clock sync

I have a PROBLEM!

MY associate, mr seymour (http://www.daltar.tk) need a certain item for our set. Is there some kind of cheap USB device that will send out midi events that two computers can sync to? We'll both be running Reaktor but I'll be on a Mac and he'll be on a PC (win2k).

We will literally need just a metronome track, nothing else. no bells, no whistles and no equisitely designed physical modelling unit.

Actually, before I go, can Reaktor even sync to incoming midi? Another panic...

cheers
mark
www.darklogik.org

 

how about a motu fastlane usb? $70 = best usb midi interface for mac or pc. and, yes, reaktor can sync or slave.
*edit*
well, if you both need a midi device, that will be $140. how about osc?

 

yes, can't you sync this with osc? then you only need a cheap cable.

lx.

 

As odd as this may sound - i am clueless about OSC. Do I even have it? I mean, is it included with Reaktor. It's always been a total blind spot with me.

Yes it would be fine to sync one computer to the other, there'd just have to be a democratic decision on tempo changes.

--edit--

and i forgot, i'm using a delta 66 so I don't have midi, i'll need a usb device. not sure about him.

--/edit--

mark
www.darklogik.org

 

Wait, osc is basically network sync isn't it? So that would be... gasp... ethernet?

Oh the ball is in my field now!! hahahaha

mark
www.darklogik.org

 

i have never tried to sync things like this, but this should work:

connect 2 computers with a network cable (not sure if it has to be a crosslink cable or not, i always forget that..)

in Reaktor go to System > Osc settings > activate 'on' > Scan (then it should find the other computer) > set Clock sync.

i think that's all.

lx.

 

If you're going network card to network card then yes it will be a crossover cable. I'm on a switched LAN with a router so basically this G4 has a static ip address. I'll just get mr. daltar to set his ip to one in the same range as mine and put the values directly into osc.

It's wonderful what you learn when you ask questions.

mark
www.darklogik.org

 

Hello. I'm trying to sync two computers (mac & pc) thru Reaktor 4. Mac is as a master and it's workig, I mean when I push play button on Mac the Reaktor on Pc also starts to play,but they are not fully in sync, I can hear it,they are not together in one beat!. I was trying different combinations with Clock sync, Time sync ( by the way: wich one is better?). What else can I do?

I'm waiting. Thanx

KIRES

 

Well, utti stated the other day that Reaktor's MIDI clock doesn't work at all:

Reaktor 4.1.3 has to be updated
http://www.nativeinstruments.de/forum/showthread.php?threadid=13709

 

My collaborator and I have been using OSC over 802.11g with decent results (2 Powerbooks over Airport). We noticed that some instruments have really elaborate pointer systems that produce a noticeable delay. These are tough to sync, as the delay gets worse as CPU usage increases.

I haven't tested this thoroughly, but I assume that the Song Position and Sync Clock modules are in sync with the internal clock, which should be controlled by OSC when set to slave.

Logic tells me that you could ignore the OSC master sync altogether. Just put an OSC send module at the end of the master instrument's clock/pointer macro, and put an OSC receive module in place of the slave instrument's clock macro. This should yield fairly precise time and position sync. I haven't gotten around to trying this, yet.

As I devote more time to sync in the near future, I won't want to depend on the simple master sync that the OSC setup window offers, anyway. I'd like both myself and my bandmate to have control over start/stop actions, among other things. I hope that the OSC send/receive modules are reliable.

 

...midi sync not working....

NI,

would be nice if u gave this back to us....


..cool to know there's a few other users out there jamming with two reaktors...

 

EMISnode I'm not very good at building synths,could you show me what you mean on specific example. "Techno Tribe" let's say, because I'm using it. Could you?

Thanx

Kires

 

Couldn't you use MIDI Over IP as well?

I've never done it, btu I know there's some freeware drivers for it out there...

Has anyone tried these?

- CList

 

What are you synching the Techno Tribe to on the other computer?

 

To "Anthony is 12" ensemble....

 

Okay, I've come to some conclusions. Neither the global Clock Master nor the Time Master sync options are reliable, at least on the two Macs I used, running Techno Tribe on one and Anthony is 12 on the other.

I don't know what the heck is up with Clock Master sync. It causes the slave computer's tempo to wander seemingly randomly all over the place. Time Master gets the tempos lined up, but the reset event doesn't get through every time, so it's not effective if you want to throw in a pause and start again from the beginning of your sequence.

So far, I'm getting 100% reliable sync by outputting clock events from one computer to the other via OSC Send and Receive modules. The drawback here is that the slave instrument must be modified to accept external clock events, and, if an interruption occurs in your OSC connection, the slave instrument will stop playing. That is, unless the slave instrument is using a Clock Oscillator as it's clock source, in which case you can just communicate Start and Reset events.

Relative to most building tasks, setting this up is pretty simple stuff. First, you need to identify how the pointer in the slave instrument works. Most instruments have neatly isolated their pointer to an easy-to-find macro. Anthony is 12, which I'm using as slave in this example, has 4 of them, one for each of its sequencers, called Pattern-Cntr. Each of these are run by a Song Position module and Start/Stop module.

The 4 instances of the Song Position and Start/Stop modules are redundant. They can all be replaced by a single clock. Drop two input ports into each Pattern-Cntr macro, and wire them up in place of the modules. Then duplicate those input ports to the parent instrument, so that in the ensemble structure window, the A-Drums and 12-Tone instruments each have inputs for Song Position and Reset events.

Now create a new instrument, which will contain two OSC Receive modules, for Song Position and Reset events, and wire it up to the clock inputs on the A-Drums and 12-Tone.

The slaving is complete, and now all that needs to be done is setting up the master computer, which is simple: Make a new instrument, which will contain two OSC send modules, wired up to Song Position and Start/Stop modules. Make sure the OSC send modules are set to Always Active.

If you need help working with OSC modules, the manual explains it well enough.

The Clock Master and Time Master options in the OSC window should be deactivated, or things will get messy.

Keep in mind, I didn't spell out every little detail here. I'm making a few assumptions in order to save some typing time.