KVR Audio

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:23 pm

I'm surprised we don't have a dedicated thread on this yet.

Anyway, feel free to talk about it. Post your experiences and ask questions.

My question for today is:

Can I sync two computers up using it? I'd like to use Cubase on my main DAW and Live on another. I'd rather not have the restrictions imposed by ReWire, hence the interest in ICSGII.
I have Googled, but "two" and "computers" don't really add anything to a search because these words would usually be used at all times when talking about it.

EDIT: Sure I can ask them directly, but I believe the poor cat's in hospital ATM.

fragmentated · Post by **fragmentated** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:46 pm

Syncing two computers with it wouldn't really work that well based on my experience with the device. It sends start, stop, and clock information. Assuming cubase was your master, it would not be able to send position information to ableton - does that make sense? It's main purpose is syncing and locking external hardware sequencers and groove boxes to your daw.

Unfortunately rewire would be the better option here.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:01 pm

fragmentated wrote:Syncing two computers with it wouldn't really work that well based on my experience with the device. It sends start, stop, and clock information. Assuming cubase was your master, it would not be able to send position information to ableton - does that make sense? It's main purpose is syncing and locking external hardware sequencers and groove boxes to your daw.

Unfortunately rewire would be the better option here.

Ah interesting, thanks.

I would like to harness the CPU power of both PC's, plus I'd like all the functionality of Live (which isn't possible under Rewire).

If I intended to just use Session view though, this would work then yes?
(ie, there's no position information).

ZenPunkHippy · Post by **ZenPunkHippy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:08 pm

Syncing 2 different computers is not really what Sync Gen is for.

It *could* work - the clock you get from the Sync Gen is basically rock solid - the difficultly will be how well Cubase or Live sync to the external clock signal.

Not sure about Cubase, but I know Live works much better when it's master (outputting clock to hardware). People have all sorts of timing problems when attempting to sync Live to a hardware sequencer (it comes up a lot on various hardware forums).

Might also be worth checking out the new Roland sync box. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Dave from Inner Clock also works for Roland, so I'd guess that he's been at least partially responsible for it's design. It's still not cheap, but cheaper than the Sync Gen.

http://www.roland.com/products/en/SBX-1/

Peace,
Andy.

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:40 pm

Why do you need both computers synced ?
Can't you just trigger clips or whatever in Ableton using MIDI notes sent from Cubase ?

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:49 pm

ZenPunkHippy wrote:Syncing 2 different computers is not really what Sync Gen is for.

It *could* work - the clock you get from the Sync Gen is basically rock solid - the difficultly will be how well Cubase or Live sync to the external clock signal.

Not sure about Cubase, but I know Live works much better when it's master (outputting clock to hardware). People have all sorts of timing problems when attempting to sync Live to a hardware sequencer (it comes up a lot on various hardware forums).

Might also be worth checking out the new Roland sync box. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Dave from Inner Clock also works for Roland, so I'd guess that he's been at least partially responsible for it's design. It's still not cheap, but cheaper than the Sync Gen.

http://www.roland.com/products/en/SBX-1/

Peace,
Andy.

I have had my eye on this Sync Box but as you know have been very close to purchasing the Inner Clock too. I'll definitely get one for my hardware, I was just hoping I could utilise it in this way also.

You're right though, I'm not sure how Live would respond. But as I said above, it's not my primary purpose so no loss if it doesn't work out.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:50 pm

Acid Mitch wrote:Why do you need both computers synced ?
Can't you just trigger clips or whatever in Ableton using MIDI notes sent from Cubase ?

I've tried that and it's completely unusable. The sync is absolutely horrendous.

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:52 pm

fragmentated wrote:Syncing two computers with it wouldn't really work that well based on my experience with the device. It sends start, stop, and clock information. Assuming cubase was your master, it would not be able to send position information to ableton - does that make sense?

I don;t hace a sync gen, but I've seen several other people mention it sends SPP along with the MIDI clock. SPP is song position pointer which is "position information".

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:58 pm

Mushy Mushy wrote:
Acid Mitch wrote:Why do you need both computers synced ?
Can't you just trigger clips or whatever in Ableton using MIDI notes sent from Cubase ?
I've tried that and it's completely unusable. The sync is absolutely horrendous.

That's not so good.
I can trigger clips in FLstudio like that with no problems. I set FLstudio and my Cirklon to the same BPM and just have Cirklon send notes to Fruity. No sync involved and it stays in time.

fragmentated · Post by **fragmentated** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:02 pm

Acid Mitch wrote:
I don;t hace a sync gen, but I've seen several other people mention it sends SPP along with the MIDI clock. SPP is song position pointer which is "position information".

What it will do is hold until the next bar/measure and then send start/sync information to the sequencer - more like in a pattern based sense. If you are trying to line up/sync the timeline in two daws together - that it won't do.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:08 pm

Acid Mitch wrote:That's not so good.
I can trigger clips in FLstudio like that with no problems. I set FLstudio and my Cirklon to the same BPM and just have Cirklon send notes to Fruity. No sync involved and it stays in time.

Ha, was just about to reply to your PM

Come to think of it though, I may have misunderstood.

What I’m currently doing is setting my Cubase DAW to Master, and Live laptop to Slave and have connected both via MIDI.
The Cubase transport therefore starts and stops Live, and it is this that is completely out of whack.

However, I believe you’re saying just send it notes. Hmmmm…. Will play with this tonight. Thx

ZenPunkHippy · Post by **ZenPunkHippy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:10 pm

One thing you could try that's free - if both machines are on the same LAN: rtpMIDI. It can send MIDI via the network instead of using hardware + cables. Requires Apple Bonjour (which you may or may not want on your main machine, but I don't think it would cause any problems).

The MIDI over LAN connection looks like any other MIDI interface in your host - select it and choose to send notes, sync etc.

http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi.html

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:14 pm

fragmentated wrote: If you are trying to line up/sync the timeline in two daws together - that it won't do.

Why not ?
I've had linear sequencers that respond to SPP just fine.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:16 pm

ZenPunkHippy wrote:One thing you could try that's free - if both machines are on the same LAN: rtpMIDI. It can send MIDI via the network instead of using hardware + cables. Requires Apple Bonjour (which you may or may not want on your main machine, but I don't think it would cause any problems).

The MIDI over LAN connection looks like any other MIDI interface in your host - select it and choose to send notes, sync etc.

http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi.html

Ooooh this looks interesting. Will try it tonight also.
Both computers already have Bonjour (due to iTunes), so that's no issue.

I presume the benefit over standard MIDI is the speed and therefore latency.
The two PC's are already networked together anyway.

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:19 pm

Mushy Mushy wrote: However, I believe you’re saying just send it notes. Hmmmm…. Will play with this tonight. Thx

Aye, that's it. Just notes with no sync.

Inner Clock Sync-Gen II