Clock Syncs, But Transport Control Only Half-Working?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Quick question as I don’t see anybody else in the forum with this question.

i want my DAW (Sonar) to start the OT when i hit play in my DAW.

I set the DAW to send clock and transport messages and set the OT to receive clock and receive transport messages. I set the DAW to output on Channel 11 and i can see the clock syncing properly. But the OT doesnt begin playback when the DAW does.
Am i missing something simple?

I’ve had my OT for 9 months now and I use it way more than i ever used any other instrument (other than my guitar). I’m finally getting something worth turning into a track for an album so that’s why i’m trying to record a performance to my DAW. Loving the creativity on these forums and youtube.

Thanks!

#2

Clock and Transport are System Realtime messages - they do not convey channel at all

I’m not sure how to help, but I’m sure the OT plays nicely if the transport messages are being sent … maybe mention if you are in song mode, I’m sure you’ll get helpful advice shortly

#3

Your description of how you hooked up your gear seems to be okay … I use the OT often to be transport-controlled by other gear and it works fine.

@avantronica is correct by saying that the transport commands are not channel-bound. They are transmitted to every unit in the midi network.

I would recommend to check some settings …

  1. Are your midi-connections good?
  2. Is your DAW the only master-clock in the set-up? The OT should not “send” clock too.
  3. Is your DAW really sending out the transport commands. Depending on your computer you could launch a midi-monitor app and check this. Or make a test with another unit, which also accepts transport commands.
1 Like
#4

Do you mean there is a delay, or it does not start at all? This may be due to sound card latency if its a delay. Usually midi will be delayed a slight bit later from the host DAW, as instead of being a direct audio path, it goes to MIDI, then from octa back to the host and needs to do audio conversion. This is usually overcome by adjusting latency/delay times in host DAW. I am not too familiar with Sonar settings to give advice on how to correct it though.

#5

Doesnt start at all. I realize that this might be a daw specific issue. I’ll test more tonight after work.

#6

Didnt think of using a midi monitor to see if its outputting. Good call. I just saw the BPM light on the OT change to reflect the BPM from the daw.

Will check tonight (usa time)

#7

I think I know what your getting at here, the clock sync is working as expected, but Sonar needs to output the START command. In Ableton, this would be the same problem if the Remote output setting is not checked off.

If the BPM is changing on Octa to reflect then you are mostly there, Just need to figure how to send Transport/Remote commands as well.

EDIT: Changed MMC to Transport/Remote commands

#8

Since you are using Sonar it’s PC … if you haven’t already, download “midi-ox” and use it as a midi-monitor. It’s quite a decent tool and easy to use.

In Sonar check: Edit/Preferences/Midi
There are a couply of options

Section “Send MIDI Sync” should have “Transmit MIDI Start/Continue/Stop/Clock” enabled