Hi all, had my Little Phatty for a little while now and have spent a lot of time learning how to program it etc. My issues have not been with the sound but with the system settings. I've poured over the manual many times and gone thru the steps many times but think I'm either approaching this wrong or it's a current system limitation.
What I'm trying to do is use my Little Phatty with a DAW (Logic, DP etc) All my other synths synch to Beat Clocks perfectly. But for the life of me I cannot figure out how to turn on Synch to MIDI 'Globally'. It seems to be an only a per patch basis. This requires navigating thru many menus and sub menus to turn Synch to MIDI. My normal workflow is while creating a seq in my DAW is I set the synth to synch to external MIDI and simply audition patches to my hearts content and sample the various patches and their arpeggiators while everything is perfectly synched. With the Little Phatty it appears my only option is to go into every patch and save it manually to synch to external MIDI. This sucks for a million obvious time consuming reasons - namely I can never play the Arpeggiator without my sequencer playing and sending MIDI Beat Clocks.
Am I missing something obvious? I feel I must be cause I can't find any posts on it in the Forum.
Thank you for your time.
Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
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digitalwaveform
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:38 pm
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
Hi there!
You're right, the arpeggiator isn't as easy to use as it ought to be. It doesn't have a global layer and won't run in MIDI sync unless clocks are coming in. I am working on fixes for these issues.
For now, you can use the SoundTower Little Phatty editor to change a parameter across all presets - this would allow you rather easily to set all presets to use MIDI sync for the arpeggiator... but you would still need to be sending clock in order to play the arp, in this case.
In the not too distant future there will be an OS 3 for Little Phatty, with a much friendlier arpeggiator. I may not have room to give the arp global controls, but I'll try to. In any case it will certainly have a more user-friendly MIDI Sync behavior. The plan is to run at the internal clock rate until MIDI clocks are detected, and then to switch over to MIDI Sync. When clocks stop it can time out and revert to internal clock. This is the way the Taurus arp works and it's much more fun that way, I think...
Cheers,
Amos
You're right, the arpeggiator isn't as easy to use as it ought to be. It doesn't have a global layer and won't run in MIDI sync unless clocks are coming in. I am working on fixes for these issues.
For now, you can use the SoundTower Little Phatty editor to change a parameter across all presets - this would allow you rather easily to set all presets to use MIDI sync for the arpeggiator... but you would still need to be sending clock in order to play the arp, in this case.
In the not too distant future there will be an OS 3 for Little Phatty, with a much friendlier arpeggiator. I may not have room to give the arp global controls, but I'll try to. In any case it will certainly have a more user-friendly MIDI Sync behavior. The plan is to run at the internal clock rate until MIDI clocks are detected, and then to switch over to MIDI Sync. When clocks stop it can time out and revert to internal clock. This is the way the Taurus arp works and it's much more fun that way, I think...
Cheers,
Amos
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
Another ARP behavior to remember is that once sync to clock the ARP runs at the last recieved clock rate after the clock is stopped. Or maybe that's just a behavior of my sequencer. Sometimes this is helpful other times I wish the arp would stop with the clock. Having the arp run at the internal rate once the midi clock is stopped will cause more undesired results for me than having it run at the same rate as the former midi clock or having it stop when the clock is stopped.
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
OK, I need to figure this out.
Do I understand that you would prefer for the arpeggiator to stop when your MIDI clock stops, when you've been using the arpeggiator in MIDI sync?
Do you prefer that the arpeggiator should be entirely non-operative when in MIDI Sync mode and no clocks are detected?
In this case (arp is on, arp clock source = midi, no MIDI clock is running), what should happen?
Perhaps the keys should play normally (single note per keypress, as when arp is off), then the arpeggiator engages when clock is detected. How does that sound? Alternative/better ideas?
Thanks,
Amos
Do I understand that you would prefer for the arpeggiator to stop when your MIDI clock stops, when you've been using the arpeggiator in MIDI sync?
Do you prefer that the arpeggiator should be entirely non-operative when in MIDI Sync mode and no clocks are detected?
In this case (arp is on, arp clock source = midi, no MIDI clock is running), what should happen?
Perhaps the keys should play normally (single note per keypress, as when arp is off), then the arpeggiator engages when clock is detected. How does that sound? Alternative/better ideas?
Thanks,
Amos
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
I could work with the arp either stopping when the midi clock stops or for it to keep running at the last clock rate. An option to choose would be nice.
