Anybody know about syncing a drum machine to Pro Tools?

[twitchmonitor]

I'm trying to record an Electribe drum pattern in a PT session. In the peripherals dialoge I set PT up to send MMC to keep the Electribe, and I got the two of them synced up....but I couldn't figure out how to get the Electribe to START at the same point in my session. Every time I started recording from the beginning of the song, the Electribe started somewhere (different point each time) in the middle of it's drum pattern. How do I tell the Electribe when to start? And then something strange happened: I was adjusting a delay parameter in the Electribe in real time during the performance, but when it was slaved to PT the delays got all screwy...like stereo slapback or something. Does MMC somehow interfere with that kind of stuff?

I'm new to MMC and timeclocks and the like, and I'm completely baffled. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[kcrusher]

MMC isn't sync - it's just midi messages that tell a device when to start, stop, etc. but does not send timing information of any sort.

Find out if the Electribe can use MTC (midi timecode) or MBC (midi beat clock) for sync, then follow these instructions...

For MBC - Go to the MIDI menu in PT and choose Midi Beat Clock, then check the box next to the device (Electribe) or port on your midi interface that is going to the Electribe. That's it. Keep in mind the MBC only sends timing information, not positional information, so you have to be sure to rewind the Pro Tools tranport every time or the two won't be in sync. If you start and stop PT, then press play again, PT will pick up from where it left off while the Electribe will start from the beginning of the pattern again...not good.

For MTC - In PT go to Windows>Show Session Setup. In the time code options, check the box next to 'MTC to Port', then from the drop down list choose the device (Electribe) or port that is going out to your Electribe. For MTC to work properly, both devices must have the same start time and frame rates - check it in PT in the upper right of the Session Setup window. With MTC you can press play anywhere in your session and the device will start at that time, since MTC sends both time and positional information.

[twitchmonitor]

Thanks, Bombastique. It looks like the Electribe only receives MIDI beat clock. If I start the track at the beginning, the drum pattern also starts at the beginning. Which is great, except that in this song, the drum machine doesn't come in for a while.

How can I get the Electribe to start at the beginning of it's pattern somewhere BESIDES the beginnin of the PT session?

I could bounce the track, cut it at the point where the Electribe comes in, making that the beginning, then track the Electribe, then export the track and import it into the original session....but there's GOT to be an easier way!

[kcrusher]

How can I get the Electribe to start at the beginning of it's pattern somewhere BESIDES the beginnin of the PT session?

You can't - unless you can create a pattern on the Electribe that has several blank measures before the measure you want it to actually play on.