just to throw in my useless half-a-cent here...  :-)

i've been working on a new major piece/project/whatever for some months now, you know that slow process of getting everything chugging away and gradually sculpting it into some kind of presentable shape (as opposed to the "instant off-the-cuff" experiments i've been posting on my site recently). anyway, the major analog sequencing part of it involves master MIDI clock coming from a Manikin Schrittmacher (it *really* likes to be the master; doesn't do so well as slave) sending clock to the MAQ (controlling the old MKS80) and my big A100 system (all networked through a MOTU MIDI Express XT interface). the A100 has a complex sequencer patch set up (2x155, 154, and multiple 150s to make it into a single 32-step sequence; also the second row of knobs on each 155 have their values determined by the individual outs from the 149-2 sub-module of the 149-1 random voltages, so every cycle the sequence is slightly different and semi-randomly variable).


anyway, i was having a hell of a time getting the A100 to lock in with everything else - it was clocking with the Schrittmacher fine, but always seemed a few ms perfectly "off" from it and the other midi sequencers, and i just couldn't get it as tight as i wanted it (and of course my buddy was "i don't hear the error. it sounds fine to me!"). but then i tried something: instead of just relying on the 160 clock dividers, i changed the setting of the internal clock divider in the 190-1 to a slower pulse and turned off every other step on the 155s and voila! suddenly everything gelled wonderfully and it really grooves now! it's not that Kraftwerk-style super-tight robotic perfection, but it has that slightly loose but still synced groove you find in late 70s-era TD & KS. everything is synced perfectly, but it has something of what James just mentioned about a "live band" feel. not necessarily laboratory-spec perfection, but it definitely "feels" right, and
sounds great!  :-)


so just to second what Bakis said, i find the gates from the 190-1 work fine, depending on the setup and the desired result. you just have to do some tweaking and outside-the-box thinking to get the result you want.

-chris
http://ienni.net

(ps- and i am really looking forward to the new 190-8 dedicated MIDI/USB-sync module!)



________________________________
From: Bakis Sirros < synth_freak_2000@... >
To: " Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com " < Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com >
Sent: Friday, May 3, 2013 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: 1 A-190-2 as clock



 
i agree with James, and i repeat that the timing i get from the gates from my midi-cv interface is good enough for me. never had problems with it. OF COURSE, it depends on the midi chain. plus, i use ableton live and i always check and correct any timing i do not like, after the audio has been recorded. and i do not have the midi-cv interface right after the midi out of my computer midi interface... actually, i have it (MCV24) after some midi thru-ins :D

 
Bakis



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