Sync External MIDI Sequencer to Reapers Clock

[Weston Minissali]

Hello,

I would like to "slave" my external sequencer to the clock set by Reaper.

I have gone into the settings of my sequencer and set the input to external.

When I press play on reaper A) the external sequencer doesn't start and B) when I pres play on the sequencer it isn't lined up to reapers tempo. So the sequencer isn't getting any signal from reaper.

I am successfully able to control my sequencers tempo and start/stop from my hardware midi keyboard, so I can confirm that the settings are correct on my sequencer.

What do I need to do in reaper?

I realize there are other threads that address this issue but they're rather old with complicated solutions.

Thanks in advanced.
-w

[Funkybot]

Go to Preferences -> MIDI Devices -> Open the output port for the device in question, make sure you have "Enable output to this device" and "Send clock to this device" checked.

[Weston Minissali]

No luck. I have clicked send clock to my midi output but it is still not syncing. Once I check that box and press play, I can see that my MIDI interface is getting signal from my computer, but it is not effecting my external sequencers tempo.

Any advice?

Also, how do I send start stop messages from reaper to my sequencer? That could help in making sure there's some kind of communication happening.

Thanks
-Weston

[Weston Minissali]

Following up on this, anyone have any advice?

Thanks

[b2001]

What sequencer?

[Weston Minissali]

Social Entropy Engine

thanks

[Fabian]

You could try the "simple MIDI clock generator" JSFX, http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...6&postcount=33

There has also been reported that turning off SPP might be beneficial.

[Weston Minissali]

Thanks for your reply Fabian.

I see you linked to a code. What exactly do I do with it?

[Weston Minissali]

Hello,

I am using a MIDI sequencer called Social Entropy Engine with a MOTU Express XT MIDI Interface. I'd like to sync the Engine with Reaper so that when reaper starts, the engine sequencer starts and stays synced with Reapers tempo.

I set everything up where the engine would start immediately when reaper played, but would start to drift drastically. As time went on, the drift increased.

When I press play in reaper and the drift begins, I examine the MIDIOX input monitor with clock from reaper and not on messages from the engine, there was no evidence of drift! A little bit of jitter, but no sign of drift in MIDIOX. Meanhwhile the same take recorded in reaper shows both the MIDI and audio sequence drifted far from reapers click/grid.

So if there's no drift in MIDIOX, but definitely drift in reaper, where would I look for the problem??

Here a potential workaround I'd like to try but don't know how...

What if I kept my sequencer in internal clock mode but the same BPM as Reaper? Is there a way I could select a bar I want the sequencer to start on, and put some kind of midi event in repear that sends a signal to my sequencer to start?

I can see two options from here:
1) If my sequencer is kept to its internal time, and therefor wont respond to reaper when I press play or record (spp) how do I make it start from reaper?

2) i keep my external to sync to external, but don't send clock/spp to the midi device in reaper, but somehow create a custom one time start message to the sequencer. how would I do that?

Any ideas/advice?

Thanks
-w

[Fabian]

Originally Posted by Weston Minissali

Thanks for your reply Fabian.

I see you linked to a code. What exactly do I do with it?

In Reaper, run the action "Show REAPER resource path in explorer" (this is also available on the Options menu). In the folder that opens in Explorer/Finder, there is a folder named "Effects".

Select the code I linked to above and copy-paste it into a text editor. Then save this in that Effects folder under the name "Simple MIDI clock generator" (possibly with the extension ".jsfx").

Then, in Reaper you use this as any other FX, put it on a track. On Windows (don't know about Mac) you can right-click the header of Reaper's Add FX dialog and choose "Scan for new plugins" I the "Simple MIDI clock generator" doesn't show up immediately.

Make sure that the track where you put the "Simple MIDI clock generator" outputs MIDI to the correct hardware. You select this in the MIDI hardware output on the track routing dialog.

If you are lucky, this JSFX solves your problems. It does send MIDI start and stop messages when playing is started or stopped in Reaper, and in-between there it sends simple MIDI clock ticks.

[b2001]

My experience:

External sequencers will drift compared to Reaper and other DAWs...

Seems others have experienced the same:

https://gearspace.com/board/rap-hip-...t#post15098270

I was surprised; tested Reaper with a Boss dr880, an akai mpc1000, and a yamaha mx49. I conducted tests both syncing Reaper to the external device, both as master and slave; and as well as matching BPMs of Reaper and external device and manually recording and lining up rhe audio or midi at a specific starting point.

