Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Plato 360 BC
When we designed and released both the original Sync-Shift in 2004 and the Sync-Shift
Mark II in 2006 we had real needs that required a real solution - fixing Start Lag Time in
Tempo-Synchronized systems.
One long-term issue of continual frustration over many years for us has been the poor
stability of external Midi Clock Tempo synchronization in a software/computer
environment. A full analysis of this problem is way beyond the scope of this introduction of course
but the issue is an old and familiar one to all of you of that I am certain.
In our experience, electronic music producers these days usually fall into two main groups
- those that choose all hardware over software and those that choose to do everything inside a
single computer using plug-ins and softsynths.
There are a number of reasons for this of course but a major one is the difficulty in achieving
reliable synchronization and rhythmic feel between computer music applications and hardware in the
outside world.
1. Latency - The difference between the time it takes for your soundcard to generate its own
internal audio and the start time of all your external gear.
2. Midi Clock Slop - PC/Mac (and some hardware too) generated Midi Clock from Firewire or USB is mostly
unstable and even the best specified external Hardware (think MPC-3000/Elektron Machine
Drum) will run rough when driven from even the best software DAW application.
Eighteen months ago we set about trying to find a no-compromise solution to this problem so
that we could close the gap between computers and external hardware in tight, rhythmic
electronic music production.
Our new Sync-Lock lets you still use a PC/Mac - any application of your choice - and
generate sample/grid/tempo-accurate simultaneous Midi Clock, Din Sync and Voltage
Triggers for your analogue gear too.
All of this is done without Firewire, USB or Legacy Serial Midi Clock generation from the software itself and is
therefore immune to any jitter/slop and because the sync is provided via your soundcard
audio outputs there is effectively zero latency offset between your computer's internal
audio and the start times and tempo sync of your external equipment.
No need for DC Coupled Hardware or modification of your existing Audio Interface either.
The Sync-Lock works off any standard hardware.
Sync-Lock Trig I/O conversion time is under 20 microseconds.
The above video demo shows Ableton Live driving a Roland TB-303 and an MV-8000 via simultaneous Midi Clock and Din Sync from the Sync-Lock and a standard Edirol FA-101 Firewire Soundcard. The audio loop playing in Live is an unwarped 4 bar recording of the identical pattern playing in the MV-8000. The click you hear is an audio metronome from Live as a timing reference so you can hear the audio loop in sync with the tempo grid as well as the MV-8000 running off external Midi Clock. You should be able to hear the Live Loop and the external Midi phase when playing together quite clearly. The TB-303 is in perfect sync also. Radical tempo changes from 20 BPM up to 300 BPM do not compromise the sync. The Sync-Gen Plug-In allows external sync swing which is passed on to the Sync-Lock Midi Clock, Din Sync and Analogue Trigger outputs.
The above video demo shows Ableton Live driving a Roland TB-303 and an Elektron SPS-1MKUW via simultaneous Midi Clock and Din Sync from the Sync-Lock and a standard Edirol FA-101 Firewire Soundcard.
The purpose of the above clip is to illustrate how nice it is to play around with external hardware arrangements once the sync between the DAW and the outside world is tight. In this video we first hear two audio tracks playing looped in Live. The Sync-Lock is driving an Elektron Machine Drum and a Roland TB-303 simultaneously. The Kick, Snare and Hat tracks running in the Machine Drum are initially muted. Using the Track Mute Function - first the Kick is un-muted, followed by the Hats and lastly the Snare. I then drop out of the Track Mute Mode and improvise on the Snare Track adding and removing steps on the fly. The feel of the Machine Drum snare fills are bang on with the DAW Audio. Lastly we mix in some of the TB-303.
Same idea in this video but two audio loops in Live. Sync-Lock driving Elektron Machine Drum again. Easy to hear how well the DAW Audio and the external hardware lock together. Snare Track live improvisation is a good example.
In this video, same basic groove as before - Two Audio Loops playing in Live, Sync-Gen Plug-In driving the Sync-Lock from a pair of FA-101 Soundcard Outputs. The Sync-Lock still driving the Elektron Machine Drum via Midi Clock but also a Roland Jupiter 8 via the Trigger Output to the ARP Clock Input. Played notes initially and then [Hold] is pressed while changing parameters in real time.
In this Video you see the AKAI MPC-3000 as Hardware Sync Master showing an application for the Sync-Lock in a non-computer based setup. Two tracks are created in the MPC-3000. Track 1 has the Sync-Lock [Pulse] sample loaded and recorded quantized at 64 Triplets which equates to 24ppq. Track 2 has a single sample at the start of Bar 1. These two pulse samples are routed to Direct Outputs 1 and 2 of the MPC-3000 respectively and then the outputs connected to the inputs of the Sync-Lock. Din Sync from the Sync-Lock drives a Roland TB-303 and the Midi Clock drives a midi pattern in an MV-8000. The Click you hear at the start of the video is a Quarter Note Quantized Click from the MPC itself as a reference. Next the TB-303 is turned up followed by the Roland MV-8000 pattern and then a direct feed from the Sync-Lock Analogue Trigger Output. By using this method - dedicated Din Sync (without prior conversion) , Midi Clock and Arp Triggers may be generated from the Hardware Master device without sacrificing or sharing on board Midi Ports that may still be used for Note, Control or Sysex Data. This application may be used with Hard Disk Recorders also. You need two outputs or tracks per Sync-Lock. For lots of external hardware running alternate timing divisions - up to four Sync-Locks can be used with an MPC-3000 using 8 Direct Outputs.
Forgive the iPhone Audio in this little demo. Above we see Logic Pro 8 on a new iMac driving the Sync-Lock which is simultaneously running an Elektron Monomachine via Midi Clock, a Korg MS-20 via Trigger and a Roland MC-4B/System 100 combination via Din Sync.
[Just a note regarding the videos - the YouTube uploading/encoding process has an obvious negative effect on the audio quality playback. Unfortunately one aspect of this is slightly blurred transients - a bit like what happens when you real-time pitch change with an average software application - the fronts of things get a little fuzzy. The purpose of these short clips is to show how sharp things are using the Sync-Lock and as fair as these examples are here, prior to encoding the actual audio really does give you goosebumps.]
