R3 Controlled by an ER-1 MIDI data to PC issue. (help query)

[Avon Fox]

I've been reading around and hopefully done enough testing and trial and error to ask the right things.

Basically I want to be able to press 'PLAY' on the ER-1, have it send MIDI data to the R3 and in turn have it kick off the 'record' function in Acid Pro.

It mostly works but something's not right. The ER-1 can play the soft synth in Acid Pro but not start the recording.

All details and trials below and any help is VERY appreciated as I'm pulling my hair out on this one, I'm also fairly new to all this.

Thanks guy!

My set up is as follows:

KORG ER-1 (drum machine) –MIDI in & out cables to
KORG R3 (keyboard) - MIDI-USB -> to a PC running Acid Pro 6.

What works:

With just the ER-1 and R3 linked together (no PC) the drum machine controls the R3 perfectly, setting tempo, stopping / starting the arpeggiator and playing the notes it should.

With the R3 synth connected to the PC it can play the Soft Synth in Acid Pro fine and the notes on & off register as below in MIDI-OX.

TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT
00070616 1 2 99 24 74 10 C 2 Note On
00070616 1 3 99 24 74 10 C 2 Note On
00070616 1 4 99 24 74 10 C 2 Note On
00070624 1 2 89 24 40 10 C 2 Note Off
00070624 1 3 89 24 40 10 C 2 Note Off
00070624 1 4 89 24 40 10 C 2 Note Off

With the drum machine connected to the synth and the synth connected to Acid Pro the drum machine can play the Soft Synth as well just fine.

So that’s all good.

What I want to do is be able to press ‘PLAY’ on the ER-1 drum machine and have it start the recording on Acid Pro. I don’t want to record the MIDI data (can if it has to, I’ll dump it later) but rather record actual audio input.
Audio recording works fine if I click record manually.

Acid Pro is set as follows:

I’ve installed a ‘Generic Control’ surface under Extended Control & Automation and ‘External Control’ is on.
R3 1 MIDI IN and R3 1 KBD/KNOB are available in the MIDI device options are all ticked and were possible set to ‘Auto’.
I’ve readied a new audio track and armed it for record.
I’ve set the Time Code to ‘Trigger from MIDI Timecode’ and it reports “MIDI Time Code – Waiting…”
I’ve also got it flagged for MIDI Time Code In and Automation ‘read’ is on.

MIDI-OX reports the note on / off but doesn’t seem to report any sort of ‘start’ or MIDI clock information.

I’ve tried the synth on channel 1 as well as 10 (the drum machine’s native) and swapped them around with no luck.

MIDI-OX also reports on all channels so it should read it regardless, even if Acid Pro was set up wrong.

When I kick off the Arppegiator on the synth MIDI-OX reports:

TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT
0007121D 2 -- F0 Buffer: 12 Bytes System Exclusive
SYSX: F0 42 30 7D 41 60 00 00 00 0E 01 F7
00071263 2 -- F0 Buffer: 12 Bytes System Exclusive
SYSX: F0 42 30 7D 41 60 00 00 00 0F 01 F7

…but doesn’t start Acid Pro.

When press stop on Drum machine (running through the synth) it reports exactly the same.
When I change the tempo on the synth MIDI-OX reports the changes but when I change the tempo on the drum machine there’s no data reported, even though it does change the tempo on the synth.

BUT, when I press ‘PLAY’ on the drum machine, nothing is picked up by MIDI-OX but clearly ‘start’ and ‘time’ data is being picked up by the synth.

I should add that I’ve made no changes so the ‘Generic Control’ in Acid Pro and I’m not sure if I have to and even if I did, there doesn’t seem to be anything for it to pick up anyway.
I did toy with setting the ‘transport.rec’ to ‘note on’ and getting it to ‘learn’ one of the notes on the drum machine and when that note plays, sent through the synth, Acid Pro does start recording automatically but unfortunately, when the drum machine loops it toggles record off again.
If I could just get it to stay on and not toggle it off / on each time that alone would solve my problem.

Does the R3 not send the needed ‘start’ or ‘MIDI clock or time’ data via USB, only via actual MIDI cables?
OR
Does the R3 not pass incoming MIDI time or ‘start’ codes onto the next device or maybe not via USB?
Do I have to do anything with the ‘Generic Control’ surface to get it to work?
Is there a Korg R3 or ER-1 (or Korg generic) control surface I need to install; like the Makenzie one?

For those who understand this a lot more than I, this is the ‘Device Info’ report out of MIDI-OX:

Device Info

TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT
DEVICE INFORMATION
IN: 1) R3 1 MIDI IN
IN: 2) R3 1 KBD/KNOB
OUT: 2) R3 1 MIDI OUT
In: 1) R3 1 MIDI IN
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
In: 2) R3 1 KBD/KNOB
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
In: MIDI-OX Events
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
OUT: 3) R3 1 SOUND
In: 1) R3 1 MIDI IN
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
In: 2) R3 1 KBD/KNOB
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
In: MIDI-OX Events
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
OUT: 4) MIDI Mapper
In: 1) R3 1 MIDI IN
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
In: 2) R3 1 KBD/KNOB
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx
In: MIDI-OX Events
Details/Chan: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,CM,RT,Sx