Synchronising four track tape recorder to MIDI clock w/ Yamaha YMC10 Midi Converter & MT-50 recorder

[@duncan-rmi]

korg KMS-30 here, but this brought back memories.... fostex 160, the korg, some korg drum-machines, an MC202 & a TB303 driving moogs.

[@akozero]

Nice!!! That tbf sounds like an amazing set up! Analogue power and fury. Foster 160s are great recorders too. If you have any recordings of that rig online I'd love to check them out 🙌🙌

[@duncan-rmi]

@@akozero this sounds a bit more boom-tish than it did when I finished it, probably because of the Mtv audio path being a bit loudnessy! 😂 korg ddm-110 & ddm-220, both a bit cct bent, & the 202/303 combination. the other keys are a juno-60 with a fuzzbox on it.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/api5mIhjaZJ3jJo

[@duncan-rmi]

& this one, no drum machines, but the same rig otherwise, + a mellotron. 303 is driving a moog rogue, iirc. I had to fill up the whole of its pattern memory *&* do a da capo to make the piece long enough. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKnEXphprZ6KfLc

[@duncan-rmi]

the harp sample is in a prophet 2002 & I think by this point I was syncing the whole mess up with an alesis mmt8 too. there's a pro-1 in there. the mellotron is all hand-played. I still have the cassette with three tracks on it, laid it off to 1/4" to add the mellotron (live) in one take. on the basis of this one track, we (as a trio- the other two aren't on this) got our first proper distribution deal in 1995.

[@akozero]

Love the track! Sounds amazing, I vibed hard to it. Also props for getting on MTV too, that's mega! The mellotron sounds great too as do all the synths tbf! (Moog rogues are imho underrated AF). Interesting to hear you used 303s for sequencing, do things like the tied glide notes carry over to other synths over CV? Throughly enjoyed, liked and Subbed! I've got an MMT8 too actually. Such a good sequencer, bought it a few years ago to go 'DAWless' with my old dark wave band, but realised that ableton's MIDI clock was far too unstable to just bouce tracks into it from my laptop (and have them sound tight enough with the rest of the gear) as I had hoped too. ended up getting a Casio FD-1 midi player instead and making multitrack type 0 MIDI files to playback on that instead (which was a whole misadventure in midi editors and formatting floppies in win98 - was rock solid at gigs though tbf ). Gonna do a video on the MMT8 soon, great sequencer, love the track mute buttons. Such a good interface.

[@breadbarn]

This is rad, really appreciate the in-depth explanations and breakdown of all the connections.

[@akozero]

Thanks bud! I'm really pleased to hear you liked the vid. This whole longer KZbin video tutorial thing , so the kind words are appreciated ❤

[@MichaelJ023]

Nice to see this is still being done this way. I used to use a YCM10 years ago to sync my drum machines and Cakewalk to my 4-track. The nice thing is you don’t need a YCM10 to do this. I fumbled around and discovered that you can record the sync pulse from a simple drum machine like a Behringer RD-6, or the audio sync pulse from a Sonicware Lofi-12 onto a track on the 4-track. Then by using the recorded pulse into the RD-6, or Lofi-12, you get a synced midi out from those devices that syncs right up with the 4-track.

[@akozero]

Sounds like a fun setup, I've got an Atari ST so I was thinking about trying that same idea but using the ST and cubase. Actually that's a really interesting point about using the synch pulse! I think I might have 1 drum machine that takes trig/sync pulses (and a JX3P with a sequencer that can run on that). I didn't realise that the pulse was in an acceptable voltage/current range for audio recorders so that's really good to know. Anyway thanks for checking out the vid and for the suggestion!

[@MichaelJ023]

I had to play with the recording levels to get it right, and I believe the lofi-12 did better at syncing to the pulse since it has a feature called Audio Pulse, where the synth audio is on the Right Channel and the sync is on the Left. However I got both to work. The coolest thing was that when I have the RD-6 set to external sync pulse, it still outputs midi clock that is now in sync with the pulse. So all my gear could use midi sync after the RD-6.

[@timandtheocean]

@@MichaelJ023 Oooh this is cool, I just send a YMC10 back that did not output any sync signal. I wil try your RD-6 trick with an Tascam 244

[@wehappyfewmusic]

Great tutorial, I keep meaning to try this tape sync thing out.

