Hi everyone,
I’ve always synced my A4 to an iPad via USB using Apple’s Camera Connection Kit, using the FX and CV tracks to send notes to the iPad’s software synths.
Until now, I’ve always played at bpms of 70 and up, and the sync has always worked pretty well.
The notes entered into the sequencer on the FX/CV track were sent correctly, even when I played the A4’s internal keyboard to play the software synths on the iPad.
Now I’ve created a new song on an empty bank with a clean kit and set the bpm to 35 bpm.
In this case, the bpm isn’t synced correctly (35 on the A4 - 26 on the iPad). The notes sent from the internal keyboard and sequencer to the A4’s tracks play correctly, while the notes sent from the internal keyboard and sequencer to the FX/CV track, which sends to the iPad, lose some notes (both from the keyboard and the sequencer).
As the bpm increases progressively, the loss of notes varies, but it’s still there.
Above 49 bpm, everything returns to normal.
It seems as if the notes are only sent if they match the time interval defined by the clock.
If I set the bpm to 30 and place a note on each of the 16 trigs, I get the same output whether I set Scale to “16/16 x1” or “16/16 x2,” the notes don’t double.
In the A4 settings, I have:
MIDI SYNC
clock/transp/prog send = on
clock/transp/prog receive = off
USB
only midi
Any help on resolving would be really appreciated.
Thanks
Maybe since it’s designed for use with CV, it’s output is based around ppqn analog clock pulses which is apparently not the correct time division for the notes you’re sending at 35 bpm? Why not set up a test using an audio track set to send midi at 35 bpm and see if the problem persists?
I don’t have an A4 so I can’t help you test this but good luck.
Are you on a 1.7x firmware? I’d take a look at the bug report topic here and see if anyone is experiencing the same thing. Maybe someone with a more technical answer will pop up, but unfortunately I don’t have anything definitive for you.
You can submit a contact form by logging into your user account on elektron.se and probably get a more technically correct answer from elektron support if nobody here knows for sure.
You can search a specific topic using the magnifying glass and then make sure your query is typed on the line that says “in this topic”. I usually just look for a keyword or 2 like “midi” or “clock” rather than ask it full questions just to make the search criteria more encompassing.
I kinda suspect that this is an expected behavior but since I can’t explain it, I’d say pursue it until you get a real answer because from a functional standpoint and an end user standpoint, it sounds wrong.
I’m pretty sure this has always been an issue at lower BPMs because of the sequencer resolution.
I just made a sequence on the CV track out to DSI evolver. I started at 120, then brought the tempo down to 30. It was fine until I played with the scale multipliers, then it started bugging out and notes started to drop/hang.