I think I may be going crazy. When I quit GP, evidently I did not save the metronome instance so I can’t replicate the behavior. So I had to set it up again. Assigning my foot pedal to both instances starts them both but now they play the tempos independent of each other. One is at 80 and the other at 120 (which makes for an interesting rhythm). I have tried various settings like “Sync with external clock” but I can’t get the two to play the same tempo. Now neither influences the other in terms of tempo. I would like to set up the second instance to follow the first. Is that possible?
Just press the “LINK” button in both and all your instances or any other Ableton Link enabled applications on your network will be in sync.
Well now… that was simple and works well. Ok so now I don’t have to have a metronome plug in on every songpart or even song. But there is one problem still. When I stop the metronome, as maybe I would in breakdown section of a song, and then re-engage the metronome, there is a significant lag between the time I press the switch and the sound of the metronome hitting the first beat. This could be awkward bringing the band back in. Also, when I have a metronome playing in the Performance Rackspace and a metronome playing in the Click Rackspace, they start together and play in sync, but there is tiny (but significant) flam between the two. This creates a flanging kind of sound from the two clicks. It’s not a big deal when I’m playing live because I only listen to the Click Rackspace so no flanging occurs. But it might be a problem if I were recording tracks because it could create a different feel when importing into a DAW for mixing or further sweetening.
The playstop global command would be of course simpler and all I really need for a click if I could route the built in metronome to different outputs on my audio interface. That way the band could listen to metronome in the IEMs and not have it go through the mains. Also it would great to have a selection of sounds or even to import my own sounds. I hope I don’t sound ungrateful because I think GigPerformer is truly amazing. Thanks again for everyone’s input.
Jack
This will depend on where exactly the playhead is when you re-engage the metronome. If you don’t stop the playhead (everywhere) and simply switch the metronome on and off - you’ll get one effect. If you stop the playhead in GP for example, but do not sync that with the other instance - the other instance will keep going so when you re-engage the playhead in GP - it will sync with the other one resulting in the first beat being played when its time comes from the second instance.
I suggest you get familiar with the LINK a little bit if you want to do things like stopping in the middle of a song, then re-engagind and so on.
You can select your own sounds for the metronome. Please see the general options or better yet - flip through our online manual first.
You can route the metronome to any channel pair you want. You can then use physical wires to connect that anywhere you want etc…
Ok… that was educational. Now I’ve come back around to just using the onboard metronome which is working fine and I’m able to route it where I want it. I am routing out of output 5 of my Universal Arts Apollo but… I am unable to control the volume. I can set the volume in the option menu but it seems to bypass the rest of GigPeformer and go straight to output 5. And it is loud as hell even on volume 1. For me to use it, I would have to route out to another mixer just to control the metronome. Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Jack
I have a variety of audio interface (although no Apollo) and setting the Metronome volume through the options menu works perfectly on all of my systems. Both the level and output channel work correctly.
But even if that wasn’t working, I could still set it from the mixer panel on my interfaces (RME TotalMix FX, Focusrite Control, etc.).
Is it possible you have the gain on the channel the metronome is routed to set very high on your Apollo? Or you have a compressor on it applying a lot of gain?
Hi- Thanks for the reply. My level on the Options volume and the channel output work but I have the volume set to 1 and it is still too loud. The “mixer” on the Apollo functions a little differently than most software mixers I have used. It actually called the Console and the best way I can describe it is, it’s only the input section with a very limited output section. You can assign a track (microphone, guitar etc.) to an any output of choice but there is no metering section for the output so there is no way to ascertain the amplitude of the output. So I can’t tell what is coming out of Output 5 (GP metronome). All I know is, that it is. It appears as though it accepts whatever is routed to it in a direct fashion bypassing my mixer (console) completely. It does not register any signal except that it passes it through to my playback system.
Likewise, GigPerformer will let me choose what outputs I want but will not show me any visual indication that it is going out the output of choice (output 5). So I am left in the dark. I can hear it but I can’t see it nor control it except to turn it off/on and adjust the volume from the Options menu.
So having a gain or an compressor on an insert is not even an option to instantiate.
This is a two part problem for me. One is my software mixer (Apollo Console) and the other is my understanding of GigPerformer.
This could all be fixed by GigPerformer by being able to route the metronome like a plugin through the normal output at the bottom of the connections view. I was doing this in a round about way with the melda metronome plugin, but it is a bit unwieldy, as I had to instantiate the plugin on every rack and implement the proper scripting, etc…
As usual, I am a newbie, so operator error may be of a high probability. I would love to find an answer and I thank everyone for their time and attention.
Thanks,
Jack
Huh - it should. See attached movie where I have assigned the metronome to outputs 5 and 6 of my interface. Also checked that the metronome volume does control the level.
I was going to explain exactly what dhj showed above. If you turn the volume on the metronome down low through the options setting, you should see it just barely registering on the vu meters at the bottom of the GP window.
Maybe double check that you don’t have something else producing a metronome click somewhere else? Or try creating a new empty gig with nothing at all in it, and just try the metronome all by itself.
Have you customized your click sounds by any chance? I wouldn’t expect that to change things, but if you have, maybe set it back to default and see fi that matters at all.
Ok. I did have the metronome sound set to a custom sound. I brought the level of the Options metronome up to 62 and now I do see the meters moving but I have to turn my speakers down manually otherwise the metronome will rip my head off. Nonetheless, even though I can see the meters responding, there’s still no volume control except for the options menu. I can bring output volume all the way down on the channel I have for the metronome but nothing happens. The volume stays the same. It’s as though the output is actually bypassing the faders of the output and somehow going directly out of my hardware output to my self-powered speakers. Is this the way it is supposed to be?
Just to refresh our memories:
My basic goal is to be able control the metronome volume easily, preferably with a widget, while I am on stage with no excessive fiddling. I need to be able to send it to a separate output from the mains for my IEMs. I was able to do this using a metronome plugin but not with the Options metronome.
Thanks,
Jack
Are you on GP 3.7? then Scripting is your friend 
Let me know.
Edit: searching this forum is also a good “friend”
This is how it was designed (post fader) although I can see that it might make sense for the metronome output to be affected by global faders. I’ll put this on our tracking system
Thanks, that would be great for me. What is the purpose of bypassing the faders?
I have question about the global click behavior in the song window. When I move from one song part to another the click will turn off and I have to reengage the click. For example, when I turn on the click in the intro, it plays, but when I move to the verse, the click turns off and if I want it on then I have to re-engage it. I would like it to stay on all through the song no matter what part I am on.
I am able to make this behavior happen if I turn on the click in the rackspace window. When I return to the song window, it function in the way I would desire. The problem is that as soon as I move to that song in my song list, the click starts to play whether I want it to or not.
Is there any way to have the click off when I enter a new song and then when I engage the click have it play through all song parts.
Thanks,
Jack
With Click you mean the Metronome ?