mc-505 sync tempo with external drum machine?

[solarscar]

Hello i have an mc-505 groovebox that i would like to use with an yamaha drum machine since i don't like the drums in the 505. I have midi out of the 505 going to the "in" of the drum machine and can control it from the 505. I can't get the tempo's to sync up right. I will set both machines at 120 bpm but after a few loops the timing is thrown off. How do i get the timing (bpm) to sync up??

[Tifstorey]

So youve connected them correctly, and the beats are both playing at 120bpm?

Are the beats your using pre set rhythms? If they are, just recheck that theyre both the same tempo. If theyre not, and your playing your own beats.. one of the machines are obviously wrong. bpm is universal, and 120 cant mean different on 2 different machines. I dont think latency would be an issue here as your running it in and out of 2 midi machines.. Like i said, its probably just something little that youve missed. just re check that its all correct.

[ssscientist]

Maybe the 505 is sending a 'start' command but failing to follow up with a clock signal. Or it could be the Yamaha is not in external clock mode.

As Tifstorey said, it's probably something small that you've missed - that is, if the Yamaha machine is capable of receiving a midi clock...

[thane1200]

If you can set the bpm on the drum machine then your units are NOT sync'd. A sync'd box will have the tempo function locked out. On my MC-303 I have to hold [shift] then the number 16 key to acces the sync functions, [internal], [external], [master], [slave], etc.