[Solved] Metronome for count in only?

 I thought I was being more elegant by starting a project at the very beginning instead of my old leaving four blank measures at the beginning habit. I have a midi drum track so I don't need the metronome while the song plays. I just need the metronome for the count in. This is not an option, doh! (would be nice to have a count in during playback as well as recording for rehearsal purposes - this is not an option either, doh!) So I realized I will have to slide the whole project over at least one measure to allow for a count in measure. So why is it that when I slide the whole project over, the markers and time changes and meter changes DON'T slide? Am I missing an option somewhere? Also when trying to insert four measures in the middle of the song by pasting four measures of midi drums (session drummer) and clicking the "slide material over to make room" option, the material would not slide over no matter what I checked or clicked. Does this feature only work with audio, and not midi?
Thanks!
Steve
Sweaty Productions

Metronome count in, then out would be great - workaround is just record x number of hi-hat at the beginning. 

Yeah, the layout is a little unclear/misleading. But I'm still curious that it seems to OP is saying he doesn't hear a count-in unless the 'nome is enabled for recording; that shouldn't be necessary.

hmm maybe some volume automation of the metronome track could do the trick? just guessing,
anyway, as a drummer&soundman, I usually prefer to leave 1st measure of metronome click, then 2nd measure add also my own drumsticks "click" - this way the metronome can be disabled completely while still having plenty time in the very beginning to catch up :))

jatoth
brundlfly,
Is no one reading your reply?
 

You are right, of course.
 
I'm embarrassed to admit that when I first read his explanation it did not entirely sink in. I've read it again and tried it out and it does indeed work. It had never occurred to me that with the metronome turned off for both playback and recording the count in would still be audible. It may be partly due to the fact that I generally have the count in set to zero, because I always leave one or two blank measures at the beginning.
 
Thank you for getting me to look at it again, and thank you to brundlfly for pointing out this useful feature.

Meh. I just create my own "count ins" using a "Simple Instrument Track" and a synth/drum sim (currently using AD2 but TTS-1 or most any plug with percussion sounds works).
 
It avoids screwing around with the weird metronome setup/routing/playback/recording in Sonar (and most DAWs). Seriously annoying/time consuming stuff. It's more flexible too and I can export the results for others to follow AND I can still use the metronome when I want.
 
eg: I set up my percussion SIT and use something like a hi-hat (I prefer hats than clicks for count ins and whatnot) then can create whatever length/style count in I want by punching the beats into the PRV (and copy/drag them a few times to get as many lead in repetitions as I need).
 
Simple enough to just get into the tune until the drums kick in BUT now I can also program in those hats/clicks/etc at parts where the drums/beat drops out/disappears.
 
I am currently completely time correcting/redoing/overdubbing an old multi track live session. Tons of drum stops and long intros where the bass or guits carry things that have massive tempo changes (and even time sig changes). It would be almost impossible to overdub those parts without SOMETHING cueing me (we used to use visual signals during these parts).
 
So yeah... that Simple Instrument track becomes my metronome that kicks in when I really need it. The rest of the time I can follow the live drums to keep it human. Of course (if I've created a proper tempo map to follow the song accurately) I can still turn on the metronome but aside from ridgid material I mostly like to play to the drums/band.
 
 
tl;dr....
 
Create a Simple Instrument track, add a percussive synth/patch, program your count in into the Piano Roll View.
 
 
Cheers.

I dragged out a count-in I like from from EZD and into the media browser where it's always handy

Pre-roll would be better if it allowed you to apply the pre-roll as actual audio. It's vital when doing overdubs during long stops with no count off. Otherwise, I have to manually record the metronome and paste it into an intro.

Thanks for all the input - final verdict is to put blank space at the beginning and put click in drum track. Bob Bone nailed it - if I got what I thought I wanted the audio would be chopped at the beginning due to trying to start the song precisely at the beginning.

No digs intended ...
 
Threads like this really put a spotlight on the fact that individual users have soooo many preferences and approaches to even the things that seem simple on the surface.
 
Seems I also learn something about Sonar every time I read a thread like this too - Thanks brundlefly.

Personally I try to start most projects at 1:01:000 unless they have pick-up notes or MIDI messages that have to be sent before the 'first' measure. I avoid pre-roll measures if possible because it bugs me to not have measures numbered 'normally' in pieces where sections/phrases are all 4 or 8 bars.
 
I've gone so far as to simply leave out pick-up beats or move the first MIDI note a few ticks later to help out a particular synth that misbehaves with notes starting at 1:01:000 to avoid using a pre-roll measure. But most of the time, starting at time zero is not a problem for me, notwithstanding the common notion that SONAR always needs some time to 'get rolling'.
 
Here's hoping the Bakers eventually add some implementation of pre-roll/pick-up/setup measures that allows the first measure to remain number 1.