[ardour-users] Re: Pre-Roll?

[Wolfgang Woehl]

Kevin Cosgrove <kevinc at doink.com>:
[...]
> get all settled in.  On the first song we recorded, I offset the
> whole group of tracks by another 6 measures.  In order for my tracks
> to line up with his original ones, when I give my drum tracks to him,
> I need to chop off exactly the first 6 measures.  By "exactly" I mean
> down to the sample in order for my new tracks to precisely align with
> his tracks on his system.  I'm thinking pre-roll would allow me to
[...]

Chopping off / prepending / moving stuff "exactly" is easy with the 
"Snap To" mechanism. It doesn't matter much whether your mate's 
material is on time (known bpm) -- use bars in that case -- or not -- 
use Location markers in the latter case. What will always work goes 
like this:

1. Import the external material. Select all of it and move it to 
whatever gives you enough time.
2. Set "Snap To" to "Region starts".
3. Add Location markers by clicking into the ruler. They will end up at, 
well, the start of the imported regions.
4. Prepend copies of your mate's click, record your stuff.
5. Set "Snap To" to "Marks".
6. Locate the playhead or edit cursor to those initial marks and split 
your new material right there. What you have now starts "exactly" at 
the beginning of the external material.

Or get a long keyboard cable and take the keyboard with you. I never 
need the mouse when tracking.

Wolfgang