How to get a live drummer synchronised to MIDI clock?

zielvis · Post by **zielvis** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:27 am

Hello,

I play in a "traditional" band and would like to incorporate some of electronica to our 50's style rock'n'roll. What seems to be the most difficult is to have a drummer play at the same tempo as delays, LFOs, arpeggiators and so on.

I'd be grateful for all Your ideas.

Marcin

West_Berliner · Post by **West_Berliner** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:02 am

get him a clicktrack running on some headphones so that he can follow it. just have tempo changes synced up and all that kinda stuff.
hopefully he has some experience with playing along to a clicktrack, otherwise it can be difficult for some to catch onto in the beginning.

powodzenia!

zielvis · Post by **zielvis** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:21 am

Dzięki

Our drummer usually plays with a click track so that's not a problem. But this way to have him and a synth in the same tempo we have to have the same tempo set on his metronome and my synth, right? Can we be sure that the clocks are ticking with the perfectly same speed?

I'm thinking of something like having a metronome which is MIDI compatible. In this case it can give a click to drummer's headphones and be a master clock for a synth. Is there anything like that?

I also found out that using Roger Linn's Adrenalinn with a drumtrack (as a metronome click) sent to one of the outputs can do the trick. In this case it can be master or slave for the synth and give tempo to both the man and the machine. Has anybody got experience with such setup?

Regards,

Marcin

DFM · Post by **DFM** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:48 am

zielvis wrote:I'm thinking of something like having a metronome which is MIDI compatible.

Roland MC-50mkII is a very affordable answer to that. MIDI-sequencer with dedicated audio click out and MIDI clock output for syncing other gear.

Post by **wiss** » Mon May 21, 2007 3:53 pm

your drummer doesnt need a clicktrack, iif he/she is worth a s**t. the pocket created by the bass player and him should be enough.

stillearning · Post by **stillearning** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:48 pm

zielvis wrote:Our drummer usually plays with a click track so that's not a problem. But this way to have him and a synth in the same tempo we have to have the same tempo set on his metronome and my synth, right? Can we be sure that the clocks are ticking with the perfectly same speed?

I don't think you can rely on two seperate devices being in sync simply by having them set to the same speed. They must be synced. It sounds like you've got the right idea. My guess would be to use the clock/lfo in one device to send a click to the drummer, and also to control the lfo/arpeggiator in the synth, as suggested by DFM above.

Our drummer uses headphones live whenever he needs to be in sync with a loop, drum machine, or sequence, and it's always worked for us.

Sweetnothing · Post by **Sweetnothing** » Mon May 21, 2007 11:06 pm

How we did it was setting a shitty drum machine set to external midi clock, and the laptop/sequencer/synth to master clock.

Set a pattern on the drum machine that's 4ths or even 16ths if the drummer feels better that way, when we pressed "play" the drum machine was synced and played that pattern of course.

The drum machine went into a small mixer for the drummer to have a submix of the synths/samples and the click track ( the pattern on the drum machine)

zielvis · Post by **zielvis** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:34 pm

Thank You all for help. I thought about buying some cheap sequencer (like my long gone QY-10) to use it as a metronome/clock. That's what DFM suggested - the easiest way to do it I guess.

West_Berliner, I've just noticed that You're from Calgary. I've been to Canada once and I stayed just there, I used to know a few Polish people in Your city. Curious where You know polish words from

...It brought some sweet memories to me...

Post by **tallowwaters** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:42 pm

the title of this topic would be the perfect first part of a joke. we just need somebody to think of a punchline.

code green · Post by **code green** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:00 pm

tallowwaters wrote:the title of this topic would be the perfect first part of a joke. we just need somebody to think of a punchline.

i'm thinking: send him to kenton for a retrofit.

Post by **tallowwaters** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:31 pm

good, but i was thinking more vulgar...

Uncle Screwtape · Post by **Uncle Screwtape** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:41 pm

tallowwaters wrote:the title of this topic would be the perfect first part of a joke. we just need somebody to think of a punchline.

Run a MIDI cable from a sequencer to a taser and stuff it in his a*s. You may only get kick drums, but at least he'll be in time.

How to get a live drummer synchronised to MIDI clock?

How to get a live drummer synchronised to MIDI clock?

hmmm