Disable master mode when syncing to DAW

[Simon]

This has been pointed out by allmyfriendsaresynths here: https://youtu.be/XCZqkSH9peI?t=582

Right now if you want your sequencers to start in time with the DAW, you need to:

1. Press play in your DAW
2. Within one bar press the play button on the Midronome
3. Then on the next bar everything will start

That's because by default the Midronome goes back to master mode when it is not receiving a clock from the DAW (i.e. when the transport is stopped in the DAW), so if you would press the play button before press playing in your DAW, your sequencers would start.

SO - I still think having the Midronome going back to master mode automatically is important if you were playing Live and say the computer crashes or something, then the show keeps running - that's the whole point of the device

But for studio users, I can add an option to disable this, so that the Midronome is "frozen" (not sending any clock) until it receives the sync signal from the DAW. This way you can:

1. Press the play button on the device, it will blink indicating it's ready but nothing will start playing
2. Press play on the DAW
3. After one bar the Midronome will start sending MIDI Clock (and other clocks) and start your sequencers at the same time

Does that make sense?

[n4Sphere]

yes make sense

[Dark Waves]

What you describe makes sense, regarding how the unit would function, and I agree that would be better for a DAW setup. However, maybe my limited experience is making some things difficult to comprehend. Why, for instance, would the Midronome not immediately catch the incoming clock from the DAW? True, in record mode, there may be a bar or two to count in before playing, but when playing back, the tracks begin immediately. So, then would sequencers taking clock from the Midronome be delayed one bar after audio in the DAW has already been playing?

[Simon]

The Midronome needs to know where the bar is, and what the tempo is.

• To know the tempo it needs at least 2 ticks (theoritically, in practice the code waits for one more), so 1/12th of a bar
• And to know where the bar is, it needs a new bar

When you press play, the device could know right away this is a new bar, but it would still needs to know the tempo and if it would wait one tick to get the tempo and start your sequencers, so if the Midronome wanted to do this the sequencers would be 1 tick late - not really cool for a device that is all about sync

That's why instead it waits a whole bar, and starts your sequencers exactly on time from the next bar.

But you can actually press play (in your DAW) just before the bar (exactly 3 ticks before), then the device will start sequencers from that bar, so you do not have to wait a whole bar to sync.

Does that clarify your thoughts?

[Dark Waves]

Hi,

Yes, that explains it very well. I'll have to play with the DAW to see if there's a convenient way to delay track starting after pressing play, but still outputting a clock signal. So far, in the songs I've made, all the tracks begin right at bar one (on a side note, as a non-musician, I haven't grasped why songs begin at one, not zero ). As I'm still fairly new to these things, and DAWs are quite complex, there's still a lot to learn.

Thanks.

[Simon]

Idea from Sofus: an option where the Midronome, on top of being disabled when not synced to the DAW, would send MIDI Start and MIDI Stop automatically when the DAW starts and when the DAW stops.

This way to record a sequencer all you need is to press play in the DAW, then the sequencer will start automatically after one bar, and stop when you press stop in the DAW.