Midi Problems ..... Pro Tools ..... Sync?

[MadScientist]

I'm having a problem syncing up my MPC 3000 to Pro Tools.
I want to record each individual sound in my beat as a audio file ... but it needs to be in sync so when I record the kick, clap, hats, etc they all line up on beat. What do I need to do on both my MPC 3000 and Pro Tools to accomplish this?

 

[bigdmakintrax]

MAD Scientist check it.......make sure that in protools you 1.... have the BPMs the same as what UR dumping including any tempo changes....
ok got that?.......then make sure that you have the mpc set to sync to external clock.....in protools (hardware) make sure you have the midi out to the input of the mpc3000 then you have to and also the midi beat clock enabled in protools and your hardware piece is selected......the way I do it is I make sure that I right mouse click the record button on my protools transport and until it's set to p for punch recording that way it will record to the end of the bars you have setup on the mpc and stop that way you can paste repeat in protools to save time recording the entire loop or if you have a song you have no other choice really but to record in the entirety unless you have say just to loop patterns to make up the song then you could use the punch and arrange in protools...also make sure you enable the midi beat clock because you are going to have the mpc set to sync to external clock.....

When you use the punch recording you have to also press the lil icon that looks like a midi connector on the transport, that way it is ready to cue......once you do that what you have to do is just press the play
button on the transport and it should playback the track on the mpc
so you can record it to a track in protools..

also I think you don't have and 8 output on the mpc3000....so you need to solo each track as you dump to protools.....and then simply go to the next track on the mpc and repeat untill the entire song is dumped and multitracked....

 

[MadScientist]

Thanks bigdmakintrax !!! ...... but I'm not to familiar with Pro Tools so I will have to guess where everything is. I'm guesing it shouldn't be that hard with the little knowledge of MIDI that I have.

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

You should be using MTC as your sync format, not MIDI clock...it has a much much higher resolution. I don't know if your version of PT can generate time code; if it can't, turn on the SMPTE/MTC clock on the MPC and have PT slave to it.

Take care,

Nick

 

[bigdmakintrax]

That's true but for the mpc and using midi sync I have never had a problem......MTC is great but for dumping from the MPC...LOL there isn't too much of a negligible gain.....also it's a little bit harder to configure...you know thats good info though especially when your talking about 4-6 tracks of a hip hop song....1 track at a time....hahaha...he's already at a deficit with protools.....I used to use it with my RS7k but I tried both....not a great difference from the human perspective......what's your take on the great gain as far as the dump we are talking about...????

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by vitaminman
Hey,

You should be using MTC as your sync format, not MIDI clock...it has a much much higher resolution. I don't know if your version of PT can generate time code; if it can't, turn on the SMPTE/MTC clock on the MPC and have PT slave to it.

Take care,

Nick

How would I make PT slave to my MPC 3000??

 

[bigdmakintrax]

you will actually be using Midi Machine control if you are slaving protools and want to control the transport remotely when you press play on the external device......and the MPC will actually generate the Time code in Master situation.......Protools will be waiting for the sync and start....


from protools
-----setups
-------peripherals
------synchronization...
then find the device
IF uR using midi cables then choose generic MTC reader,


Make sure you set the MPC up to use it.....

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

There are a ton of advantages with using MTC, and these are why so many people use it when transferring data from one device into another..

1. There is error correction built into MTC. MTC is made up of a series of 'quarter frame messages' which tell the recording device what position in the source cursor is in. If any frames are dropped, the recording device is smart enough to know to jump ahead and make sure the rest of the audio being recorded is where it should be on the timeline.

Think of it like this: MIDI clock is like a metronome, MTC is like a real clock...if I want you go outside and run from 1:00 pm till 3:00 pm, it would be super simple knowing when to start and stop because I would look at my watch, which tells me EXACTLY what time it is. I would know when to start and stop just by looking at the watch...

If I tried to do this with a metronome, I would have to know in advance what the time was, then I would have to count in my head all the clicks it would take to go from 1:00 pm to 3:00 AFTER I decided how fast I wanted to do my counting (MIDI clock is tempo based and therefore not fixed).

2. Because of the inherent time placement of MTC, when you dump tracks into a program like PT, all your tracks will line up perfectly. As MIDI clock doesn't have this built into it, you risk having to manually place each track next to each other to make sure that they are all lined up.



Just a thought...although I don't know what your sequences are like, I will assume that a lot of it is repetitive. With this in mind, why not just record each pattern and copy-paste them across the timeline in PT? This way you don't have to worry as much about drifting and it will save space on your hard drive.

Take care,

Nick

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Originally posted by vitaminman
Hey,




Just a thought...although I don't know what your sequences are like, I will assume that a lot of it is repetitive. With this in mind, why not just record each pattern and copy-paste them across the timeline in PT? This way you don't have to worry as much about drifting and it will save space on your hard drive.



Nick

That's basically what I said, dump the multiracked loop and paste repeat, I have used both methods.and for the mpc dumps this method works the best...for repetitive tracks not unless say you are using another piece in your midi chain, a tape or other device, if you are dumping 4- 8 bar loops one track at a time......time drift will have be no factor in a dump like that.......when you press play the track dumps from the beginnning....99.999% of the time the track will be cued at the beginning so there's no need to have to allign any of the tracks or anything....they should all be in sync.....just using plain old midi clock sequencer control...the easy way....because using the transport in protools to remotely control they mpc is essentially just like pressing play on mpc.....and it plays back using the tempo in protools, you can play them both back and compare, I bet you can't tell the diff until you start using all of the nice plugins and automate your mix.......but just like anything else find out what works for you by trial and error......

 

[MadScientist]

I tried everything and it still doesn't work ..... I took my MPC over to a friends house and hooked it up the same way and it worked ..... This doesn't make sense ..... I never had this many problems with MIDI ..... I will call Digi Design today and if I get it resolved I will let ya'll know .....