Most often stopping with the arp with the clock would be the most useful to me. With the current set up I have to mute the LP as I stop my sequencer in order for it not to spill over. Having it stop would free up another hand. Though this maybe be split amongst users. I have found uses for having it continue, though not as often. Without a choice between clock stop actions I would say leave as it is. Muting while stopping the sequencer can be awkward but if it always stop with the clock then having it spill over would be impossible. A choice with midi CC would be best.
I like the fact that currently if I switch from midi clock to internal then back to midi clock the last midi clock is remember even if my sequencer is stopped.
Another option, when the arp is latched have the arp run at the internal rate if no clock is present when the pattern is keyed in. If the arp is still running at the last clock rate when the clock is stopped the pattern would still play at the last midi clock rate or stop if in stop mode, but if a new pattern is keyed in and the clock is still not present the new pattern would play at the internal rate. When not latched an option between running at the last midi clock rate and switching to the internal rate would be nice. If not latched switching from midi clock to internal with a CC works pretty smooth as is.
On another note, a way to program a rest would be nice.
Most often stopping with the arp with the clock would be the most useful to me. With the current set up I have to mute the LP as I stop my sequencer in order for it not to spill over. Having it stop would free up another hand. Though this maybe be split amongst users. I have found uses for having it continue, though not as often. Without a choice between clock stop actions I would say leave as it is. Muting while stopping the sequencer can be awkward but if it always stop with the clock then having it spill over would be impossible. A choice with midi CC would be best.
I like the fact that currently if I switch from midi clock to internal then back to midi clock the last midi clock is remember even if my sequencer is stopped.
Another option, when the arp is latched have the arp run at the internal rate if no clock is present when the pattern is keyed in. If the arp is still running at the last clock rate when the clock is stopped the pattern would still play at the last midi clock rate or stop if in stop mode, but if a new pattern is keyed in and the clock is still not present the new pattern would play at the internal rate. When not latched an option between running at the last midi clock rate and switching to the internal rate would be nice. If not latched switching from midi clock to internal with a CC works pretty smooth as is.
On another note, a way to program a rest would be nice.
Last edited by Sir Nose on Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
How about if it were switchable via menu item. So if RUN CLOCK=Yes, then clock continues at last known Midi rate. Else, it stops cold.
That's my vote.
Come on, Amos, you have 67 bytes left... one word... optimize!
That's my vote.
Come on, Amos, you have 67 bytes left... one word... optimize!
'76 Minimoog, Taurus 3, Oberheim FVS + Son of 2-voice; Sequential ProOne; Juno 106; Moog Model 15; Kurzweil 250; Hammond M3; and a handful of Fender Basses Flickr!
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digitalwaveform
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:38 pm
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
Wondering if anyone has a status update on a new Little Phatty OS? I did a search and don't see anything - still dealing with this issue from October...
digitalwaveform wrote:Hi all, had my Little Phatty for a little while now and have spent a lot of time learning how to program it etc. My issues have not been with the sound but with the system settings. I've poured over the manual many times and gone thru the steps many times but think I'm either approaching this wrong or it's a current system limitation.
What I'm trying to do is use my Little Phatty with a DAW (Logic, DP etc) All my other synths synch to Beat Clocks perfectly. But for the life of me I cannot figure out how to turn on Synch to MIDI 'Globally'. It seems to be an only a per patch basis. This requires navigating thru many menus and sub menus to turn Synch to MIDI. My normal workflow is while creating a seq in my DAW is I set the synth to synch to external MIDI and simply audition patches to my hearts content and sample the various patches and their arpeggiators while everything is perfectly synched. With the Little Phatty it appears my only option is to go into every patch and save it manually to synch to external MIDI. This sucks for a million obvious time consuming reasons - namely I can never play the Arpeggiator without my sequencer playing and sending MIDI Beat Clocks.
Am I missing something obvious? I feel I must be cause I can't find any posts on it in the Forum.
Thank you for your time.
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gabestigmatic
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:38 pm
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
I've had huge issues with getting the MIDI clock to work at all. I'm using Pro Tools 8 and still can't seem to figure it out. I have the ARP set to receive MIDI clock and the LFO set to internal. It seems that Beat clock is being sent to the LP from what the settings say in PT.
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digitalwaveform
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:38 pm
Re: Issue with synching to Midi Beat Clocks
Yaa, this is very disappointing. In today's DAW production everything is synched, every VI, every effect etc. The LP implementation feels 20yrs old and is uber frustrating when everything else plays so well with each piece of gear. I was really, really hoping this would be resolved at this point. It's such a drag and a creativity killer. Try working on a track with a bunch of musicians and have to dip into menus to get a patch locked in. They just look at you and say things like, 'my XXX synth from '98 can do this no problem, what's up?' frustrating.