Just FYI Cubase has had the ability to start at negative bar numbers counting down to zero ( the start of the song) for a very long time. You can turn it on or off as you wish and set the number of negative bars. A feature I surely miss when I switched to Sonar.

I work around it by starting my song a few bars in but when I need to know the lenght of the song I have to subtract the space at the beginning. Do-able but annoying.

I'm no computer programmer BUT I would think implementing a "Reset Measure/Bar Number" should be fairly simple. Adobe Audition has it:



This affects only the Measure numbers of the Time Ruler. Actual SMPTE/Broadcast Wave time stamps remain in the realm of "Absolute" time regardless of what is perceived as measure 1:01:000.

Having said that, notation programs will still see the "count-in" measures [I do believe that the implementation of some sort of "offset" function for SMPTE time stamps to account for the "count-in" measures would either be asking for trouble or a major coding issue...Just my opinion because, as I said, I'm no computer programmer].

Anyway, the "workaround" I sometimes use when getting ready to prepare a score (or print individual parts in Sibelius) is to "Save As" a copy of the project as a MIDI file in the "Score" sub-folder of the project's parent folder (or individual MIDI files depending on what I'm actually working on) and simply slide everything over to the approriate starting point so that Measure "1" is actually the beginning of the song--If there are "pickup notes" leading into a "downbeat of the first full measure they are STILL a part of Measure "1", the measure just includes some "rests" before the song begins with the pickup notes. Yes, it's an "extra" step but it's a relatively minor issue to deal with when I'm truly concerned with accurate measure/bar numbers.

Just my 2¢ worth.

Having said that, notation programs will still see the "count-in" measures

I'm totally with you Papa on this, other than the fact that nothing need see the 'null' measures outside of Sonar where they would just be an offset figure to base the project start from. The 'real' start time of project could easily remain unaffected (indeed it would have to) for export purposes.

Like you I don't see it as a really big deal one way or another but it's one of those things that would add some more polish and ease of use.

btw I hope Coldplay are paying you well for your efforts there...

ORIGINAL: papa2004

I'm no computer programmer BUT I would think implementing a "Reset Measure/Bar Number" should be fairly simple. Adobe Audition has it:

I'm not a programmer either, but I agree it seems it should be a fairly simple calculation, a couple of fields and a couple of buttons. Reaper handles it similarly, but it lets you set the start measure and the start time independent of each other. It's so much nicer looking at a time count and knowing that it's counting from when the song actually started.

ORIGINAL: dantarbill


I'm a huge ANTI-fan of mental math. If I have a pre-printed score...I would love to have my measure numbers line up without having to do a mental fix-up.

What would be even cooler is to have measure numbers some how continue to line up even after repeats!

Uh, sort of like a secondary loop selection tool, but where you could tell the program how many times it is you want the part to loop, and also where to go from there.
The good ideas just keep coming

With Propellerheads invading audio territory nowadays and notation programs refining their use of virtual instruments, I seriously think Sonar should respond with a major notation upgrade, like maxsax said (long awaited and very much needed).
Imo someone over at Roland should take a peek at guitar pro5. It's no coincidence how that program is so incredibly popular.

Hey Guys, I have a solution to work with existing conditions until an answer comes.  You could select all tracks, then check clip properties, and change when those selected tracks start.  If they start at "0" and the MBT is 1:1:000, then change all the tracks to 5:1:000.  they will all jump to beat 5.  Then if your click track is not changed, you would have a beat to start "pre-roll" and pick up your axe and lay down some tracks.  If you want two measures, set the MBT for 9:1:000.  Click track runs for 2 full measures, music starts.  One word of caution, be sure to select all tracks except click track!  It wouldn't be marked "0" when it starts, but would act that way!  Works for me!

scook


Yea, I suspect this is not a trivial change. One could submit the request directly to Cakewalk via http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/FeatureRequest.asp

 
This is the only way to make this happen.  Otherwise, you're just having a nice discussion.
 
I've already summited mine and I advice anyone wanting this feature to also do the same.
 
Just put a link to this thread if you're feeling lazy :-P
Feature Request FTW!!!
 
   
 
Take care!

Swinhart


Hey Guys, I have a solution to work with existing conditions until an answer comes.  You could select all tracks, then check clip properties, and change when those selected tracks start.  If they start at "0" and the MBT is 1:1:000, then change all the tracks to 5:1:000.  they will all jump to beat 5.  Then if your click track is not changed, you would have a beat to start "pre-roll" and pick up your axe and lay down some tracks.  If you want two measures, set the MBT for 9:1:000.  Click track runs for 2 full measures, music starts.  One word of caution, be sure to select all tracks except click track!  It wouldn't be marked "0" when it starts, but would act that way!  Works for me!

I can't see how this has anything to do with the problem we're talking about. What we want is that the project bar numbers match the timeline bar numbers also when count-in bars are used.. In your example the first bar # of the song is something else than #1.

<<A partial workaround: Create a 10-bar pre-roll, and start the project at measure 11. That way, you're off by 10, which is easy to remember and (should be) easy to coordinate with other synced devices.>>

That makes me chuckle. Practical to the nth hehe. Very good.

quoricsant ... the "cymbals count-in" in your picture is a smash on the first beat of every bar of 4 bars ...
FWIW, we normally do count-ins in beats, not bars :-)

Doesn't deter from the fact that you have a good idea here though.  I was used to a negative count-in which you could set in SAW many years ago ...

+1, gets my vote too.