I don't think the dr-680 has the option of setting for a specific time, but I did use the db level auto start, and it worked well. You can change the level for it to kick in, and with the 2 second buffer, you shouldn't miss a thing. For the show last night, it kicked about 15 min before the band started, when someone was checking the guitars. If that didn't happen, the crowd noise when the lights went down/band came on stage surely would have.