Analog Four Mkii midi slave to roland spd sx tempo?

The Lounge Other Gear
1

Hi elektronauts,

i just bought the A4 Mkii to play bass in a rock band. I have the midi in port of A4 Mkii connected to the midi out port of a Novation Sl Mkii master keyboard.
The drummer plays with metronome in his ears, coming from a roland spd sx. I want to have the tempo information of Roland Spd-Sx, sent to my A4 Mkii, so as i can use the Arpegiator or the Lfo, in sync with his metronome. This way, hopefully, when he changes a project/song on his Roland Spd-sx, i want automatically to see my tempo change. Whe we played with the same bpm, we were not perfectly in sync. And when i played a note on his “1” bass drum hit the sound was not straight forward but would come late. An 8th or a 16th value later or less.

I achieved this when connecting the A4 Mkii to my Yamaha S 90 Es Synth. I set the S 90 midi clock to internal and a lock appeared to the screen of the A4 Mkii.
We tried this set up with the Roland Spd-Sx, but we couldn’t do it at all. Only the opposite way, A4 midi out - Roland midi in, the A4 sent the tempo information and the roland locked the tap tempo and could not change the bpm. It was the slave.
So,if anybody knows somwthing about the Spd-sx it would be very helpful. Also, i don’t know how i can have the midi in port sent to the Spd midi out, and also have the Novation keyboard connected to play the A4 if my midi in port is occupied???
I’m new in the midi world, and analog synth sound, got a lot to learn. But it’s worth it.

2

As far as I know, the SPD-SX does not transmit MIDI clock messages so it cannot control the tempo of other gear.

However, you can use the tempo control on the SL MkII or the AF MkII to control the tempo of the SPD-SX:

  • For the SL MkII to be the tempo controller, connect the MIDI Thru port on the AF to the MIDI In port on the SPD-SX.

  • For the AF MkII to be the tempo controller, connect the MIDI Out port on the AF to the MIDI In port on the SPD-SX.

In either case, you will have to adjust the settings on all the devices appropriately.

3 Likes
3

+1 - the SPD-SX manual also agrees.

4

Thanks very much.

Eventually the Roland Spd - Sx cannot, as you mentioned, send tempo information because it ain’t got no sequencer in itself. That’s really really a big disadvantage.
Due to the fact that the drummer changes the tempo immediately going to the next song and he is the groove master, I can’t sync with his roland anyways. So, i will play all the arpeggios or repeated single notes with my hands! It hurts and you can burn the little muscles doin it the wrong way. Really impressive, with an every day 20 minutes practice it’s doable. And it’s worth it !

1 Like