Start Bass station II arpeggiator from Nome II

[nicolaszappa]

Hi everyone,
I'm just starting with the Nome 2 so apologies for the silly questions.
I'm trying to find a way to trigger my Bass Station 2's arpeggiator from the Nome 2 by pressing play but it doesn't seem to be possible. The closest topic I found is this one https://forum.simntonic.com/viewtopic.php?t=219

I also tried the other way around and start the Nome 2's metronome upon starting the arp from the Bass station but no luck.
To do so, I'm using the input on the Nome, with the 24P input setting, connected to the headphones output of the synth. It does trigger the metronome when I plug in the jack, meaning the Nome receives information, but when plugged in, I can't trigger it by pressing the key on the synth.
I tried to change the "latch" config of the bass station too, as explain here https://support.novationmusic.com/hc/en ... Controller but no luck either.

For context, I bought the Nome 2 for this specific reason, I need my drummer to get the metronome in sync with the arpeggiator from the bass station. I can control the bpm of the synth from the nome without any issue so that's already something but I need to sort out the "start/stop" situation.
Any idea how I can do it?

Hope that makes sense!
Thanks a lot,
Nicolas

[Simon]

Hi Nicolas

Thanks for asking here. Yes that's a tricky situation, basically the Nome only sends a "MIDI Start" message which would start an internal sequencer. But in your case you need an actual MIDI Note. You're correct about that topic - it would help. But I do not realistically see this being implemented on the device anytime soon, it would be too messy and too difficult to decide which note to send.

Arppegiators (unlike sequencers) are more meant to be "played", i.e. you simply press the key on the right time to start the arp. If you need something that is controllable by the Nome I would recommend looking into a sequencer.

Another idea would be the other way around as you mentioned - and yes that could potentially work from FW 5.0, you could get the Nome to follow your arp and generate a metronome from that. Until Nome FW 5.0 it will be difficult unless the arp is very very fast (running at 24ppq).

Simon

[nicolaszappa]

Hi Simon,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes It'll make more sense to have the synth as the master device in this case.
I understand I'll have to wait till the next FW update then, when do you think it'll be available?

[Simon]

Well there is an alpha version already available, it's called 4.96-alpha
See the section 8.3 in the updated manual on https://download.simntonic.com/docs/

[nicolaszappa]

OK thanks. I installed it and managed to get the impulse from the synth to start the click on the nome. But, it's very random. For example, the click starts when I release the note instead of when I play it, most of the time, not always. Or the tempo changes depending on the note playing (pitch, sound, length seem to be the parameters "heard" by the Nome and get it confused), even with the tempo LOCKED on the Nome.
It probably has something to do with the sync signal bot being clear enough for the nome.

My settings:
Input: PED
A.PL: Mi.1
AnL: FOL
An.1 & 2: OFF
Adv
PEd: PLA (tried MUT too, same issue)
PE.2: OFF
PE.t: SUS
rES: ON
Mut: FOL

Perhaps another Pedal type that would just take into account the very first impulse to start the click would work with the tempo locked in. Do think it'd be feasible?

If anyone has a workaround in the meantime, I'd be happy to hear it
Cheers!

[Simon]

Try with the "inP" set to "1P"
(see section 6.1 in the manual about it)

[nicolaszappa]

I just tried, there's some progress cause it seems to start in sync consistently. However, it seems to try and follow the 16th notes from the arpeggiator, which will drive the drummer a little crazy haha

[Simon]

The "xP" modes expect a clean and regular signal at x ppq. (with x being 1, 2, 3, ..., 24).
1ppq is 1 pulse per quarternote, i.e. something playing every 4th note.
2ppq is every 8th notes, 4 ppq every 16th notes, etc.

So if your arppegiator is playing 16th notes (so 4ppq, not 1), you should set the setting to "4P".

Simon

[nicolaszappa]

Hi Simon,
Yeah I tried different divisions, I always have the same issue.
I can't seem to find any workarounds online, which is surprising considering the number of bands with drummers and keyboards playing arps.
I'm guessing we'll have to start both manually and do some manual re-triggering as needed during the songs.

But could be a good idea to explore. maybe using the usb for midi so hardware synths could send in midi info to start and stop the metronome along with the bpm so they all stay in sync?

[Simon]

Hi Nicolas

What does not work exactly? If your arp sends regular signals, and if they are loud and "sharp" enough, then the Nome will sync to them.
If you get the wrong speed it probably is because the ppq is not matching the incoming signal's ppq

[nicolaszappa]

I tried all ppq's, I always get the same results.
The synth plays at the loudest possible - which is standard output signal - and I tried with 0 attack, very short decay, sustain and release to have the sharpest signal, same results every time.
I wish I could easily send a video here to show you exactly what's going on.
Not to mention that in that song I'm tweaking the shape of the signal with cut off, release time, etc so the signal won't be always super sharp so it's definitely not working for it.

[Simon]

Thanks for the info. Based on what you said it looks like the input signal is fine, it should not need that much tweaking - I tested with a simple metronome sound from either a DAW or another Nome. And as long as the Nome reacts to it without being "on the edge" (meaning if you turn the volume just a bit lower the Nome does not react anymore), then the volume is fine.

Could send 2 recorded tracks (aligned) of
1) what you are sending to the Nome's input
2) the Nome's metronome output

and which "inP" setting you set it to.

That would help a lot

Simon

[nicolaszappa]

Hi Simon,

Alright, you can find audio files here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... zEn0kPjd2s

I tested it for each PPQ (except for 3, 6 and 12), you have 1 sub-folder per speed with 2 files in them, click (Nome) and Synth.
You'll see it's quite... "funky"

Note: on the click track, there's some synth too cause it comes from the headphone output of the synth. For the record, I also tried plugging in the main output, same results.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for looking into this, I really appreciate your support!

[Simon]

Hi Nicolas

I had a check - the issue is what you are sending to the Nome. Check this screenshot of your synth recording:

The top is your original synth. As you can see in the waveform there is not "clear" spike for the Nome to sync to. To get the sync to work you would need a much harsher sound (meaning something that goes very loud and then very quiet very fast). I tried simply cutting the file in the DAW (as you can see on the track below), with inP=4P (assuming these are 16th notes) that works perfectly fine.