Making Tracks: Wild Sync

Jul 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By David Battino

MAKE EVERYTHING GROOVY BY TURNING OFF THAT ATOMIC CLOCK

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Step 1: To tempo-sync two devices that transmit and respond to MIDI Clock, connect the MIDI Out of the master to the MIDI In of the slave and set the slave to External Sync mode.

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Step 2: Here, the master computer is running Ableton Live and transmitting MIDI Clock, and the slave is running Propellerhead Reason and is set to receive sync. A single MIDI cable connects them.

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Step 3: Macs have a network MIDI driver built in; find it from the Audio MIDI Setup program and you can sync multiple computers over Ethernet.

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Step 4: The compact ipMIDI driver adds Ethernet ports to your music programs. Here, I’m controlling Live on my Mac from my PC. The tempo varied slightly, but I was using Wi-Fi.

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Step 5: Live’s Tempo Nudge buttons temporarily lower or raise the tempo so you can get back in sync with other players.

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Step 6: Inspired by dub-style echoes, SoundToys EchoBoy plug-in includes a knob called Rushin Draggin that slides echoes around the beat.