[@akozero]

Thanks bud! Super pleased you liked it and thanks for the kind words too! Yeah it took me 4 years to get raound to trying it, I assumed it would be a lot more hassle then it actually was. Also surprisingly reliable from what I could tell

[@VultureCulture]

Thank you for this in depth tutorial! Also the track fuckin slaps!

[@akozero]

Thanks bud!! Glad you liked it (and the track too!), I really appreciate the kind words 🙌❤️❤️❤️

[@technelligence]

nice to see this in action:)

[@akozero]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed 🙌🙌🙌

[@Metamerist625]

This is neat, I had no idea that it was even possible. I have learned something today!

[@akozero]

Thanks! Pleased you liked the vid, the kind words mean a lot. Yeah it's a pretty crazy how well it actually works and there are a whole bunch of different tape synch generators out there, they all seem to work roughly the same. You can do it with reel to reel tape recorders too which I think would be very cool!

[@Metamerist625]

@@akozero no problem, keep up the interesting work! I followed a band called Skinny Puppy for a long time who were renowned for making very complicated compositions using a blend of analog and digital gear. This was mid 80s to mid 90s, I remember them describing something similar with a 12 track tape system in the studio. I did not understand at the time but I think your video has given me an insight.... 🤔 I love seeing older equipment being put to good use like this too. As a society we are so quick to dismiss old yet perfectly good technology.

[@akozero]

Nice! Yeah I'm a huge fan of skinny puppy! The stuff they make is crazy. Really inspired me when I was first getting into electronic music. Absolutely crazy sounds! Regarding your second point about old gear. I couldn't agree more. I'm really into the idea of repurposing / re-using and cicular economy. We waste too much perfectly good stuff to satisfy the churn of consumerism, plus using a miscellaneous selection of old gear makes you work in some interesting ways which is both interesting and can have some really great and unexpected results

[@poofygoof]

the "sync mode" disables all noise reduction from track 4, so there's no dbx or dolby to interfere with the sync signal. I'm curious how much bleed you get on track 3 from the sync signal?

[@akozero]

Hmm that's a good question regarding bleed. I believe the MT50 manual and/or the YMC10 advises avoiding recording audio on track 3, when using track 4 for sync which indicates there is either problems with the sync caused by the sync signal getting bleed from the audio or there is a problem with the sync signal bleeding bleeding onto the audio tracks. Or indeed both! Anyway, I didn't really test the bleed. However I did have some audio recorded on track 3 from a previous project on that tape, so it would suggest that audio bleeding onto the sync track is probably not too much of a problem. Not sure about the other way though. Thanks for checking out the video❤️🙌🙌

[@afterrockradio1328]

Is it possible to synchronize two portastudio recorders using the device in the video or some other kind of device ? What about multiple portastudios ? Thank you!

[@akozero]

Hmm that wouldn't be possible with the device in video. However I believe a device like that does exist (at least kinda anyway) although the only one I've come across is for Sansui MR-6's. The Sansui SY-1 Sync Control Unit will apparently allow you to run 2 MR-6 recorders in perfect sync to double the number of channels available. However that is obviously for a very specific recorder and I don't know if Portastudios have anything like that.

[@poofygoof]

that box is called a "synchronizer" and is something that doesn't seem common on cassette multitracks, but can be done with larger multitrack reel-to-reels. synchronization requires the deck to expose motor transport controls including capstan tachometer signals so the synchronizer can do fine adjustments to the speed. it's quite wild to see decks sync up, and even possible to get a tape deck to chase a DAW rather than the other way around as shown here.

[@vincizara]

Sir is it possible to convert the mp3 to midi? 😅

[@akozero]

@@vincizara not really, at least not easily anyway. Some DAWs have pitch-to-MIDI functionality (such as ableton live) - but it doesn't work amazingly and it won't work well on a full track with multiple instrument layers.

[@infindebula]

I think you got the title backwards. You're not syncing a tape recorder to MIDI, you're syncing MIDI devices to tape.

[@akozero]

Yeah I don't disagree with you, but the character limits on KZbin titles are punishing 😂😂😂 this was the most succinct way I could express it, it's not entirely untrue, but it's not 100% accurate either..might take another run at it. anyway. thanks for checking the video out!