Syncing Pro Tools and Roland VS-1880 via MIDI

[mudman]

I'm a fairly new Pro Tools LE user on Windows. I have several mixes on my Roland VS-1880 that I would like to transfer to Pro Tools with my M-Box. I would like to sync up the 2 with Pro Tools being the master so I can click on Play in the transport and start playback of the VS-1880 to record 1 track at a time and keep them in sync. I'm using a USB M-Audio Midisport 2x2 and have connected both in and out cables to the Roland. When I click on play in the Pro Tools transport I get a light on the midi interface IN so it looks like the MIDI signal is going out but I canot get the VS-1880 to start. I have tried several different settings on the Roland with no luck. Has anyone done this before? Can someone help walk me through the settings on both systems?...it is critical to a project that I get this to work. I did not set up new tracks on Pro Tools to test as I figured if it was the Master it would still send the start signal to the Roland. Thanks for the assistance.

[spkguitar]

I found THIS Previous post (as well as many others) by searching this forum over the past year for VS-1880. Looks like it is exactly what you are looking for (so long as you ignore the one posted by me... )

[mudman]

Well...I checked out the post and I'm still not able to get it to work. I talked with a Tech at Sweetwater and he indicated that Pro Tools LE is not the best at truly syncronizing. He suggested that I just transfer 2 tracks at a time through my M-Box and then edit them to line them up by site and sound. I think that is gonna take me some time to get the hang of since I'm just now starting to use the edit features. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[jstunner]

He suggested that I just transfer 2 tracks at a time through my M-Box and then edit them to line them up by site and sound. I think that is gonna take me some time to get the hang of since I'm just now starting to use the edit features. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I don't have a Roland VS-1880, but had a few tunes recorded on a Fostex Vf-08. I had to transfer the tracks 2 at a time into PTLE. If the Roland has a midi out, connect that to the midi in, and on the transport bar select the wait for midi note, hit record on PTLE, and then when you press play on the Roland it should start recording. I'd start both at absolute 0. It should help you line all the tracks up a bit easier.

Hope that helps.

[mykhal c]

hey mudman. it REALLY is ALL in the thread that spkguitar pointed you to!!! one important thing to remember after you have done all the setups in the mentioned thread is you HAVE TO press play on the vs-1880. it then waits on the signal from PT. once you press play/rec on PT the 1880 will respond. hope that helps...mykhal

[mudman]

Thanks!

I was not using S/PDIF but yesterday the tech from Sweetwater called me back saying that they had been kickin around my issue and suggested a connection with S/PDIF cables. I did not get to talk directly with him yet so I will now just need to confirm the process but it sounds like it might work well.

[mykhal c]

i use the 1680 so i'm assumimg the 1880 is pretty much the same. if so and you decide to use the s/pdif outs on the 1880 then you will have to assign which channels will go to the digital outs. the 1680 can ONLY transfer 2 channels at a time via s/pdif and i would think the same is true with the 1880. so again follow the instructions in the prior mentioned thread to sync the 2 machines and assign the desired tracks to the s/pdif outs and you should be set. good luck...mykhal

[mudman]

Hey guys!

I'm sorry that I never posted any further results on here. I ended up using S/PDIF cables and syncing each track that way. It took quite a bit of working to get all the settings right but I got it to work everytime and in perfect sync. Thanks again for the help!