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Count-In Capability

Posted

Hi.

I'd like to suggest that Synfire be given a count-in capability, ala the count-in capability that we typically see in DAWs.

I realize I can put a 1m container out front, put 4 drum hit sounds in it, and that makes a count-in for Synfire playback.   However, the issue with that arises when we go to export MIDI or MusicXML. 

Specifically, having that extra 1m in front results in mis-aligning all the subsequent information (relative to 8m chunks) when we ultimately import the MIDI or MusicXML into a DAW (e.g. to record guitars and vocals to finish the project).  At that point we have to go thru extra hoopla in the DAW to delete that initial 1m, align things properly, and revert to using the DAW's normal count-in paradigm.

There are 3 ways I can think of to remedy this situation.

  1.  Synfire gets a native count-in capability.  In this case the extra 1m in front to create a Synfire playback count-in is not needed, will not exist, and therefore there is no issue at export time.
  2.  Allow Synfire to optionally export only a selected range (by containers, or by timeline).  In this case, the user can choose to perform an export without that leading 1m (or 2m).
  3. Have an export setting in Synfire:   Don't export first N measures   (where N would typically be 1 or 2

FWIW, I think giving Synfire a native count-in capability, separate from the container/snippet playback, would be a very good thing.  This would be instantly understandable by all DAW users and neither exporting nor how we go about constructing with containers would have to change at all.  

OTOH, knocking the first 1m or 2m might be easier/quicker (?) to implement.