Is external sync of scope 5 synths fixed??

A place to talk about whatever Scope music/gear related stuff you want.

Moderators: valis, garyb

Post Reply
User avatar
ARCADIOS
Posts: 1358
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:00 pm
Location: Glyfada, Athens-Greece
Contact:

Is external sync of scope 5 synths fixed??

Post by ARCADIOS »

in scope 4.5 and previous the syncronization from an external midi controller of a scope synth has always a very unstable clock causing continious clicks and pops of the synth.

Is that issue fixed in scope 5?

i could have tried it by myself but these days i am in vacation
maky325
Posts: 491
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:08 am

Re: Is external sync of scope 5 synths fixed??

Post by maky325 »

From what i know this is not problem in scope only! It is due external clock(DAW). If you are delivering midi clock from DAW it will always be unstable. There is ton of issues. Check Cubase forum or FL Studio forum. Same thing. Many of us does have same problem. If i set up tempo to 130bpm, sync will always drift to 128 then back to 130 then to 131 etc...some say that external clock (not your DAW) wil give you better result..
User avatar
valis
Posts: 7655
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2001 4:00 pm
Location: West Coast USA
Contact:

Re: Is external sync of scope 5 synths fixed??

Post by valis »

Indeed that has been my experience. Midi clock is especially prone to jitter due to the way the clock signal itself is defined (it's subject to timing fluctuations from other midi data, your OS buffers etc.) But even other syncronization types have their issues with it comes to sample-accurate playback 'glitching'. Try driving Ableton Live from an external clock source (smpte/midi clock or whatever) and listen to the constant clicking & popping in all its glory.

There are ways around having the a delay buffer 'click' when timing fluctuates, but I believe this would be something to fix in the device itself rather than in the Scope OS.

So the idea is to work around the 'problem'...I tend to set tempo on devices manually or automate as necessary rather than attempting to use external midi clock. Even then you need to insure that you wait until your signal has trailed off before doing a change.
User avatar
ARCADIOS
Posts: 1358
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:00 pm
Location: Glyfada, Athens-Greece
Contact:

Re: Is external sync of scope 5 synths fixed??

Post by ARCADIOS »

strange!
i use ableton with external sync and it seems absolutely stable.
i use as master the cme uf7.

it is stable not only via usb, but also via scopes midi dest!!! how can this happen?
i bet it is scope problem.

nomater if send midi clock from a midi source or frm a sequencer..... scope synths cannot keep it stable.


and i bet it is a BUG
User avatar
valis
Posts: 7655
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2001 4:00 pm
Location: West Coast USA
Contact:

Re: Is external sync of scope 5 synths fixed??

Post by valis »

Ableton slaves to midi clock without any glitches? I must admit I've not tried it since v5 but this wasn't with Scope's midi drivers that I had problems...(midisport, motu & midiex made no difference, nor did smpte though it was better.)

Anyway for sure it can be fixed, but the point is many scope effects & synths seem to slave directly to the incoming tempo rather than deriving their own internal clock with some smoothing or tracking function. Also delay lines can be implemented in a way that doesn't click when retiming, but certainly the original stock atoms don't seem to do that here so...we work around.
Post Reply