Pre-roll on record question

[porkipine]

Basic question. My pre-roll settings for record are set to zero. Yet, when I go into record mode, it takes about 3 or 4 seconds for recording to begin. is this normal? I click the record button first, then click the play button. The buttons flash and finally, the counter starts moving. It makes it difficult to start recording quickly as I must wait for the counter to start rolling.

Mac G-5, running OSX panther, Pro Tools 6.4

[jlcnyc]

it may be the countoff bar option. Even if you don't have a click, the count off bar will still "happen". Deselect the count off icon (beside the metronome icon) in the transport window.

[porkipine]

thx for the suggestion. However, no go. By the way, I'm not using midi for this recording. Your suggestions appears to deal with midi count off. No matter what, I get a whole bar count off before the recording starts. Any other ideas??

[wwittman]

If it's pre-roll, it starts PLAYING immediately but only goes into RECORD after the predetermined pre-roll.
What you are describing is the entire processor WAITING before anything happens, right?

That only seems to happen to me when the processor is overloaded.
Most notably in sessions with lots of underlying layers and audio files.

Try selecting and deleting unused regions and playlists and audio files.
Or make a new session and import only the tracks you need including their audio.

by compacting the entire session, i think you'll find it gets itself into gear more quickly.

[jlcnyc]

I'm not sure what the problem is...but for the record, the countoff bar is not midi exclusive. Regardless of what you are recording (midi or audio)... if the count off bar icon (on the expanded transport) is selected, recording will be delayed until after the designated length of the count off.

[Phil71]

your buffer's too big

[tele_player]

Check Setups|Preferences|Operation|Open Ended Record Allocation.

Set it to 5 or 10 minutes; or whatever's long enough for any bit you're going to record. You can change it any time, so you don't have to worry about causing yourself trouble later.
I normally leave it at 10 minutes, which is longer than any song I'm recording.

[porkipine]

that's exactly right. The whole counterwindow just sits there and flashes at me for about 4 flashes, then starts rolling. My machine is a G-5 with 1 gig of ram. I guess I'll look into the buffer suggestion as well?

[jlcnyc]

porkipine
at the risk of my being stubborn....Are you sure it's not the count off bar??? (see above posts) The 4 flashes indicate to me that PT is counting off 1 measure before recording begins. Make sure you are looking at the expanded transport window and deselect the icon beside the metronome. And again this is not a midi exclusive issue.

[porkipine]

Well, you are right jl !!!
When u suggested this the first time, I didn't believe that the icon was highlighted. My thinking was somehow out of sync. I tried both on and off and sure enough that takes care of the problem.
Just like Pro Tools, the basic tutorials never seem to bring up these "other controls".

Thx again for yours and everyone's replies!!!