Jordi Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Hi. I'm trying to sync with smpte two computers, using in both Cakewalk and two Motu Ultralite mk3 Hybrid audiocard one in the master computer and the other one in slave computer. I have an audio track in the Cakewalk master is the time code audio. It works fine because the Motu SMPTE console in the slave computer start when i play a project in Cakewalk Master. But when i click the play in the Cakewalk slave and it show me a message: waiting for Smpte timecode and then I play the project in the master cakewalk, the slave still waiting, don't play. Any idea? Of course i have the slave in smpte mode in the clock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 I've you've got Cakewalk set to SMPTE in the Clock settings, you're telling it to act as a SMPTE slave, not a master. When acting as a master, Cakewalk's clock should always be set to Audio - unless you've got no audio tracks and no software synths, in which case set it to Internal. In fact, as the audio timer is usually more accurate than "internal", adding a blank audio track and keeping the clock set to Audio is usually a better option. So SMPTE... IIRC, Cakewalk can't operate as a SMPTE master only a SMPTE slave. Cakewalk does however transmit MTC - so use that instead if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 Sorry, I explain i use two computers, both with cakewalk open. One in master mode, this work with internal clock of course and the other slave mode and smpte clock. In the master computer i have a project with a audio track with timecode signal, but the other computer with Cakewalk in slave mode don't start the project when i send the smpte timecode from the master computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirWillyDS12 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 (edited) On your Master PC in Cakewalk Preferences make sure you have the following checked... Preferences --> Project --> MIDI --> Send MIDI Sync --> Transmit MIDI Start/Stop/Continue/Clock Preferences --> Project --> MIDI --> Send MIDI Sync --> MIDI Sync Output Ports --> Your MIDI device hooked between PC's Cakewalk as the master Edited December 19, 2022 by SirWillyDS12 Added Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Thanks, it mean, i need a midi conection to get synchro beetween 2 computer? I can't do it only with an audio track with timecode? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Phillips Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Out of the blue, If the two PCs have audio interfaces, Can't you just sync the audio interfaces (word clock would be great for this) and sync the two PCs to the audio interfaces. That would be my first choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Thanks i know this option but the Motu Ultralite only work with smpte i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 @Jordi - just re-read your original post. So you press Play on the master Cakewalk instance, and everything works fine... You press Play on the slave Cakewalk instance, and it says it's waiting for SMTPE... This sounds like correct behaviour to me. You can only press play on the master - that's the whole point of it being the master. Slaves can't initiate playback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirWillyDS12 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 4 hours ago, msmcleod said: @Jordi - just re-read your original post. So you press Play on the master Cakewalk instance, and everything works fine... You press Play on the slave Cakewalk instance, and it says it's waiting for SMTPE... This sounds like correct behaviour to me. You can only press play on the master - that's the whole point of it being the master. Slaves can't initiate playback. If you are using SMTPE as the clock source and every thing is set up right you only need to hit start on the "Master"... The slave, if it is Cakewalk will start as soon as it receives the time code, but it depends on the settings in the Preference --> Audio --> Sync and Caching page... .. With SMTPE you can have some offset in your "sync" between master and slave... I have found syncing with Midi Sync works better and easier... With Midi Sync you need to hit play first on the slave to "arm" it or it will not follow/start... With MIDI Sync and transmitting Song Position Pointer the two projects will stay in time... With SMTPE, from my experience, if you start and stop playback they will drift apart every time you stop... I have "Synced" CbB and Sonar Platinum on the same pc using loopMIDI as the Midi interface... Using SMPTE you also need to check these... Preferences --> Project --> MIDI --> Send MIDI Time Code --> MTC Output Ports --> Your MIDI device Kind of overlooked that in the other post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 Thanks all replies. I understand i have to work with midi if i sync with smpte. Word clock will be the best working with audio tracks but the Motu Ultralite mk3 have smpte, i think i can use the digital spdif outs and ins to sync but i'm not sure, i need to test. Thanks all people, nice forum and great Cakewalk team one more time. Jordi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Phillips Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 29 minutes ago, Jordi said: i think i can use the digital spdif outs and ins to sync but i'm not sure, i need to test. You probably can for audio if the interface you want to sync with has an spdif in. I've used a combination of word clock, adat and spdif to sync several audio interfaces. I have no experience syncing midi interfaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 7 minutes ago, Bill Phillips said: You probably can for audio if the interface you want to sync with has an spdif in. I've used a combination of word clock, adat and spdif to sync several audio interfaces. I have no experience syncing midi interfaces. You can synchronise wordclock over SPDIF - this is completely different from synchronising playback and tempo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Phillips Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 5 minutes ago, msmcleod said: You can synchronise wordclock over SPDIF - this is completely different from synchronising playback and tempo. Thanks. I missed that. Looks like I was off topic. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirWillyDS12 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 5 hours ago, msmcleod said: You can synchronise wordclock over SPDIF - this is completely different from synchronising playback and tempo. I concur with Mark... Word Clock would only be synchronizing you audio devices and not your project Transport... You would still need to use MIDI Sync or MTC\SMPTE to sync your project Transport... SMPTE was developed for use with Motion Pictures and is Tempo independent... They would record (Strip) the Time Code into the film to synchronize the audio and audio equipment with the film... Regardless of who was scoring the sound track for the film they would all be using the same time code to synchronize the audio to the film... If you change the tempo in your project or even have tempo changes during your song in the project the SMPTE\MTC clock stays the same, it does not follow your tempo... If you are using SMPTE to sync you are also sending other info with it, such as frame position... The SMPTE clock is dependent on the frame rate you chose... MIDI Sync, which you can use with your Motu Ultralite will be highly more accurate... It sends out the MIDI clock rate of your project... If you double the Tempo you double the clock rate and accuracy of your projects... If you have tempo changes your clock will follow the tempo change... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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