Sync tap tempo with DAW/Reason? Also, MFC expression to control DAW?

Poparad

Poparad

Power User
So I just picking up an interesting weekday morning gig playing for kids dance classes, and if any of you have done dance accompaniment, it's basically improvising music to the dancers to give them a beat. I want to add some drum loops via Reason, but I was wondering if I could control some things via my MFC.

First question:
My setup is my Axe II with MFC with my laptop hooked up via USB, so I can play the audio all through the Axe in my powered wedge. I would like to use the looper on the Axe for basslines and chord progressions, but I need to be able to sync it with the tempo of the drum loops in Reason. Is there a way to sync the tempos between the two?

Second question: Can I send MIDI data from an expression pedal attached to my MFC into Reason to control the volume level of the drum loop playback? I know how to assign modifiers in Reason, but I'm not sure how to relay data from the Axe into Reason (if it's possible).
 
I don't use Reason (sounds kind of stupid :)), I use Ableton Live. Mostly for home practice - I have multitrack recordings of my band 's repertoire without my parts, and I do control tempo and, in one song, Ableton constantly switches scenes and starts/stops the sequencer. In actual performances, it's a similar setup except master tempo and control messages are sent from a Roland FA-06 workstation instead of a DAW, and the DAW with backing tracks is launched by our keyboard player. The Roland also acts as a sound card the way you want to use Axe FX. When practicing at home, I launch scenes in Ableton from my MFC.

So with this lengthy intro aside, the answer to your questions is "yes".

In order to transfer midi data from your MFC to your daw, you need to enable USB Adapter mode on your Axe FX. That's basically it. Then it's up to your daw setup to interpret those messages the way you need it to.

Axe FX will also sync to midi beat clock from your daw. But there are caveats. The problem is that it will not sync down beats, do starting and stopping the looper requires a bit more work. You'll need to create a midi track in your daw that will send CCs to start and to stop it when needed. Then it'll work fine.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and one more thing. I tried to use my Axe as a sound card for backing tracks, but it didn't work well. It sounds great but I found that it's difficult to adjust levels properly. With more output, it also tends to clip a lot, so I had to adjust preset volumes and such. But the more important part is that you just can't match levels perfectly for all situations, there's a reason FOH engineers exist. So I dumped the idea and used a separate sound card, our, later, the keyboard which has a mixer.
 
vangrieg said:
In order to transfer midi data from your MFC to your daw, you need to enable USB Adapter mode on your Axe FX. That's basically it. Then it's up to your daw setup to interpret those messages the way you need it to.
Click to expand...

Oh wow, I didn't it would be that simple. Thanks!


Axe FX will also sync to midi beat clock from your daw. But there are caveats. The problem is that it will not sync down beats, do starting and stopping the looper requires a bit more work. You'll need to create a midi track in your daw that will send CCs to start and to stop it when needed. Then it'll work fine.
Click to expand...

I know the looper can be set to quantize to the click, so as long as I start it on the beat, or close enough, it'll be locked into the same tempo and not drift, which is what my main concern is.

Oh, and one more thing. I tried to use my Axe as a sound card for backing tracks, but it didn't work well. It sounds great but I found that it's difficult to adjust levels properly. With more output, it also tends to clip a lot, so I had to adjust preset volumes and such. But the more important part is that you just can't match levels perfectly for all situations, there's a reason FOH engineers exist. So I dumped the idea and used a separate sound card, our, later, the keyboard which has a mixer.
Click to expand...

I'll have one patch dedicated to this setup, and fortunately I'll have easy access to my laptop and Axe to adjust levels.

Thanks for your help!
 
You may get drift issues, actually. There's a recent thread here about this, you may want to check it out. When tempo is synced via beat clock, the beats themselves are not synced, just the tempo.
 
@vangrieg i have searched and searched on what setting I need to get my MFC to trigger Ableton but so far nothing I try is working, maybe you could shed some light on it for me. I have a MacBook Pro with 10.10 something, an axe fx XL+ and a MFC 101 mk3, all hooked up via faslink and USB. I get Ableton to send the tempo to my axe fx just fine, but cannot get Ableton to see any midi input. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Try setting "MFC Echo to MIDI Out" to "On" in IO - MIDI on the front panel.

Also, in Ableton, go to Options - Preferences - MIDI Sync and set "Remote" to "On". Maybe "Track", too, I have it on for some reason.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom