Seemingly simple metronome tweak
Quick story, Im very new to Max. Ive tried the tutorials and it just isnt really clicking with me yet so, this is probably a simple fix. Heres what I need:
I need a metronome that will send out midi notes in whatever tempo the global tempo is set to WITHOUT having Ableton Live's Transport started.
For example, lets say I have multiple songs in Ableton's arrangement view, all at at different tempos. I have markers for each one. When I select a song, I want the metronome to be playing the tempo of whatever song is selected BEFORE I actually start the song. (the song itself will have a separate click track that will come in once I start it)
All of the M4L metronomes that sync to Live's global tempo need the song to be started to send out any notes. I want to know how to get around that.
I would appreciate any help!
Outlet 6 of plugsync~ will give you the current global tempo, regardless of Ableton's transport playing or stopped. You can construct a M4L MIDI device that generates a MIDI note based on that tempo. Plug it into a MIDI track that has some sort of metronome sound and add a toggle button to your device so you can turn it off. I just checked if this was doable, so here's something that's very crude, but I'm sure you can make it into something useful.
Thanks for your time. Its very frustrating how bad I am at understanding Max. The plugsync definitely seems to be a step in the right direction. I just cant seem to figure out anything else. I appreciate your help.
It's not only a step in the right direction: I pasted the entire solution in my answer. Copy it and use "New from clipboard". You can use that as a max-for-live midi device and it will do as you say. To learn max, go through the built-in tutorials. You can refine the metronome so it has an accent on the first quarter of every bar, give it a umenu so you can choose between 3/4 and 4/4 rhythms, give it a nice ui that opens in presentation mode, etc. Just one step at a time! Good luck.
See also the [translate] object, which sends out its result when asked AND whenever the transport tempo is changed, even when the transport is off. (Change the tempo to verify.)