MIDI Sync with External Sequencers

[drGrov]

Hi all.

I've just got my NDLR and I'm having fun integrating it with my setup.

I've been testing the sync with an external sequencers (a Deluge in my case) and seem to be having some problems with sync. The Deluge is set up with simple 4 beats to the bar drum pattern. The NDLR is the master clock and is also sending start/stop messages. I set the clock divider for both motifs to /1 so the note patterns would match the rhythm from the Deluge.

From stopped, I can start one of the motifs using the relevant button and everything is in sync. The Deluge drum beats are in time with the motif notes.

However, if I start from the "All" button, the NDLR seems to pick up the sequence from where it last stopped and the Deluge drum beats can be out of sync with the motifs. When this happens, I can stop/start motif 1 and it will be back in sync with the Deluge but out of sync with motif 2 (until I stop/start motif 2).

There's definitely something odd going on.

[Steve]

Hi drGrov,
Thanks tor reporting this sighting! I think I reproduced this bug just on The NDLR alone. I have a good feeling about what might be happening, has something to do with not marking either of the motifs as the one to sync to, when the play all button is pushed. When either of the relevant buttons are press the motifs are correctly marked, hence the sync works. I'll have a look at the source code when I can get out of mail room duties!
Thanks again!
Steve

[drGrov]

Hi drGrov,
Thanks tor reporting this sighting!  I think I reproduced this bug just on The NDLR alone.  I have a good feeling about what might be happening, has something to do with not marking either of the motifs as the one to sync to, when the play all button is pushed.  When either of the relevant buttons are press the motifs are correctly marked, hence the sync works.  I'll have a look at the source code when I can get out of mail room duties!
Thanks again!
Steve

I've done some more poking around with this, and discovered a possibly related issue to with syncing to beats in a bar. I can use the play/pause buttons for the individual parts and the NDLR correctly tracks the beats in bar. For example, with the drone set to "cadence "on one", the drone note coincides with the first beat of the bar on other sequenced tracks. I can stop the drone and then restart it at any point in the bar while the sequencer is running and it remains in sync.

This doesn't happen if I use the All play/pause button to start the NDLR while the sequencer is running. Depending on when I press the button to start, the same "on one" drone note can be wildly out of sync with everything else. I think the NDLR is resetting it's idea of where beat 1 of the bar is to be the moment at which the All play/pause button was pressed. In any case the only fix is to stop / restart the sequencer, which gets everything back in sync again.

Apologies if I'm just saying the same thing again but it seems a bit different to me

[TerryMulhern]

I've done some more poking around with this, and discovered a possibly related issue to with syncing to beats in a bar. I can use the play/pause buttons for the individual parts and the NDLR correctly tracks the beats in bar. For example, with the drone set to "cadence "on one", the drone note coincides with the first beat of the bar on other sequenced tracks. I can stop the drone and then restart it at any point in the bar while the sequencer is running and it remains in dissertationwriter sync.
This doesn't happen if I use the All play/pause button to start the NDLR while the sequencer is running. Depending on when I press the button to start, the same "on one" drone note can be wildly out of sync with everything else. I think the NDLR is resetting it's idea of where beat 1 of the bar is to be the moment at which the All play/pause button was pressed. In any case the only fix is to stop / restart the sequencer, which gets everything back in sync again.
Apologies if I'm just saying the same thing again but it seems a bit different to me Smile

Hi there,
I'm just waiting for the shipping notice from Indiegogo (after my Kickstarter transaction was blocked). So excited and desperately waiting to try that out. Is it easier to work with Deluge in this case (choosing a sequencer for a start)?

Terry