Issue syncing Logic X and Drum Machine

[nateh]

Hi Everyone,

Hope you can help, I'm going slightly mad.

I'm having issues syncing a Roland TR-8S with Logic Pro.

I have USync loaded on an instrument track (and not selected when playing/recording). When I hit play or record the the drum machine starts OK but is out of time with Logic's click and other recorded files in the project. Sometimes the drum machine stutters when starting.

I have tried using the latency slider on USync however the same thing occurs with the TR-8S (slightly ahead of the click) until the slider is moved significantly, then the TR-8S is all over the place.

I am using a UA Apollo X6 interface and consequently UAD Console, however I wouldn't think either of these would be an issue.

I have restarted and reloaded everything. The weird thing is that everything was working fine, but when I tried to move everything to a new project (in order to clean things up and create a Logic Template for the TR-8S and Midronome) the issues above began.

Is it an issue with the original projects tempo (my friend sent it to me and it's at a strange tempo of 10.999), the TR-8S's tempo and the Midronome trying to figure out what is going on between them?

I even tried re-downloading the original project again and seeing if everything would just work as it should as it did the first time. No luck.

Any thoughts would be of great help,

Thank you!

[Simon]

Hi Nate

I am a bit confused as to what you have done, but here are some thoughts:

In Logic there is a key point on the shift slider, which is about -37ms. Any value above that is internal shifting in the plugin, which does not use the DAW, and it usually works flawlessly (though in your case you are saying this had no effect - or have I misunderstood?). Values below start using the Plugin Delay Compensation of Logic, which should still work but can sometimes create strange behavior in Logic - I guess this fits with the behavior you have seen.

I'd suggest trying to ignore the TR-8S for now ans simply record the Midronome' metronome (or at least listen to it, alongside Logic's metronome or a track), so you can see if the Midronome is in time with the DAW. If that is the case, then I guarantee you that the clocks sent to the TR-8S are also at the same time. Any timing issues happening after that are out of the Midronome's control, they could be cause by settings on the TR-8S for example.

Also - make sure that all your Logic settings are correct from the requirements written in the Midronome User Guide (I/O buffer size, processing buffer size, and do not select or record-enable the plugin track).

It would help a lot if you can share your session and/or show some pictures or videos (notice that you unfortunately cannot upload videos here - you can do it ont he Midronome Facebook group though).

Simon

[nateh]

Thanks for getting back Simon,

Ok I think I've figured it out:
- I noticed in the Midronome Manual that the setting for Logics Multithreading is set to 'Playback and Live Tracks'
- Mine was set to 'Playback tracks'; when I use this setting all of the issues mentioned in my previous email occur (including one which I didn't mention, that the Midronome skips ahead a little after the first beat)
- When I change this setting to 'Playback and Live Tracks', everything works as it should. And just for the record I have USyncs Shift set to -1.2ms.

I realise you didn't mention having to change this setting in the Manual, however I wonder if it's because I am using Logic 11. I notice that my version has another setting on that same menu called 'Rewire Behaviour', which isn't shown in the example within the Manual, so I presume that is Logic 10.

Anyway what are you're thoughts. Glad I spent some time pressing buttons!

Cheers,
Nate

[Simon]

Ok I think I've figured it out:
- I noticed in the Midronome Manual that the setting for Logics Multithreading is set to 'Playback and Live Tracks'

Awesome man, huge help, thank you!
Logic 11 was not released actually while we were developping U-SYNC. They got released about the same time, we quickly tested Logic 11 and found no issues so let it be. We will do a bit more testing and update the manual accordingly

Cheers
Simon