2 vs 880 ex...will they sync ?

[bob young]

I have a vs 880 ex that I really enjoy using..

If I were to get another one, can I sync them together to work like a 16 track ?

Bob Young

[monty]

Yes. I’ve thought of doing it myself, except I’ve got Cakewalk on my computer and I copy everything from the VS to the computer so why bother. But for someone with a VS unit who wants to double their tracks in an instant for relatively cheap, yes. Plus you’ll have twice the effects too. Set one as master and one as slave. The manual describes it…I’ll bet you don’t have a manual.

[JohnnyMan]

Monty,

I, too, have a VS880 and Cakewalk but I'm having a lot of difficulties getting the two to sync properly. I have many tracks in a song that I want to transfer into Cakewalk. Nut when I attempt to do so, the tracks don't line up in Cakewalk and it's a royal pain in the *ss to fix it.

How were you able to get the tracks into Cakewalk successfully?

[monty]

Originally posted by JohnnyMan
Monty,

I, too, have a VS880 and Cakewalk but I'm having a lot of difficulties getting the two to sync properly. I have many tracks in a song that I want to transfer into Cakewalk. Nut when I attempt to do so, the tracks don't line up in Cakewalk and it's a royal pain in the *ss to fix it.

How were you able to get the tracks into Cakewalk successfully?

I thought you’d never ask…really.

Hehe…you need to not only hook up the analog or digital connections, but also the midi connections. The settings in the 880 and Cakewalk need to be correct. The manuals explain the settings pretty well, but you may need to tweak them to suit whatever. Once the sync is “set” Cakewalk will be the “master” and the 880 will be the “slave”. It’s the midi that does the synching. If you don’t have the manuals, let me know and I’ll see if I can take a photo of my notes or the manual pages. Notes make it easier to repeat the process because I personally don’t do it often enough to keep it in my head.

[JohnnyMan]

Originally posted by monty
I thought you’d never ask…really.

Hehe…you need to not only hook up the analog or digital connections, but also the midi connections. The settings in the 880 and Cakewalk need to be correct. The manuals explain the settings pretty well, but you may need to tweak them to suit whatever. Once the sync is “set” Cakewalk will be the “master” and the 880 will be the “slave”. It’s the midi that does the synching. If you don’t have the manuals, let me know and I’ll see if I can take a photo of my notes or the manual pages. Notes make it easier to repeat the process because I personally don’t do it often enough to keep it in my head.

Monty,

Thanks for the response.
I quite sure I've tried that. I have the manuals and truly believed that I had it set up correctly. But maybe I didn't. I glad to hear that it can be done. If there are any other tips (or settings that are not perfectly clear in the manual) that you can think of.....
I'd be happy to hear them.

John

[monty]

In Cakewalk, make sure the correct midi drivers are being loaded and set them active in the midi pop-up menu. Your soundcard or midi card won’t be the same as mine, so all you can do is try everything, like I did. The manuals give sort of a generalized list of settings. I had to experiment with different settings. These are the settings that finally worked for me.




With the 880, press ‘system’ until ‘sys midi prm’ appears.

In sys midi prm, set:

Midi thru to out
Sys ex rx to on
Sys ex tx to on
Mmc to slave
Ctr local to on
Ctr type to excl
Pc scene on
Pc eff to on

In sys sync/tempo, set:

Source to int
Syn gen to mtc
Mtc type to 30




In Cakewalk set the sync stuff to:

Mtc 30n mmc

In the audio pop-up menu set to:

trigger and freewheel

Sync start

[JohnnyMan]

Originally posted by monty
In Cakewalk, make sure the correct midi drivers are being loaded and set them active in the midi pop-up menu. Your soundcard or midi card won’t be the same as mine, so all you can do is try everything, like I did. The manuals give sort of a generalized list of settings. I had to experiment with different settings. These are the settings that finally worked for me.




With the 880, press ‘system’ until ‘sys midi prm’ appears.

In sys midi prm, set:

Midi thru to out
Sys ex rx to on
Sys ex tx to on
Mmc to slave
Ctr local to on
Ctr type to excl
Pc scene on
Pc eff to on

In sys sync/tempo, set:

Source to int
Syn gen to mtc
Mtc type to 30




In Cakewalk set the sync stuff to:

Mtc 30n mmc

In the audio pop-up menu set to:

trigger and freewheel

Sync start

Thank you Monty. I will give that a try.