Sync Issues with Logic Pro8 and Mpc2000 using MTC

Hi all. All Im tryna do is track out my sequence to logic pro8 with the mpc2000xl with logic and the mpc starting on the same bar and at the same time. Ive got some success with both the mpc and logic talking to each other via MTC. BUT when I hit record in logic, my mpc starts at bar 4 or bar 5 on the dot and Logic starts at bar 1. Logic is master and the mpc is slaved

It woulda been cool if they both started at the same bar and were a little off in timing...cause I can work that out. I got the timing right but the bars just dont start at bar one in the mpc. The mpc starts at bar 4 or bar 5 while logic starts at bar 1. HELP please and thank u in advance.

MPC Settings
-midi out B port===>midi in B port MOTU fastlane interface
-midi in 2<====midi out B port motu fastlane interface

Sync IN 2
MIDID TIME CODE
FRAME RATE 30
Receive MMC on

SYNC OUT B
MODE OFF
SEND MMC OFF


LOGIC PRO8 Settings in Synchronization window
SYNC MODE Internal
Frame Rate 30 fps
Auto Detect format MTC box is checked
*Bar positon 111 1 plays at SMPTE 00:50:00:00.00

LOGIC MIDI WINDOW
MTC
TRANSMIT MTC
FASTLANE PORT B


**also in the sync window where it says bar positon plays at SMPTE, when I try to reset to alll zeros, it goes back to 00:50:00:00.0

okay i was able to get the mpc and logic to start at bar 2 by changing the bar positon plays at SMPTE to 1:00:00:00.00... making progress. Still not starting at bar 1 on the mpc though

mtc needs up to 30 seconds of chase time for syncing two devices!
try inserting some blank bars at the beginning of your tracks.

it does not matter if all your recorded tracks land on bar 8 or 16 in logic. either this point will be your new 1 or you drag all tracks to the 1. all that matters is that your tracks land on a defined position you know, so all the tracks are on the grid. it would matter if you were in a live situation where all devices must start performing together at the same time.

for smpte it is normal to have the position adjustable since there are devices that interpret it differently.

peace, jo

Thanks man. Appreciate it. Was tryna avoid the work of moving tracks around once they were dumped into logic. Just thought I could dumped them in Logic and go. It is what it is.

in a modern daw it is not important to start at the 1 because there are a ton of markers you can use to jump to any position you want with one key press.

for instance if i do a remix of an existing song i import all the elements and tracks i get from the artist into logic and then start building the remix on the grid to the right of all the imported stuff. that means my arrangement would start at bar 30 or something. now i put a marker there and everytime i press rewind the play counter jumps to that position and not to the 1.

so if all your tracked out tracks land exactly on bar 8 there is no need to move them from there.

peace, jo

can you explain this in a bit more detail?
do you just hit record while on bar 8 or something, and that makes your mpc start at bar 1?
do you have to hit play at bar 1 and wait for it to catch up?
what about when the mpc is a 4 bar loop ... just anything shorter than your logic session?

selecta jo wrote:mtc needs up to 30 seconds of chase time for syncing two devices!
try inserting some blank bars at the beginning of your tracks.

it does not matter if all your recorded tracks land on bar 8 or 16 in logic. either this point will be your new 1 or you drag all tracks to the 1. all that matters is that your tracks land on a defined position you know, so all the tracks are on the grid. it would matter if you were in a live situation where all devices must start performing together at the same time.

for smpte it is normal to have the position adjustable since there are devices that interpret it differently.

peace, jo

Damn, not 30 seconds. That would be insane. It's actually more like 2 seconds, or 1 bar.

yes, if there is only digital gear with no moving parts involved. the mtc is from the digital stoneage when we used tape machines and dat or video recorders.

"Standard MIDI Clock sync doesn't include any position information -- it's rather like the sprocket holes in cine film -- so if a sync pulse gets lost, the sequencer will happily follow along one pulse late. SMPTE, on the other hand, comprises a continuous stream of positional data, so if a short section of code gets lost or corrupted, the system knows exactly where it's supposed to be the next time a piece of valid code is read. MTC also includes positional information, but because it has to share the MIDI data highway with other information, its data is sent in short bursts -- four to each SMPTE frame. It takes eight of these 'quarter frame' messages to carry enough data to make up one complete set of location data, which means that the receiving MIDI device must read two frames of code before it knows where it's supposed to be."
from soundonsound article here: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/jun96/miditimecode.html

@nogg: if i encounter sync problems then i will insert blank bars at the beginning of the sequences in the mpc. for instance four bars. if i hit play on the mpc the sequencer in the daw gets the mmc to start and because it was in record ready mode it also listened for incoming mtc. now the sequencer has four bars to chase the mpc and has perfect alignment on bar five. now, because i know that my beat sits perfectly on the grid unless there is some midi drift that causes any of the involved midi gear to get out of sync. we had that sometimes way back in the past when there were just too many midi devices connected and daisy chained like crazy.

peace, jo