Trouble Syncing Akai MPC500 with PT M-Powered 7.4.2

[eXeMt]

Hello every one,

I'm posting about a problem I've been having that I've tried to fix on my own but never can. I was trying to find a simple way to get the sounds/songs from my MPC500 to sync/record properly & on time in ProTools. Right now I'm just recording each track one by one & then fixing them up & lining them up again, but I'm finding that doing that is giving me trouble with timing & it's not matching up correctly. I've tried to sync it to ProTools but it doesn't work.

According to everything I've read I'm supposed to set my MPC to Slave from the Midi/Sync menu (I've done that). Then I have to setup in Midi Studio so that my M-Audio Firewire is connected to my MPC500 & then it says I have to go to Midi Setup & enable "Midi Beat Clock" & check off the device. I have done all those steps, if I'm not mistaken it's supposed to record when I enable record & press play on PT. I've pressed play on both the MPC & PT just to make sure. It doesn't work. I'm not sure if I'm not creating the right tracks. I'm creating Stereo Tracks w/ ticks, not sure if it's supposed to be midi tracks, but I've tried that too. It's just not working.

I'm going to be honest, I'm really new to PT & just producing music, so this is all new & confusing to me, but I'm trying my best to learn & try to solve this problem & nothing is working. I just want to try & make this sync work so that I may get my music done quickly & correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[spkguitar]

For the sync process to work, you need to have everything connected together correctly with the right cables.

Could you please describe, in extreme detail, how you have everything connected? Which cable, where it is plugged in, etc. It will help us point out where you might be going wrong.

[eXeMt]

Alright, lets begin with,

:HARDWARE:

Proteus/1 Sound Module
Behringer Eurorack UB802 Mixer
Akai MPC500
M-Audio Firewire 410
Apple MacBook (Standard White), 2GB Ram & 2.4 Ghz Processor Running OSX (10.5.3)

:CONNECTIONS:

Proteus/1
- Midi In > MPC500 Midi Out
- Main Out > Mixer (Line 5/6)
Note: Main Outs are two(2) 1/4" Mono plugs

Akai MPC500
- Output > Mixer (Line 3/4)
- Midi In > M-Audio Fire 410 Midi Out
- Midi Out > Proteus/1 Midi In
Note: Output is two (2) 1/4" Mono plugs

M-Audio Firewire 410
- Line Inputs 1/2 > Mixer (Main Out)
- Firewire > Apple MacBook
- Midi Out > MPC500 Midi In
Note: Line Inputs are two (2) 1/4" Mono Plugs


:CONFIGURATIONS:

Akai MPC500 (Currently Programmed)
- Midi/Sync Menu
- Receive Channel: ALL
- Soft Thru: AS TRACK
- Pad to Sampler: ON
- Sync: SLAVE
Note: Most tracks on MPC are samples or sounds from Compact Flash Cards, other sounds come from the Proteus/1 using Midi.

ProTools M-Powered 7.4.2 (Currently Programmed)
- Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio...
- Diagram shows Firewire 410 Midi Out with a Cable connecting it to the MPC500 Midi In
- When you click on the "i" for the M-Audio Firewire it says "Firewire 410 out to MPC500 Port 1"
- When you click on the "i" for the MPC500 it says "Port 1 in from Firewire 410 Firewire 410"

- When you highlight the Firewire 410 & click on "Show Info" the configurations read:
- Device Name: Firewire 410
- Manufacturer: M-Audio
- Model: Firewire 410

- "PORTS" Tab
- Ports: Firewire 410
- Connectors for Firewire 410: Midi In: 1, Midi Out: 1

- When you highlight the MPC500 & click on "Show Info" the configurations read:
- Device Name: MPC500
- Manufacturer: Akai
- Model: MPC500

- "PROPERTIES" Tab
- Transmits: All channels highlighted
- "MIDI Beat Clock" checked & "MIDI Time Code" unchecked

- Receives: All channels highlighted
- "MIDI Beat Clock" checked & "MIDI Time Code" unchecked

- Features: All boxes unchecked

- "PORTS" Tab
- Ports: Port 1
- Connectors for Port 1: Midi In: 1, Midi Out: 1

If you go to:
Setup > MIDI > MIDI Beat Clock...
- "Enable MIDI Beat Clock for..." is checked & "MPC500" is checked.

: PROCEDURE:

Now unless I'm doing it wrong, usually I just make my new tracks (Stereo Audio Track in ticks), I mute click cause it's annoying & I don't think I need it (not sure why it's there) & then I enable record on the track & on the main window on the top & then from what I've read you're supposed to press play & it will record each track separately & uniformly. I also read somewhere that on all tracks "Record" & "Solo" must be enabled. I've tried both ways. I'm not sure what's going on.

I hope you can help me out & I hope all that info is helpful. I tried to be as descriptive as I can.

Thanks again.

[spkguitar]

Have you read the support article? Setting up an Akai MPC for use with Pro Tools 7.x using MTC and MIDI Beat Clock.

Of note from that article;

NOTE: (Make sure that the value for bars, in the MPC, is NOT set to zero. If it is set to zero, it will not be triggered.)

[eXeMt]

Yep, I've read it time & time again, hoping that I missed something. I always try & start from scratch to see if maybe it'll work differently, but nothing.

I'm supposed to just hit play on ProTools & it'll start playing/recording from MPC right?

& it doesn't matter what kind of tracks I create, or does it?

[spkguitar]

I'm supposed to just hit play on ProTools & it'll start playing/recording from MPC right?

As long as the value for bars, in the MPC, is NOT set to zero, yes.

it doesn't matter what kind of tracks I create, or does it?

The sync has nothing at all to do with what kind of tracks you are creating.


You might want to start simple and remove all of the other hardware; set it up exactly as the tutorial from the link describes, with nothing else connected.

Also, make sure that you are going to Setup-> MIDI -> MIDI Beat Clock, and selecting the MIDI port that the MPC is connected to.