Hi,

I am trying to record some audio into Logic Pro X from MO8.

The issue I have is that in voice mode the ARP on the sound doesn’t seem to sync to the external midi clock.

if I set the midi sync to external, that does not seem to be having any affect on ARP while in voice mode.

I am assuming that if I was to record it into song mode , I might have better luck , but the song mode seems to be limited in that it doesn’t accurately play the sound with the same effects etc as it does in Voice mode.

So is there a way to set up logic Pro and MO8 so that the arp within a sound will get its tempo from the external source?

Hi mrcosgrove,

What kind of recording are you making?  MIDI or audio?

The problem with arps is starting them off in time. So, because you are human and they are strictly regimented, a human start will be close but out of time, and will remain out of time for the duration.

If you don’t have Logic set to the same tempo as the arp you are using in voice mode, then you have no chance of recording it in time.

There is a way though, you just need to have a look at the tempo of your arp, note it down and then dial that exact tempo into Logic.  If you are recording MIDI, have a go at recording your notes and then quantizing them appropriately.  If you do that successfully, your arps should be bang in time because they start bang in time. (providing your tempos match)

Thanks for your reply, I am trying to record audio , I have a particular voice arp that is set to 120bpm and the logic pro x project is also set to 120 but it does seem just slightly off, off enough that adding a drum beat from another source doesn’t really work, it just sounds all wrong and offbeat, I will try shifting the track in small bits to see if that helps correct it enough to work.

If I try the midi way, Can I record the midi, quantise it and then play it back from Logic and at the same time record the audio from the playback , back into logic, that seems a bit convoluted, but if it works, its worth it.

When playing back midi, will it just play whatever sound i current have selected on the MO8? or do i have to have it song mode for the playback to work correctly?

my biggest issue with song mode is that the sounds don’t sound exactly like they do in voice mode, so I am trying to achieve the recording without using song mode on the MO8 if I can.

Thanks for your help.

I can assure you that the MO will lock fine to a DAW’s clock. You have some sort of setup problem.

Do the following on your MO:

1. Select the voice you want to use.

2. Press Voice -> [F6]Arp -> Tempo

3. If the screen does not show MIDI here you do not have MIDI sync properly set up.

@mrcosgrove,

I doubt that the sync doesn’t work, too, but the thing is, you need a reason to use sync and from reading what you’ve said, you actually have no need for sync if you don’t have your music sequenced already on your MO8 in song or pattern mode.

That’s the whole point of using synchronisation, it locks two machines together and lets them do their thing, one calling the shots.  Whilst I wish it did, It doesn’t slave a human being to a DAW master.

You are starting the arp yourself, with your own human touch.  No matter how good a player you are, you will always be out of time, be it a beat, half a beat or even frames or mere samples out and so desperate attempts to nudge the resulting recording back in to time will not only use lots more of your time, but you’ll probably end up more wrong than you were before.

Forget about sync, it is useless to you in this situation, if you are not willing to use song mode or pattern mode.

You have already thought about a good way, and it is not that convoluted as you put it. You certainly can record MIDI to Logic from voice mode, but there are limitations that you should be aware of.  You can only use that voice and cannot use another one until you have recorded the audio of it and you are happy… because voice mode is not multi timbral (it does not support multiple parts).  So by all means, record the MIDI first, make sure you quantize it so that your notes are as perfectly regimented as the arp itself and start perfectly in time. 

When you are happy with it all, that’s when you can make an audio recording of it.

You’ll be setting up an audio track alongside your external MIDI track to capture the audio and the resulting recording will sound as in time as your notes are. So if you make them perfectly in time, you have no need for sync because the MIDI data on the MIDI track governs over the timing and Logic will render your recording that way.

You may get an issue with some audible doubling using this method, so be sure to mute the audio track you are recording on to eliminate it after you’ve made sure you aren’t distorting or have too little level (the usual audio engineering pre-checks). 

Then when you’ve made the recording, you can unmute it and remove your now superfluous MIDI track.