Failing to get pre-roll

[bruce_pianoman]

Hi,
I'm pretty new to pro tools. I've used pre roll but this time it's not doing it. Tried to find answers online and in the manual. Lot's of places say how to set it.

I have several tracks and want to add a new one. I'm recording organ which is two rooms over and I need time to walk over there and get ready. The space before the music is now too short.

as a work around -- until I learn more -- I suppose I could add several bars at the beginning of each track.

I have one EZDrummer track and about five mono audio tracks. I used the elastic audio to fit the audio tracks to the EZDrummer which I added afterwards.

pre-roll.jpg

Looks like I need to learn more about attaching an image to this post, too. Kinda small

Thanks for any help!


iMac, Intel Core i3, 3.2 GHz, 4 GB RAM
OS X 10.6.8
Mbox Pro, FW800-FW400 adapter cable connection
Pro Tools 10

[Stig Eliassen]

You haven't enabled pre-roll. Like you see how "Grid" is fully green in the picture, so should pre-roll be. Command+K (Mac)/ Ctrl+K (PC) to enable it.

[Stig Eliassen]

Alternatively, you can Option/Alt+click with the selector tool before/after the selection to enable pre-/post-roll.

[bruce_pianoman]

I apologize for the mis-leading picture. I've tried it with the "pre-roll" green as well.

In this case I want the pre-roll count to start before the beginning of the track. Is that a factor?

Originally Posted by PT Lover

You haven't enabled pre-roll. Like you see how "Grid" is fully green in the picture, so should pre-roll be. Command+K (Mac)/ Ctrl+K (PC) to enable it.

[Stig Eliassen]

Originally Posted by bruce_pianoman

I apologize for the mis-leading picture. I've tried it with the "pre-roll" green as well.

In this case I want the pre-roll count to start before the beginning of the track. Is that a factor?

Yes, that's a factor. Pre-roll will still function with a negative value (e.g. the session starts at -12|1|000, and you're parked at -10|1|000, you can still have a 2 bar pre-roll).

However, if you in the example above are parked at -12|1|000, the 2 bar pre-roll will be ignored. It's a good idea to leave at least a couple bars open at the start of the session.

[bruce_pianoman]

Originally Posted by PT Lover

Yes, that's a factor. Pre-roll will still function with a negative value (e.g. the session starts at -12|1|000, and you're parked at -10|1|000, you can still have a 2 bar pre-roll).

However, if you in the example above are parked at -12|1|000, the 2 bar pre-roll will be ignored. It's a good idea to leave at least a couple bars open at the start of the session.

So there's no way for Pro Tools to wait before recording? lol. Even my home point-n-shoot camera will do that. Seriously, though, thanks. It's good to know I'm not screwing something up.

Just figured out a work-around: I tripled my lead-in time by changing the tempo during the lead-in from 126 to 40.

...now I have to figure out why panning is suddenly not.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by bruce_pianoman

Just figured out a work-around: I tripled my lead-in time by changing the tempo during the lead-in from 126 to 40.

What? this is pretty simple, as already stated have some space at the beginning of the song, just use insert time and maybe renumber bars as you need, no need to mess with tempo.

You can have all this trivially done in the time spent here complaining about something the software is missing, (which it is not). And for this kind of setup a remote midi transport control/foot pedal/iPad with transport software etc. can make things a lot easier.

[jeffro]

Pre-Roll is typically used when you are punching in and you want to hear part of your session leading up to (before) the punch-in point. If your audio starts at the beginning of the session then there isn't any audio to play.

Countoff should give you what you're looking for. From the Pro Tools Reference Guide:

Count Off
When selected, Pro Tools counts off a specified number of measures (indicated in the button) before playback or recording begins.

There's more info about this on pg 194, 436, etc., so please search the pdf for "Countoff" to learn more about this.

[bruce_pianoman]

wow, That's awesome! Thanks Jeffro. I looked it up. That totally solves my problem. And makes it easy to handle in future sessions, too.

Originally Posted by jeffro

Pre-Roll is typically used when you are punching in and you want to hear part of your session leading up to (before) the punch-in point. If your audio starts at the beginning of the session then there isn't any audio to play.

Countoff should give you what you're looking for. From the Pro Tools Reference Guide:

Count Off
When selected, Pro Tools counts off a specified number of measures (indicated in the button) before playback or recording begins.

There's more info about this on pg 194, 436, etc., so please search the pdf for "Countoff" to learn more about this.