Timer on the Automation Button?

[Neill00]

Would this be difficult to implement?  If it’s possible, I think having it count up would make the most sense.  It could serve a few purposes.  First if you’re letting the song play through to see where you want to make an edit in the automation you could identify where to either add the new automation action or identify the closest action that you want to make the change to.  In addition, since I also use the automation to start my scroll, I know that I have a 10 to 15 second window for the band to get started and have the scroll work out.  I could monitor an automation timer to see if we’ve gone past that point and I need to do a restart.

[arlo]

That wouldn't be difficult to implement. Might be distracting, though? But no more than the recording timer? But if the recording timer and automation timer are both running, might be doubly distracting?

[Neill00]

I think that would be easy enough to overcome.  With a timer on the Automation, the timer on the recording button may be less important, so you could just make the recording button small enough that the timer isn’t easily visible but you can still see that the recording button is lit, or the other way around if you find the timer on the recording button is more important.

[arlo]

I'll add this to my wish list. I have a collection of automation track related upgrades that this would fit into.

[Neill00]

Great news!! Thanks Arlo…

[Neill00]

I’ve thought of an alternate idea.  Why not just make a “timer button”, add options accessible in the gear icon as to whether it counts up or counts down, maybe as a luxury, font colour. The recording button wouldn’t require the overlayed timer anymore as the single timer could serve automation and recording. I suppose we would need an option in the layout details as to how the timer starts as you would want to select the same method that you use for recording and automation but even if a user didn’t have automation or recording buttons in their layout, they may still find the timer useful.

[arlo]

Making a new layout item that the recording button and automation button communicate with would be a lot of work. It would be easier and perhaps more intuitive to add options to the recording and automation buttons to turn their timers on or off (on by default).

[Neill00]

Oh, I didn’t think it would require all that but I’m not the expert…lol.  I just thought if the timer, and the record and/or the automation button were triggered by the same action, be it song selection or a remote foot switch or whatever they’d be sync’s close enough.  But as I think of it there are likely users running more complicated setups that may require more precision than this solution would offer.  I figured, if it’s just the timer it’s just a guide to let you know where you are.   Having explained my ignorance, I’m sure to no one’s interest, your solution is equally good to remedy my needs.

[arlo]

In the new app version 2022-12-12 released today, the automation button shows a timer. You can turn it off at Settings > Appearance > Automation Button Timer if it's distracting.

For more detailed editing, you can also add the new Automation Controls item to a layout. This shows the elapsed and total time, with a slider to move around in the automation track, plus the waveform of associated recordings or videos and the location of automation events for reference. This is shown in the last screen shot on this page:

https://www.bandhelper.com/tutorials/automation_tracks.html

[Neill00]

Wow, very cool … thanks Arlo…