Roland VS-880EX Synchronizing with an External Midi Device, Using the Sync Track Master, 119

Chapter 9 Use with MIDI Devices

8.Press [PLAY (DISPLAY)]. Return to Play condition.

9.Set your MIDI sequencer to send MTC.

10.Hold down [SHIFT] and press [SYSTEM].

The “SYNC MODE” field of the display will show “EXT,” indicating that the unit will now operate in synchronization with MTC received from a MIDI sequencer.

11.Press [PLAY].

The PLAY indicator blinks green, indicating that the VS-880EX is in MTC receive standby mode. When the MIDI sequencer begins playback, then playback also begins on the VS-880EX. During synchronization, the PLAY indicator are lit.

12.When you stop the MIDI sequencer, the VS-880EX will also stop.

The PLAY indicator blinks green.

13.Press [STOP].

The PLAY indicator goes off.

14.Hold down [SHIFT] and press [SYSTEM].

The “SYNC MODE” field of the display will show “INT,” indicating that the unit will no longer operate in synchronization.

Synchronizing with an External MIDI

Device

When the VS-880EX is running under the control of the MTC from an external MIDI device, you can syn- chronize the song’s playback time and the MTC time. This time is called the offset. For example, if the MTC time is “01h00m00s00f00,” and the song’s time is “00h10m00s00f00,” the “offset” is as follows.

(Offset)

=(MTC time) - (destined time of the song)

=(01h00m00s00f00) - (00h10m00s00f00)

=(00h50m00s00f00)

If the offset value turns out to be negative, add “24h00m00s00f00” to the MTC time before subtracting the destined time of the song. For example, if the MTC time transmitted is 00h00m50s00f00,” and you want the song to play back at “00h01m00s00f00,” then the offset works out as shown below.

(Offset)

=(MTC time) - (destined time of the song)

=(00h00m50s00f00) - (00h01m00s00f00)

=((24h00m00s00f00) + (00h00m50s00f00)) - (00h01m00s00f00)

=(23h59m50s00f00)

*With the VS-880EX, continuous playback from “23h59m59s29f99” to “00h00m00s00f00” does not corre- spond to (overnight mode). The song that crosses over “00h00m00s00f00” momentarily stops at “23h59m59s29f99” then resumes playback.

Song

23h59m59s00 00h00m00s00f Time

1.Press [SYSTEM] several times until “SYS System PRM ?” appears in the display.

2.Press [YES].

3.Press PARAMETER [ ].

4.“TimeDispFmt=” appears in the display. Rotate the TIME/VALUE dial.

TimeDispFmt (Time Display Format)

Select one of the reference times (REL, ABS) that appear in the display. For now, choose “ABS.”

REL: The starting time of the song is displayed as “00h00m00s00f00.”

ABS: The time displayed includes the addition of the offset time.

5.Press PARAMETER [ ].

6.“Ofs=” appears in the display. Rotate the TIME/VALUE dial.

Ofs (Offset)

When the VS-880EX is running under the control of the MTC from an external MIDI device, you can syn- chronize the song’s playback time and the MTC time. The offset settings range varies depending on the MTC type selected for the current song.

7.Press [PLAY (DISPLAY)]. Return to Play condition.

Using the Sync Track (Master)

If your MIDI sequencer supports Song Position Pointer messages, you can use the MIDI Clock to syn- chronize operations. There are two methods of syn- chronization using the MIDI Clock: one is using the sync track, and the other one is using the tempo map. Here is an explanation of how to control the MIDI sequencer from the VS-880EX using the sync track.

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