Pick Up Notes in Pro Audio 9 Notation

[Rock Star 87]

One of my first REAL Pro Audio 9 experiences is putting my theory project into the notation section of PA9. But I have a problem. My first note of the melody is C4. It starts on the fourth beat before the first measure. I could move it up a measure, but then my piece has a 3-beat silence before it begins. Not a big problem, but i was up for 3 hours messing around with PA9 trying to get a pick-up note going. Anybody out there got a shortcut i could bum? Thanks.

[James Argo]

Not a big problem, but i was up for 3 hours messing around with PA9 trying to get a pick-up note going. Anybody out there got a shortcut i could bum? Thanks.

Excuse me, I didn't get your question clearly, but do you use metronome?


Jaymz

[Rock Star 87]

a lot of times in sheet music, say 4/4 time, there is a quarter before the first measure. i don't want to insult you, but metronome doesn't really matter (i don't think) in the notation, just a guide for you to listen and practice. am i right, or am i missing something?

[James Argo]

It doesn't matter on the sheet, but it matters on recording unless you "draw" the first note on the staff view. When you said you can move it to measure two, then I thought you're heading right direction here. If you don't want the extra three beats in the beginning, then simply set the first measure to 1/4, measure 2 and the rest can be set to 4/4. Therefore, you will have only one beat on measure one and four beats on the rest measures. Bear with me, I'm trying to help, and it's 2AM down here...


Jaymz

[Rock Star 87]

i'm with u buddy, i just don't know how to do that, i'm new to any professional audio software, so i'm lost.which menus or icons do i click on to get this result.

[James Argo]

I'm not @ my DAW now, but if I'm not mistaken, it must be on Insert menu, then select "meter/key change" or something. You need to specify "At measure" field. Insert measure 1, time signature 1/4. Move to measure 2, re-insert time sign using same menu, this time, insert 4/4 at measure 2. The rest of measures will have 4/4, while the first measure will be 1/4. Hope it helps...


Jaymz

[AlChuck]

A track in Cakewalk starts at 1:01:000. From this time, beat and measure counting start in the track "grid." I don't believe there's any facility for setting this start point arbitrarily. That is, if your first note is a quarter-note pick-up on 4, the only way to correctly represent this in the Cakewalk notation window is for it to start at 1:4:000, and you will always get the whole otherwise-empty bar on the staff. You can't call it 0:3:000 and have measure 1, beat one

As a notation tool, Cakewalk is very limited, and it's not much better in SONAR, at least thru version 2.2.

[Rock Star 87]

thank you everybody for helping me solve this mammoth problem, especially james, your last reply helped and now i see the light. AlChuck you are very right about PA9 being limited notation-wise, but it works and with the right messing around, anything is possible.

[AGCurry]

Yes, James nailed it.

And while PA9 doesn't produce the best music to read, just try to create a song in 7/8 meter in any but the most expensive variations of Finale...

[AlChuck]

AlChuck you are very right about PA9 being limited notation-wise, but it works and with the right messing around, anything is possible.

Anything? Not with Cakewalk. You can't produce even a simple lead sheet that doesn't have compromises, like no double bar line to mark endings, or A sections that repeat twice. Hand a Cakewalk-generated sheet out to professional musicians and they'll give you a very dirty look.

If you're serious about printing out scores, you really do need something dedicated to the task, like Finala and Sibelius (though Band In A Box can actually make decent Real Book-type lead sheets if you try hard enough).