Re: MIDI sync survey: is it important to you?

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On 11 maj 2006, at 17.47, S V G wrote:

> How many
> different ways do YOU find MIDI sync useful?


There are different kinds of MIDI sync. The one I like to use for  
live looping is MIDI Clock. MTC (Midi Time Code) is too "advanced"  
for my taste, since I like to chop stuff up on-the-fly and not depend  
on where the downbeat used to be some moments earlier. I don't always  
run loops synced, but I like to have the option at hand. I really  
like to play in a free flowing meter and to bring it all in and out  
of a steady beat.  MIDI Clock provides the underlying grid that makes  
it possible to morph between chaos and rhythm. This also applies for  
jamming with other musicians. But the looping style all depends on  
the function of the EDP and Mobius to immediately redefine the tempo  
by chopping a loop after the tempo you play in - instead of having to  
adapt your playing to a tempo.

During the last years I have constantly minimized my looping rig and  
now it's only an external TC Electronics FireworX effect processor  
and a laptop running the eight track Mobius looper. Mobius does  
generate a MIDI Clock signal for the tempo of my first created loop  
(like the EDP also does). The sync signal is fed into the FireworX so  
I can use dynamic effects that relates to the tempo I'm playing in.  
This does not mean that "effect's is stuttering in a static way",  
since I have taken care to program expression pedals to "sweep" the  
tempo relation (effect vs main tempo, manipulating the tempo relation  
coefficient while busy playing). The idea is to extend the music  
instrument with an effect system that can create poly rhythmic  
movement so the musician can play two lines in one go: the source  
line and the effect line. Just like the piano player concept, where  
you do two pars simultaneously; one line with each hand. But here I  
use the MIDI expression pedal for the complementary part. This would  
not work without MIDI Clock.

On the next level this mangled sound goes into the looper and well  
inside Mobius I have many scripts (assigned to pedal buttons) that do  
similar stuff to either the live input signal, the recorded loop or  
both in combination.

Another use for MIDI Clock is to synchronize different software  
applications. One example is when looping in Augustus Loop using  
Ableton Live as the host application (the looper opened as an AU plug- 
in). Then I may want to set the tempo from my playing (as opposed to  
playing to the tempo) and the way to do this is to let Augustus Loop  
generate a MIDI Clock signal, according to the tempo indicated by the  
loop length, and have the host application sync to this MIDI Clock  
signal (done all inside OS X). The same goes for running Mobius as a  
VST plug-in and having it follow the tempo you play in (then you have  
to use MIDI Yoke, since Windows XP doesn't support system MIDI  
streaming).

When using an EDP to set the tempo for other loopers, MIDI Clock is  
also essential. As you see MIDI Clock is the technology that makes it  
possible to free your playing from rigid tempo definitions and still  
keep the option to create a tempo grid from your playing. I do not  
understand the argument that "sync calls for pre-recorded stuff".

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast)