Protools 8 / midi / mpc 2kxl questions / beat clock vs time

Hey all,

Been watching this site for years and now I finally am gonna start posting! Hopefully someone here has some experience with this:

My recording setup is protools and a mpc 2kxl. I use the multiple outs on the mpc as well as 16 outs in protools, sending all this to an analog mixer. (26 channels...yay!!) It gets summed there and recorded back into protools as a stereo mix. Basically all I need is Protools and the MPC to play back together, nothing more than that.

I'm wondering what the best way is to sync all this up, beat clock or time code basically. I need protools to be the master, as I bounce a final mix by hitting record in PT.

I've got the sync to work in both beat clock and time code, but looping presents problems in beat clock. For some reason PT is sending some sort of stop signal to the mpc when it loops. If I use MTC this isn't a problem so I've been using that. I use loop record in PT all the time so I need to be able to have the MPC loop sections reliably.

Now one thing the MPCs are known for is rock solid timing, so how do I keep this? My understanding is that beat clock sends play/stop/ff/rwd and position, leaving the MPC clock to actually deal with timing of notes. Whereas time code sends a "pulse" or something that the mpc would then clock to. Seems like beat clock is preferred but it has the looping problem so I can't use it.

Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, and I should let the MPC be the master for final bounces? Would I be able to hit record on protools, then play on the mpc and have PT start recording? Hmmmm. I would be okay with keeping PT as master for tracking/production and then have MPC be master for the final bounce.

Anyway if anyone out there has a setup like this I would appreciate some insight!

peace,
AK

andykrow wrote:Hey all,

Been watching this site for years and now I finally am gonna start posting! Hopefully someone here has some experience with this:

My recording setup is protools and a mpc 2kxl. I use the multiple outs on the mpc as well as 16 outs in protools, sending all this to an analog mixer. (26 channels...yay!!) It gets summed there and recorded back into protools as a stereo mix. Basically all I need is Protools and the MPC to play back together, nothing more than that.

I'm wondering what the best way is to sync all this up, beat clock or time code basically. I need protools to be the master, as I bounce a final mix by hitting record in PT.

I've got the sync to work in both beat clock and time code, but looping presents problems in beat clock. For some reason PT is sending some sort of stop signal to the mpc when it loops. If I use MTC this isn't a problem so I've been using that. I use loop record in PT all the time so I need to be able to have the MPC loop sections reliably.

Now one thing the MPCs are known for is rock solid timing, so how do I keep this? My understanding is that beat clock sends play/stop/ff/rwd and position, leaving the MPC clock to actually deal with timing of notes. Whereas time code sends a "pulse" or something that the mpc would then clock to. Seems like beat clock is preferred but it has the looping problem so I can't use it.

Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, and I should let the MPC be the master for final bounces? Would I be able to hit record on protools, then play on the mpc and have PT start recording? Hmmmm. I would be okay with keeping PT as master for tracking/production and then have MPC be master for the final bounce.

Anyway if anyone out there has a setup like this I would appreciate some insight!

peace,
AK

Not enough information, need more details please???

What more are you wanting to know?

Pretty much I love the sound of my MPC and I love analog summing. No interest at all in tracking from the mpc into Protools. I have the MPC routed into channels 1-8 of my board and protools into 9-24, then the output of the board hits an apogee converter which lightpipes to my digi 003, and then protools records the bounce. Fairly simple setup, and it allows me to have 24 channels of simultaneous output (and up to 26 if I send the MPC L/R output to an effects return on the board.)

I try to not let my computer do ANY internal summing at all. Analog is superior.

Whats apparent is that the MPC clock is much more solid than protools. It's fine to have protools be the midi master while tracking and working out my production, but for final bounce I want to have the MPC clock.

Soooo, right now I have success when I let protools control the mpc via time code, less success using beat clock since I can't loop reliably.

I'm right now trying to get the MPC to control Protools and having no success whatsoever. I'm using avid's (digidesign's) instructions for the 2kxl as master: MPC set to send midi time code via output A, frame rate thirty, PT set to receive MTC through "ANY" port, hit control-J to put PT into "online" mode. Hit play on the MPC, it starts but PT does nothing... Thoughts? I've experimented with MMC on and off on both the MPC and PT but it has no effect.

Crusher wrote:

andykrow wrote:Hey all,

Been watching this site for years and now I finally am gonna start posting! Hopefully someone here has some experience with this:

My recording setup is protools and a mpc 2kxl. I use the multiple outs on the mpc as well as 16 outs in protools, sending all this to an analog mixer. (26 channels...yay!!) It gets summed there and recorded back into protools as a stereo mix. Basically all I need is Protools and the MPC to play back together, nothing more than that.

I'm wondering what the best way is to sync all this up, beat clock or time code basically. I need protools to be the master, as I bounce a final mix by hitting record in PT.

I've got the sync to work in both beat clock and time code, but looping presents problems in beat clock. For some reason PT is sending some sort of stop signal to the mpc when it loops. If I use MTC this isn't a problem so I've been using that. I use loop record in PT all the time so I need to be able to have the MPC loop sections reliably.

Now one thing the MPCs are known for is rock solid timing, so how do I keep this? My understanding is that beat clock sends play/stop/ff/rwd and position, leaving the MPC clock to actually deal with timing of notes. Whereas time code sends a "pulse" or something that the mpc would then clock to. Seems like beat clock is preferred but it has the looping problem so I can't use it.

Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, and I should let the MPC be the master for final bounces? Would I be able to hit record on protools, then play on the mpc and have PT start recording? Hmmmm. I would be okay with keeping PT as master for tracking/production and then have MPC be master for the final bounce.

Anyway if anyone out there has a setup like this I would appreciate some insight!

peace,
AK

Not enough information, need more details please???

andykrow wrote:What more are you wanting to know?

Pretty much I love the sound of my MPC and I love analog summing. No interest at all in tracking from the mpc into Protools. I have the MPC routed into channels 1-8 of my board and protools into 9-24, then the output of the board hits an apogee converter which lightpipes to my digi 003, and then protools records the bounce. Fairly simple setup, and it allows me to have 24 channels of simultaneous output (and up to 26 if I send the MPC L/R output to an effects return on the board.)

I try to not let my computer do ANY internal summing at all. Analog is superior.

Whats apparent is that the MPC clock is much more solid than protools. It's fine to have protools be the midi master while tracking and working out my production, but for final bounce I want to have the MPC clock.

Soooo, right now I have success when I let protools control the mpc via time code, less success using beat clock since I can't loop reliably.

I'm right now trying to get the MPC to control Protools and having no success whatsoever. I'm using avid's (digidesign's) instructions for the 2kxl as master: MPC set to send midi time code via output A, frame rate thirty, PT set to receive MTC through "ANY" port, hit control-J to put PT into "online" mode. Hit play on the MPC, it starts but PT does nothing... Thoughts? I've experimented with MMC on and off on both the MPC and PT but it has no effect.

Not enough details, please explain a bit more so I can help you with this.