need help adding bar before time 00 without messing up map

[D.D. Jackson]

I'm having the hardest time doing what I thought would be a quite simple procedure. I just completed work on a project that needed to be exactly a certain time in length. To keep track of the total time as I composed, I began with Bar 1 set to smpte 00:00:00:00. When generating splits (stripes), I've now been asked to insert an additional bar upfront so I can add some piano "dings" before each split. Each time I try doing this in various ways (adding a bar of space between locators upfront after selecting everything, including the tempo map; trying to change the sync setting for what time: 00:00 corresponds to, etc.), it ends up messing up my tempo map (which has numerous time changes), as well as my key map, in various, seemingly unpredictable ways. Does anyone know a way to achieve this? (or am I stuck in the future beginning my project by putting the piano "dings" at time 0, bar 1, and beginning my project at bar 2?

Thanks for any help!

- robjohn

[Atlas007]

Have you considered locking all the events to smpte? That would probably imply to first convert your automation to region base and incorporate the tempo changes in the notes/events length. Once done, adjust your smpte accordingly to allow insertion as you wish. Alternately recording your work to another computer, starting this time at SMPTE starting at 1 instead of 0.

[D.D. Jackson]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm a bit cautious about converting automation to region-based, since a lot of the automation is currently being done on aux tracks, etc. (I'm using a very large orchestral template, VE Pro, etc.), and I'm concerned about not "catching" something, etc...Since I first wrote, though, I found out that it's acceptable to just put the piano "dings" on bar 1 time 0 of the actual episode, so the problem is solved. Still, I'm curious why it's so difficult in Logic to add a bar before bar 1 time 00 (using insert silence between locators) without messing up my carefully-crafted time/key signature maps, etc.?

Best -

Robjohn

[David Nahmani]

First of all, in Logic, never move the project start marker bar position: it should always stay on 1 1 1 1 or you risk various unexpected behaviors.

 

As for the SMPTE time code, you can adjust it however you'd like under Settings > Synchronization.

 

To add time at the beginning of a project, you can set your locators however desired (by adjusting the cycle area) then choose Edit > Cut/Insert Time > Insert Silence Between Locators. The project (including regions, markers, tempo maps etc....) will be pushed back toward the right and you'll get an empty section at the top of your project, which will still start at the same bar number (which hopefully you haven't moved from 1 1 1 1).