Ableton Forum

Can you add time before zero in the Beat Time Ruler?

Let's say a song starts with some pick-up notes, or an intro drum fill, and you would like to start measure "one" after this. Is there a way to get the Beat Time Ruler to consider the measure after the fill or pick-up notes as measure one-- like, to have the Beat Time Ruler start at -1.0.0? (negative 1)

I'm looking all through everything and I have not found a way to do it. I'm using 3, but if it can only be done in 4, tell me how, as I plan to upgrade.

THANKS!

Apparently, this can not be done?
Maybe I'll post this to another forum.

If i understand it right, what you need is "follow actions".
That is one of Live's feature's.
You can trigger a clip that will trigger the next clip after 1,0,0.
So it acts as a - 1,0,0.

cheers

That works for individual clips and I'm aware of that after reading about it in the Live Power book. I'm referring to the entire arrangement.
I must not be communicating my question very well.

If you look in the Arrangement View, there is a Time Ruler at the bottom (displays: seconds & minutes), and a Beat Time Ruler at the top, under the overview (displays: bars-beats-sixteenths). The Beat Time Ruler is where I would like to be able to adjust the "zero point." I would like to be able to start the Beat Time Ruler of the entire arrangement at a negative number.

Often times a song starts with an intro fill or lead-in notes, for example: many blues shuffle tunes start with a lead-in on "4-and-ah-1." The measure containing these notes are never counted as "measure one." On sheet music, for instance, they show up as a portion of a measure before the first measure.

I hope that makes some sense.

Well, if your arrangement starts at 1.0.0 and you want it to start later....
You can just insert a silence. you can find that in the menubar "insert"

Hope this helps.

Cheers

hoffman2k wrote:Well, if your arrangement starts at 1.0.0 and you want it to start later....
You can just insert a silence. you can find that in the menubar "insert"

Actually, I want it to start earlier, not later. I want to be able to start the Arrangement at (neg)-0.2.0, for example.

Then you're talking about a count-in.
That is a requested feature, but isn't present in Live 3 or 4.

why don't you just shift all your clips by 2 bars, or beats, or whatever?
select all (Ctrl-A), drag all the clips as one block to the right , then you'll have the negative gap you're looking for.

peeddrroo wrote:select all (Ctrl-A), drag all the clips as one block to the right , then you'll have the negative gap you're looking for.

I understand what you are saying and that can be easily done. But it still doesn't do what I'm looking for. It's not a major issue with me at all-- it would just be a convenience.

Let's say, I'm playing drums for a group and running loops and backing tracks in Live, but the rest of the musicians are playing from charts. It would be nice if my measure numbers in Live matched their measure numbers on the charts, if there is a lead-in bar at the front of the song.

No big deal, like I said. Maybe they'll add that ability in the future.

so you'd tell them: "ok, you guys start at -2 bars, and i join you on 0"
just kiddin... i'm sure there are lots of ways to do what you're trying to do....
the thing is that i believe a song starts at 0, it's a bit like the big bang... it doesn't exist before...

have you tried to set the loop bar ?

I received a reply from Ableton support informing me that it can not be done.

Who knows, maybe in the next version.

ConneKted wrote:have you tried to set the loop bar ?

Good idea
I'll explain it a bit more, because MIKE seems to miss it.

Set up the loop bar in the arrangement like ConneKted pointed out. From beginning (measure 1) till a point you see fit. Move the start marker to the end of the loopbar.
the space between your start marker to the end of the loopbar is your count-in.

No, Mike isn't missing it. He's probably talking about a feature that Logic has had since the dawn of the Stone Age.

glaive wrote:No, Mike isn't missing it. He's probably talking about a feature that Logic has had since the dawn of the Stone Age.

Ok, i understand that he gets that the feature isn't there.
But there's a workaround that basicaly does the same..