Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

ok i went a bit on a roland shopping spree this month, got myself a 808, 707 & 101.

the 808 came with midi in/out retrofit but plugging it that way doesn't seem to sync it at all, i tried Din sync and it works good with the 808 as master, but the 808 doesn't seem to like being slaved to the 707 ( out of sync )

i'm trying to slave it to the 707 in order to control the tempo in a more precise way since the 707 allows you to dial in a bpm as opposed to the 808's archaic tempo knob, ideally i'd like to set my elektron machinedrum as master but i doubt the 707 can act as midi slave & din sync master at the same time ?? i'm really confused as how to best integrate the Roland TR's into my setup.. any help in the right direction much appreciated!

you can use din sync and midi, but the 707 has to be the master in this configuration.

like this:

machinedrum <- 707 -> 808

nice shopping spree!!!

Thanks, however like i said my 808 doesn't like being slave, Start/Stop from the 707 works but the 808 clock is out of sync, unless i am doing something wrong

On the 707, i go to Track mode & Shift+Sync mode until the BPM shows up which should send the 707 clock to MIDI & DinSync..

i got rid of my 707 a while back so i can't remember exactly. if you have the manual handy you should be able to see how to get the 707 into master mode. i recall it being unintuitive to set up but pretty easy.

if that's not working then there is definitely something wrong in the sync department.

Try using a HiFi 5 pin instead of a MIDI cable and see if that works. If not, it sounds like there is an issue with your TR-808, quite possibly from the MIDI kit.

Just in case...you flipped the switch on the back of the 808 to put it in slave mode, right?

The 808 only responds when the switch is on output but i have no idea if that means it's in master or slave. the manual is very cryptic on this subject.. what's very strange is start-stop from 707 activates the 808, and even spinning the tempo up/down from the 707 does control tempo the 808, but the 808 lags behind, when I mute the 707, the 808 plays j**k as if it was fighting the tempo, also the tempo knob on the 808 still works while synced, so i'm not sure if its well slaved.. i dunno, could the MIDI cable be at fault here? it works flawlessly when the 808 is master. or is the 808 supposed to be slaved by flipping the switch to input, in which case perhaps my 808 din input might be faulty??

edit: i know the previous owner used this 808 as a sound module slaved to his MPC by MIDI, could it be when the sync switch is flipped to input it bypasses DIN and goes straight to MIDI?