Moog Music Forum

I have read the forum posts on syncing a Murf with a drum machine, but I still have a few questions:

1. Can I just use a standard 1/4 inch cable to send an audio signal from my Elektron Machinedrum into the Tap Input of the Murf OR do I need to buy the MuRF Pattern Step Adaptor?

2. In terms of what audio I send from the Machinedrum to the Murf, I think I get it, i.e., something simple and short, three beats so not to "confuse" the Murf. Is that right?

Before I dive in and buy one, I want to make sure I can sync with my beloved Machinedrum. Being a guitarist, this is a must...

Moog tech support replied (very quickly, I might add) as follows:

No you do not need the step adaptor; try using a 1/4" cable directly into
the tempo input. The best audio to send would be a square wave pulse...
something that goes from silent to "all the way on" as rapidly as possible,
then back to silent. This would be the closest to a "tap" on a footswitch,
and the likeliest to work. Three beats is what the MuRF looks at when
setting a new tempo.

The alternate possibility is to use the step adaptor; the clearest
explanation of what it does is that it advances the animation pattern
forward by one beat, each time it is triggered... so it is "stepping
through" the pattern grid, one step per tap. If your Machinedrum can make a sound that works to trigger the tap/step input, instead of sending three pulses to the MuRF you might want to dedicate a "click track" channel and send that to the MuRF while using the step adaptor. That way, each time the Machinedrum sends a click-track pulse, the MuRF steps forward one step... so you are not relying on it's beat-sensing algorithm at all, but instead doing something more like DINSync on the old Roland 303/606 type boxes.

FWIW, I trigger my Voyager fine with one of the impulse machines from my MD. So I reckon the second option Moog told you should work?

MinuteMan - where exactly are the posts on synching to a drum machine? I've posted a similar topic on tap-tempo rhythms, but this seems to be along those same lines. Would a simple metronome work, and would there be a way for one to analyze a rhythm rather than starting one? Sorry to add more questions, but this might actually make thing more simple than "adding a drum track" using a keyboard and separate line.

p.s. - check the tap-tempo listening thread. the clock input part of the step adapter might help out.