SDrum jamsync to Midi trials Part One
Goddamn it. So, much hope for a simple solution.
All I wanted was a means to sync my delays to the Digitech SDrum and syncable loopers. Everytime I would search for Midi and Delay, the Digitech Obscura would come up, but alas, it is not syncable via jamsync. So, I have to see if it is possible to go another route. What exactly is Jamsync anyway?
Before going down the total rabbit hole and hooking up the TRS connection to an arduino and trying to read the raw input, google search seemed to indicate that a TRS to midi cable would work. This supposedly direct from Digitech via a Facebook Post.
Thus this diagram:
Well, that's easy enough. Ripped apart some spare cables and reassembled to this spec and tried them out. NOPE. Bummer. All the connections checked out, but no midi clock, start stop messages nothing. Tried capturing the raw midi via MAX/MSP and I don't seem to be getting anything. Tried another midi interface, nope. Just doesn't work.
So, either my cable is faulty, the pin assignments are wrong or there is something else going on. In this situation, it is hard for me to set a project aside to digest a bit. The next day I went back and reread everything, went to the Midi Spec site and looked at their midi cable and pin assignment diagrams. This is where I noticed that their diagrams showed the pins assigned from the cable side, NOT when you are looking down the barrel of the midi cable. OOPs, cut the wires, resoldered and plugged everything in... and no go. One more break, then let's revisit the DAW prefs for Midi Clock and everything works. Unbelievable.
When I ran the digital print labs, there are a half dozen settings which need to be just right or you don't get the desired results. If each setting was binary, then what is that, 36 possible configurations. Some of those will be redundant, but still that's a lot of variability. Same thing here, cable = 3 pins, DAW = maybe 2 or 3 settings, not counting the OS midi config.
Yes, confirmed it works. Now, what to do with it....
All I wanted was a means to sync my delays to the Digitech SDrum and syncable loopers. Everytime I would search for Midi and Delay, the Digitech Obscura would come up, but alas, it is not syncable via jamsync. So, I have to see if it is possible to go another route. What exactly is Jamsync anyway?
Before going down the total rabbit hole and hooking up the TRS connection to an arduino and trying to read the raw input, google search seemed to indicate that a TRS to midi cable would work. This supposedly direct from Digitech via a Facebook Post.
Thus this diagram:
Well, that's easy enough. Ripped apart some spare cables and reassembled to this spec and tried them out. NOPE. Bummer. All the connections checked out, but no midi clock, start stop messages nothing. Tried capturing the raw midi via MAX/MSP and I don't seem to be getting anything. Tried another midi interface, nope. Just doesn't work.
So, either my cable is faulty, the pin assignments are wrong or there is something else going on. In this situation, it is hard for me to set a project aside to digest a bit. The next day I went back and reread everything, went to the Midi Spec site and looked at their midi cable and pin assignment diagrams. This is where I noticed that their diagrams showed the pins assigned from the cable side, NOT when you are looking down the barrel of the midi cable. OOPs, cut the wires, resoldered and plugged everything in... and no go. One more break, then let's revisit the DAW prefs for Midi Clock and everything works. Unbelievable.
When I ran the digital print labs, there are a half dozen settings which need to be just right or you don't get the desired results. If each setting was binary, then what is that, 36 possible configurations. Some of those will be redundant, but still that's a lot of variability. Same thing here, cable = 3 pins, DAW = maybe 2 or 3 settings, not counting the OS midi config.
Yes, confirmed it works. Now, what to do with it....
Comments
I recently bought a SDRUM and JamMan and I have a Jamsync cable but need the Jamsync to MIDI cable. There is a company, I believe it is in Germany, that sells one pre made but with the shipping, the VAT, and the euro conversion it would cost something like $48.
Of course these products are all discontinued so there is no help from digitech/Harman. Thank you in advance.