Set Minutes and seconds start time

[Dizzi45Z]

Is it possible to select a point where you would like to start the counter for Minutes and seconds. For example, if you wanted to have the song in your project start right at the 0:00 minutes and seconds even though it doesn't really start until after 2 bars of counting in?

I've noticed that there is renumber measures and set current time code position, but I can't find anything that lets you set minutes and seconds. I'm thinking that maybe this isn't possible in Pro Tools as one time based ruler probably has to stay constant.

[elicious]

use your time code ruler
and reset that to 0:00:00.

e

[Dizzi45Z]

Originally Posted by elicious

use your time code ruler
and reset that to 0:00:00.

e

Thank you. This is a workaround that isn't too bad. But does that mean the answer to my question is no?

[mbahnmil]

I'll take it. It would be nice if you could pick which ruler to be your fixed base and allow other rulers to be reset over it. But like Dizzi said, it's a decent workaround.

[brianiac5150]

EDIT: 01/18/12 | 7:41 PM EST

Sorry...I was completely off on my reply, so I simply edited the comment as a removal. Hope you've got this worked out.

[Carl Kolchak]

No, you cannot re-position the Hours/Minutes/Seconds ruler.

I believe this is due to the fact that Pro Tools is Sample based, and as the samples accumulate, they correspond directly to a specific moment in time if you will _ sample rate = X samples per second.

i.e. in a 44.1k session :

a location 1/2 a second in from the start of the session (0 samples) would be measured at 22050 samples.

a location 1 second in from the start of the session would be measured at 44100 samples.

a location 2 seconds in from the start of the session would be measured at 88200 samples etc.

It's not really practical to talk in such microscopic scales, and such huge numbers - so Hours/Minutes/Seconds it is.

MIDI and Timecode are relative scales of measurement (as is sample rate, though once it is set for the session, it is effectively fixed) so you are free to renumber and rescale those, continually in the case of MIDI.

It might seem like a simple task to translate any sample position to any specific hour, minute or second - I'd have to leave that up to Avid to determine if it's an issue, and if it's a feature they get a lot of requests for.

It could be handy.

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by elicious

use your time code ruler
and reset that to 0:00:00.

e

↑↑yup↑↑
Why doesn't this work for you?
What are you trying to do that can't be done with the TC ruler? (set it for 30 or 29.97 drop and it's real-time accurate)

kasper

[Dizzi45Z]

Kasper,

It works, you just don't get the milliseconds since you get frames instead. But you are right, it isn't a bad workaround.

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by Dizzi45Z

Kasper,

It works, you just don't get the milliseconds since you get frames instead. But you are right, it isn't a bad workaround.

Still not sure of your application, maybe a BPM calculation?

Anyway, if you call up an AudioSuite plug of Time Compression/Expansion or Time Shift, you can see multiple readouts of different time scales.
You can measure length in ms, but still keep your main ruler on TC (for example)
Doesn't change your start time dilemma, but perhaps a help.

kasper

[dsetaro]

Originally Posted by elicious

use your time code ruler
and reset that to 0:00:00.

e

I am not sure how you reset the TC ruler to zero. Can you explain? thanks