How to set Tracktion 2 as MTC slave?

[harmonica1]

I have a very old school tape deck with SMPTE striped on the last track. I'm sending this into a MOTU Midi TimePiece AV and using ClockWorks via USB. I'd like to back up some tape tracks for a future album.

The T2 User's Guide (hard copy out of the box) says "Timecode chasing is discussed in the reference manual on your Tracktion install CD". I may have missed it, but I found virtually nothing in the Reference Manual about it.

From what I've gathered from the two Tracktion forums, I need to:

1. Set the Timecode to match the SMPTE frame rate (30). I also set the Motu MTP via Clockworks to the same.

2. Change timecode offset -- I put it to 01:05:00:00 (where the song starts on the tape.)

3. I set the "midi timecode input device" setting to the enabled MIDI Timepiece AV SYNC Port- input (from
the settings page.)

4. I then clicked on the little padlock in the Transport section -- it's now yellow.

Did I miss something obvious? Is there a "How to.." or a troubleshooting guide somewhere for setting up MTC with T2?

The Motu MTP seems to be responding to the SMPTE code ok, but I'm new to it and the Clockworks software also, so the problem might be with them.

Thanks,
Dave G

Mac OS 10.3.3
Tracktion 2.0.1.2 (I downloaded and tried to install 2.0.1.13, but it wouldn't boot -- I'll save that for a different post).

[Beno]

That sounds set up properly. If the port is sending Timecode then tracktion should simply simply start playing when TC arrives. I would double check your clockworks settings. I haven't used it in a while (OS9) but if I remember correctly, it was less then intuitive to setup.
Ben

[harmonica1]

... but if I remember correctly, it was less then intuitive to setup.
Ben

Beno,

Boy, talk about a quick response! Less than 5 minutes.

My biggest criticism of MOTU has always been their extreme lack of intuitiveness in their products (I gave up on DP a few years ago). I may have to give their support number a call because I'm not getting about 70% of what Clockworks is supposed to do. With any luck, someone with MIDI Timepiece experience will see this post and have something to add. At least you've confirmed that what I've got set up in Tracktion is correct.

By the way Beno, any idea why the latest version of T2 won't run for me? Any known issues with installation I should know about?

Thanks,
Dave

[Beno]

By the way Beno, any idea why the latest version of T2 won't run for me? Any known issues with installation I should know about?

Pretty sure its because you are on 10.3.3 and not 10.3.9. We've seen issues on all panther builds up to 10.3.9. We had user on 10.3.8 that it wouldn't load for and then 10.3.9 fixed him. Is there a reason you are still on the older build?
Ben

[harmonica1]

By the way Beno, any idea why the latest version of T2 won't run for me? Any known issues with installation I should know about?

Pretty sure its because you are on 10.3.3 and not 10.3.9. We've seen issues on all panther builds up to 10.3.9. We had user on 10.3.8 that it wouldn't load for and then 10.3.9 fixed him. Is there a reason you are still on the older build?
Ben

In the last 17 years or so I have learned to live by the old maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" in regards to software and hardware. In this case specifically, I have dedicated an old Mac PPC 7500 with a G3 1 ghz card to doing music (i.e. running Tracktion). I use XPostFacto to boot into OS X. It works great (the newest XPF version will run 10.4, but it is still quite buggy).

10.3.3 is very solid on this machine and my G3 400 Pismo laptop. Unless absolutely necessary, these machines are ready to die with the software and OS's they have on them, they can only be pushed so far. (My wife has a G5 and I keep that one up to date).

Is there some reason a minor bug fix release would require a different OS version. Is it that it's looking for a newer version of QuickTime? I can update that if necessary. And, if completely necessary, I will update to 10.3.9.

Thanks again for your help. I am a huge fan of Tracktion and constantly recommend it. I am by the way, the guy who recently submitted a bug report of the MIDI export ability of Tracktion. Exported files came out at half tempo. Any word on this yet.

Dave
http://www.harmonicalessons.com

[Beno]

Hey Dave,
To be honest, we aren't exactly sure why it isn't woorking for the older OSX.3 versions, but it the build definitely doesn't play nice with anything other 10.3.9 and 10.4.x it seems. Also, I did see your bug report and we had seen it before. Not sure it will make it into the next build as we are just wrapping it up but it is on our list and we won't forget about it.
Ben

[harmonica1]

Hey Dave,
To be honest, we aren't exactly sure why it isn't woorking for the older OSX.3 versions, but it the build definitely doesn't play nice with anything other 10.3.9 and 10.4.x it seems. Also, I did see your bug report and we had seen it before. Not sure it will make it into the next build as we are just wrapping it up but it is on our list and we won't forget about it.
Ben

If that's the case I'll load 10.3.9 later today and hope for the best.

Speaking of bug reports. . .

My only two other problems with Tracktion are:

1. As noted by others in the two forums, the Playback Cursor constantly freezes up in T1.6 and T2 on both my G3's and the G5. I know you know about this, is a fix coming up for this soon?

2. More documentation, FAQs, and "How to's". It took me about 45-60 minutes in the Forums to figure out how to set Tracktion up for MTC slaving. Prior to that I read and re-read the the two T2 manuals and got relatively little about this subject. Any near-future plans for a one-stop T2 info center?

Thanks again for the speedy replies,
Dave