Click Count-In

Hi.
Is there a way to have the Click count in a defined number of bars before Ardour start recording? I.e. you press record and after 2bars of counting in Ardour starts recording with or without the click. This is something I know from Cubase and a nice feature.
What I’m doing at the moment is have the output from the Click routed to a Bus so that I can mute it after counting in (if I choose to - a trick I found hear on the board and really nice too). But of course if want to record something in the middle of a song that means having to mute the other tracks while the click is counting in.
Thanks,
Michael

Ardour does not have this feature at this time.

You can approximate parts of it by using auto-punch to mark the time range to be recorded, then locate to some time before that range. Ardour will punch in and/or out automatically as requested.

Hey,

A count-in would be a great feature especially when you have tricky tempo changes in the middle of a song and you want to punch-in something.

It would also be a great feature in a home studio where the vocals start close to the beginning, but after you start the recording you still have to run to the microphone to start singing. The workaround is to create some space at the beginning, but a count-in would be nicer :slight_smile:

I’d suggest recording the click to its own track, then editing it as necessary. Later on, you can mute or disable the track, or do away with it altogether.

It’s a good idea to leave yourself some empty space at the beginning of the session, as well. As a rule, I’ll leave at least four empty bars at the beginning of a session, even before the count-in. This allows greater flexibility for pre-roll, count-in, and the occasional last-minute idea for a longer intro. It doesn’t consume additional disk space or other resources, so you can afford to have any amount of “dead air” at the beginning. Use it liberally! Better to have the space and not use it, than to need it and not have it.

The session doesn’t have to start at the absolute beginning of the project. Once you’ve recorded your basic tracks, just drag the session start marker to some point that makes sense. Then, you won’t have to wait for the pre-roll and count-in every time, and you won’t end up exporting the dead air and having to edit it later.

Count in click still would be a nice feature. The workaround from above also does not work at the begin of a song.

“As a rule, I’ll leave at least four empty bars at the beginning of a session, even before the count-in.”

This makes me feel the need to adjust the beat numbers, so that beat 1 starts when the song starts. I don’t mind a beat 0 (even -1 and so on).