Volca Bass & Monotribe - syncing at half speed

Nymphomation · Post by **Nymphomation** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 10:16 am

I've have tempo issues when syncing my Volca bass and a Monotribe. I'm going to post this in both Monotribe & Volca forums, as I'm not sure if the issue is with the Volca or the Monotribe.

In the first setup, the MIDI clock is coming from my Electribe ESX, into the Volca Bass, then 'sync' to Monotribe. The Monotribe always plays at half the speed of the Volca and ESX. It's hasn't been upgraded with the v2 firmware, so there is no chance the half tempo option has been activated.

In the second setup, I tried syncing the Volca with a TR707 (using the rimshot output) and Monotribe, and in this instance the Montoribe was fine but the Volca played at double speed.

If anyone could help me with this it would be hugely appreciated!

ashimoke · Post by **ashimoke** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:01 pm

Hi! Are you using stereo cables for sync?

Nymphomation · Post by **Nymphomation** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:37 pm

Yes, I'm using stereo cables for the Sync - is that the problem?

ashimoke · Post by **ashimoke** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:11 pm

Nope, stereo is ok. I thought mono cables may cause this.

Nymphomation · Post by **Nymphomation** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 8:23 pm

Its driving me crazy! I tried just the Monotribe and the Volca, and whichever one is slave SYnc plays at the wrong speed - Volca will play double speed, Monotribe will play at half speed.

WTF?!

ashimoke · Post by **ashimoke** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:43 am

How exactly? You have volca at 1/1 tempo setting: how many steps does monotribe play when volca goes through it's 16 step sequence?

Nymphomation · Post by **Nymphomation** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 10:09 am

Sorry, what do you mean by 1/1 tempo setting?

If the Volca is Master, the Monotribe will play 8 stpes for every 16 the Volca Plays.

If the Montoribe is Master, the Volca will play it's 16 step sequence twice in the time it takes the Monotribe to do 16.

ashimoke · Post by **ashimoke** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 11:18 am

Sorry, I have volca keys where you can devide the tempo - not the case of volca bass.

I think your results are perfectly normal. You have twice the step resolution on your volca then on monotribe but both sequences are intended to be 1 measure / 4 beats long. Difference is that you have 1/16th notes on volcas and 1/8th on monotribe.

At least that!s the case of the original monotribe firmware. In the new one you also get 1/16 notes. Make sure you have the current firmware update and check the manual for information on how to access those even 1/16th notes on the sequencer if needed.

maxpejn · Post by **maxpejn** » Mon May 05, 2014 5:16 pm

Do you know of the MonoTribe's "half tempo" setting? According to the v2.0 "What's new...?" pdf info-file, you can half the tempo of any incoming sync signal on the MT. Try pressing "GATE TIME" + "STEP 8". I believe this might be the issue.

Good luck!

morefun2compute · Post by **morefun2compute** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:09 am

the volcas appear to send/receive one pulse for every two steps (1/8 note pulses) rather than one pulse per step as the manual states. most other hardware syncs on 1/4 note pulses or 1/16 note pulses.

I find it somewhat annoying, but I suspect they did it for this reason: syncing on every 1/4 note is too coarse-grained to keep things in sync if you are changing the tempo while the sequences are playing. and syncing on 1/16 notes makes it very easy to accidentally get two sequencers one step out of sync when manually starting or changing sequences.

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Volca Bass & Monotribe - syncing at half speed

Volca Bass & Monotribe - syncing at half speed

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