MPC Sync to Pro Tools - Vailixi - MTC

I've just been doing some tests to see how the different ways of syncing the 3K to Pro Tools work. I know that the Innerclock system works great, but until I get that, I'm seeing what I'm working with.

My question is: In 3K with 3.5, you can send MTC. However, I can't seem to get that to play well with Pro Tools 10. Im setting PT to recieve MMC and MTC. And I have 3K sending MTC. But when I hit start on the 3K, the MPC doesn't move, but the MMC seems to trigger Pro Tools to start.

Any suggestions?

Forget MIDI Machine Control (MMC) for the moment, I don't think it is needed in this situation, so turn it off.


You are setting Pro Tools to sync it's transport to incoming MIDI Time Code (MTC) from the MPC3000.

Once Pro Tools is set to sync to the incoming MTC, you press the online button in Pro Tools, and Pro Tools automatically starts playing at the point of the incoming MTC, it doesn't need an incoming MMC play command as well.


Set the MPC3000 to send MTC:
- from MPC3000 TEMPO/SYNC screen, press <SYNC> SOFT KEY 1 button
- set desired MPC3000 MTC output frame rate in the Sync In/Frames: field (24/25/30/29.97 DROP)
- set desired MPC3000 MTC output port in the Sync Out/MIDI tm code: field (OFF/OUT A/OUT B/OUT C/OUT D/ALL)

Connect MPC3000 MIDI output, as set above, to a Pro Tools MIDI input, using a MIDI cable.

Set Pro Tools to receive the incoming MTC:
- from Pro Tools Setup-Peripherals window, under the Synchronization tab, ensure that the MTC Reader Port: is set to Any, or to the Pro Tools MIDI input port that the MPC3000 MTC output is set and connected to above
- from Pro Tools Session Setup window (Setup Menu-Session Setup), set the Pro Tools Timecode Rate to match the MTC output frame rate coming from the MPC3000 (as set above)
- press the Online button (clock icon) in the Pro Tools Transport bar (or choose Transport Online from Options menu, or press Command/Control-J)

Press play on the MPC3000 and Pro Tools should now start playing at the position of the incoming MTC from the MPC3000.


I think that Pro Tools needs the MTC frame rate to be set the same in both the MPC3000 (Sync In/Frames:) and Pro Tools (Timecode Rate:) for it to work, otherwise Pro Tools will not start playback.

Thanks for the details. I'll give this a try stelt by step
I forgot to mention, I'm using a MOTU Midi Express XT as my interface. I was going through the manual for that and there's a chance the MTC I'm sending is getting swallowed by that. Since the MOTU itself can actually be set to generate MTC for all the connected devices.

Well that worked great! The only other thing to note is setting the correct starting place in both Pro Tools and the MPC (01:00:00:00).

Of course, still all kind of latency, but I was just curious how that worked.

thanks!

dtirer wrote:Well that worked great! The only other thing to note is setting the correct starting place in both Pro Tools and the MPC (01:00:00:00).

They should probably both default to 00:00:00:00 as the starting time.


Set the MPC3000 to start at 01:00:00:00:
- from MPC3000 TEMPO/SYNC screen, press <SYNC> SOFT KEY 1 button
- set desired MPC3000 MTC starting time rate in the Sync In/Start: field (01:00:00:00.00 - note the extra two decimal places for frames that are not available in Pro Tools Session Start: field)

Set Pro Tools to start at 01:00:00:00:
- from Pro Tools Session Setup window (Setup Menu-Session Setup), set the desired Pro Tools MTC starting time in the Session Start: field (01:00:00:00)

Now, when Pro Tools is put online, and MPC3000 playback is started, they should both start at 01:00:00:00.

dtirer wrote:Of course, still all kind of latency, but I was just curious how that worked.

If it is a fixed latency, due to delays of the audio through the computer sound card/interface audio buffers for example, you might be able to measure the offset, and manually, or maybe automatically, compensate for the latency after the recording pass by shifting it into time.