Click count in required

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hi all,

Okay, I know its a dumb ask ( again) but I cant figure how to set up a 4 click count in on Cakewalk. I read the online help, and obviously I can set up a count in before recording, but what I want is a click count in and then no annoying click whilst recording or playing back, these being the 2 options Cakewalk gives in the metronome dialogue.

 Its for song writing rather than recording, so keeping it in time isn't necessary for composing, obviously I use a click track or drum track for keeping in time when actually recording.

Rich

[msmcleod]

The only way to do this is to record your own click in the first measure, then start recording on measure 2.

You can use SI Drum kit to provide the click, using the side stick sound.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Okay, thanks, that is well within my capabilities! I just wondered if CW had a shortcut to do this. 

[Byron Dickens]

In the metronome dialogue, pick however many measures of count in you want and deselect playback and recording.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

See screenshot, tried this earlier,  I picked 1 measure and deselected record and playback, but nothing happens and still no count in?

[Byron Dickens]

I don't know why it wouldn't work for you; I do it all the time. In fact, I did it just now.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hmmm... I think there is a gremlin living in my DAW whose only job is to annoy me every other day; or maybe I'm missing something! I'll look again, its usually my fault at times like these.

[msmcleod]

If you've not got a metronome bus, then it'll not sound.

Also, the in-built metronome will play all the time through recording - not just at the count-in.

[Jack Cat]

I love it when even the staff are not sure. You need to check the box shown here. I set it to Recording and I don't check the icons in the Transport module. I get a 2 bar count in before the transport moves. 

You can see I had to add a new bus as the default when there is none is directly to your sound card or interface. But the bus is nice for control of the level. 

I always add the count in using a side stick or a hi hat in measure 2. I leave measure one blank. I just draw the notes in PVR. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Jack Cat

[Andres Medina]

Richard, yes, it is possible to do what you want.

Just configure properly your project metronome, and make sure your CW metronome is routed to a bus.

See image. In this setup, you can record anywhere in your timeline, and get a countdown that sounds only before the actual recording starts, and then go silent.

Hope this is what you are trying to do!

[msmcleod]

@Andres Medina - It never occurred to me to leave the recording checkbox unchecked!  Good thinking!

[Andres Medina]

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

@Andres Medina - It never occurred to me to leave the recording checkbox unchecked!  Good thinking!

Thanks!... jeje, neither did I…!

Just found out because I was curious and did a few quick tests, and it happened to work fine. Kudos for the programmers!

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Ok I will play around with these suggestions thanks.

[kzmaier]

Count in only.  Always worked for me.

[user 905133]

7 hours ago, bdickens said:

In the metronome dialogue, pick however many measures of count in you want and deselect playback and recording.

2 hours ago, kzmaier said:

Count in only.  Always worked for me.

This has worked well for me, too.

[Blogospherianman]

I just Automate the Metronome Bus Output volume to play the count in then drop out.  (especially once the drums are down) Handy to be able to click back in again after a first ending when the song comes back in for another round or three, sometimes faster each round.

Also good for times when you rumble the chord for a while at the song start then get a solid click in at the appropriate time for a set tempo.

(I just like automating things really)

[Robert Bone]

14 hours ago, msmcleod said:

@Andres Medina - It never occurred to me to leave the recording checkbox unchecked!  Good thinking!

I happened to know this one, but I learn something about using Cakewalk every single day, and  it has been going on 30+ years (mid/late 1980's or so, when it was DOS program Cakewalk, released by Twelve Tone Systems).  Good thing we have a helpful bunch of folks in these forums - we are all in pursuit of trying to record the sounds pinging around in our heads, and between us all, we manage to row in the same direction on a pretty regular basis.  Wahoo!  

Bob Bone

[Roger Jeynes]

This works, but be careful: there's long-standing but very intermittent problem when Cakewalk occasionally misses the timing on the count in, so starts recording early. If and when it happens (after 2 years we still haven't been able to isolate the circumstances), the new track will be out of sync by the length of the count-in (so if 4 beats at 120bpm, it will be 2 seconds out). If you do get this problem, do please call it out: it will make the handful of people who experience this problem feel less isolated.

[Robert Bone]

11 hours ago, Roger Jeynes said:

This works, but be careful: there's long-standing but very intermittent problem when Cakewalk occasionally misses the timing on the count in, so starts recording early. If and when it happens (after 2 years we still haven't been able to isolate the circumstances), the new track will be out of sync by the length of the count-in (so if 4 beats at 120bpm, it will be 2 seconds out). If you do get this problem, do please call it out: it will make the handful of people who experience this problem feel less isolated.

Will do.  I have not experienced that issue, as of yet, and almost always start projects with 2 measures of sampled drum stick hits, to serve as my project count-in, so the projects usually start at measure 3, though if there are pickup notes occurring in measure 2, I am still good to go, because I have left myself 2 full measures of count-in stick hits.

When doing punch recording in the middle of a project, I set the punch points, then position the Now Marker some distance ahead enough of the punch point, to get the timing and feel in my head - if I am in some sort of quiet section, I may add some measures of click track of sampled drum stick hits, on the same dummy MIDI track I use for my initial drum click measures from the beginning of my projects.  I just mute that dummy drum click track as desired, deselect it during export/render of the project, and use a marker I set at measure 3 when setting the From and To points for exporting, so I don't export the 2-measure count-in drum hits.

Bob Bone