(2000xl) SMPTE mode not found?

When I read the manual it says I should be able to activate a mode which says SMPTE and not MTC or Midi clock. But on mine, this mode ain't available (and yes, I got the SMPTE expansion on mine)

I haven't anything to use with smpte yet though, so I can' test if it would make any difference if I have a cable connected.

If you can't select "SMPTE" as an option in the sync window, then you must not have the smpte "chip", or the chip ain't workin.

With the 2000xl, the hardware is included with the unit (meaning it has the jacks for the SMPTE in and out). But there is a chip needed for the hardware to work.

Oh, so I don't have smpte after all then... where can I get one of those chips? ebay? or can I find them on some retail shop maybe?

and how much are these?

Thanks for the reply btw!

found these here in europe:


AKAI IC-M2TC
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw5_artikel-159615.html

AKAI IB-M20T
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw5_artikel-128831.html

I guess it's the M2TC I should have then, since I got an XL, and my manual says that it's the one I should use.

I'm a bit confused though, why is there outputs on the card there, if there's already out on the machine itself?

The picture of the first item is actually the SMPTE board for the DR8/DR16 recorders. The description is right though, the IC-M2TC is waht you need. Look in the maunal (pg191) for the 2XL for a little more info and an illustration of the IC M2TC

The second Item listed there IB M20T, is the SMPTE option card for the MPC2000. With the MPC2000, the SMPTE option (IB M20T) was added with an entire board. The picture of second item looks like the Flash Rom option board.

nikenn wrote:If you can't select "SMPTE" as an option in the sync window, then you must not have the smpte "chip", or the chip ain't workin.

With the 2000xl, the hardware is included with the unit (meaning it has the jacks for the SMPTE in and out). But there is a chip needed for the hardware to work.

I had to google this to find out about the SMPTE option. I realized I do have a IC-M2TC SMPTE IC chip installed and never noticed it before. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with it, but I got it.

@Juke it allows you to keep things in sync much better than midi can. Literally the SMPTE is analog time code that other capable devices can sync to. If you have a sound card that has multiple ins and outs, you can use one of the ins to sync the code from the MPC.

Just to weigh in on something, my [completely non-scientific, practical-use] tests concluded that SMPTE doesn't provide any significant improvement over MTC. In fact, MTC was actually tighter on my rig! That said, a few notes:

- This test was done with an MPC3000, not a 2000.
- It was obviously done on my machine, with a certain DAW, Convertors, Computer, Operating System, etc. Change one of these variables and the results could be different.
- My MIDI interface is a MOTU with MTS, which apparently does some voodoo with regard to MIDI Time Stamping.

Again, just my findings. Even with the 2000 I found MTC more than adequate for my needs when tracking, using the MPC as the master & ProTools as the slave.

the smpte chip can be bought from a reseller for like $50 or you can actually get the chip not branded by akai for cheap on ebay and it reportedly works.

its a ICS2008B also maybe a ICS2008AV

old thread about this:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=145608

@SEMS could by chance the tests on the MPC 3000 be noted as somewhat inconclusive - as the 3000 already has a tight clock by default?

to be fair, smpte isn't about 'tightness' with midi necessarily, it is a way to provide a sync track to a tape so you could sync it back up later.
it's really more of a relic these days - as it is designed primarily for something like tape where midi isn't an option.

Even though I normally think the SampleKings videos are corny, here's an actually good tutorial of thiers explaining SMPTE on the 2000XL...

tapedeck wrote:to be fair, smpte isn't about 'tightness' with midi necessarily, it is a way to provide a sync track to a tape so you could sync it back up later.
it's really more of a relic these days - as it is designed primarily for something like tape where midi isn't an option.

That's the most important thing here. Multitrack casette recorders benefit entirely on SMPTE, as they don't have MIDI. So if you want analog saturation, SMPTE becomes extremely valuable for multitracking.

richie wrote:@SEMS could by chance the tests on the MPC 3000 be noted as somewhat inconclusive - as the 3000 already has a tight clock by default?

Well yes, which is one of the reasons I made full disclosure in the post. But also I did note that I've done non-comparative tests with the 2000 (classic) and found MTC to be pretty tight on that machine as well. Again, all my testing is practical, and I found MTC more than adequate for tracking the 2k.

And I agree with tapedeck. MTC & SMPTE are basically two ways of saying the same thing, just one travels by analogue means & one travels by digital. I encourage everyone to do their own tests & find what works for them. But for me, MTC does the trick.