Tape striping? (how to do it, or good books on the subject)

so I've got the MPC 60 and the Akai MG614 and am looking to sync these up so I can bounce multiple tracks to a single track and then go back and add more later.

I've got Sync out and in on the MPC and the same on the Akai. I've been thinking the obvious midi like connection, out to in and in to out on both machines but heard that it's easier (although I'll have one less track) to stripe a whole track on the tape.

Unfortunately I don't know how to do this, any help would be appreciated....

Deta!L wrote:so I've got the MPC 60 and the Akai MG614 and am looking to sync these up so I can bounce multiple tracks to a single track and then go back and add more later.

I've got Sync out and in on the MPC and the same on the Akai. I've been thinking the obvious midi like connection, out to in and in to out on both machines but heard that it's easier (although I'll have one less track) to stripe a whole track on the tape.

Unfortunately I don't know how to do this, any help would be appreciated....

This is OLD SCHOOL..But the MG614 is the 4track tape machine that pete rock used to have in the basement? If so, I used to have one of those machines + SP1200(i still have)..But seeing as the sp was limited on sample time, I use to stripe track 4 with SEMPTE code(if you plug your headphones in the out jack you will mosdef here it!). But you record that noise to tape, then rewind the tape, plug the track with the code on it(track 4 out) back into the in of the SP then it should lock when you press play on the track machine (beware of drop outs with the code on tape!)

I am just going from memory as I havent done this in over 10 years..plus I used to do it with my SP1200 all the time! Hope this points you in the right direction.

yeah, that's the one...so I plug the sync out of the MPC into track 4 of the MG614 while I'm recording and it should sync up next time?

I just have to rewind to the correct start spot in the tape?

Deta!L wrote:yeah, that's the one...so I plug the sync out of the MPC into track 4 of the MG614 while I'm recording and it should sync up next time?

I just have to rewind to the correct start spot in the tape?

It could be any track, just rewind to when you start your stripe and it will all sync up.

OK...here's some more info. When you are striping a tape with SMPTE time code, stripe the entire tape. For audio the standard is 30fps. Go to the sync pages on your MPC. You will hit "Generate SMPTE" after you connect the SMPTE out to one of your tape inputs. You want to set the sync tone up to record at about -3db. If the signal is too hot, it will bleed over to other tracks, too soft and you may experience dropouts. Pop your tape into record. Again...STRIPE THE WHOLE TAPE. As Head suggested you need to send the output of the striped track to the SMPTE in on your MPC. At this point you need to make sure that your MPC is "hearing" the SMPTE. Make sure your sync settings are "SYNC IN = SMPTE 30FPS" or something similar. Que up a sequence. Set the start time at 00:02:00:00. That is 2 minutes in SMPTE time. Roll a little less than 2 minutes into the tape. Pop that sucker into play and at 2 minutes, your MPC sequence should start to play automatically. There may be an option on your MPC to set it to either internal or external sync. This option should be set to "external". The reason you should start at 00:02:00:00 instead of 0 is tape quality and tape transport quality is better a minute or more into most tapes. Also if you rewind to the stops over and over, you face the possibility of breaking your tape and it's not so great on your machine either. You will need to get used to setting a SMPTE start time on all your sequences. Your MPC will cue up to wherever it is your tape is located. Have fun...

dope thanks, can't wait to try it out

head034 wrote:

Deta!L wrote:so I've got the MPC 60 and the Akai MG614 and am looking to sync these up so I can bounce multiple tracks to a single track and then go back and add more later.

I've got Sync out and in on the MPC and the same on the Akai. I've been thinking the obvious midi like connection, out to in and in to out on both machines but heard that it's easier (although I'll have one less track) to stripe a whole track on the tape.

Unfortunately I don't know how to do this, any help would be appreciated....

This is OLD SCHOOL..But the MG614 is the 4track tape machine that pete rock used to have in the basement? If so, I used to have one of those machines + SP1200(i still have)..But seeing as the sp was limited on sample time, I use to stripe track 4 with SEMPTE code(if you plug your headphones in the out jack you will mosdef here it!). But you record that noise to tape, then rewind the tape, plug the track with the code on it(track 4 out) back into the in of the SP then it should lock when you press play on the track machine (beware of drop outs with the code on tape!)

I am just going from memory as I havent done this in over 10 years..plus I used to do it with my SP1200 all the time! Hope this points you in the right direction.

Ive just tried this on my sp1200, i changed my sync settings to smpte, i recorded the smpte code to track 4 (sync out to channel 4) and this plays back fine, i then have track out 4 plugged into sync in on the sp. I switch the channel from 'mic/line' to 'track'.

Now when i try to play the song on the sp, it says 'awating smpte code' so i press play on the MG and the song starts playing on the sp, i can see the timer moving, if i fast forward the tape, the sp fast forwards too etc..

However, its not playing any sound from the song/segment that has been record but i does record sound if i press the pad. Any suggestions on where im going wrong?

Thanks

So, if you turn off sync, and press play, the song/sequence in the SP1200 plays as it should?

Maybe something to do with the SMPTE start time that is set in the SP1200 song?

Is the SP Sync light flashing when it is synced? If so, that means it is waiting for the sync time that is set to be reached on the incoming timecode.

Have you gone through the SMPTE Sync steps on page 59 of the SP1200 manual?

SimonInAustralia wrote:So, if you turn off sync, and press play, the song/sequence in the SP1200 plays as it should?

Maybe something to do with the SMPTE start time that is set in the SP1200 song?

Is the SP Sync light flashing when it is synced? If so, that means it is waiting for the sync time that is set to be reached on the incoming timecode.

Have you gone through the SMPTE Sync steps on page 59 of the SP1200 manual?

Of course, i always try to refer to the manual, sometimes its like a foreign language to me though haha

but yeah i think it was to do with the start time, i got it sorted now thanks man!!