Tascam MMC-100

sweetbeats

Reel deep thoughts...
Anybody know anything about the Tascam MMC-100? I have one. I don't think I want/need it, but without spending time reading the pdf manual I found I'm just trying to get my noggin around what it is/does. I'm thinking it is a basic sync box to enable a MIDI device to chase the tape deck, like with a JL Cooper PPS-2. Anybody know if I'm on the right track? Beck? Ghost? Came with a 238 I bought awhile back, and it has a captive 15-pin DSUB "ACCESSORY 2" cable for interfacing with the tape deck.

image.jpgimage.jpg
 
Last edited:
My understand of this unit is that it's designed to slave midi sequencers to various ATRs from tascam which have the accesory2 15 pin connector, writing and reading back time code off the tape to force position and tempo info to the midi devices.

When I had a Fostex R-8, (many moons ago), it too came with one of these MMC, ( Midi Machine Control) devices affixed to the back of it.

I never used mine either! :D



Cheers! :)
 
AFAIK they don't have the ability to lock the tape deck to an incoming timecode, at which point I lost interest and haven't used mine either...
 
Hey Sweets,

I think I had one about six years ago.

What you can do is lock together two TASCAM machines via the ACCESSORY 2 port. What you do is record timecode to your chosen track on both machines at the same time. Then one machine acts as a master while the one connected to the .....scrub all that, I'm thinking of the ATS 100 or something.

By the looks of your gadget, it probably allows the ACCESSORY 2 enabled machine to timelock to Midi timecode, rather than the midi chasing the tape machine.

Al
 
The MMC-100 doesn't provide for tape deck synchronization to a sequencer nor from one tape deck to another.

MMC (MIDI Machine Control) allows a software or hardware controller to control basic transport functions of another device like Play, Stop, Pause, Record, as well as Locate. In this case the MMC-100 was designed for certain Tascam products that have the Accessory 2 port... 238, TSR-8, MSR-16, etc.

The MMC-100 does however convert SMPTE to MTC (MIDI Time Code) which allows a sequencer to slave to a tape deck when SMPTE is striped to one track of the ATR and read by the MMC-100. You could use it that way without using the MIDI Machine Control functionality of the Accessory 2 port. You can also use the remote control function via the Accessory 2 port without using the sync feature.

So basically the MMC-100 can be seen like any SMPTE-to-MTC box (JL Cooper, Philip Rees etc), but with the addition of MMC to allow remote control of ATR transport functions. The device generating the MMC commands could be a computer or a MIDI keyboard controller.

If using both features together you can start the ATR from a computer and then the sync track on the ATR sends SMPTE to the MMC-100, which converts it to MTC and sends it to a sequencer, which slaves to the Tascam ATR.
 
Anybody know anything about the Tascam MMC-100? I have one. I don't think I want/need it, but without spending time reading the pdf manual I found I'm just trying to get my noggin around what it is/does. I'm thinking it is a basic sync box to enable a MIDI device to chase the tape deck, like with a JL Cooper PPS-2. Anybody know if I'm on the right track? Beck? Ghost? Came with a 238 I bought awhile back, and it has a captive 15-pin DSUB "ACCESSORY 2" cable for interfacing with the tape deck.
Hey Sweet! Sincerest apologies for bumping/reviving an old thread, but since I'm scouring the internet for one of these units I'm curious if another one has come across your path in the last few years? I get the impression folks don't know what to do with these units, so I'm trying to hunt-down anyone who might have one or know where one might be (hopefully) collecting dust 🕵️‍♂️
 
It’s not something that’s ever on my radar, so I’m not sure. I think they come up every now and then. That’s usually how it goes, eventually the thing you’re looking for co es around. Unless it’s a Tascam RC-51.
 
It’s not something that’s ever on my radar, so I’m not sure. I think they come up every now and then. That’s usually how it goes, eventually the thing you’re looking for co es around. Unless it’s a Tascam RC-51.
Haha, totally fair. I'm sure one will manifest eventually. Even an RC-51 popped up on Reverb ~7 months ago (if past listings are to be believed). So I suppose nothing is elusive forever ;-)
 
Yeah I just missed out on that RC-51 because somebody came along that bought the whole system; 58 and RC-51. Otherwise it would have been mine. It’s the first one I’ve seen for sale in about 10 years. MMC-100 will come along before then. :)
 
Back
Top