External Timing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sepulchre
  • Start date Start date
S

Sepulchre

New member
Is there a way to control Sonar's timing from a drum machine? I have a Roland TR626 that I use to trigger my Juno 60 (which does not have midi). Unfortunately the trigger signal cannot be controlled through midi or I would simply control the drum machine from Sonar. So, can I have the TR626 as the Master to set time and start and stop Sonar?

Thanks,
Ken
 
Word clock? It's the only thing I can think of.
 
Thanks for the response.

Er, pardon my ignorance but . . . word clock? What is it and where do I get to it?
 
I think you are talking about tempo. Word clock is for controlling the syncronization of devices together.

You need midi CC messages to change tempo during a performance. You can preprogram a tempo map that will change tempo at predefined sections if that is what you mean, but without midi, you cannot do it on the fly.

Maybe you can explain a little more what you want to do.
 
I don't want to change tempo during a song.

Okay, let me explain a couple of things. I've been using Sonar and various versions of Cakewalk, Pro Audio, and so on for years. But long, long ago, before sequencers, I recorded parts on a multi-track recorder and then played along with them, building up the parts - bass, chords, etc. - to make songs.

I have a Juno 60 which has an arpeggiator that can be triggered by an external trigger signal. I used to use it a lot with drum machines that will provide the trigger signal (many do). My current machine, a TR626, has that signal and it is triggered by a rim shot. So if I program a drum part the rim shot will trigger the arpeggiator on the Juno. It's a great way to synchronize bass lines or chorded arpeggios. But I haven't used that method for many years. However, I recently dusted off my trusty Juno and it sounds Great! So I'd like to use it the way I used to. (it does not have MIDI)

I can control the drum machine with Sonar but unfortunately it refuses to output a trigger signal unless it is running a beat that has been programmed into it, not one coming from MIDI. The drums sound fine - well, okay anyway - but no triggers for the Juno's arpeggiator even if rim shots are included in the track. It just plays the rim shot.

So my question is: can Sonar be synced as a slave to the drum machine as far as timing, or tempo? The tempo does not have to change or anything; just clocked to the drum machine. That way I could program the rim shot trigger signal to control the Juno's arpeggiator and keep it in sync with the song that Sonar is playing.

So - can Sonar's timing be controlled from an external source? Starting and stopping the song would be nice too but just to get everyone in sync tempo-wise is my goal.

Thanks for the responses!
 
Well, I tried to post there . . . several times. It errors out every time. I'll try again.

Thanks!
 
Set up your drum machine to send MIDI Sync messages, then go to Options > Project and click the Clock tab.

Select MIDI Sync in the Source section and click OK.

Now Sonar will start record/playback from the controls on the drum machine and be synchronized to the clock from the drum machine.
 
That is Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you So much!

Looking at the Sync tab I saw that "Send MIDI Sync" was not on. I set it to "Transmit MIDI Start/Continue/Stop.Clock". I wrote a pattern of rim shots on the drum machine and now Sonar can make the drum machine send the trigger signals I need. This is So Cool!

Thanks again! You made my day.

Ken
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top