Muff's Modules & More

[EMwhite]

Is there such a things 'continue' or do sequences ALWAYS start over?

In other words, are there just two states. RUN and STOP; and each RUN is interpreted as start of sequence so reset to beginning?

(I'm well aware of the capabilitiy to reset certain Volt stores with the Manager module, just curious about overall clock and starting/stopping)

Thanks.

[Bryan B]

While I don't think the STG Time Suite offers continue, it can be accomplished with some research and DIY. You could even build a push-button or switch into a time buffer module quite easily.

You can pause a Din Sync signal by switching the clock pulses off and then continue by turning them on again. This can be done with a Normally closed push-button, mechanical switch or switching circuit.

This works because the run signal is on and the module or drum machine is waiting for the clock pulses to determine the tempo. No clock signal means a tempo of "0" bpm. When you allow the clock pulses to go to the module the tempo changes from 0 to whatever tempo you had before you paused it so it just switches tempo (thus continuing).

The start/stop signal will only stop, reset and start.

[EMwhite]

Thanks for the response Bryan. Makes perfect sense.

By DIY, you merely mean interrupting the +5V which would otherwise pulse to advance the clock forward?

I'm actually more interested in how Midi MMC gets converted to SYNC but I think that answer really depends on how the protocol gets converted and in my case, I'm either attempting to leverage Audio/SilentWay type connections from my interface (via two 1/4" ins that convert to SYNC) or a Doepfer MSY2 adapter.

But you raise a good point and I will consider doing this.

I presume that since SYNC24 is rather primitive that the STG 'side' will not time out, it will just sit there dumb until the next clock tick.

So I think I'm set for now. Just as fyi: One application is Apple Logic; so I can stop and continue a track playing. Or stop then restart. The other is MASCHINE and a similar scenario.

Thanks again.

[Bryan B]

Yes, interrupt the clock pulses = pause (waiting for clock pulses). You must also know that once you pause it with a push-button or switch, you pull it off of the tight timing grid and it will most likely not return to perfect timing until you start/stop to reset it. Think of it as every beat has 24 clock pulses and they are so fast that you cannot reliably un-pause it to match up tightly again. You can get great effects form this, like getting a pattern to be different by changing it's phase or step position (works awesome with a TB-303 for example). I was able to use a midi-controlled relay to chop exactly 24 pulses at a time so I could step advance my machines, but that took a lot of trial and error to get it working properly.

I am obsessed with Din Sync as it is a analog voltage based system and much more reliable than Midi clock (except the jitter free Silent Way kind). Din Sync was the only solution that worked for the majority of my studio clocking needs so it became my standard of choice. I have been experimenting with it ever since and was quite happy to see STG had adopted it into his modules.

I never got Midi clock to work right from my computer, so I never embraced it as a clock format. That is probably because I was using Ableton Live and running a lot of channels of audio and midi note messages.