SBB Of course!
Keep in mind, it doesn't get you out of having to learn your device's MIDI implementation. Without learning that first, the spreadsheet does nothing. In my case, there was often a lot of trial and error, internet research, etc. because most vendor's MIDI implementation manuals and documentation are at worst, next to useless, and at best, incomplete and/or misleading in my experience.
In the case of all the devices I'm automating (Hotone Ampero II Stage, Line 6 Helix LT, Roland SPD-SX PRO, Behringer X32 mixer, and shortly my new Darkglass Anagram) there was an initial frustrating learning curve until I had workout how to send the right MIDI commands, in the right order, with the right timing between commands, etc. and then documented it all. Only then, could I standardise, and thus 'template-ize', for each device and each song and create a workflow with my bandmates.
The other key callout is that it also assume that you are capturing all this in a DAW and then also need the data to work in ST.
In my case, I build all my backing tracks (mix of MIDI and Audio) in a DAW.
The count-in of my songs might start on Bar 2 (which is not 00min 00sec) but when I export the mixed Backing Track stems, or click/cues tracks, I always add a small amount of blank audio at the start to 'prime the audio engine'. So I might export from Bar 1 Beat 4 and that might be at 1 sec 211ms.
The reason that becomes important is that in the spreasheet, I'm manually recording the Bar;Beat;Tick value of each MIDI event and the time in Min:Sec:Ms that each of those events occurs. But if my exported audio stem is actually 'starting' from Bar 1 Beat 4, then I need to subtract the delta, so that the MIDI events and the exported audio stems stay in sync.
It's OK if your head is exploding about now 🙂 It's a rather convaluted process driven partly by the way I choose to work, and partly by working around capabilities of ST3. In ST4, you can just export a MIDI track (stem) and attach it to a song and that will save a LOT of faffing around!
