I could kind of use something like this too because I'm starting practice to backing tracks and don't feel like hitting Ctrl + Z every time or not having a count in at all. And yes being able to adjust it to something more than a 4 count would be helpful as it gives some time to get my hands on the fretboard.
 
And an unlimited or very high number count in would be useful (don't make it limited to like 8 or 16 measures) because here is an example. If I want to practice Little Wing or something with a long intro that has no backing tracks I need the click there to keep me in time until it kicks in but don't want the click when it does. Another element that could be added to this is a way to make two sets of count ins that sound different so again if I'm practicing to Little Wing I can have say 8 bars count in to get myself ready then it switches to a different "ping" sound to signal me that I should be playing and then of course go silent when the backing track comes in.
 
Basically the metronome could easily have far more functionality than it currently does.
 
Oh and maybe being able to give it a tempo curve or swing or something. It's basically just a preprogrammed MIDI dealymabob ain't it? Shouldn't be that hard to slap together.
 
My needs in this area are probably very different than others though as I'm realizing that Sonar is going to end up becoming a practice and teaching tool for me.
 
 

Starting at beat one is a bad idea for many reasons. One big one is it doesn't give certain effects time to get their shiz together before the audio slams into them. Look ahead stuff needs a bit of time to anticipate what's coming or else you can end up with pops or other weirdness. I learned that the hard way.

Beepster

 
Oh and maybe being able to give it a tempo curve or swing or something. It's basically just a preprogrammed MIDI dealymabob ain't it? Shouldn't be that hard to slap together.
 
My needs in this area are probably very different than others though as I'm realizing that Sonar is going to end up becoming a practice and teaching tool for me.
 
 

You could roll your own using tracks in SONAR

@scook... Yeah, that's how I have/intend to deal with these scenarios when need be but I've actually hit a bit of a wall with my current adventure. I'm creating a practice project that has a simple multi purpose drum beat (I went through all the loops to get one that would work for the various styles I'm tossing in the project). I've got the drum tracks then I'm adding MIDI bass tracks. The first is a simple I IV V blues pattern played in E which only plays the chord root (this way I can play in Major or minor or any chord value I choose really). Now I can use the Key fader (using +/-) on the MIDI track to change the key so I can practice in any key I fee like. I made another track where I put in a simple ii V I jazz pattern (which also fits with the drum track and only uses root notes) and I'll be making some other ones to practice altered chord/scale patterns or other variations I conjure up.
 
So that's all good. I don't really need a count in because I loop it and can jump in whenever I feel like it. However the Little Wing progression fits over the drum track as well and I'd like to include it in this project. If I program in a bunch of extra MIDI stuff to count in for that one progression it kind of defeats the multi purpose angle I'm going for here and I'd have to move all the other tracks way further down the timeline to make room for the intro measures (not a big deal but still). As it stands I'll just play the intro over top of the drums for now or figure something else out but if I could pop open the metronome and do a quick set up like I described earlier it would be quite helpful. I'm sure there will be other tunes I may want to try similar things with.
 
Anyway... mostly just thinking out loud before I fire up the DAW for the day but this thread got me thinking about the "ultimate" metronome. Cheers.

I wouldn't mind a count-in for playback feature.   It's certainly not that important on my personal list, but it would be a nice thing to have available, and I probably would use it at times. 
 

Jimbo 88

Teksonik
 Next it will be a suggestion to add 2 empty bars the the beginning of a song which I'll have to delete when I actually do want to record a track then re-add when I want to go back to working on ideas......every time.

Not sure why you need to do this.  I have never started a song at bat 1 beat 1.  Always measure 3 or if I'm scoring to picture 10 seconds in.   Can't you just leave the 2 extra measures at the front the whole time?
 There are lots of good reasons to start your song at measure 3.  What if you were recording your guitar and you played a hair before beat 1.  It would get cut off.

The point is it doesn't matter if you understand the need or not or how you do things.  We all work differently and Count-in to Playback is very important to me whether others see the need or would rather use wonky workarounds........
Trust me the way I work serves me well...or I wouldn't be doing it this way for such a long time. Should everybody work that way ? Of course not but you don't see me trying to argue down a simple feature request just because it's not something I need or understand.  Ok my question was answered....No X3 still does not have Count In to Playback so I'll just keep using my other DAW. I'll make another official feature request and maybe sometime between now and X4 the CW programmers will spend the hour or so it would probably take to implement this simple feature that already exists in a least one other DAW.......

Beepster
Starting at beat one is a bad idea for many reasons. One big one is it doesn't give certain effects time to get their shiz together before the audio slams into them. Look ahead stuff needs a bit of time to anticipate what's coming or else you can end up with pops or other weirdness. I learned that the hard way.

Not a bad idea here....works perfectly all the time and I've been doing it for quite some time. No problem here with multiple effects "getting their shiz together"....no pops or weirdness at all.....I learned that the easy way.  Of course maybe that has to do with what DAW I'm using.........