Age Old Question - Midi Time Code or Midi Clock?

Hey people,

I'm in the middle of setting up a small home studio so I can work from home and have spent the last couple of days screwing around trying to sync my MPC2000XL to Cubase 5. This is how I am now: I thought I already knew how to do this but apparently I don't.

So my original idea:

1.) MPC as master and Cubase as slave.
2.) MIDI TIME CODE. Followed the instructions as per: http://www.akaipro.com/kb/article/1476

= Sweet FA. In other words, nothing.

MIDI sync is like women. You think you've got it figured out and then BAM!

So the thing I DID get working:

1.) Cubase as master and MPC as slave
2.) MIDI CLOCK

= OK!!! It does what I need it to do. I can track audio in Cubase. Yes!

So here's the question... What are the relative merits and pitfalls of using one or the other? And if anyone can indulge me on why my first attempt didn't work out, I'd be most appreciative (frame rate huh?). Would really like to hear your opinions.

All the best,
Chris

Is this post on the right board?

Just wondering if anyone has any comments to make regarding the issues I've been having with MTC?
I'm not looking for anyone to spoon feed me the answer, just a push in the right direction. I couldn't find any previous posts regarding the issue. I've been looking for a solution and have tried all I might to get it work. Can't figure it out man! Can't see that I'm missing anything obvious. Like I said no issues syncing MIDI Clock with MPC as slave. Suggestions and opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of each setup?

Forgive me if I'm being dense.

Thanks again.

Just different types of sync.

MIDI Clock sends tempo based sync, it syncs the tempo of two devices.

MTC sends time based sync, it syncs the time of two devices.

MTC should work, you need to make sure that the MTC framerate is the same on both devices.

Since MTC syncs the time of the two devices, you have to set the tempo on both devices to the same tempo.

Strangely enough, I know this and have synced without problems in Cubase SX using MTC. This time I have Cubase 5.

In Project Sync Setup you have:

Lock Frames: 8
Drop Out Frames: 10
Inhibit Restart ms: 500

I've tried setting these to match the Frame Rate in the MPC (either 25 or 30) but nothing works. Should I be looking somewhere else? If I remember rightly, SX automatically detects this, maybe it's different in 5.

I've been methodical with this ****, so if anyone of you kind folks can enlighten me...

Thanks for you advice so far Simon. I appreciate the time.

Have to suggest the basics, as you never know what experience someone has.

Maybe try syncing the MPC to Cubase via MTC, see if you can get it syncing the other way around.

I don't know enough about Cubase to really help, but I would expect there should be some sort of setting for MTC frame rate, other than the sync/frame related settings you mentioned above, which are to do with sync (how long it takes to sync up, and how it handles dropouts in the sync signal, by the looks of them), but not the actual frame rate settings.

Maybe something like the Project Setup window?...




If that doesn't work, maybe try running a MIDI monitor on your computer, to ensure that it is receiving MTC correctly from the MPC.

I never had much luck with MTC, but MIDI Clock works like a dream. MTC is more accurate of course, but I found that level of sync accuracy isn't always critical to success. Particularly with pattern based, predominantly hardware only type stuff.

Thanks Simon + Clint for replying. I'm going to have a look at this when I get the time. I'm just getting reorientated in Cubase at the moment and have had to sort out one or two other things in regard to overall setup.

Like Clint says MIDI CLOCK works very well, I can track out no probs this way but obviously it pays in the long run to figure out different ways of doing things. Will keep the board posted.

PEACE

P.S. Cubase 5 automatically changes the Frame Rate to the one that matches the MPC.