Syncing Beats

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PhilMckracken

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When syncing an eight note onstinato part to the beat on a sytn such as a Virus or Waldorg Mirco Q, is it preferable to use the arrpeggiator or the LFO or something else?
 
Good job Phil... You made me have to goto websters.com for the onstinato. But I'm unclear on your question.
Tell us what it is your trying to sync plz...

Depending on your synth or synths, lfo's, oscillators or arp's can be synced internally and/or externally.

How do you have your shit hooked up? Do you have your synths sync'd with a midi interface?

Tell us more.:)
 
First of all, swifty, clearly it was a mis=typing of the word ostinato. But in any event, what does it matter. I am simply investigating methods of syncing bass lines, melodic lines and the like to meats or tempos.

For instance, I can sync the arpeggiator to the beats, however, it does not necessarily stay exactly on. There tends to be some shift. This is on a Waldorf Micro Q. On such an instrument, the clock automatically syncs to the tempo of the incomming midi signal. Thereafter, you can adjust the timing of the notes you want repeated by a number that looks much like a fraction. It is obviously a subdivision of time however since the tempo is an unknwon or "x".


It seems "X" equals beats per minute. The number of beats per measure is reflected by the fraction of 192/y, y being the note rythym such as an eight note or quarter note etc. There is probably some algebraic equation for determining the how many times Y occures in a minute and from there is could be further detrmined how many times "y" occurrs in a measure.

I guess this is why the arpeggiator is not the best way to make a steady eight note pattern or sixteenthnote pattern for any length of time. Slight variations become exaggerated over time and the sync goes out the window.

There is then the LFO which can be synced to the midi tempo as well, however, I have not had much luck with this method. Though it works, it seems even less precise and that is probably for similar reasons.

Therefore, I have determined that the best way to do this might simply be to use a sequencer, play the figure in, quantize and then put the tempo anywhere you like. This is probably the best way to acheive the effect which in the end, is the effect known mostly as "dance music". That is, the repetative eight note bass line with off beat high hat, four kick drum beatrs and a back beat on snare.

The thing that probably threw me off was that the synth, in this case Micro Q, came with many factory presets that had drum beats synced up with bass beats done through the arpeggiator. This probably works becuase they are both using the same clock and the same basis for subdivision of time. Trying to syn that up with other parts in a separate seauencer of computer sequencing program seems nearly impossible.

The problem is that the arpeggiator in the Micro Q, for instance does not actually have tempo information. It is based on, I guess, a variable calculation, something like what I dicussed above. Yet I also have an Acces Viruse b that does have tempo information and still had problems locking the arpeggiator to an outside sequencer.

I am of the opinon that all I really need is some more practice with the sequencers and arpeggiators to make it work. But still, others I am sure have been working with these devices for quite some time and could offer much practical advice and, by the way, doesn't anybody else ever get tired of "what keyboard to buy" questions or, "which is the best keyboard" question. Given that, would it not be interesting to discuss the OPERATION of these instruments for a change of pace.
 
In deed. BTW it's ok about the spelling... I had to look it up because I didn't know what it meant.;)
Unfortunately, I'm kinda short on answers concerning the Q and the virus... I've finally gotten my ms2000 and lead3 to play nicely together, but unfortunately you didn't take me up on the trade offer... So I guess I'm gonna have to go buy a virus pretty soon.

So, what are you using for the clock? Have you tried switching to have the Q as the master clock and slave the virus? How about your controller? Does it have a midi clock? Do you have a midi hub or are you daisy chaining? If the latter, you could have latency issues. Have you read the manuals? I know... I hate em too! But you might be surprised at what you can learn with one of those things. How long have you had these two synths? Seems like it takes me 6 mo's to a year to really figure shit out on a va, to come up with really good sounds or especially performances. And getting 2 of em to sing together can sometimes be really tricky.
I can offer a good training tip though. Just erase all the memory in your synths and make all your own patches. It's a really good way to learn the subtle intracacies (sp?) of the instrument.

Good luck
 
I got the midi timepiece AV from MOTU that I use to hook everthing up and clock everything to Digital Performer in my Mac. I looked in the Micro Q manual and there is a global tempo setting however, it is automotically disabled when the synth receives clock from elsewhere. When I put transmit sync from Digital Performer on and send it to the Midi Timepiece AV, all the instruments sync up.

The problem is that I want to make some dance type tracks and I have been experimenting with the arpeggiators in doing this, particularly for bass parts. I don't think this is the best way to do this. It is probably better to step record the part, speed it up to the tempo you want and quantize for good measure (pun intended).

the arpeggitaors tend to not be that precise and tend to drift for the reasons I touched on above though I am no expert.

Anyway, check ou my thread on the new Moog voyager which I played today. It was a blast. Soundwise and as far as analogue synth sounds, particularly PHAT sounds, this is the joint of all joints. Its the shzit. Okay, thats it for current expressions.

The point is the Voyager captured my heart and is about to capture my wallet as well. In the meantime, I am still working with all different sync methods to create different types of sequenced grooves. I am definitely getting there. The suggestion of starting sounds from scratch is a pretty good one and I will be doing that as well.

BTW, I started on synths back in the minimoog days but I had an ARP Odyssey. After getting rid of that insturment I had some Rolands and Yamahas (DX7) but eventually sold everything and retiredf rom music unbeknownst to me that eventually, I would end up right back where I started. So, I am learning alot all at once.

I got the Micro Q and the Access Virus b within months of each other as well as a Korg Karma, EMU 6400 and a Kawai MP9000 for piano (now there is a 9500 that is a bit better but that's how it goes). I also got the Digital Performer and the rest of the gear including pre-amps, compressors etc. all at once too so the learning curve was quite steep. I have negotiated it well and after one year I am finally getting some sort of facility on all that gear.
 
Yep. Sounds like you have too much shit... Gear overload. Me too. At least it should keep you busy for a while. I have a somewhat similar, yet different gear list for about 2 yrs now, and got it all at the same time. And there's still alot I don't know about several pieces of gear! It's really cool to have all that stuff, and I'm not complaining, but it makes it hard to actually get anything done with all the choices for making and manipulating sounds... It's just way too easy to get sidetracked on something and that takes you somewhere else, and before I know it I've been twisting knobs all night and never get any music put together.
I'm not sure if anyone around here carries the voyager in stock, but I'd really like to see it. Cuz God knows all I need is one more synth!;)
 
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