How can you tell if you are in sync mode vs tap tempo mode? Long story short I need the minute subtletieies between knowing which mode you’re in explained to me. Every time I think I know, something inconsistent happens and I spend the whole song second guessing.
I’m using an extremely short, gated-type sound and want to be totally synced with our drummer, who is the Clock Master from a Roland SPD. I am receiving the midi signal fine, and switch into this song from another patch. I have to start the song precisely with him in a short amount of time, so waiting to fine- tune the tap tempo is less than ideal and a bit imprecise.
I want to just use the external sync bc it sounds the best, but I’m following the manual instructions and I can never tell if I’m synced or it’s following the tapping… these notes are very short and fast. It seems like whichever method is happening takes well into the song to really sync up. Part of it is human error but I can hear a distinct difference once it works, but being able to tell up front just based on the lights is really inconsistent.
Is there a way to just save an exact arp tempo with a patch instead of just using the tempo wheel and gauging? If I turn the wheel the tiniest little centimeter when I’m frantically dialing this sound in it jumps to some extreme clock subdivision (which makes me think I’m synced at that point…?) then inevitably some inconsistency takes place with the arp and I start doubting if it was ever synced to begin with bc it starts sounding like a noticeably different tempo via the tap method. It’s like when I want to start hearing the subdivided notes to let me know I’m synced, it just changes the tempo. Same happens with the opposite—when I just want to fine tune the tempo it changes the subdivision. It just so happens that the subdivided straight 16th notes I want to play are located on approximately the same place as the 106 bpm tempo I want. But depending on which mode I’m in (sync or tap), the knob has to be shifted a tiny bit. It seems like I get it fine tuned in my headphones but the moment I really start playing the song, the tempo sounds too fast or too slow and inevitably I’m screwed bc I don’t have a free hand to adjust it.
What order should I do things in? The arp is already on when I turn on the patch; the sync light is on, I hold it for 1 sec to engage tap, then I tap 3-4 times while listening to the click my drummer is sending me, then I twist the tempo knob a tiny bit and it sometimes makes a difference and sometimes not. Then it’s any combination of pressing tap again, tapping the tempo, panicking… its behavior is inconsistent and the differences seem quite subtle to me.. I’m baffled.