Song start at Bar 1|1|000 and Time 0:0.0 ??

[amathie]

I've got a song in the edit window. There are a few bars before the song starts.

At the song start I would like to see the counters showing Bar 1|1|000 and Time 0:0.0. so that at a particular point in the song I know what bar we are at AND how long we are into the song.

I know it is possible to realign/renumber bars and to change the timecode at the session start in the session setup panel. Is it possible to change the starting time of the session so that time 0:0.0 corresponds to the song start rather than the session start?

Sorry for being long winded!

[nednednerb]

Try turning Session Start to a "negative" timecode. See my screenshot.

In the session I have 1|1|000 landing at 0:15 on the Counter when the timecode for "Session Start" is 0:00:00.

When I put Session Start at 15 frames early (23:59:59:15 at 30 fps), then
1|1|000 starting Bar|Beat lines up with Timecode 0:00:00

The Min:Sec still lines up and shows my 15 frames into the session as 0.500 which is what I should expect. Timecode is code. Min:Sec is literal. Not sure if there is a way to line that up, but you said Timecode so I think this should suit your purpose.

[amathie]

Thanks for the info. Yes, I can change the time code to correspond to the song start at Bar 1. But from what I now understand, the TIME always starts counting right from the start of the session. Is that your finding/understanding?

[Rich Breen]

Originally Posted by amathie

Thanks for the info. Yes, I can change the time code to correspond to the song start at Bar 1. But from what I now understand, the TIME always starts counting right from the start of the session. Is that your finding/understanding?

Yes, that's correct - there's no way to set a zero point for the mm:ss counter other than at session start. Andrew Sheps has an app called "Offset Counter" that works with Soundflow for this exact reason, and it works very well. Would be nice if Avid allowed a local zero, but it's been requested for ages and doesn't seem like it'll happen.

[nednednerb]

That said......


The first moment of "Time" arguably should be "moment zero" but maybe it should be "moment one".... This is QUITE a philosophical question in fact, not just a programming choice.

However, if we allow Time to be like the above and can uphold together that we agree Moment Zero Is The Start Time....

Then by convention we can agree that some "time in" we shall start our song. Musicians decided songs start at 1|1|000. Can we agree to go with that. You can choose to put your first MIDI note at 1|1|500 if you like.

Also, you might be working on audio for a scene that begins at the first hour, second minute, and 30th second and 15th frame of a 30 FPS film made in another session. Let's say 1|1|000 is the 2nd minute of the scene exactly.

So, you might have "Time" "Musical Time" and "Timecode"

Now.... think this through... How do you set Musical Time and Timecode so that 1|1|000 starts at 2nd minute of the scene exactly and timecode is such that it starts at 01:02:30:15, IF "Time" can change?

My argument, philosophical as it might sound, is that Time should be absolute and the rest shall shift and be relative. Therefore, I cannot change Time to start at 3 seconds. It must start at 0.

Thus, Musical Time and Timecode are "relative to the absolute reference"... If you shifted time, weird nonsense would happen. If you shift song start to a new moment in timeline, it shifts relative to Time. If the scene director changes the Timecode, it shifts relative to Time......

I'm saying, it makes very little sense for Time to shift to... what? That's WHAT Timecode is, a shift or offset of time.

So my point is, if you're looking for a way to shift time start, you might not be using Timecode 1 as intended, or Timecode 2, or Feet + Frames, or simply a Marker at the "point" you want 0.0 to be, then when you export from that marker onward, you've got your "Moment Zero" just where you like!