I recently discovered a way to have essentially two different MIDI clock tempos at the same time (at least I think I did) and wanted to share. My core setup feeds clock into the MC6 Pro from a drum machine that gets sent to all my MIDI devices. I have MIDI clock persist turned on. I also have a non-MIDI delay pedal that takes tap tempo, which I am sending from the relay ports. While I could send the drum machine BPM to the non-MIDI delay pedal, I want a delay other than quarter notes, and there is no way to subdivide on the MC6.
So I did some experimenting, and discovered that if I set a footswitch on the MC6 Pro as tap tempo and send whatever I tap to the relay ports, I can send something different than what’s coming from the drum machine. And the best part about it…when I tap in my tempo, it doesn’t change the persistent clock tempo that is being continuously sent to my MIDI devices. Now I can have MIDI pedals synced up to the drum machine, but tap out a delay at something other than straight quarter notes on my non-MIDI pedals.
As far as I can tell, no matter what I do with the tap tempo, it doesn’t affect the persistent MIDI clock rate, but I’m still in test mode. If anyone sees any flaws with this setup, please let me know so I don’t have to find out live!
does this setup require a drum machine as the master when setting your tempo? like below:
[ drum machine ] --( via MIDI )–> [ MC6 Pro ] --( via MIDI )–> [ … rest or rig … ]
I’m curious because I looked into this a while ago to try and set a drum machine to half-tempo based on a tapped tempo that I want sent to my other pedals all with the MC6 Pro as the master. I wasn’t able to figure this out though… this is my setup:
[… rest of rig … ] <–( via MIDI )-- [ MC6 Pro ] --( via relay )–> [ drum machine ]
If I understand you correctly, you are trying to send one fixed BPM from the MC6 Pro to your MIDI devices, and a different tapped BPM from the MC6 Pro to your non-MIDI devices via relay? The only difference in your setup from mine is that your fixed BPM is coming from the MC6 Pro rather than a separate drum machine (at least I think that’s what you’re saying?). I guess you could try it out and see if it works, which is what I did.
I think I would set it up like this in the editor:
Under Controller Settings, General Configuration, make sure MIDI Clock Persist is “On,” and sending clock to all MIDI ports you want receiving clock.
Preset 1, Msg1: Action: Press; Type: MIDI Clock; set whatever BPM you want.
Preset 2, Msg2: Action: Press; Type: Relay Switching; select relay port (A or B); select Tip Action Tap - NO.
When you engage Preset 1, you should have your fixed BPM being sent to all MIDI devices. Then tap in a different tempo via Preset 2, and you should have your tapped BPM being sent to the non-MIDI devices. Obviously, you want to play with this a bit by doing things in different sequences to see if you still have the different tempos running at the same time. Good luck!
Thinking about this, though, I wonder if your tapped tempo will override the original tempo in preset 1, since both are coming from the MC6 Pro. Let me know if it works out!
I’ll see if I can get something along these lines working and get back to you! I know I’ve messed around with MIDI masking and whatnot to set what ports you’re specifically sending MIDI to, but from what I understand BPM for the MC6 Pro is global and once it’s changed it’s SET. I’ll let ya know if this idea works though!