syncing trax - midi?

[Glenn Mitchell]

Ok I'm just about ready to start MIDI learning. (about time right?)
I mostly learn thru doing so:
subject = syncing trax to start recording.
I have a drum machine (DR880) with midi
I have a BR800 with midi
I have a midi cable.
I often bring in trax sequentially. eg drum track then bass track so they won't be mixed together.
Starting both the drum machine and the recorder at the same time is hit and miss.
Isn't there a MIDI method where the recorder or the drum machine controls both?
You can probably tell I'm totally ignorant how to do this so really simple instructions would help me not get scared off again.
Thanks in advance.

[64Guitars]

I have a drum machine (DR880) with midi
I have a BR800 with midi
I have a midi cable.

Unfortunately, the BR-800 has no midi connectors, so there's nowhere to connect your midi cable. I suspect that it supports some degree of midi over USB but I've seen no documentation for that. Depending on its midi over USB implementation, it might be possible to use the BR-800 as the midi master controlling a software DAW such as SONAR which is set up to be the midi slave. If that works, then you could probably connect the DR-880 to your computer via a USB midi interface and control it from the BR-800 (through SONAR) as an additional midi slave. But it might not work at all, depending on the BR-800's midi implementation.

I haven't seen a midi implementation document for the BR-800, though there is such a document available for the BR-80.

http://www.roland.com/products/en/_support/om.cfm?PRODUCT=BR%2D80

Based on that document, I don't think the BR-80 would be able to do it because it doesn't support System Realtime Messages or MIDI Machine Control. But, you never know, the BR-800's midi over USB implementation might be better than the BR-80's. You could try requesting the BR-800 midi implementation document from Roland.

[hooper]

I do something similar with Sonar set up as 'master' and my SR-16 drum machine set up as 'slave'. It was necessary to go in Sonar under MIDI Output Options|Project and check a box to 'Transmit MIDI Start/Stop/Clock.  Then go to the MIDI setup on the SR-16 and set it to 'Recieve MIDI TimeCode'  There is a cable from the PC MIDI OUT that goes to the SR-16 MIDI IN.

This way when I hit Play in Sonar, the drum machine starts simultaneously. Also, if I change the BPM tempo in Sonar... the SR-16 will allow that to override the BPM setting on the drum machine.

So, if you can't set up something similar between the br800 and your drum machine, perhaps you can do it by using the Sonar lite package that came with the 800.  Maybe could be a sweet setup if you had the drum machine slaved to Sonar and the br800 set up as a control surface for Sonar.

[Glenn Mitchell]

Drat. The USB for the drums is only for backups I think.
There is no MIDI out or in on my computer or my BR800
(I do have Sonar x1 studio)
I guess I'm stuck.
no biggie tho I can sync the trax fairly easily in Sonar, just not in the BR800
I guess I'd need a separate controller with midi in the chain.
Thanks guys

[64Guitars]

There is no MIDI out or in on my computer

But you could add midi In/Out to your computer with an inexpensive USB midi interface.

http://www.sweetwater.com/c679--Portable_MIDI_Interfaces/low2high

I prefer the ones without attached cables. That way, if a cable goes bad, you can easily replace it.

Maybe something like this:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MIDISport1x1/

As hooper suggested, even if you can't get the BR-800 to control everything, it might be useful just to have SONAR controlling your drum machine. And it would be a good introduction to the world of midi. If you later manage to get the BR-800 controlling the drum machine through SONAR, that would be a nice bonus. Although, I think you might need a midi interface that has MIDI THRU in order for that to work (the M-Audio interface in the link above just has IN and OUT, no THRU). But I'm not certain about the need for THRU. You wouldn't need THRU if you're just controlling the drum machine directly from SONAR, but I'm not sure if you would need it to control the drum machine from the BR-800 'thru' SONAR. Maybe hooper knows?

[Glenn Mitchell]

Huh! That's pretty cool and affordable.
So to recap.
I'd plug my computer USB out to this and then this to the Drums with MIDI cable.
Then sonar X studio should (magically-as per Hooper) control the drum start thru midi?
This does sound like a good intro to MIDI

[64Guitars]

So to recap.
I'd plug my computer USB out to this and then this to the Drums with MIDI cable.
Then sonar X studio should (magically-as per Hooper) control the drum start thru midi?

Yep. Just make sure that SONAR and the drum machine are on the same midi channel. For drums, that's usually channel 10. And make the other settings that hooper suggested. Then, when you click the Start button in SONAR, your SONAR tracks and the DR-880 will start playing at exactly the same time.

[Oldrottenhead]

we hope 

[hooper]

Maybe before you go too far, verify that your drum machine can be set to 'Receive MIDI Timecode'  (or whatever they wanna call it on your machine)   

[Oldrottenhead]

i meant we hoop