I am using the 2880 as a midi slave to my alesis sr-18 drum machine. This way I always know the exact tempo that I am playing with, and using the quantize feature on the 2880 syncs my loops to the closest beat on the drum machine.

It works perfectly when I start recording as soon as I start the drum machine, but if I start the drum machine, put the 2880 into sync mode, and then try and record, I need perfect timing in order for the 2880 to sync up to the correct beat on the drum machine.

Does anyone have any suggestions/tips in using the 2880 as a slave?

Thanks,

Tom.

It’s a shame this thread didn’t go further, because I was about to make the exact same post as the OP before I searched and found it.

When slaved, I want the 2880 to simply start recording at the next measure, I do NOT want it to wait to receive a start command from the external source. At least it should be an option.

I’ve been working with this for a couple of days now, trying to send it “play” and “record” commands from Ableton and a Novation SLmkii while it was in “wait mode” (when the Ext. Clock light is flashing rapidly). I didn’t have much success with that, and it’s not the type of setup I wanted anyway.

But today I figured out an interesting hack using my Eventide TimeFactor. This may help, even if you don’t own one, so read on. I am curious to know why this works.

Using the TimeFactor as the 2880’s external clock source:
1. Turn on Ext. Clock and Quantize on the 2880
2. Press “New Loop” button. The 2880 should now be on standby to receive a play command.
3. Turn the TimeFactor to “Looper” Mode.

This causes the 2880 to jump into play mode with a one measure loop playing and the REC button flashing rapidly. Once this is done, the 2880 will function as described above, with the footswitch remaining in control. You can stop the loop and start new ones, etc. It will continue to work until it is turned off. Once you cycle power you will need to do the process again.

Using this trick I am able to record new loops on the 2880 all I want and use any mode on the TF and it seems to keep sync and work well. New loops are created the normal way (as if it were using internal clock) except that it the tempo is controlled externally. This is how I would like the 2880 to work all the time. It is much more useful for my live looping needs (although I understand why some may need the ext. start/stop commands.)

Why does this work? I think it’s because the 2880 believes the clock source is always in PLAY mode (even though nothing is playing on the TF) and as long as it never receives the appropriate “STOP” command, it will continue to work.

I still don’t understand exactly what type of message is being sent from the TF, or why. I hope to gather more information and contact both EHX and Eventide to see if they can help me figure this out.

Addt’l Notes: the TimeFactor does not need to be transmitting control messages, just clock. Sometimes I have to flip it between Digital Delay and Looper a couple of times before the 2880 will fire, but it works fairly consistently.

i know, bringing up an old thread, but does anyone know if this software update will work on the 45000? i just picked it up and it works great, it will sync but in beat-sync mode as slave, the same wonky pitch wavering starts happening after a while that people were talking about in this thread.

i was hoping this software update could fix this issue on my 45000. also i would like to be able to use the MIDI out on the looper to go into a synth or two of mine so i could sync them (not slave them) to the loop. this way i could give a drummer the click out and jam.

if anyone has experience with the software update or running the looper (2880 or 4500) as a master, for syncing, please reply!