MIDI Clock

[Lazarus1140]

I have looked online and don't see a dumbed down description/explanation suitable for and old fart like me. My question is whether the metronome in a DAW, specifically Reaper, is the same as or would perform the functions of a MIDI clock.

It seems that The Pigtronic Infinity Looper with synchronize with a MIDI clock signal. I think that would be particularly helpful if the drummer if the drummer is listening to and playing with the same clock or click track that is locking in my live loops.



???????

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: MIDI Clock

I don't use Reaper, but do use a DAW and MIDI. From what I'm reading online, you can have Reaper be the MIDI Clock for external devices like the Pigtronic Looper.

Apparently, you just

1. Plug your computer MIDI output IO (like your Saffire, M-Audio, or whatever you are using to get audio/MIDI in and out of your computer) and plug your Pigtronics MIDI into that before launching Reaper
2. In Reaper, go to Options -> Preferences
3. Select Audio -> MIDI Devices
4. In the lower panel, double click on the specific MIDI device (Pigtronics in your case. This brings up the Configure MIDI Output dialog for the Pigtronics.)
5. In the Configure MIDI Output dialog, select Enable output to this device and Send clock/SPP to this device.
6. Make sure the Pigtronic is set up to receive incoming MIDI clock via its MIDI input port.
7. Press Play in REAPER. You should see the slave device begin playback with external sync.

Again, I don't have a copy of Reaper, I picked these instructions from here http://shrubbery.homeip.net/c/display/W/REAPER+MIDI+Sync+Master+Setup, which seem relatively straight forward (to me)

From what I can tell, it only gets complicated if you are also recording in Reaper and need to adjust for the latency of the round-trip to the external device back into Reaper. In that case you need to do a test recording, measure the milliseconds between the actual musical bar in Reaper and the recorded audio track in Reaper, then go back into that MIDI Configuration dialog and set the beat clock to negative milliseconds to offset the delay/latency from going out to the Pigtronics and back into Reaper to the recorded audio track. Those steps are also covered in that link I just posted.

Hope that helps get you going for now. (Perhaps someone who is a regular Reaper expert user can break it down simpler.)

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: MIDI Clock

That helps a lot ... thank you.

I can't imagine a scenario where I'd need or even want to use a looper while recording. There may be a trio in my future and I'm really not up to that as a guitarist and never will be.

I've had it both ways and don't intend to play with a drummer who won't use a click track. Synchronizing a looper just makes sense as the next logical step in tightening everything up.