Want to get into Synchro? Check This Out!

[Beck]

I’ve been thinking lately about how many tools are out there for the taking that people new to analog don’t even know about.

Around 1990 when the JL Cooper PPS100 came out it listed for about $450.00. Now people can barely give them away. This is like the Rosetta stone of synchronizers – converts several types of code to any other type, including a couple old proprietary sync schemes. Can be used to drive MIDI and sync via SMPTE for A/V applications, etc, etc. This thing even has a punch in/out trigger that you can connect where your foot switch would normally go.

If I didn’t already have one I wouldn’t be telling you guys about this.

Check what these listings are ending (or not ending) at… un-freaking-believable! Lots of other stuff out there too that people don’t know they need. How to get the word out… ‘don’t know.

The last one is still going… ends today, but keep a lookout for these in the future. Awesome device, and the manual is free from JL Cooper website in PDF. The gray and the black units are exactly the same. The gray is the original. They just changed it to black later.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260095695356

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260095697093

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160093786705

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=120098563249

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280098846678

[themaddog]

Hey Beck,
What do you do with syncronization in your studio?

-MD

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by themaddog

Hey Beck,
What do you do with syncronization in your studio?
-MD

I don't know about him, but pretty much all of my music is done with sequencers so I use a Philip Rees TS-1 to control it. I'd also like to lock two machines together for 14 tracks as this would save on track bouncing, and allow me to have more stereo tracks and more control at mixdown. (But my Lynxes won't talk to each other properly so it's not working...)

[Beck]

Originally Posted by themaddog

Hey Beck,
What do you do with syncronization in your studio?

-MD

Almost everything... drums (Roland TR-707 and R8), lots of MIDI keyboards and modules, MIDI reverb and effects program changes. Tape is used for acoustic and electric guitar, vocals, piano and my Moog Opus, which can't be synced. And tape is used for mixdown, of course. My MIDI devices go to half-track master tape first generation in sync with whatever is tracked on the TSR-8.

The PPS100 will also trigger events such as punch ins/outs with the TSR-8. Even though the TSR-8 has an automated punch-in feature it won't work at the same time as the locator feature. So I have a trigger from the PPS100 to the TSR-8. I can also program triggers for anything with footswitch jacks… mostly use that for my Rockman modules. Nearly everything else is MIDI capable.

[ausrock]

Beck,

Ever since you started this thread I've been thinking about the possibility of using one of these to synch my Tascam ATR-60 to my Fostex D160 h/disk recorder with either a PPS-100 or one of J L Cooper's later units.

The ATR will work off SMPTE but the D160 only recognises Midi Time Code (MTC)...........my thinking is to stripe the SMPTE to tape, use that as the "Master" to the Synch unit converting to MTC and then to the D160 as a "Slave". Presuming my "logic" is on the right track, what I don't understand is how I physically connect things up, Midi between the "synch unit" and the D160 BUT what goes to the ATR?

Mate, any comments, advice, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

ChrisO

[Beck]

On the sync unit (PPS100 or other) there are Tape In and Tape Out jacks. Once SMPTE is striped to one track of the ATR-60, all you have to do is feed that track back into the sync unit (Tape In). When you press Play on the ATR-60, the sync unit senses the process is beginning and translates into MTC for the D160 or use with sequencers/drum machines.

IMO, it’s easier in many cases to sync something like the D160 to a tape deck than it is to sync one D160 to another D160. You only need audio cables from the tape deck to the sync unit and MIDI cables from the sync unit to the D160.

The D160 has MTC with Song-Position-Pointer, so it should act like a sequencer when it detects the MTC signal from the PPS100 that the tape has started. You should be able to rewind and fast forward the ATR-60 and the D160 will catch and chase it no mater where it is when you press Play.

Making sense, or me barking up wrong tree?

[ausrock]

QUOTE............"Making sense, or me barking up wrong tree?"

Making enough sense for me to understand the basics of what you said ...........obviously, should I go ahead with this, there'll be questions during the learning/implementation process. All I need to do is find someone selling one that's prepared to post to Australia .

Many thanks.

ChrisO

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by ausrock

All I need to do is find someone selling one that's prepared to post to Australia

Assuming you mean "selling an SMPTE->MTC box", I'm using the Philip Rees TS-1 - another name to look out for if you can't find a Cooper.

[ausrock]

JP,

Thanks for that info, apparently the TS-1 is discontinued so I'll keep an eye on evilbay. There is a Cooper unit there at the moment and I'm waiting to hear back from the seller.

ChrisO

[SteveM]

I use a Midiman Syncman now and then. It works pretty good for what it does.

[SteveM]

Originally Posted by Beck

Check what these listings are ending (or not ending) at… un-freaking-believable!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260095695356
]

$1.25

[ausrock]

QUOTE..............."You should be able to rewind and fast forward the ATR-60 and the D160 will catch and chase it no mater where it is when you press Play."

One thing that occured to me (well my son, actually) that I don't have an answer for is, ..............during FFWD or RWND, the tape is lifted off the heads so how does affect things?

[Beck]

SMPTE (or even Smart FSK) knows where it is in the song, so when you press play the sync unit reads the location and brings the slave to the right point to be in sync. There may be a few seconds delay depending on what you're syncing and how it follows code, but it will shortly line up to the right time and place in the song. A sequencer or drum machine will get there in a couple beats. Same for most slave hard disk recorders; some a little slower.

[ausrock]

Ahha.............many thanks, it gets more interesting all the time.

[ausrock]

Aaaarrrrggghhhhhh...............I've been watching a PPS-100 and a PPS-2 on ebay, contacted both (US) sellers.......the PPS-2 guy only accepts Paypal and the PPS-100 hasn't bothered to answer, probably because he doesn't want to post o/seas. Having imported bucket loads of gear in the past I find these responses somewhat frustrating.

Sorry for the mini vent.

ChrisO

[Beck]

A few links on synchro for further info...

http://www.alesis.com/support/cc/sync.html
http://www.danphillips.com/articles/...et_in_sync.htm
http://www.sweetwater.com/publicatio...idaySN_12.html
http://www.philrees.co.uk/articles/timecode.htm
http://arts.ucsc.edu/EMS/Music/equip...pte/SMPTE.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996...html?print=yes