What can be a source of MIDI Clock?

[martin5]

I am totally new to MIDI. I just bought T.Rex delay pedal and it has MIDI IN for the tap tempo function. I like this feature because I find in a bit difficult to tap in exact tempo because we in the band play with click in drummers earphones and we want also the delay to be precise. However the delay does not receive MIDI Clock, it can only receive CC#20 - that is what the manual says.

So I am asking for your help and advise, first of all, what small, simple and not expensive device could I use as a MIDI Clock source (e.g. Korg's Kaoss Pad 3 but it's too expensive for one purpose).

Second, maybe I can use a laptop as a Midi Clock source. But what ports should it have (because it does not have MIDI ports definitely)? And what software should I use that would be stable and reliable?

Third, how can I convert MIDI Clock to CC#20? Is there any other than MIDI Solution products?

Maybe using a laptop can it is possible to send CC#20 streight to the delay pedal?

Thx in advance!

[EdisonRex]

Well, your local sequencer/laptop combo could provide midi clock, if you have a midi adaptor for it. USB based midi adaptors are ubiquitous. Midiman, Edirol, and M-Audio come to mind for small cheap ones.

Any sequencer can be configured to output streams of arbitrary midi control instructions. That's one thing sequencers are very good at. And you could loop with them. Think Ableton for that sort of thing, I think that way anyway.

[Mohoyoho]

So what would he do? He would use something like Ableton, produce a rhythm loop on the piano role, and assign it to CC#20? How's that done? I think it is strange that his delay pedal doesn't have a external clock setting. I know that my MuRF pedal will take an audio track from a drum machine or a simple pulse wav and sync to that. It seems odd that a pedal with midi capabilities would make you jump hoops and make you assign a clock to CC#20. I can't think of any contemporary device that has you do that.

[EdisonRex]

I don't use Ableton, but I regularly set up arbitrary CC messages using my "somewhat more upscale" Digital Performer. There are free utilities that can output regular CC20s or any other midi out.

CC20 seems to be the tap tempo input, I won't argue, but I do think any performance sequencer will do this...

The main point being it wants cc20 as it's beat source.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--TCEVEP

[Mohoyoho]

The manual doesn't give much info. I would say that all he would have to do is use a drum machine or any synth with a midi clock that has a "send clock" control in its menu. For some reason I was reading his post as one must send your midi clock on CC#20. I guess the pedal takes the midi clock signal through its own CC#20. That would make sense. I hope I didn't confuse anyone (other than myself.) Of course his drummer would have to be getting a click from the same source. A cheap drum machine with clock send would be the cheapest and simplest alternative.

[kkissinger]

Generally, to establish a tempo requires two taps to establish the time between the beats. After receiving the taps, the looper will maintain that tempo in a free run.

Midi Clock is designed to provide SYNC -- that is, a device that receives MIDI clock (a "slave") will keep itself in sync with a device that sends MIDI clock (a "master").

Generally, tapping is used to specify a tempo and then the device just runs in free mode.

So would sending a "tap" every beat work the same as MIDI clock? I'm afraid I don't have a definitive answer. Perhaps someone syncs via tap (CC#20) from a laptop and could answer the question.

I have found that to sync from a laptop is a bit intricate. I found that my hardware looper (a Looperlative LP1) tends to hold stable timing however the laptop drifts a bit. It seems that the computer drifts more when there are more windows open (thus, keeping the PCI bus busier). Yes, you read this correctly -- my CPU has plenty of speed (3.4 Ghz) however my firewire port and the video display share the PCI bus (not to mention the disk drive, and other peripherals). It goes without saying that you want to shut down any unneeded hardware -- NICs, modems, etc.

OK, I have "drifted" off topic.

The other issue with CC#20 -- for the purpose of tapping, if the CC event's value is greater than halfway (64) then hardware interprets it as an "on" signal, less than halfway is "off". Tap tempos tend to "read" the ON only. With a sequencer, you may get away with sending only the "ON" events. To simulate a tap, you would have to send an "ON" closely followed by an "OFF".

Actually, I prefer to send the intervening "OFF"s when I have sent tap tempo -- because to do so makes it easier for me to see the position of the taps on my graphical editor (Cubase).

Incidentally, I have used taps to set tempos but have not used them as continuous sync signals.

[martin5]

Thank you all for your help!

I think I would prefer a cheap drum machine, because I hope it would be smaller than laptop thus more convenient for me.

Could someone recommend me a cheap drum machine with clock send???