Daw that allows Time Signatures per Track?

[memyselfandus]

has to be something out there

I think that Digital Performer has something similar to what Studio Vision had. It's called chunks. Each chunk is a sequence, and you then "mount" the chunks in a special window. If you create each sequence with one track and it's own time signature, and therefore you'll have what you are looking for. ......

Yep, you're talking about DP's Song Window where you can arrange different sequences on a 'song' time line. A good analogy might be the 'nested sequences' feature in Final Cut. I don't think you can edit the sequences themselves in the song window though (I've never used it myself), you can only position them in the timeline (including overlapping seq's with other seq's).

In DP a single project can hold as many sequences as you want and each sequence can use the same VI's and FX (if you put them in a V-Rack). This enables you to flip between different sequences within a project without having to wait while your VI's and FX reload.

So instead of using the song window you could just set up a project with different sequences for each time sig set up and one master seq where you combine everything with whatever common time sig you want (you could use 1/4 if you want). If you want different seq's with different tempos (rather than just time sigs) just bounce to audio and add the audio tracks to your master seq (with all start times at zero, like you would with stems).

Flipping between the seq's is very fast in DP (for the reasons above) as is dragging midi /audio between them.

The other option (which you could do in any DAW) is to have one sequence but enable/ disable different midi tracks which you have already programmed and use them as click tracks in different time sigs, but obviously that wouldn't give you the correct bar/ beat lines in the timeline, only the correct click. I guess it depends if you're playing or programming your tracks.

hmm will have to check this out

[memyselfandus]

The bastard that it is, EnergyXT can be set up to do this, here's a screenshot from 2.6..


(right click -> view for a larger image)

On the left are several sequencers on one tab and on the right is the modular view, I MSPainted them into a one image. Each sequencer can control as many instruments as one wants, I just tried this with one in each. Strangely enough, the metronome doesn't click when the sequences are running (would have to make a simple click track on each sequencer).

still have to try this. no idea how to set it up

[ras.s]

Go to the modular view and create as many sequencers as you need. Open the sequencers and set their time signatures from the top bar, from where there's the default 4/4. You can route the MIDI either from the modular view or directly from the sequencer (either to the same plugin or to several plugins). There's also the time signature lane, opens from that little box with the number four in it, you can set changes in there.

Just had a go with it and my brain started to melt. Too accustomed to good ol' 4/4, triplets I can deal with but with four sequencers beating at different pulses ...

Also worth knowing that you can then create yet another sequencer and route the others to that one and then record their output there, so that you'll have all the MIDI in one sequencer (for exporting, better overview, etc).

[ras.s]

And also, since you appear to be on the look for this kind of stuff, check out seq24. It's a MIDI sequencer, not a plugin host, but you can set time signatures per clip in it and launch those clips simultaneously. There's also a arrangement mode in it (song editor where you lay out the clips). You'll either need some sort of virtual MIDI cable to use it with plugins or you'll need to output it to hardware.

It hasn't been updated for years but it's a very solid piece of software. It was my main sequencer between 2005-2008 when I was entirely on Linux.

http://www.filter24.org/seq24/



Tutorial: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8304
Documentation: http://filter24.org/seq24/SEQ24

[memyselfandus]

Can't wait to try this stuff! Thanks a ton

[ras.s]

Slightly off-topic, but I had a wee bit of nostalgia for seq24 after posting about it and looked further into it.

Turned out it has been updated and even only as recently as last month. It's only available as source code though, and I didn't manage to compile it on Windows (tried with Cygwin, gcc toolchain -- pkg-config doesn't want to play with me, probably an issue with my Cygwin environment). It has had several updates since the release version at that filter24.org site. Available here: https://launchpad.net/seq24

Having failed compiling it, I still looked into it, and found a post on their mailing list from last December about someone starting to spend more time working on it. And even further, there was a link to a Github repository, where someone already has spent a lot of time developing it further.

