CBA Blooper DT2 MIDI Clock Sync

[epiphany.loop]

Could someone please help me sync my CBA Blooper’s MIDI clock to the Digitakt 2? I feel like I’m going crazy trying to figure this out. I just want the clock to sync, as I prefer to manipulate the Blooper on its own (hitting record, stop, messing with knobs, etc.).

Current set-up:
DT2, set to send clock
DT2 MIDI out to a MIDI box
MIDI box out to Disaster Area MIDI Box One, where the 5 pin MIDI cable is converted into TRS. Ring set to active, tip turned off.
TRS into the Blooper’s MIDI/Ext jack

I’ve seen posts saying that the clock syncs automatically as it’s detected, and that the Blooper defaults so it will begin recording on the ¼ note after the foot pedal is triggered. However, that isn’t working for me.

I’ve tried creating a MIDI machine in the DT, setting it to the Blooper’s default channel (2), and sending CC commands via knobs on the DT, but that did nothing.

I have another device accepting MIDI from the DT2 and it works perfectly, but it does not pass through the Disaster Area. All devices are receiving power. The Blooper otherwise performs perfectly normally.

Any ideas?

[shigginpit]

Alright so according to the manual you hold both footswitches while turning the pedal on and it will wait for the next incoming midi channel which it will then set and use until it’s been powered off and then the blooper will default back to channel 2 on next power up. Sounds like you did that and it’s not detecting any incoming midi.

You know digitakt is outputting midi, so the suspicious point seems to be the midi box one. Based on a quick google search it does say chase bliss essentially uses TRS midi type B and that the tip needs to be floating, I can see that you have it set that way via the dip switch positions.

The next logical step if you’ve done everything correctly (or if you suspect that you have) is to test the cable coming out of the midibox one. This would be most simply accomplished by using another piece of gear that takes TRS midi and of course, set it accordingly, but then see if it receives midi output from the DT2 and sent through the midi box.

If you get another piece of gear to receive midi, the problem is in the blooper itself, or I guess the settings of the midi box one but let’s just say that you have performed the task as it was described by the manufacturer, therefore if there is a fault in the setup, it’s that of the manufacturer rather than your error.

The other way that you could test this is using a multimeter on the TRS cable coming out of the midi box one and check that the continuity and bias are set correctly, meaning that the tip and ring are set and delivering signal as intended. If you tested this with a multimeter, you wouldn’t need to sync to any other gear as it would be the most definitive test that you could perform because it would tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the midi box is outputting the correct signal via the TRS cable.

Aside from that, you can keep playing around and hope that it helps, but at this point you really need to identify the weakest link and then deal with it directly. If you’re trying to focus on 3 different things, it’s a lot harder to fix a problem. Much easier to identify the source of the problem and localize your troubleshooting to get to a solution.

So, do you have any means of testing the midi box one output with any other piece of gear or a meter?

I suspect that either the manual is missing a step, or something is amiss outside of the scope of the solutions you’re trying, therefore if you have not yet tried a different TRS cable, that would be the first thing I’d do before proceeding and you could also try a different midi cable out of the digitakt just to be sure that neither of those is the issue. I highly doubt the digitakt is the issue here though.

Anyways, that’s how I’d proceed.

[mr_bernard]

I have experience with all this. I’m in the states, central time. If you need a walkthrough, DM me, and we can set up time. The default is 1/8th note in my experience. I like to set it to 1/4, but you can only do that with MIDI. You can also tell it to follow or ignore clock, and I have no idea what the default is, so you might need to enable it.

[Bartizanier]

Can be an absolute pain in the ass.

My advice would be to start with some process of elimination style testing.
Do you have another device where you can test if MIDI clock is being sent properly?
Do you have another device you can connect to the Blooper to confirm if it is receiving MIDI on the correct channel?

I had an issue an emailed CBA support, they notified me that “not all devices send MIDI the same way so a custom 5-pin cable will not always work, thats why we recommend to use the CBA midibox” or something like that.

Edit: When you get it working, you’ll know, because you can press record on an off beat and it won’t start until the next quarter note. Its very obvious when clock is synced or not synced.

[shigginpit]

Very convoluted way of working. Thanks for chiming in on this, guys.

You can really only get so much out of the manual, and common sense doesn’t always apply to manufacturer logic when the user interface has to do with inferring information from blind startup footswitch tapping combos etc.

I’ve never personally used a chase-bliss product but it seems like for the depth of the connectivity they don’t really add a lot of surface level configurability, or visual confirmation of the current configuration would I guess be more accurate.

[mr_bernard]

You also have to disable the DT sending program change. The blooper reads PC as loading a saved loop, so it will try to be insane every time you hit play.

[Bartizanier]

@shigginpit

I’ve never personally used a chase-bliss product but it seems like for the depth of the connectivity they don’t really add a lot of surface level configurability, or visual confirmation of the current configuration would I guess be more accurate.

Yeah, I feel like 9 times out of 10 its just a connectivity issue.
When I’ve gotten the cable and connection working, it is pretty easy to verify whats going on even without visual clues.
For instance with the Blooper, mod wheel sends a CC that should trigger loop recording, on the pedal a red light turns on. So that’s very easy to confirm if you have connection, as long as your connected to a synth with a mod wheel.
Same with MIDI clock sync, like I mentioned above, you can easily confirm by setting to a slow BPM, pressing record on an off-beat, and the red light won’t turn on until you hit a beat.

The pedal being set to MIDI channel 2 by default can throw you off, but its easy to reset by following the process described above, and it will remain set on that channel until you change it again.

Maybe my biggest pitfall has been stubbornly refusing to buy the CBA midibox, but it needs to be powered so you’re ending up with more devices and cables cluttering your desktop.

Another thorn in my side has been my Arturia keylab essential mk2…it is so close to being a perfect controller for these as you can program CC’s to the pads, so you can hit the pads to record, play loops, program the encoders to act as the knobs on a CBA pedal. But the keylab doesnt have MIDI clock functionality argh

Edit: last thing I should mention, there is now an official CBA discord which is probably the best place to get tech support, you can reach both staff and users there who can help you troubleshoot any issue. Also official CBA support email is quite good

[epiphany.loop]

Thank you all so much! This has been really helpful so far. I’m going to email chase bliss and ask their discord. @mr_bernard If I can’t get a response from them, I’ll hit you up. I appreciate the offer.

In case you’re curious, a few more notes and responses:

I have 2 other devices which are accurately receiving clock data from the DT2: a Novation Peak and a Hologram Microcosm. So the issue is not with the DT2’s MIDI clock output.

I tried a different TRS cable, this one has one end split into Ring/Tip. I plugged the ring side into the Blooper and, while it initially showed some odd behavior by automatically creating a very short loop, it reverted to playing as-normal without syncing to the DT2’s midi clock. I’ve tried turning the tip on and off on the DA MIDI Box One, but that made no difference. I don’t have any other devices that receive MIDI via TRS, so I can’t test the DA MIDI Box.

@shigginpit Good advice on the multimeter. I tested the original TRS cable and there was current coming through, but my multimeter isn’t precise enough to tell if it was coming through the tip, ring, or both.