Count in on Sonar 5

[valves4ever]

Hi, Could I get help please with adding a 1 or 2 bar audible count at the start of a midi file which has already been completed and doesn't feature a count in?.......I've tried using the metronome but all my endeavours seem to fail or mess things up....I just want to be able to hear in advance when the file is going to start !
Cheers, Valves4ever..............

[simmo123]

G'day,Valvey ;D,simmo from downunder,I am learning editing myself at the moment using sonar le which is probably a similar setup,so i will tell you how i put count-ins in on my midis if they are required,i am sure there are heaps of members far more qualified than me but here goes,i will put it in terms that i would understand as well ,make sure you have the sound on as you will need to listen to the count in sounds. 1..when the midi is displayed showing all of the tracks,bass, guitars,keyboards etc, make sure you have a couple of bars at the beginning of all the tracks clear of all instrument sounds,this will give you enough room to put your count-in in,if you haven't you will need to hi-light all of the tracks by double clicking on the extreme left hand side of no.1 track & it should hi-light all the tracks (black).next hold the curser anywhere on any of the( black highlighted) tracks left click & hold the curser down then slide slowly to the right & all the tracks should move to the right,you will see when you have moved a bar when it changes colour & a definite line runs through all the tracks from top to bottom,to move an extra bar just keep sliding it further to the right keeping the left click held down until you get the amount of bar movement you require to enable you to put your count-in in.If in the event you already have a couple of bars clear before the music starts you won't need to do any of this.2..highlight just the drum track then go to... view on the toolbar then staff from the dropdown box & you should now be able to see all of the notation of the drums,you should now see the first two bars clear of any notes,next you need to put the timing in ie. 4/4 or 3/4 etc to do this in the case of 4/4 timing move the curser along the line of notes on the staff toolbar until you see the quarter note, click this note once,next put the curser on the picture of a pencil (draw tool 2) & click once,next move the curser to the bar on the drum notation which you want the count in to start,in this case start on the empty bar just before the drum notation starts. as you move the curser either on one of the five lines or between the lines you just try left clicking the curser you will hear all of the different drum sounds, ie,snare,bass,kick ,toms etc at the same time you will see the notes appearing, when you find out the position of the note which gives you the sound you want,remember the exact position where it is (ie..under/ on or above one of the staff lines)you will now have a mass of notes on the first bar which you have just put in & probably all will sound different, so you will need to delete the ones you dont need,to do this take the curser up to the toolbar & click on the picture of an eraser( or rubber) erase tool E,now go to the notes you wish to erase & just click each one .when puting notes on the staff ( the 5 lines) you can go higher or lower than the five lines to find the sound you prefer,i usually go for the rim of a drum sound as it is nice & crisp,now you have cleared the bar where you want to enter the count in & have located on the staff the position of your prefered sound go back to the pencil,click & you are now ready to put (in this case) 4 notes just move along the bar & each time you click you will hear whether the sound is correct until you have a four note count in dont worry if you get them wrong just go back with the eraser function ,to make the individual notes louder or softer right click on each note on the staff & a velocity box is shown amongst other adjustments as well just raise or lower as required by increasing or decreasing the velocity number.you now should have the sound of ie.four quarter notes either clicking or whatever drum sound you chose in the same timing as the midi you are using,if you want to put instead of four straight beats in one bar using two bars is what i usually do you simply place eight quarter notes in using two bars then i will erase the 2nd & 4th notes in the 1st bar which then gives you a 1 & 2 & 1234 feel, ive run out of steam now,my god dont know how iv'e managed all that ,thats the way i have self taught myself, i'm sure there is probably lots more ways to arrive at the same result but it seems to work for me,get back to the forum or myself if you have problems,good luck to you i know just how frustrating midi editing can be, regards ,simmo

[valves4ever]

:)Thanks Simmo...much appreciated...I've printed your advice out on paper and will try it this pm......makes you realise how easy live drummers are !!! Valves4ever!!!!!!

[valves4ever]

Success !!....I'd never have figured this out.....I'm fairly new to this kind of work and every day is a steep learning curve.....thanks again.....

[JazzCat]

One thing you might want to take a look at before you hilight and move the entire song, is the event list. Look at the first bar, and sometimes the second bar as well, for the set-up controllers.
This will be things like CC 7 ( channel volume) CC10 (pan) CC11 (expression) Patch number, reverb or and chorus settings, registered parameters, etc.
If there are no notes in the first bar, and it is just controllers you probably shouldn't move that bar. If you do your count-in clicks will come before these set-up controllers, and the count-in may not sound as if they are in the same 'space' as the rest of the file.

If there happens to be a pick-up note in that bar you can easily leave the bar in place, move the rest of the file then, go into the piano roll view and move those notes to the second ( now empty ) bar.

How you will want to manage doing intro count-in clicks varies with files, depending on where the set up information is, and what kind of pick-up notes may be at the beginning of the file.

Also, when you are moving the entire file you will want the snap function on and set to something large, like quarter note length, so it easily snaps to beat one rather than it being dropped out of time.
Cat >^..^<