Feature Request: Count in

[KeithSBB]

Feature Request:

Proposal: Use a separate "count in" midi file so that I can generate a click track before the song midi file plays.

Use Case: I practice using this app as a drum machine that plays drum midi files for each song. I need a count in so that I can start playing at the right time along with the drum track.

[pedrolcl]

Playing two (or more) midi files in sequence is already possible using the "Playlist" feature. You may also want to activate two Settings->Preferences:

• Start Playback Automatically after Loading
• Advance Automatically to the Next Playlist Item

The problem is that playlist introduces a small gap between the songs. This time gap should be configurable with another preferences/settings, but this would be a different ticket.

In my opinion, your best option is to edit your songs with a suitable editor, and insert your preferred "count in" before the actual song. Doing this automatically would be very complex, because...

• What percussion instrument(s) to choose for the count-in sounds? Perhaps metronome-click (GM No Spaces in Lyrics #33), or metronome-bell (GM No Spaces in Lyrics #34), but also sticks (GM Association of Track Name to Channels Incomplete #31) would be preferred by somebody, or a combination of several instruments . An user choice is needed here.
• Tempo and time signature should match the beginning of the song, but...
• How many beats to count in? The same as the song's bar length? What if the song begins with anacrusis?

[JeffRocchio]

Proposal: Use a separate "count in" midi file so that I can generate a click track before the song midi file plays.

Funny this question was asked, and that I stumbled across it. I am, as we speak, working on a Python script that will ingest a MIDI file and pre-pend a count-in to it. If I get it completed and it works pretty well I'll try to remember to come back and let you know. (If it does get completed it'll show up as one of my own github repos.)

[JeffRocchio]

fwiw, I just complete my first wack at a python script that takes in a MIDI file and pre-pends a count-in to it. It probably has any number of bugs in it. And it is optimized for MIDI files created using the Musescore sheet music application. So may or may not be useful to you.

See @ https://github.com/JeffRocchio/MIDI-Count-In