Great stuff, not only new features and feature improvements (there's a long list of those), but clearly the person has spent a lot of time re-factoring the codebase, which means that he's not only serious about it but he's serious about it in the long term. Available here, renamed sequencer64: https://github.com/ahlstromcj/sequencer64

This is what it looks like in 2016:



Really just great to hear that the development hasn't died out, but keeps going on. The software has been around since the early 2000s and even with the ugly looks, it's really a workhorse of a sequencer.

[memyselfandus]

That is awesome!!!!

[memyselfandus]

Ableton is the only DAW that can mix time sigs. Bitwig can't. You can trick it into doing so in a way.

Why not just get a custom metronome plug in and set it at whatever settings you like?

Very good point. Was messing with this stuff in live and reaper and you just have to reset the global time sig when going from track to track that has a different time signature when recording. It would be nice to have the metronome respond to a selected tracks time sig.

Assign time sig to track and save. Then when track is selected.. The metronome and grid respond..

I wish the metronome would do this in live session view cells.

[woggle]

I am confused here - do you mean different time sigs or different tempi on a track by track or clip by clip basis?

If you are looking for a complex metronome then this is probably the one to look at

http://www.bouncemetronome.com/

[memyselfandus]

I am confused here - do you mean different time sigs or different tempi on a track by track or clip by clip basis?

If you are looking for a complex metronome then this is probably the one to look at

http://www.bouncemetronome.com/

Time signature clip by clip where the metronome responds per clip. Bounce is great software but doesn't help in this area. I'm looking for a metronome I can use Inside a daw as a plugin per track.

[memyselfandus]

What would be great is a daw that has a option for setting a time signature on each track and when you click on it the timeline reacts to the selected tracks time signature.

In reaper you could set the time signatures on multiple tracks and when you insert a midi item it would insert a midi item with the tracks time signature length. and when you click on any track the timeline reacts to the selected tracks time signature. that would work.

[aMUSEd]

I thought this was interesting because he describes exactly how I work::

http://soundbytesmag.net/tempo-thelastdawfrontier/

There is a class of DAW users that don’t care one whit about MIDI tempo control. They use their DAW to record real-time performances without ever turning on the metronome, and they simply let the time signature and initial tempo to remain at their default values.

I always play to my own tempo and that means I can change tempo as I need without needing a DAW that can handle multiple time sigs.

[pdxindy]

I thought this was interesting because he describes exactly how I work::

http://soundbytesmag.net/tempo-thelastdawfrontier/

There is a class of DAW users that don’t care one whit about MIDI tempo control. They use their DAW to record real-time performances without ever turning on the metronome, and they simply let the time signature and initial tempo to remain at their default values.

I always play to my own tempo and that means I can change tempo as I need without needing a DAW that can handle multiple time sigs.

I usually do the same... then I match the DAW tempo to what I played, including tempo changes... that way I can add some tempo matched stuff to what I played

[memyselfandus]

I thought this was interesting because he describes exactly how I work::

http://soundbytesmag.net/tempo-thelastdawfrontier/

There is a class of DAW users that don’t care one whit about MIDI tempo control. They use their DAW to record real-time performances without ever turning on the metronome, and they simply let the time signature and initial tempo to remain at their default values.

I always play to my own tempo and that means I can change tempo as I need without needing a DAW that can handle multiple time sigs.

I usually do the same... then I match the DAW tempo to what I played, including tempo changes... that way I can add some tempo matched stuff to what I played

Any audio examples of you guys doing this?

[Orbit-50]

Any audio examples of you guys doing this?

Why don't you try it for yourself? Does it really matter if they post audio examples? Will it stop you from droning on and on about this for years to come? I doubt it very much. There seems to be some kind of sick obsession with this "feature request" if that's what you want to call it, when obviously it can be done other ways. Right? I guess you're not one who can grasp the concept of the work around. Kind of reminds me of a bunch of other short lived users on this forum that are no longer with us. Catch my drift? You just need attention don't you. It's getting kind of old dude.