Is it possible to generate a click track as an audio file and have it send out of GP to other band members somehow? Ideally, if I could get it to work, it would be nice to have the click sent through the monitor mixes only. I just can’t seem to determine if GP an actually generate the audible click track.
Thanks!
You can change the samples used for the GP metronome to whatever you want, and also route it to any output channel of your interface (set up in GP Options).
Otherwise, you would need to load your own audio track into one of GP’s audio file players, and use wiring view to route to the required output channel.
The down side of the audio file is that it is a fixed bpm. Using the metronome or alternatively a drum plugin, it can sync with GP’s bpm automatically.
What I did was took a sample of a favorite click and placed it in a sampler (waves Cr8) and used the click system action to trigger it. I placed that in the global rackspace and have it routed to another output on my interface. I let the rackspace/setlist bpm change the global to adjust the click. The advantage of this is that I have more control over it then the metronome was offering and I can set the output volume just once (being in global vs. individual racks) and it will stay consistent across all songs. So far it’s been great.
Wow! What a great solution! So, you only loaded a sample of, say, 4 beats (one measure) and looped it in GP? When you say you have it routed to another output on your interface, I assume, then, that you have more than just a pair of stereo outs on that interface? I have a UAD with just a left/right. I was thinking something similar not too long ago, that ideally I would want to route an audio click track out through a dedicated output that would eventually be routed exclusively to the main mixer’s monitor sends so that the band members would all hear the click in their monitor mixes but it wouldn’t be heard in the mains. Is that what you can do with your configuration?
Yeah, I am running a focusrite 18i20 as I needed that input/output routing (I also have any monitor mix go straight into my interface so I can mix is against my keys). But yeah, I have my keys out (stereo LR) and a mono Click that I run into our band mixer and each band member can set their own levels.
And I don’t do a full measure, I do a single beat in the sampler. That way, the BPM will adjust accordingly. If you put 4 beats in the measure, the BPM for that sample would be fixed. By doing a single note, I can fully control BPM.
That’s one beefy interface. Maybe I didn’t plan ahead enough when upgrading my rig to soft synths. I was looking at the smaller interfaces, thinking I only needed to be concerned with my personal gear setup. I went with the UAD interface over the Focusrite in the same price range because I needed MIDI as well as USB, but the model I got only has one set of outputs. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I think I was hoping the click would be generated from our drummer (eventually) and I could just sync to it if necessary. Sounds like you’re using the interface as your stage mixer? I’ve got more of a hybrid setup. I’m old-school in the sense that I like having a lot of available “keys” to assign multiple sounds to in a particular song, so I use 3 boards. One of them is dedicated to Hammond cloning so that’s a standalone board. The other two are used for their own internal sounds as well as controllers for the soft synths. So, I’m currently working with a small interface to talk to the laptop, which only requires the single set of outputs, and a stage mixer to mix the interface output with the physical audio outs from the keyboards. My IEM mix is controlled from the house mixer via tablet. I have no reason (that I can see) to bring the monitor mix back to the interface. Happy to hear the pros and cons from you. I’m still a little new with this setup. If I’m to generate the click and send to the band members, I’d need to replace my interface with something that has more outputs and still also has MIDI, it seems.
This is probably totally off base, but…:
Could you use the midi out to send a midi note on/off message metronome from GP to something else that generates audio?
[okay to ignore if not helpful]
Possibly, but that feels like a Band-Aid. I was just thinking that I could use my 2 outputs in mono (perhaps), running my audio out of “1” and the click out of “2” as long as their both mono and not panned.
Sorry, with my earlier post, I assumed you had an interface with multiple outputs. If you did, I would expect that using the standard GP metronome will be better than using a single beat audio file in a sampler. The only benefit it may have is that you could route to multiple outputs, each with a different level. Otherwise, the GP metronome:
What a great approach. I’m going to have to try that.