Question Regarding Song-Specific Count-In and Cue Workflow in AbleSet

General
1

First of all, thank you for creating such an amazing product. I’ve recently started exploring AbleSet and I’m currently using the demo version while building a new live playback system for my band. If everything fits our workflow as expected, I definitely plan to purchase AbleSet.

I have a question regarding count-ins and cue management during live performances.

Here’s a real-world scenario from one of our songs.

The normal flow is:

  • Verse

  • Chorus

  • Crowd Singalong (Playback Stopped)

  • Restart from Verse

During some performances, after the first chorus we intentionally stop the playback to let the audience sing. Once the crowd interaction is over, we restart the song from the Verse section.

The challenge is that our vocalist needs a 2-bar count-in before the Verse starts again, along with a spoken cue (for example: 123,123).

Currently, AbleSet’s count-in is configured globally (1 bar for all songs). However, in this particular case we need:

  • A 2-bar count-in

  • A spoken cue before playback resumes

  • Without changing the global count-in used for the rest of the songs in the setlist.

At the moment, our cue is generated using a Kontakt instrument inside Ableton Live, but it appears to be muted during AbleSet’s pre-count.

My questions are:

  1. Is it possible to have song-specific or section-specific count-ins instead of a single global count-in?

  2. Is there a recommended workflow for restarting a song from a specific section with a different count-in?

  3. Is there a way to allow cue audio generated from Kontakt to be heard during the pre-count?

  4. How would you recommend handling this type of crowd interaction in a professional live playback setup using AbleSet?

I’m trying to build a flexible playback system where we can dynamically repeat sections, interact with the audience, and jump between song sections during live shows while keeping everything clean and reliable.

I’d really appreciate your advice on the recommended workflow.

Thank you very much for your time and support. I’m looking forward to your response.

Best regards,

2

Hey @Sayak_Munshi, welcome to the forum!

This is a great use case and it’s very doable. Let me go through your questions one by one.

1. Section-specific count-ins

There are two separate count-in mechanisms, and it helps to keep them apart:

  • Click pre-roll (Section Count-In): This is the one that places the playhead a few bars before a section and gives you a click pre-roll. It lives in Settings → Section Count-In:

    • Enable Section Count-In
    • Solo the Click Track during Count-In
    • Count-In Duration → 2 Bars

    This is a global setting (1, 2, or 4 bars).

  • Spoken cues: This is the verbal “1, 2, 3” cue, and this one can be customized per section.

So for your vocalist’s 2-bar click pre-roll, enabling Section Count-In at 2 bars with the click soloed is exactly what you want.

2. Restarting a song from a specific section

With Section Count-In enabled, just select the Verse section while playback is stopped. AbleSet places the playhead 2 bars before it, solos the click, and shows a queued/glowing state. Hit play → you get the 2-bar count-in → the Verse comes in seamlessly.

So your live flow becomes: stop for the singalong → tap the Verse section → play.

You can also see this in action in the official tutorial.

3. Hearing your Kontakt cue during the pre-count

The reason it’s muted is that the click track is soloed during the count-in, so everything else gets silenced. Two ways around it:

  • Quickest (works on the current version): add the +CLICK flag to your Kontakt cue track’s name. Tracks flagged +CLICK are also soloed during count-ins, so your cue will be heard.
  • More integrated: use AbleSet’s built-in spoken Cues. You can supply your own audio by creating a “Custom” folder inside the “Cues” folder of your project’s AbleSet folder, and dropping in mono WAV files named after the phrase (e.g. your “1, 2, 3” count). AbleSet will play those instead of generating them.

4. Recommended pro workflow

The cleanest setup combines Section Count-In (click pre-roll) with the Cues feature (spoken count-in). Spoken count-ins are landing in AbleSet 3.1 — currently in beta, so you can try them now if you’d like.

With Cues you get per-section count-in notation that you add right to the section (or song) locator:

  • [c:2] → 2-bar spoken count-in for that section
  • [c:1] → 1-bar
  • [c:0] → disable it
  • plus extras like [c:halftime], beat numbers on/off, etc.

You can read more about Cues notation here.

Would that work for your use case?

3

Hi @agustinvolpe @leolabs

I think I may have misunderstood how this feature works, so I want to clarify my exact use case.

My global Section Count-In is set to 1 bar for all songs.

However, in one specific song (“Kaise Hua”), I stop playback after the first chorus for audience participation. When I start again from the Verse section, I need only that section to have a 2-bar pre-roll before playback starts.

I added [c:2] to the section name, and the section title is announced correctly, but AbleSet still uses the global 1-bar count-in. I do not hear a 2-bar pre-roll before playback resumes.

Is [c:2] supposed to override the global Section Count-In when starting playback from a stopped state, or is it only for spoken cues during playback?

If section-specific pre-roll from stop is not currently supported, is there another recommended workflow for this use case?

Thanks!

4

Hi @agustinvolpe @leolabs

I’ve attached a screen recording showing my complete workflow.

Here’s my setup:

  • AbleSet 3.1.0 Beta 16

  • AbleSet Cues VST is installed and working.

  • Jenny voice works (voice preview is fine).

  • Section titles are announced correctly.

  • Auto-Speak Section Titles is enabled.

  • Count-In Sections During Playback is enabled.

  • Include Beat Numbers in Count-Ins is enabled.

  • 2-Bar Count-In is enabled.

My global Section Count-In is set to 1 bar.

For one specific section, I added [c:2] because I want a 2-bar spoken count-in or the click precount will also work when restarting playback after stopping.

However, when I start playback from that section:

  • AbleSet still uses the global 1-bar click count-in.

  • It announces the section title, but it never speaks the count-in numbers (“1, 2, 3, 4”).

Am I misunderstanding how [c:2] is supposed to work ?

link :- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YpFTjsGzQjnumjYY27RiZpbOLSF17zo5/view?usp=sharing

Thanks!

5

Hey @Sayak_Munshi,

Thanks for the detailed breakdown.

These are two independent count-in settings:

  • The click pre-roll is controlled only by the global Settings → Section Count-In → Count-In Duration. The [c:N] attribute does not change this. With it set to 1 bar, AbleSet places the playhead 1 bar before the section — so that 1-bar click pre-count is expected, not a bug.
  • The spoken count-in (“1, 2, 3, 4”) is the Cues feature, and that’s what [c:2] customizes.

When you restart from a stop, the spoken count-in can only play within the runway the pre-roll gives it. You’ve asked for a 2-bar spoken count-in ([c:2]), but the playhead is only being placed 1 bar before the section, so there isn’t room for a full 2-bar count-in.

Could you try setting Settings → Section Count-In → Count-In Duration to 2 Bars. That places the playhead 2 bars before the section, which:

  • gives you the 2-bar click pre-count on restart, and
  • gives the [c:2] spoken count-in enough room to actually speak the numbers.

If the numbers still don’t come through after that, it’s worth confirming they’ve finished generating: open your project’s AbleSet/Cues/ folder and check that your selected voice’s subfolder (the Jenny/Piper one) contains the generated number phrases. And if you later switch to your own Kontakt-recorded cues, drop those mono WAVs into a folder named Custom Kontakt inside Cues/ and select it as your custom voice.

Let me know how it goes!

6

Thanks for the clarification @agustinvolpe

I think it would be an amazing addition if the pre-roll could also be overridden per section instead of being only a global setting. In live performances, different sections often require different count-in lengths, so having a per-section pre-roll would make the workflow much more flexible.

Just a feature request—I’d definitely find it very useful. :blush:

7

Hey @Sayak_Munshi,

Thanks for the suggestion and for taking the time to lay out the use case, I’ll pass it along!