anacrusis specification how do I specify an upbeat/anacrusis?

[Xrenyn the MusicMage]

So I've recorded a short MIDI melody where the beat and bar counting should start on the second note instead of the first one.

I could easily pull that off in FL Studio by placing a time signature marker for 4/4 to where the second note starts to reset the beat counter.

But how do I insert an upbeat in Cakewalk?

Using the "Set Measure/Beat At Now" dialogue accessed by the drop-down menu from right-clicking the timeline gives me nothing but "Invalid measure and/or beat error messages stating that "The tempo required for that location is out of range" and that I should "Please remove some tempo entries in the tempo view around the desired time or enter a correct measure or beat", or saying that Cakewalk is "Unable to specify different measure or beat for the start of project". But, unfortunately, I have no idea what that actually means.

The project I originally wanted to work on should be attached to this post in case one of you might look further into my issue. Simple suggestions are preferred though, especially if I have just overlooked a specific feature in Cakewalk.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Thomas Fritz  a.k.a.  Xrenyn the Musicmage

Auhert's Beacon.cwp

Edited May 2, 2019 by Xrenyn the MusicMage

[Byron Dickens]

Simple.  Just put your anacrusis on beat 4 of the first measure and go from there. 

[Xrenyn the MusicMage]

Thanks a lot for telling me the specific term,  @Byron Dickens ^^

Yet I still don't know how to place/change my anacrusis in Cakewalk. Tried to research that for more than half an hour now but neither reading the manual nor performing a Cakewalk site search with no results nor reading through all the forum entries that came up when I asked Google provided me with the information I require.
And right now I really gotta head back to university.

Do you, by any chance, also know how to perform the technique you suggested?

Edited May 2, 2019 by Xrenyn the MusicMage

[mettelus]

I may be oversimplifying this, but historically MIDI notes on the first beat were prone to be missed. As a result, many users start songs on bar 2 (or 3). Because that first bar is empty, there is nothing stopping you from partially filling it. Yes, there will be that blank space at the beginning, but you can set the now time there, or jump around the project via markers (need to assign keyboard shortcuts, but they are available).

[Blogospherianman]

Also you can alway change the meter of one bar to 1/4 then the following bar back to 4/4.

[Xrenyn the MusicMage]

Oh thanks, @Blogospherianman, Neither was I aware of the "Meter/Key" window's functionality nor its existence but your suggestion totally saved my project and day:

I shrunk the first bar down to a signature of 1/32 to cover my anacrusis and the rest of my composition got a 2/8 signature assigned (because, well, to fit the results of Cakewalk's automatic tempo map. Just too lazy to transform it into 2/4 or something ?)

Anyways, I wanna thank you all for your nice support, had no idea this forum was filled with such a number positive people ^^

[Blogospherianman]

You’re welcome! Makes my day just to help out! And you are correct about the forum being filled positive people. Lots of sincerely helpful and caring people here. I’ve been here since Sonar 2 ( after my LClll mac with Performer died) and am glad to see Cakewalk still moving forward and the community growing yet staying positive.