Send MIDI Clock to external devices not working (SP 404 MKII)

Using Zynthian
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1

Hello! I’m trying to sync external devices to Zynthian Oram (v5.1). At the moment I’m trying to sync the SP404 MKII, with no success.

I connected a MIDI cable from Zynthian MIDI OUT to SP404 MKII MIDI IN. I also tried with USB cable.

I created a single MIDI CHAIN.

In MIDI IN it captures MIDI from midi player and step sequencer.

In MIDI OUT it sends to DIN-5 MIDI (and to USB Device when connected via USB).

In TEMPO SETTINGS the Clock Source is INTERNAL SEND.

When I start the MIDI PLAYER, the ZynSeq, or both, something strange happens. Usually some notes from the sequencer are sent to the SP404, but no clock. At a certain point the SP404 MKII started receiving a wrong and instable clock (38-42 instead of 100), then it went crazy, then nothing again.

At the moment I’m not able to send MIDI Clock to the SP404, only some notes.

I also tried to monitor ports with this command:

root@zynthian:~# aseqdump -p 0:1,14:0
Waiting for data. Press Ctrl+C to end.
Source Event Ch Data
0:1 Port subscribed 0:1 → 130:0
0:1 Port subscribed 14:0 → 130:0
0:1 Port subscribed 128:0 → 130:0
0:1 Port subscribed 128:0 → 130:0

then nothing else happened, even if I launch a midi player or a step sequencer.

From the MIDI player I can send MIDI notes to the MiniFreak via USB and it works well.

The MIDI cable is a type A.

What else can I try?

Thanks

2

Hi @ascari.maximilian !

I can’t remember well how all this worked in Oram. It was a little bit tricky.

Oram is at end of life and the stable Vangelis release is close. Perhaps you want to jump to Vangelis now.
MIDI output has been improved in Vangelis and for us (developers) it would be a lot easier to help you. All my zynthians are now working in Vangelis normally.

Regards,

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I have a live performance tomorrow, it’s a bit risky to move everything now :sweat_smile:

But if Vangelis is stable enough, I’ll give it a try asap!

Is there an easy way to migrate snapshots and zs3?

(sorry for the OT)

4

Please, Don’t do it in the SD card you are using for your performance!

They are mostly auto-migrated, but expect some problems with complex ones. Many things have changed and not all features from Oram can be mapped easily to Vangelis.

Regards

5

In oram, make sure only one track has midi clock. Iirc you need to filter it on others, or something like that. Otherwise it doubles, which explains your issues. I had same issue, info is somewhere

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Yes I already tried it. In the end I went the opposite way, using the SP404 MKII as the master device and the Zynthian as the slave, and it worked. Now I’ll try with Vangelis.

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Hi @jofemodo I confirm that with Vangelis MIDI clock sync works both ways. Great job!

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8

Worth noting for anyone finding this later: the SP-404 MKII treats USB and the DIN jack as separate sync sources, so if the pad is set to sync over USB while the clock is arriving on DIN the transport simply never starts and it looks like nothing is being sent at all. The other classic trap is having two clock generators in the chain - if the pad keeps its own clock running you get doubled ticks and wandering tempo instead of a clean failure, which is usually what gets blamed on the Zynthian side.

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Yes, it’s true. Nonetheless with Oram there was a sync problem that Vangelis has now fixed :slight_smile:

Thanks!

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