a relatively small number of users. But another factor is "bundling" changes. For example if some aspect of the program is going to undergo a significant change, then Cakewalk would be less likely to make any changes with a short lifespan, but instead bundle them into the more significant changes occurring later.