Hi !
I’m trying to control my tracker from my Boss RC-500 looper with midi. They are both connected with a TRS cable and a midi type b / type a cable convertor.
It’s mostly working, I can start / stop the tracker from the rc-500 footswitch in sync with the looper rythme (with a bit of midi compensation).
But, every time i start the tracker from the footswitch there’s a slightly annoying latency at the beginning just before being in sync again (I don’t notice any kind of delay if I start the tracker directly from the play button).
Does anyone has encountered this kind of latency at start with a similar set up / use ? Any idea how to fix this ?
Try and play around with the Clock Sync Correction setting in the General Midi Settings of the Tracker to see if you can get it to line up better, if you haven’t done so yet.
Thanks @Sandroid !
I actually did it and it helped me to synchronize the rythme of the two devices.
But for some reason, the issue is happening only when I start the sequence from the rc-500. It’s like there’s one beat of delay and then it get automatically re-synchronized after a measure or so .
I can’t figure it out if it’s midi problem or if it’s coming from the rc-500 (last firmware).
Hmm… that could be an issue with the RC-500 or just a general MIDI shenanigan. Sadly i can’t give you a definitive answer, since i don’t own that device. But i’ve used other gear to sync with the Tracker and have not encountered this issue yet.
Do you have a way of using a third party (another midi device as master, or the computer) as the clock/midi master, to see if both devices react correctly? That’s what i’d do next.
Thanks again for your analyse and feedback.
Good to know it’s working well with others devices, I will focus more on the Rc-500 messages then.
I’ll try to debug this with a computer and a midi tool.
Best of luck then!
If there is anything else we can help with, let us know.
Oh - and report your findings, always curious to know how these things pan out.
I did a short video to show to problem for anyone interested :
When started from the rc-500, we can see that the rythme of the tracker is a bit delayed and played faster during the first measure and then the sync is ok (with clock sync correction = 6 ok tracker). During play, I don’t see any ‘ext Tempo’ change on the tracker.
I connected the rc-500 on my computer, I didn’t notice any latency when I used the footswitch but it was with a USB cable and not TRS (as I’m doing with the tracker) so maybe it makes a difference.
I plugged the tracker directly to a computer with an usb cable and sent start message with MIDI Tools and I have the exact same jitter at start (same phenomena as shown on the video).
Anyone have encountered the problem or have any idea ?
Actually when I set back the clock sync correction of the tracker to 0, I don’t have anymore the weird double beat at the beginning of the measure.
But, I noticed a small delay when I hit the play button of the tracker (or from start midi message) and it can explain why it s not well synchronized with the rhythm of the pedal (which I don’t need).
Is there a way to diminish the “play” delay for a live use of the tracker?
Yes, I tried the minus values but unfortunately it doesn’t get better.
Now, I’m not even sure it’s a midi issue. No clock correction seems the best value (no double beat at the beginning and smaller start delay) and I think I have slightly the same launch delay than when I hit the play button on the tracker.
It looks like the tracker isn’t enough reactive for this kind of live use.
I finally found the origin of the latency. It’s not related to the tracker nor the rc-500. I had actually plugged the audio output of the tracker to a laptop with an external sound card (to avoid cable in the middle of the room). The latency comes from there, I don’t have it with headphones.
So, I guess I should directly amplify the audio signal without laptop for this kind of live setup.
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