If receiving midi clock, will the MC8 Pro revert when whatever was sending clock stops?

Morningstar Gear MC Pro Series MIDI Controller
1

I frequently use tracks apps that run a click at a set tempo, and often would like to have my pedalboard in sync with that tempo. I’m looking at getting an MC8 Pro, and was curious about how it handles incoming MIDI Clock. On my Helix, if midi clock stops, the Helix will revert to whatever the stored preset/snapshot/global tempo is set to. This means if my tracks app is running a song at 120bpm and the song ends, my helix might revert to a totally different tempo. In that case it causes really audible delay time morphing that sounds really bad.

I’m curious how the MC8 Pro would handle this? Does it revert to the preset’s set tempo value? Would it “hold on” to the last received Clock value? This isn’t make or break, but just something I am curious about as I decide whether this controller might be a good fit for me. (Also, I’ve never had any Morningstar devices, so I’m pretty unfamiliar with the ecosystem in general).

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Hi,

the MC stops to send clock when it detects incoming clock signals. You can either slave the MC to the incoming clock or have it ignore it.

In my experience it is best practice to use the MC as the master clock to benifit from the routing/ filter capabilities.

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I’d need to check, but as I remember, if you’re sending MIDI clock to the controller and then you stop, then it holds onto the last BPM it was at. As long as the other MIDI clock is turned off, it should now be possible to set its clock internally, either via a tap or directly setting its BPM.

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Thanks! Ideally I’d kind of want both options – listen to and pass through MIDI clock when it’s being sent, but then if there isn’t MIDI clock, have tap tempo and send that to other devices in the midi chain.

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Thanks @jason.nguyen! This is exactly what I’m hoping would happen – for example, let’s say I tap in a tempo of 72bpm to play for a bit, and then when I trigger tracks at a different tempo (86bpm for example), I’d love for the MC8 Pro to receive/transmit that tempo, and then once my tracks machine stops sending midi clock (basically at the end of the song), my hope is that the MC8 would stay at 86bpm until I either send a new MIDI clock value, OR tap in tempo again manually.

Any chance you could verify this? Thanks so much!

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Alright, I spent probably longer on this then I should have, but good news!

Short version: it basically works the way I thought it did.

Long version: there are some things to make sure you set up correctly, and I observed a roughly +/- 2 bpm rounding error when transitioning between bpms that I’ll explain.

I ran a MIDI clock from my computer (let’s call it SOURCE) into an MC6 Pro (this should work the same as an MC8 Pro, which wasn’t easily accessible at the time). Make sure that the MIDI Thru is set so that the MIDI Clock from the source can go through the controller to the final device (let’s call it ENDPOINT), e.g. I had the USB Device route to DIN, which then went to another controller I was using to monitor the MIDI clock output).

As long as the SOURCE produces MIDI clock, the MC6 passes it forward. When it stops, the MC6 stops sending clock, even with MIDI Clock Persist on, BUT (1) the ENDPOINT already has the tempo, so in most devices, it just keeps that and (2) the MC6 does store the final bpm, so if you tell it to start its MIDI Clock, it will start with that stored bpm. So, basically, if you can stop the SOURCE via MIDI, you can set up a switch that stops the SOURCE and starts the MC6 clock, and it should be seamless.

Once the MC6 Clock begins, you can set it via Tap or via preconfigured BPM values. If the external clock SOURCE comes back, the MC6 clock stops again and the MC6 passes forward that according to its MIDI thru settings.

Now about that bpm wobble: whenever MIDI clock stops sending, the bpm at the attached device tends to be based on whatever it’s most recent average of BPM values is. So, for example, if SOURCE is sending 125bpm then stops, if either end was a bit behind at the moment it stops, then you might see the ENDPOINT with ~123bpm until you turn on the MC6 and it again sends continuous clock data.

Hope that helps.

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This is super helpful, thanks so much Jason!

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A simple method is to add an empty section with a persistent click/tempo at the end of your track, so you will maintain the tempo at the end of the song even if the backing track ends.

The other option, if your software allows it, is to send a MIDI message equal to the tempo of your track to the MC8 and a message to start the MIDI clock.

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