PitchFactor midi clock and tempo

[juerget]

Supposedly I'm the first to report this, so I'm not sure wether it has something to do with my specific unit, something to do with my other hardware, or wether its a broader issue.

1) My pithchfactor dosen't sync to external midi clock sources accurately.  I've hooked it up to my computer through ableton, a Roland Vdrums metronome, and an AKAI sampler with similar results.  I tried it extensively with the harpegiator with the midiclock filter both on and off.

 2) The BPM count dosen't seem right.  The pitchfactor appears to be about 1.5BPM slower than all other sources I clocked it against.  I thought it could have something to do with electricity.

I have the same problems with my modfactor and timefactor.  Has anyone else encountered these issues?   Maybe there are some specific tests I can run?

[martinr]

Just a quick message to say that BPM definitely works on my pitchfactor from setting on the box itself – either that or I'm playing so out of time not to notice!

I will play around with midi when I get a chance as this is something I want to know how to do.

[DGillespie]

Thanks Juerget,

We'll take a look at the problem. You do mention testing with HarPeggiator, were your problems limited to the display, or were you experiencing problems with the audio as well? The reason I ask is because when Midi Clock is on, HarPeggiator is actually driven off the midi clock messages themselves as opposed to the recovered tempo value. This is because it's more like a sequencer which increments to the next step every tick.

Thanks,
Dan

[nickrose]

 I've had a good look at the PF MIDIclock and it seems fine. Please try it with only a direct short MIDI connection between the source and the PF and nothing else connected. Then let us know the exact numbers you get.

Or use USB and MIDI-OX on a PC to show what it can do. There are a number of bad MIDIclock sources out there (sorry Serge).

One possible cause for confusion – PF rounds the BPM value to the nearest whole number. So, theoretically you could send 119.5 BPM (which the sender might display as 119 and PF would display as 120.

Also maybe try listening to the actual tempo, rather than the numbers. This might be a better test.

I've asked before if anyone can suggest a good MIDIclock receiver with a BPM display – is ours maybe the only one ?

[juerget]

I must apologize.

I sat down with the pitchafactor for a couple of hours and realized that the BPM count is actually spot on.  I timed the Harpegiator against my computers bpm counter and found that it is indeed accurate.  I encountered problems when using the Harmodulator, but I'm pretty sure its me lagging behind and not the pedal.  I'm actually be me playing to the rythm of the delay and slowing down naturally because I'm not playing 'ahead' of the beat with the metronome.

All's good with the BPM count. Again, I apologize.

I haven't been able to make the midclock work though. It's just all messed up.  I'm under the impression that both devices are on the same BPM, but aren't counting toghether.  The devices never match up.  I'm not using a very long cable (2m).  I know that midi has time signature limitations but this is very strange.  Maybe it could be midi latency…….  I'm not sure, I'll see if I can experiment with the midi through the usb cable and let you know if I have different results.

[martinr]

Yeah – I played around with the midi last night too. With recieve midi filtering the tempo wasn't responsive enough and when receive midi unfiltered it was accurate but must use up too much processor or something as it made the sound really very glitchy – this was on full chords using diatonic.

Is this expected behaviour or did I do something wrong / any tips for use? I basically want to change tempo of in sync delays within a song using midi.

[nickrose]

 Please guys – if you are having a problem you MUST tell us what you are doing, what you are using, in as great detail as possible. Otherwise, there is little we can do.

In Mr r's case, it sounds like he may have a bad MIDIclock source. MIDIclock from a computer is very jittery (at best it has a 5% wobble at 120 BPM, more at higher rates). As a result, it has to be heavily filtered, which certainly reduces responsiveness – stability is usually more important.

In the above case it sounds like the stability is not there, and the resulting frequent tempo changes are causing the glitchy-ness. So, consider either finding a better MIDIclock source, or accepting less responsiveness.

[Author]

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