So I am using polybuffer~ and groove~ (or sometimes play~) and picking legthy sound files algorithmically, some field recordings, some other stuff, etc.

I need to know what file it is playing and how long it is, and that info is pretty easy to display with info~

But also need to know where we are in the file, some output of the current duration, like time elpsed on a CD player or a progress bar. Since I need to make some descisions during live performance dependeding on what files is playing and how far along we are in that file.

I thought that this would be a common requirement and easy to do... I thought you could do this with the playbar, but the playbar is not a progress bar but is used to trigger a sound (it doesnt come out of a sfplay~ object but is put into one to control it)... further it doesnt display time AND it doesn't work with buffers (play~/groove~) only sfplay~..... a final wrinkle is that some soundfiles play at half speed (or so) and some play in reverse.... ack...

Turns out this is not common? or trivial? Anyone ever do this?

I need to know what file it is playing and how long it is, and that info is pretty easy to display with info~ 

But also need to know where we are in the file, some output of the current duration, like time elpsed on a CD player or a progress bar. Since I need to make some descisions during live performance dependeding on what files is playing and how far along we are in that file. 

I thought that this would be a common requirement and easy to do... I thought you could do this with the playbar, but the playbar is not a progress bar but is used to trigger a sound (it doesnt come out of a sfplay~ object but is put into one to control it)... further it doesnt display time AND it doesn't work with buffers (play~/groove~) only sfplay~..... a final wrinkle is that some soundfiles play at half speed (or so) and some play in reverse.... ack... 

Turns out this is not common? or trivial? Anyone ever do this? 

progress-bar-or-time-elapsed-for-buffers-playgroove

groove~ has a loop sync output which can be used to indicate position:

It would be some work to factor in play speed and direction, but not too much.

I totally misunderstood what loop sync output does. I thought that it had to have a file with loop markers in it to even work.

This patch uses polybuffer~ You can drop a folder of soundfiles on dropfile and it will load up the buffers. Then you send it a bang and it choose a random buffer and plays it. What I added to it was merely some visual feedback so I could understand what it is doing. I tried to integrate what you had there but that scheme somehow doesn't seem to work with polybuffer~ though it works great with a regular buffer.

Also: There is an off by one error. It displays not what the current sample playing is, but what the last one was. I can't seem to find what to jigger to make it report the current file.

There was a little order of operation issue in your read_sample sub patch. You were banging info~ before you set the buffer.

Also, you need to set the waveform~ object to the same sample as is playing.

Thanks. That is cool. Did not realize I was banging info~ before setting the buffer. Duh.

Why does it always complain when i open it for the first time that it can't find & load the files that I happened to be using it last time I used the patch. I always try to have a clean error free max window when i first launch a patch and this is wigging me out.

Pretty cool. I am so excited about that progress bar. Sexy stuff.

btw, waveform~ can display its own cursor, so there is no need for click-ignoring multislider (see 'line' message and 'display' tab in waveform~ help).

True, but with a separate multislider you can play with the position in the sample by clicking in the display, like this:

And here's a version that doesn't throw errors when opened.

Ha! The LINE message! Jesus! Is it there eversince? I don't know how often i have put multisliders over [waverform]s..*really* many times, and then of course calculate the correct offset if you zoom into the waveform, mhh one of my favorites.. while it still has some advantages to use multislider in some cases, sure.. Thanks for letting me know about the line message!

Progress bar (or time elapsed) for buffers (play~/groove~)