monotribe bpm

Dave Young · Post by **Dave Young** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:33 pm

Hey, if you have an electronic metronome, you can plug a mini to mini jack from the headphone out on the metronome to the sync in on the monotribe and control the bpm.

dexfx69 · Post by **dexfx69** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:34 am

try it, it might work. if not, turn the volume up or down on the metronome til it works. good luck!

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:29 am

I'm not certain that would work, doesn't the cv jack on the Monotribe require a mono ring/tip connection? you might have more luck if your metronome has an audio out jack for plugging in to an amp.

MarcusCarab · Post by **MarcusCarab** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:53 am

I have made it work using a metronome app for my android phone. For anyone who's curious, here's how it's done:

Regarding the mono/stereo issue, it's true that the jack is mono, but a stereo plug will work just fine as long as a signal is coming out of the tip. BUT: you need to be able to customize the metronome sound. If it's wrong, each tick of the metronome will cause the monotribe to jump forward several steps.

You need the sound to be as short as possible, and preferably as low in Hz as possible - the goal is to get a tiny isolated jump in voltage that isn't long enough to actually be a waveform. The app I used is called "Metronome Beats" for android, and it lets me set the sound to 100hz and 1ms long - anything longer and the monotribe will stutter. Then just plug it into the sync port and adjust the volume until it starts working.

I really wish Korg would release the SyncKontrol app for android.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:04 am

many thanks for sharing that information Marcus, definitely have to download the app and try it myself as not yet having a MIDI mod on it to sync to external clock limits what I can do with the Monotribe with my recording partner. and he's very particular about "what's the bpm?" when recording... it does make things quite a bit easier in the end.

MarcusCarab · Post by **MarcusCarab** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:16 am

Glad I could help! If you or your buddy has an iPhone or iPod Touch, use the SyncKontrol app from Korg instead - it lets you add swing to the beat.

And, on that note, as a general question to all readers: HOW!?!?!

I had posted a thread about this but nobody replied :( How does SyncKontrol do swing? As far as I can tell, the Monotribe accepts sync signals on the steps and calculates the half-steps automatically - so there's no way to add groove unless you are using it as an 8-step sequencer only. But we all know the sync port is capable of much, much more from of the magic audio-based OS update.

Has anyone recorded/analyzed the output from SyncKontrol? I am really Kurious...

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:05 am

installed the app you mentioned and made the appropriate adjustments to the metronome sound but had no luck controlling the tempo. I was using the 1/8" ring/sleeve/tip cable which was included with the Monotribe. I'll try a mono cable I have at home & if that doesn't work may end up soldering together a cable of my own.

MarcusCarab · Post by **MarcusCarab** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:17 am

note that you still have to press play on the monotribe for it to start... i haven't figured out how (if?) start/stop commands work through the sync port yet.

if that's not it, I'm not sure what's wrong - i'll post a quick vid when i get a chance showing how it works for me. I really doubt the stereo cable is the problem.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:28 am

yeah, pressing play on the Monotribe is a given

adjust my phone volume as low as it would go and no dice. its possible there might be an adjustment on the metronome which needs to be made but set everything down to 100Hz and 1ms. do you start the Monotribe first or the metronome? wouldn't seem to make that much of a difference but you never know.

MarcusCarab · Post by **MarcusCarab** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:36 pm

For me it doesn't matter which one I start first. I don't have the volume all the way down though - I found it had to be quite high to get the Monotribe to respond.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:37 am

ah, o.k., for whatever reason I thought the volume on the metronome had to be fairly low in order to work. I'll try it again and see what happens.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:52 am

o.k., set my phone volume all the way up and it's working like a charm, niiiiiiiiiiice....