hi,
I am using live since some months and I love it. The other day a friend brought me his roland mc303 groovebox and we tried to sync it to live on my ibook, but we did not make it. I never worked with midi gear, I always have been recording audio only, therefore I do not have any experience with that.
What we have: ibook G4 with Live 3.04, M-audio Ozone as audio and midi interface and the roland groovebox mc303.
Someone her can give me a step by step advice how to manage that the groovebox plays in synchronicity with my live-tracks?
thanks a lot in advance
sync live and groovebox
I gave my mc303 to my son 5 years ago, but if I remember well, there is nothing like a proper slave sync mode on this otherwise marvelous instrument. You have to switch it on while holding a now long forgotten key combination (it´s in the manual), so to put it in slave mode. But then it becomes a very plain dull expander, as the beloved knobs and switches will not operate anymore.
But actually I used to have a lot of fun jamming my mc303 and other gear along with my pals, without any synchro. It demands a bit of training, as the venerable groovebox´s clock is less than accurate, and even worse is the tap button. But it also renders the jamming much, much more lively. There is nothing like kicks running after each other, IMHO. Give it a try, you will love it... or hate it.
OTOH, I use an mc505 since the retirement of my first groovebox, and I would advise any Live user seeing one passing by, to throw at it the ridiculously few bucks that it now costs on the second hand market. The sync is fine, be it as master or slave, and
A) if when played alone, it does sound Roland too much, when it is well processed in a mix, its sounds are excellent. Drums n percs of course, but many forget that it is also a quite powerful synth, very musical.
B) it is an excellent MIDI controller, be it for Live or for soft synths. All the useful knobs are there, well laid out, and already labeled so you wont need a cardboard overlay.
C) when your computer goes weee, your groovebox is laughing and keeps playing. It saved my butt a few times from being hung high by an overwarm crew of dancers, for it prevented too long a silence in my mix, you see what I mean. It´ll never let you down, and if you don´t bath with it every day, it will keep serving you for years. Solid gear.
Stay safe,
Jajah
But actually I used to have a lot of fun jamming my mc303 and other gear along with my pals, without any synchro. It demands a bit of training, as the venerable groovebox´s clock is less than accurate, and even worse is the tap button. But it also renders the jamming much, much more lively. There is nothing like kicks running after each other, IMHO. Give it a try, you will love it... or hate it.
OTOH, I use an mc505 since the retirement of my first groovebox, and I would advise any Live user seeing one passing by, to throw at it the ridiculously few bucks that it now costs on the second hand market. The sync is fine, be it as master or slave, and
A) if when played alone, it does sound Roland too much, when it is well processed in a mix, its sounds are excellent. Drums n percs of course, but many forget that it is also a quite powerful synth, very musical.
B) it is an excellent MIDI controller, be it for Live or for soft synths. All the useful knobs are there, well laid out, and already labeled so you wont need a cardboard overlay.
C) when your computer goes weee, your groovebox is laughing and keeps playing. It saved my butt a few times from being hung high by an overwarm crew of dancers, for it prevented too long a silence in my mix, you see what I mean. It´ll never let you down, and if you don´t bath with it every day, it will keep serving you for years. Solid gear.
Stay safe,
Jajah
-
grrrooveboxer
mc303 typewriting
hehe, that is exactly what we did all the time. My friend has become a type of groovebox-typewriter. And as an anarchist i shouldn't have slaves anyhow. no?Jajah wrote:But actually I used to have a lot of fun jamming my mc303 and other gear along with my pals, without any synchro. It demands a bit of training, as the venerable groovebox´s clock is less than accurate, and even worse is the tap button. But it also renders the jamming much, much more lively. There is nothing like kicks running after each other, IMHO. Give it a try, you will love it... or hate it.
but thanks a lot for your comment!!
-
Winterpark
- Posts: 1671
- Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:59 am
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
can't give you step by step exactly, but i can point you in the right direction...
you've got to use the groovebox as the master clock, and have Live synced to it.
i havn't played with one in years, but, it's my recollection that it doesn't accept midi sync? i could be way off.
but hey, hook it'sw midi out to you midi in - into computer, make sure live has external sync is enabled, and try it out.
-am
you've got to use the groovebox as the master clock, and have Live synced to it.
i havn't played with one in years, but, it's my recollection that it doesn't accept midi sync? i could be way off.
but hey, hook it'sw midi out to you midi in - into computer, make sure live has external sync is enabled, and try it out.
-am
am is right, and I was wrong. My brain cell fatigues maybe 
. I happen to still have the manual and synchro is right here, in "System settings", SY1 (receive) and SY2 (send). Though, I think I remember why it was not suitable for jamming:
A) The gb MIDI Mode is always/only "OMNI". As a slave the mc303 will play anything coming to its MIDI in along with the clock. Not a real problem with Live if you have a dedicated MIDI port for the sync out, tho.
B) Once in slave mode, the sequencer is... slaved, all command buttons are disabled. No record, no free start/stop. I even wonder if you can still switch patterns, can´t remember for sure.
C) The opposite of above. When master, it will send start/stop/continue messages. You dont want the music to stop each time the grooveboxer has a new idea to write in, do you?
Well, I apologize for having misled you with my previous post, and as am, I invite you to give it a try.
Good luck,
Jajah
. I happen to still have the manual and synchro is right here, in "System settings", SY1 (receive) and SY2 (send). Though, I think I remember why it was not suitable for jamming:A) The gb MIDI Mode is always/only "OMNI". As a slave the mc303 will play anything coming to its MIDI in along with the clock. Not a real problem with Live if you have a dedicated MIDI port for the sync out, tho.
B) Once in slave mode, the sequencer is... slaved, all command buttons are disabled. No record, no free start/stop. I even wonder if you can still switch patterns, can´t remember for sure.
C) The opposite of above. When master, it will send start/stop/continue messages. You dont want the music to stop each time the grooveboxer has a new idea to write in, do you?
Well, I apologize for having misled you with my previous post, and as am, I invite you to give it a try.
Good luck,
Jajah
-
grooveboxer
no sync necessary
well, thank you for the tips. we will try it out, but with the limitations you spoke of ... it would not be the way of jamming that we hoped to achieve. Actually we only need some bass-loops from the groovebox and it's so easy to just record them with live and let them play as clips...