Infinity Looper MIDI Clock

[go2ldook]

Cannot seem to get my Pigtronix Infinity Looper to recognize MIDI Clock from Bandhelper. I have Bandhelper set up to send MIDI Clock info. I have tried setting the port to "All" and also to "iConnectivity", but neither choices work. I play a song and I see the tempo blink on the MIDI icon, but the Infinity is not acknowledging it. According to what I have read, the light on the Loop should blink to the tempo if this is working. Note that the Infinity looper is otherwise communicating perfectly via MIDI: it is receiving MIDI Preset data just fine, so this is not  MIDI connection issue.

Anyone have experience with the Pigtronix Infinity Looper and using MIDI sync?

[arlo]

Is it getting MIDI program changes from BandHelper? If so, it seems like a missing setting within the Infinity Looper. But I don't have firsthand experience with this ... maybe someone else here does.

[go2ldook]

Yes. I use Bandhelper to send MIDI Presets to it, and I also use my Mastermind PBC unit to send MIDI CC messages to it such as PLAY and RECORD. The only thing not working is MIDI Sync to the beat clock.

I have a message in to Pigtronix so hopefully they can help.

[go2ldook]

While I have your ear Arlo, first, thanks for a great program. Between it and my Mastermind PBC loop switcher, I have incredible control over a sprawlin pedalboard.

Other thing: my goal with MIDI clock is not only to tighten up loop accuracy, but also I want to sync the Looper to drum backing tracks. If I am thinking about this correctly, having the track set to autostart when the song is selected should put it in perfect sync with the MIDI beat clock, as long as I have set the tempo in Bandhelper to be exactly the tempo of the sequencing track I created in FLStudio, and converted to an mp3 track.

Any reason this should not work?

[arlo]

It should work, but BandHelper isn't a sequencer or a DAW, so the sync isn't guaranteed. Also I've heard reports that the beat clock accuracy is reduced in iOS 12.1 or 12.2 on older devices, but I haven't been able to verify that. The best thing to do is test it out with your equipment and see if it meets your needs.

[go2ldook]

Arlo, I suspect the issue is that Bandhelper, unlike  sequencer, so not send a MIDI Start command when you play a song. I don't know if this is a feature that could be added or if anyone out there familiar with MIDI can give me advice. One thought I had was using a separate program called MidiBus to do it, though I am not even sure if that program just sends a Midiclock signal or actually the STart command.

I am no expert, but I have tried hooking my looper up to Bandhelper as a MIDI Clock source as well as my PBC Mastermind, and neither worked. But hook it to my FLStudio program on my computer and it works great. Not what I prefer to do live though.

[go2ldook]

OK...so I fixed it. First fix was I created a MIDI file to play with the recording. MIDI file was bare bones...just created a blank sequence in FLStudio that had no data other than the tempo. Loaded it to play simultaneously with the recording and that worked...basically it introduced a MIDI START command into the MIDI stream

After some research I learned that the Hex command for MIDI START is "FA" (it says 0xFA when you go to a MIDI chart, but they throw stuff like "0x" in to tell you that "FA" is a hex command, and probably to confuse us guitarists a bit. Anyway, instead of creating a MIDI file for songs where I use the looper, I now just put in "FA" (without the quotes, to be clear) under the Raw Midi Hex code section in my MIDI Preset for each song, make sure I select Infinity Looper as my Raw Midi Device, and now I have a MIDI START signal going to get the Infinity recognizing the MIDI Clock from Bandhelper.

ANOTHER important part is that my iPad plugs into my PBC Mastermind loop switcher, which also can generate a MIDI clock, so I have to go into its settings and set it up as a MIDI Clock "slave", so it will past the MIDI Clock from Bandhelper.

This has taken a LOT of trial and error on my part and reading to understand this whole MIDI START issue, so I hope this post helps someone who is struggling. I have sent all this to the guys at Pigtronix, but they really were not a lot of help. I had to figure this out on my own.

[arlo]

BandHelper does send a MIDI Start command when you start its tempo function, and a MIDI Stop command when you stop it. You can confirm this by clicking the MIDI icon in the top toolbar and looking at the activity log. (You will have to scroll a lot because MIDI Beat Clock sends 24 timing messages per beat.)