alexs1
2) As expected, setting "When Transport Stopped" to "Immediate" correctly starts recording
instantaneously with transport stopped (no brainer), but when I end the recording
(with Transport still stopped) it doesn't always end right away--sometimes it waits a little
longer and adds length to the tail. It looks like it's not counting in seconds but bars,
even though no tempo is coming in. Is there a way to get it to end recording immediately as
well when there's no transport?
Whew, this was illuminating. There is one obvious bug here related to When Transport Stopped, but the bigger issue is one of presentation. This is going to be long and I'll try to explain it as I go and summarize the findings at the end.
Something that would help a lot is some sort of hiding or shadowing of parameters that don't apply when you have other parameters set to certain values. You see everything that's possible to set on one page, but some combinations don't make sense. In your screenshot from the top down:
Record Unit = Leader Loop
This means you are asking to record in units, and those units come from the Leader track.
Leader Track = Default
This means those Leader Loop units are going to come from the default leader, or what
used to be called the Track Sync Master.
External Sync Source = Host
This is confusing because it makes it look like you will be syncing to the host, but you're
not. The Record Unit is what determines what you're syncing with. In this case it
is Leader Loop, so anything related to the transport/host does not apply here, at least not
for recording. Ideally, this would only be visible if you had set Record Unit to Sync Bar
or one of the other units that come from the transport/host.
Record Start = Wait for Record Unit
Ah...the good old days. Recording waits for whatever Record Unit is, in this case Leader Loop.
Late Start Adjustment and Immediate Start Limit do not apply here and should not even be shown.
What I would expect to happen with these parameters is...press Record, it waits for the TSM/Leader to reach the end, record starts, press Record again, it rounds off to the length of the TSM loop.
The same as what 45 would have done with SyncSource=Track and TrackSyncUnit=Loop.
When Transport Stopped = Immediate
Well now, I think we have a bug here. It's a funny bug for me at least.
Given the settings above this, what the transport is doing should be irrelevant. It may be running or stopped, it doesn't matter because you're syncing with Leader Loops and this track isn't trying to become the transport master.
But it looks like if the transport is stopped, this parameter is sticking it's nose into the Leader Loop recording process and making it start immediately rather than waiting for the leader loop like you asked. That should not be happening.
When Transport Stopped only makes sense if you are syncing to the transport, and it shouldn't even be visible here.
Record Unit Fallback = Sync Bar
Oh shit, you're using fallbacks. You just had to bring the rocket science.
The things above were all set up nice for Leader Loop recording, but if there is no leader, then we switch to Plan B. Now, some of those thigs I said didn't apply and should be hidden, actually do start being important.
I think it would help if this page were divided into two. There is the normal or "optimistic" page that guides you through setting the Record Unit and showing you just the thigns that are related to that, and assumes that you've got a Leader available, and works the way it always has. If there isn't a leader it gives up, turns sync off, and you get a free recording.
Then only if you choose to you can check a box like Allow Leader Fallback. Once you do that another page becomes visible, where you can go through setting up the record process all over again, just assuming that the leader does not exist.
There is a Plan A section and Plan B section and they contain the same settings, but it is clearer that only one of these two "recording plans" will apply. What is happening now is that settings for both plans are getting mixed together and it isn't obvious which ones relate to each other.
So...going back to Record Unit Fallback = Sync Bar
This changes everything when there is no leader. Now we have to re-analyze things from top down, ignoring the ones that apply to the Leader Loop, and paying attention to the ones that apply to Sync Bar.
Record Unit Fallback = Sync Bar
You are asking to record in bar units.
Leader Track = Default
This is irrelevant now since there is no leader and should be hidden in Plan B.
External Sync Source = Host
You're going to get units from the host.
Record Start Fallback = Wait For Record Unit
And wait for them.
When Transport Stopped = Immediate
This is probably the same bug we hit in the previous walk through for Plan A.
When you're asking for units from the Host what the transport is doing is irrelevant. But this parameter is incorrectly influencing this and making the recording start immediately without waiting for the next Host Bar.
Assuming you are using the plugin inside the host what should happen in this case is that it looks at the host tempo to get the length of a bar, and then start recording in those units. When you end the recording, it will round off
to the next host bar.
Recording Roundoff
This next bit is important. It is not new, pre 46 did this too, but it wasn't obvious because there was no such thing as Immediate Start.
When you synchronize recording with the host, or transport, or track there is really only one time you are waiting for something: The start signal.
It's like the gun that goes off to start a race, the runner (Mobius track) stretches and gets into position at the starting line, and waits for the host to shoot the gun. As soon as the gun fires, the runner starts and runs 100 yards, or one "race unit" and then stops.
The runner isn't waiting for the host to fire a "stopping gun". It just runs until it reaches the end of the race unit.
This is a weird race though, because everyone is required to run at exactly the same speed. This track is in pretty good shape so it can do the 100 in 10 seconds.
Let's say the host does fire the gun twice, once to start the race, and once again 10 second later when it expects everyone to have reached the finish line. If the runner starts when they are supposed to, exactly when the starting gun
fires, and then runs 10 seconds, it will look like they are stopping exactly when the when the second gun fires. But that was just a coincidence. They weren't waiting for the second gun to fire to tell them to stop. They just reached the
finish line at the same time the second gun fired.
Back to Mobius recording. When Record Start is anything other than Wait for Record Unit the track runner isn't going to wait for any stinkin' gun, it's going to start, run 10 seconds and stop.
This running with the gun analogy kind of breaks down when we factor in what Late Start Adjustment means. Maybe visualize that the runner can start any time they want, but if they start before the gun, then the officials go out and paint a new starting line behind where the runner currently is so they have less distance to run, and they don't get to run a full 10 seconds.