Always experienced drift after a few bars; sometimes ahead, sometimes behind Reapers timeline.

The drift of the dr880 and mpc1000 compared to Reaper was not too bad, the mx49 was terrible.

I am sure experience of others might be different; but as reference thread shows there are folks that have had same experience i have had.

[Loulou92]

It's maybe a dumb question but does the Simple Midi clock generator JSFX shared above send the clock via its audio or midi outputs ? And if it sends via midi, then I assume it's to all channel/ all MIDI busses ?

[domzy]

Originally Posted by Loulou92

It's maybe a dumb question but does the Simple Midi clock generator JSFX shared above send the clock via its audio or midi outputs ? And if it sends via midi, then I assume it's to all channel/ all MIDI busses ?

it sends MIDI to whatever port / channel you select in the track's MIDI hardware output

[Loulou92]

Originally Posted by domzy

it sends MIDI to whatever port / channel you select in the track's MIDI hardware output

Ok. Seems like the right tool then.

Any reason to favour it over "Adjustable Midi clock" or "Full/X - MIDI clock + SPP generator" available in the Reaper stash ?


https://stash.reaper.fm/browse.php?q...clock&x=5&y=11

[Loulou92]

yes but no actually, there is no MIDI output routing option in this plugin ; so my question from two messages ago is still standing.

[Loulou92]

Originally Posted by domzy

it sends MIDI to whatever port / channel you select in the track's MIDI hardware output

you never actually used the plugin right ?

The output mapping allo the user to select only audio tracks. No MIDI routing available.

EDIT : ah ok the track midi output. Problem is I don't want to do that, I want to input the clock into Silent Ways plugins.

[domzy]

Originally Posted by Loulou92

I want to input the clock into Silent Ways plugins.

and these are on another track in the same project?
if so, why don't you just route between tracks?

[Loulou92]

Originally Posted by domzy

and these are on another track in the same project?
if so, why don't you just route between tracks?

First off, sorry if the phrasing was rude in my messages. I didn't understood your answer, but it was on point. All this MIDI thing gets over my head. I've tested sending clock to the Expert sleepers plugins, and they don't seem to react well anyway. I've tested 3 JSFX. So that quest seem to be over before actually starting.

[mechuniversal]

[QUOTE=b2001;2464849]My experience:

"External sequencers will drift compared to Reaper and other DAWs..."

I am thinking of getting into Reaper, I had to take a few years away from production and am building a new studio. I used to use Sonar and never had issues with the Sonar clock driving external sequencers or grooveboxes. Everything was pretty tight. Now Sonar is in a kind of limbo as far as I can tell with bandlab, so I am looking for a new sequencer audio software and Reaper seems pretty great, but is the midi clock from Reaper a known issue? Many thanks

[b2001]

Probably, i should have said external equipment will drift compared to DAWs and depending on your pc/usb/midi interface setup.

I am not aware of any known Reaper issues. As far as I know, all DAWs and external hardware have jitters to a certain extent, some worse than others. The first reference below actually rates Reaper as pretty good ( this was even 10 years ago)…

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2...e-the-jitters/
https://www.innerclocksystems.com/litmus
https://www.e-rm.de/data/E-RM_report...r_02_14_EN.pdf

I obviously documented issues that I had but wasn’t blaming it on Reaper but instead my entire hardware setup. For me it’s not been a problem; I prefer to play my midi parts manually on a source keyboard and record the midi. Where I did run into issues was recording external drum loops either audio or midi and the results lining up with the Reaper grid further on down the timeline. I just now record shorter loops.

My suggestion is to try it out and see what your results are.

[iphige]

Originally Posted by b2001

Probably, i should have said external equipment will drift compared to DAWs and depending on your pc/usb/midi interface setup.

I am not aware of any known Reaper issues.

I'm using Synthstrom Audible Deluge, last version of Reaper available today (7.12), on a Windows machine, running ASIOFORALL and a UR22 sound card for in/output. I'm running into a drift issue.

Both Reaper and my Deluge projects are set to 110 BPM ; because the Deluge is receiving (slave), it listens for the timecode information from Reaper. I should add that the playback rate on Reaper is set to 1, so no funny business there.

Basically I get 109.87 as the tempo on Deluge, which causes all sorts of workflow decrepitudes as you can imagine.

If anyone has experienced the same kind of drift on any kind of machine and managed to fix it, I'd be glad to know !