Tape sync on Digital multitracker

A

aleyas

New member
Hello all.

Allow me to lay down the basics. I have a non-midi, digital 4-track (Tascam dp-004) that I'd like to sync with a hardware sequencer equipped with tape sync. The said sequencer is an ancient Alesis mmt-8. The way I figure, this should work the same way I would stripe a track on analog multitrackers, like a 424 or an mt4x: record sync tone on track 4, then send to TAPE IN on the Mmt-8. (I'm doing this through the headphone out of the dp-004 - the sync tone panned left and the rest of the tracks hard panned right). Problem is, when the mmt-8 receives the sync track it only repeats the first note of the sequence. I've tried this at different bpm's. 60bpm with 1/4 click doesn't work, just as 60bpm with 1/16 click doesn't work.

Any ideas? Also, not enirely sure where this post belongs. Seems in equal part analog, recording and gear. :o
 
It all depends on what kind of sync the Alesis is looking for, and what kind of tone you are stripping on the 4-track.

"Sync tone" doesn't really say anything, as there are several sync formats (SMPTE, MTC, MIDI CLOCK, FSK, etc)....

http://www.mmt8.com/index.php
 
Have you ever done this with analog tape on this particular MMT8 before? I used to do it all the time back in the day, but I never tried with a digital recorder. I have done SMPTE sync stripes on ADAT, which worked just fine, but the MMT8 uses FSK or something, which is a bit different. I can't see any good reason it wouldn't work, though.

Have you listened to the headphone output to make sure that the sync tone is all by itself on the one side, decent level without being too loud, and fully continuous? What kinda cable are you using to connect the two devices?
 
I believe the Mmt-8 uses FSK. Though I'm not sure what that is precisely.

What I'm doing is recording the 'click out' onto track 4 and then sending it back to 'tape in' and setting the clock settings to 'tape in'.
After that did not work I recorded the 'tape out' tone, and again, sent that back to 'tape in' with the same clock setting.
 
ashcat_lt said:
Have you ever done this with analog tape on this particular MMT8 before? I used to do it all the time back in the day, but I never tried with a digital recorder. I have done SMPTE sync stripes on ADAT, which worked just fine, but the MMT8 uses FSK or something, which is a bit different. I can't see any good reason it wouldn't work, though.

Have you listened to the headphone output to make sure that the sync tone is all by itself on the one side, decent level without being too loud, and fully continuous? What kinda cable are you using to connect the two devices?
Click to expand...

I haven't used the Mmt-8 with my analog recorders yet. I didn't listen to the signal, though I was monitoring and adjusting it's level. I'm just using a standard 1/8 stereo cable.
 
ashcat_lt said:
Nope. Click out is a metronome click. You need to use the tape out from the MMT8 to the recorder and record the stripe.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I tried both the metronome and the tape out. I don't really need this to work as I've got a 16 track with all the midi sync options I'd need. But having sync on my little sketchpad would be fun. I'll keep playing around with this, I'm hopeful I can get it to work. Thanks for the link also.
 
Several years of my earlier recordings involved syncing an MMT8 to a Fostex x16 cassette 4-track via the FSK. The MMT8 usually ran synth tracks on a Korg M3R, and then I had the HR16 slaved to it via MTC for drums. Hope you get it figured out.
 
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