Generating a Click Track with QLab

[Chris Gee]

Hi all.

It turns out that one member of this act need an intro click track before each audio track I cue.

What is the best way to do this in Qlab? Do I need to import each track into a DAW, ie Reaper, and record the click track, then re-bounce the tracks with a seperate track with the click, and the exact amount of silence in-front of the track to match the click?

Tell me there is a better way! haha

Cheers

Chris

[Keith Smith]

If you have a good ear (or at least one that is a lot better than mine) you could create some "stock" click tracks (of the correct time signatures) drop the relevant one in above the main track with an auto-continue, adjust the main cue's pre-wait to match the click, then trim off or fade out the click.

Personally, I'm not good enough for the above, I'd spend so much time faffing with the pre-wait that it would be faster to round-trip via the DAW.


K.

[Chris Gee]

Thats a good idea keith, I will try that!

[Mick Ritchie]

I set up clcik tracks for a band a while ago using a midi file - create your midi in a daw at 100bpm - which
makes tempo changes easy in qlab. The band had a little gm sound module from the 80's that would allow
the click audio to be given its own output channel. Ive used the method since with "simple synth" a
little mac GM freebie and an IAC bus to get the midi in from qlab -
sound output of simple synth isnt selectable but using soundflower it can be routed to any of your interface outputs - or just send it to mac output and cable up your mac to the desk for the click.

It would be nice in qlab3 to have loopable midi files but start and stop cues can achieve this.

mick


On 14 Oct 2012, at 06:22, Chris Gee wrote:

> Thats a good idea keith, I will try that!goes

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[ra byn taylor]

On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Chris Gee <stereoi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all.

It turns out that one member of this act need an intro click track before each audio track I cue.

What is the best way to do this in Qlab? Do I need to import each track into a DAW, ie Reaper, and record the click track, then re-bounce the tracks with a seperate track with the click, and the exact amount of silence in-front of the track to match the click?

Yes.

 

Since Qlab's ability to play audio in sync depends on different parameters that you can't necessarily control (HD speed, RAM, CPU, other cues, etc...) For example, I would strongly suggest NOT having separate audio tracks for click & trying to manually line them up. What good is a click if it's not in time with the track???

You might even have a intro click track that cuts out after the song starts and then have another track that provides a click from beginning to end. Just in case the drummer needs more reference along the way. 

If your click is connected to the audio itself at the file level & you can't disconnect it accidentally or by system lag, you should be able to quit worrying about that matter.

Best regards,

ra byn 

[Christopher Ashworth]

On Oct 14, 2012, at 1:42 PM, ra byn taylor <rabyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Since Qlab's ability to play audio in sync depends on different parameters that you can't necessarily control (HD speed, RAM, CPU, other cues, etc…)

Not true. Click "guaranteed sync" and separate cues will be…guaranteed synced.

-C

[ra byn taylor]

In a worst case scenario, how many samples get shaved off to do this? 

I guess as long as the first click isn't literally starting at the very first sample, it doesn't matter. No reason not to have .25 sec or something before the click comes in.

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