Pre-rolled record to cursor

[akoustic]

Pre-rolled record to cursor for armed tracks:

This is a feature request that, I kid you not, been asking Sonic Foundry for since version 2 and would dearly love to see it added into reaper. I requested it a good few months ago but decided to try once again to see if there are any users that may find it useful and efficient.

Its basically a PT feature that I found most useful for tracking and works quite simply like this:

- arm the tracks you want to record on
- place the cursor at the point where you want the punch in to take place
- hit the record/pre-roll key
- playback starts a bar or 2 earlier and automatically drops in at the original cursor position
- manual punch out thereafter

Maybe a dialog box in the default to set the amount of pre-roll… this has always been the quickest way to punch in a live studio session… well, hope my explanation makes sense

cheers

[happymonkey]

+1

I'd like to see that too.

HM

[Art Evans]

Yeah, I set up something like that (or even exactly that) using an AutoHotKey script way back, and I think some people were using it for a while. Search the forum for "TimePunch" and you might find it.

[Billoon]

Just in case you havent seen it...theres a "loop selection autopunch" recording mode in options...select that, set the loop where you want to punch, put your cursor where you want to preroll from and hit record, easy.

[akoustic]

hi Art,

I did have a go at that sometime back but could never get it working the way i described it in this thread.

I'm curious if you were able to achieve this with proper control over the amount of beats/bar for the playback lead in to punch point?

cheers

[Art Evans]

I've not changed it for a long time - as I recall, it worked in the same three second jump-back increments that Reaper uses for rewinding. So indeed the preroll point could not be precisely chosen (unless you happened to want 3,6,or 9 seconds!) though I think the drop in point was exact.

[maa]

If reapers punch in mode would work properly as described the function requested in this thread would be redundant as reapers method is far more powerfull.
Like Samplitude in a way because you can precisly position the pre-roll cursor say at the begining or a verse for a singer.
Automated pre-roll is rather primitive, if quick.


Cheers

M

[akoustic]

Art

... well that's pretty much what i ended up with 2, which in effect is no where as good as a bar or 2 back from the punch point. The muso's 'lock-in' to the groove much faster with full bars/measures, compared to seconds.

Drop em in somewhere weird and you probably get asked for a longer pre-roll.. which all wastes time in the end.

i really would appreciate Justin checking this out if it wont be too much work to add, as an option.

[akoustic]

hi maa,

not sure i quite understand... but as a practical example i have always found it real easy to just place the cursor at a point of dropin and hit 1 button/key... for me that's as quick as it can get and hardly primitive.

Most the time a 1-2 bar pre-roll is enough, especially when doing quick fixes on bass parts etc... (refering to live acoustic studio sessions)

cheers

[simplecarnival]

Originally Posted by maa

Automated pre-roll is rather primitive, if quick.

If you're recording/performing by yourself, the "quick" part of this is why it's such a great feature in PTLE. Also being able to turn it on/off on a whim.

For example, in PTLE, I control the transport with a remote control gamepad, so I can be on the other side of the room and track me playing, say, acoustic guitar. I'll use the gamepad to rewind/fast forward to where I messed up, turn on the auto preroll if it's not on, and then hit record.

With editing, sometimes having a preroll is good, so you can hear how things sound as it leads into the edit. That way, there's no need to rewind a bit and lose your place of where the edit is (assuming you're zoomed in pretty close).

Really, the ideal behavior is to be able to have a preroll *without* having to set a loop selection, and then being able to assign a key to turn the preroll on and off. And it shouldn't make a difference if you're in record or playback mode.

I realize this is an old thread -- has something like this been implemented in Reaper? Because it could kind of come in handy right now and I can't find it...

[jamester]

I like this idea.