Syncing Reaper to tape

famous beagle

famous beagle

Well-known member
I posted this in the Reaper forums (on the Cockos page), but I haven't had any responses, so I thought I'd try here.

I have a Tascam 246, and I'm trying to sync Reaper to it so I can have it play some MIDI tracks along with the tape. I'm using a JL Cooper PPS-1 sync box (version 3).

I've striped track 4 (side A of a whole 60 minute tape) on the 246 with SMPTE and have the tape out of track 4 plugged into the "From Tape" input on the JLC. I have the JLC set to output MTC, and I have a MIDI cable running from the JLC's MIDI out to my interface's MIDI in.

I have Reaper set to external sync (by right clicking on the Play button and setting the options).

The good news is that Reaper is chasing the tape like a champ. But there in one annoying thing:

When I start the tape on the 246 from the beginning, Reaper starts chasing at around 35 minutes and goes from there.

So ... as long as I start my Reaper tracks 35 minutes into the project, it works fine. But that's just kind of annoying. I'm trying to find a way to tell Reaper to hear the beginning of the time code (at the beginning of the cassette) as 0:00:00. I can't find any kind of setting in Reaper to do that.

There's one bit in the Reaper external sync menu (which you get when you right click on play) that says "Offset incoming time code by:" but it's in ms. I guess I could try entering 2,100,000 ms (approximately 35 minutes), but that seems a bit odd.

Guess I'll try it and see what happens.

Otherwise, anyone else have a clue? I can't find anything about it in the Reaper manual.

Thanks
 
Well, it turns out that, yes, I am supposed to enter a value like -2,000,000 ms to make the offset work. Kind of annoying to have to do it that way, but at least it works.

However, one bit of bad news is that I'm getting clicks and pops from the MIDI tracks in Reaper when they play along with the tape. Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
yup... looks like the wrong smpte marking is on the tape at the beginning, so an offset will work.
Pops and click are usually a sign that your digital devices are not in sync.

Other than smpte, what are you doing to synchronize your digital signals?
 
I changed methods and tried using FSK instead of SMPTE, and it works great. Same hardware --- JL Cooper PS-1, Tascam 246, and Reaper, but I haven't had any issues with pops using FSK. :)
 
Hello famous Beagle and others.
I have tried smpte/mtc sync method to reaper
and the transport works, so does the
metronome but midi samples glitch.
I am seeing that famous beagle has
accomplished sync playback from
tape to reaper via pps(jlcooper) using
the fsk from the jlcooper to reaper.
How did you accomplish this?
My jlcooper pps-2 does not have instructions for striping fsk( only smpte)
Though it does send fsk, then what are
the settings for reaper?
In the distant past, I used my Roland
707 and tascam 388 to accomplish songs
efficiently.I am an old guy now and my
dying wish is to sync my tascam 388 to
reaper via my jlcooper pps-2.
Thanks for any help! Budworrell
 
budworrell said:
Hello famous Beagle and others.
I have tried smpte/mtc sync method to reaper
and the transport works, so does the
metronome but midi samples glitch.
I am seeing that famous beagle has
accomplished sync playback from
tape to reaper via pps(jlcooper) using
the fsk from the jlcooper to reaper.
How did you accomplish this?
My jlcooper pps-2 does not have instructions for striping fsk( only smpte)
Though it does send fsk, then what are
the settings for reaper?
In the distant past, I used my Roland
707 and tascam 388 to accomplish songs
efficiently.I am an old guy now and my
dying wish is to sync my tascam 388 to
reaper via my jlcooper pps-2.
Thanks for any help! Budworrell
Click to expand...
Ok, I just reread the pps-2 manual and
the fsk striping instructions are there.
I will stripe track 8 with fsk and try for
that glitch free sync.
 
This video popped up in my youtube feed a few days ago.

He’s syncing reaper to a fostex 8 track with no external gadgets.

 
Yes, I have watched this and will try
this method. Thanks for the link.
I am working on the fsk method
with high hopes after reading of
famous beagles success.He used
his ppl and I also have one and like
squeeze value out of old tools.
Although, I will do what it takes to
get it going. I have switched to Reaper
from S1 because reaper offers 3 ways to sync.
I worked on the S1 ltc/mtc for 18 months
only to have slightly glitched playback
and good transport control function.
Just enough to screw up a good song.
Reaper’s ltc/mtc glitches in the same
way so I am hoping fsk or the direct
smpte input will work.
 
What do you mean by midi samples? What sort of sampler are you using? Have you tried re-striping the tape with known good timecode?
 
By midi samples, I am referring to
several percussive drum sounds played
by a reaper midi track. The sounds are
from my arturia analog lab library.
I did restripe smpte using the pps-2
Smpte generator. The smpte is
converted to mtc and is read by
reaper. The transport works well but
the playback of the percussion hits
glitch randomly. If the the stripe was
tainted,I would expect the glitches to
occur at the same location in the
timeline each time. Not the case,
the glitches are random and occur in
different locations. I had the same
problem in studio one, and am trying
reaper. My computer is a very fast
Windows 10 gaming desk model.
The sounds playback perfectly
with reaper alone, then glitch in
the tape sync configuration.
I tried the direct to reaper ( input
ltc to a single track via interface)
yesterday with no success.
Today, I have a fresh roll of tape and
have striped fsk and am attempting
the fsk on tape, to the spp settings
on reaper.
Thanks for your attention to my
problem. Budworrell
 
Ditch the PPS2. I had a JLCooper PPS100 sync box for a while and it was really unreliable compared to other sync units that I've used. There was a big chance that it would lose sync at some random point and, if you were in the middle of a mixdown, you would then have to start the mixdown again. The JL Cooper stuff really isn't up to the job.

Don't stripe the tape with FSK either - Reaper needs proper SMPTE format linear timecode which it can generate itself.
 
So I did restripe with official reaper smpte
and use the direct input to reaper method
shown by twin creeks video.
It walks, it talks perfectly 5 times in
a row , then glitches after that.
The glitch is a very slight kkshhh
on the tail of my analog recorded bass
line. The midi track plays flawlessly
every time .This is a one minute sequence,
Maybe a background program is
kicking in? The 30fps is set.
Seems maybe the processing may be
slow though it played perfectly 5xs
then started the glitch thing on the
6th playback.Random glitch.
There is a interpolation setting thing
that I don’t understand or perhaps
a Windows setting？
I am open to team viewer for help.
 
I have changed the value from
40 ms to 85ms skip/drop frames
if drift exceeds ( on the reaper sync
page). This may be helping….
seems so
 
Reaper can't control the audio sample rate so, if that is too far out, it will glitch. All it does is to start an item playing at the right point which will then continue to play in free run mode. If you need something that will control the sample rate then you need a box like the MOTU Digital Timepiece which can generate word clock from a SMPTE timecode signal. Did you record the bass with the current Reaper setup? How are you clocking the convertors in your audio interface?

One thing you could try is to split the item containing the bass recording between bass notes which will give you shorter sections so they are less likely to drift out of sync.
 
My berringger ultragrain pro 8 Ada lightpipes
into my dsp clock box then into
reaper. I did the analog bass recording
in reaper alongside of the midi track
in reaper. DSP is 44.1 as is the project.
As I was inspecting the analog bass
track, I noticed that the input was set
to midi in ( I must have changed the
setting while fumbling around).
I turned the input off and have played the
track in tape sync 7 times with no
glitches.
The next step is to chop up the bass
track if the glitch persist.
Thank for the comments!
 
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