How should the MuRF handle MIDI Sync when you toggle from Bypass to Active?
- Option 1 - don’t change anything about pattern sync while in bypass
- Option 2 - keep locked on the beat but restart pattern at step 1 when toggle to Active
- Option 3 - stay in MIDI clock sync but set a new downbeat the moment you switch to Active
Hello again,
I am putting the finishing touches on a new firmware for MF-105M MIDI MuRF.
One thing I noticed is that if you are synchronized to MIDI clock and you put the pedal in Bypass,
when you come back from Bypass to Active mode there is a stutter in the clock sync.
This is easy to fix - in fact, I have fixed it. But there are several valid things the MuRF could do in this situation. I’d like to ask the user community (you, dear Reader) what would be best.
Basically there are three options:
1.) Keep pattern exactly in sync while in Bypass, so when you return to Active mode the pattern is on exactly the beat at exactly the pattern step it would have been if you had never gone into Bypass mode.
Essentially this is like slamming the mix to 100% dry, without any effect on pattern sync in the process.
2.) Keep pattern steps exactly on the same beat, but re-start the pattern on step 1 any time you switch from Bypass back to Active mode. This way the pattern never falls off-beat, and if you come out of Bypass a little early or late it won’t affect the rhythm – however, you re-start the pattern to the beginning on the next beat after switching to Active mode. This is a little bit like what happens on the MuRF when you are not in MIDI sync – any time you switch from Bypass to Active while on the internal clock, it restarts beat one of the pattern.
3.) Resynchronize everything the instant you switch from Bypass to Active (“set a new downbeat”) – this option is the most similar to how the MuRF behaves when not in MIDI Sync. The moment you switch into Active mode, you set the downbeat of pattern step one and everything is synchronized to that moment. This is also how MIDI Sync behaves when you have played any of the filters using MIDI notes, thus stopping the pattern clock, and you then press F above Middle C (Midi note 65) to restart the pattern. What happens then is that the very next MIDI clock received becomes “the downbeat,” and clock sync resumes counting from that moment.
The advantage to option 3 is that it creates a unified behavior; any time you switch from Bypass to Active you are setting a new downbeat at exactly that moment. Also, you can redefine the groove on the fly by using Bypass to change the phase of the pattern (relative to the rest of your arrangement). The disadvantage is that this could be too much power – it requires the player to punch out of bypass at exactly the moment they mean to, or it could throw off the groove.
Option 1 is the easiest to use live, because you can toggle in and out of Bypass all you want and it has no effect at all on pattern sync; if it was right to begin with, it stays right. But this is also the most limiting behavior, because if the timing isn’t right to begin with, you can’t fix it by hitting Bypass and then punching back in on the beat. With simplicity you have limitations.
So, what’ll it be? I understand it’s not the same to read about these options as it is to try them yourself, but I think the above descriptions sum it up pretty accurately.
If any MIDI MuRF users have access to a Windows computer (beta firmware updater is windows only) and want to try this stuff for yourselves, please let me know and I’ll be glad to send you an update.
Thanks very much,
Amos
