Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › 2880 Midi Sync with Roland drum machine?

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  • September 16, 2012 at 5:07 am #82580
    freshchops
    Member

    I’ve researched the forums and also went back through the manual for the 2880 to no avail…..

    I’m trying to sync a Roland TR-606 (vintage rhythm composer with the 2880. I know how to use the Roland and am proficient with the 2880 except w/ the Midi features. I’m completely new to MIDI so that doesn’t help.

    My goal is to set the rhythm / tempo, programmed beats as the Master and let it sync the 2880’s loop / tempo to it (as a “slave” right?).

    I’ve got the Roland set to “Midi OUT” connected to the 2880’s Midi “In”. From there, a ton of experimenting has yielded little results. Is there any better a,b,c-1,2,3 instructions out there on how to get it going? …like a generic, simple step by step walkthrough to sync even in the most simple fashion first.

    At one time, I think I got it to sync, but after letting it play for about 5 mins, it seemed to trail off out of sync so I think it was just a close coincidence.

    I’d really love to get this going so I could play along with the Roland’s 8 bit sounding programmed beats :)

    …. any feedback or points in the right direction would greatly appreciated!

    September 17, 2012 at 2:45 pm #118152
    Cryabetes
    Participant

    you’ll want the EXT CLOCK and QUANTIZE buttons both pressed. After that, it’s more if your clock source (in your case the 606) puts out a stable enough time code.
    Best of luck.

    September 24, 2012 at 6:00 am #118192
    freshchops
    Member

    Got it…. will try and revert back w/ results. Thanks!

    October 13, 2012 at 4:28 am #118235
    freshchops
    Member

    soooo….. still no luck syncing the Roland TR-606 with the 2880 :(

    > The Roland only has one midi sync jack – but a switch to choose between “Input” and “Output”. I have it set to “Output”

    > I have the midi cable plugged into the 2880’s “Midi In”

    > With the Roland 606 playing through a rhythm loop, I select both the “Quantize” and “Ext Clock”

    > Once I arm a “new track” (loop on the 2880) and with the 606 looping and press “Record” – it doesn’t begin to record, but it sends the “Ext Clock” indicator light flashing rapidly. NOTE: while the “Ext Clock” button / light is engaged, the “Click Track” tempo does not follow the tempo by default or as I increase or decrease the tempo on the 606…. shouldn’t it?

    > Once I press record for the second time, with the Ext Clock light blinking, it begins to record on track 1.

    …. now it’s one thing to play along with the 606’s rhythm… it’s all fine and dandy until I try to stop recording and have the 2880’s track sync with the 606. It just doesn’t work. No matter how I choose to stop recording and continue playing (pressing play or pressing record again on the footswitch), it’s not going to be in sync and as it plays just furthers drifts away from being in sync. I’m starting to think it’s not going to work, but can’t imagine why.

    I’m new to midi, but I’d figure the 2880’s midi syncing to be a little more intuitive than this.

    Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Am I overlooking any settings? …got everything hooked up right (regards to outs and ins, etc.)?

    October 13, 2012 at 4:37 am #118236
    Cryabetes
    Participant

    The settings are right and the outs/ins sound correct.
    you should have EXT CLOCK and QUANTIZE selected prior to starting a drum pattern though.
    the click LED should then sync with the 606’s tempo.
    Try to time the button press for NEW LOOP with the start of a new cycle through the pattern.
    Likewise with RECORD
    Then press PLAY to when done recording (or timing out the loops)
    If you’re just timing out the loops (which I’d recommend for general testing) try pressing PLAY slightly before the start/end point of a cycle. I’m not familiar with the 606, but on the electribes I use, I generally aim for step 13 of 16 (beat 3 of 4). The QUANTIZE LED should blink rapidly until the start of a new cycle. Hope this helps.

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