Synching 6250 with external drum machine

[GaryF]

I am trying to synchronize a song that I have programmed into the
sequencer of my Casio CTK 6250, with a rhythm pattern in my Alesis    

SR 16 drum machine. I am using a Kenton USB MIDI host to connect 

the CTK 6250 to the SR 16, which has a standard MIDI in connection.

 

I have made all the proper connections, and I can tell that

information from the Casio is being sent through the USB MIDI host

to the SR16, because when I put the SR16 in OMNI mode, hitting a
key on the Casio will trigger the corresponding drum sound on the
SR16. 

 

However, I cannot seem to get the song sequenced in the Casio
to synch with a programmed rhythm pattern on the SR 16. I have
looked at all the MIDI Setup settings on the SR16, tried adjusting
various settings, but it still won't work. The MIDI channels on

both devices are set to channel 1. The SR16 is set to receive
external clock. 

 

Is there a way to adjust the clock settings on the CTK 6250?

 

If you could offer any advice with this, it would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you.

 

 

[IanB]

I don't know this keyboard but as general advice, it would make sense to plug the CTK into a PC and use MIDI-OX or something similar to see if it's sending MIDI sync messages. With a problem like this it's best to try to break it down into smaller problems.

[Jokeyman123]

From what I can determine-the CTK6250 does send midi clock-but does not receive midi clock-so if these 2 devices (the Alesis and the Casio) follow normal conventions for midi clock-the CTK must be the "master" and the SR16 must be set to "slave". I'd have to check the Alesis specs-but most drum machines can be switched from master to slave if it is capable of receiving/sending midi clock. If both are set to "master' clock, it will not work. The one must be ready to receive the start command, and the other must send it. Check the midi spec for the Alesis SR and see from within its midi settings, if it can have its clock set to either master or slave. If it can only "send" clock info, it won't work, since the CTK does not recognize midi clock in, and will not sync to the Alesis if this is so. The Alesis will send a mid clock start command, and the CTK will not recognize that command. On page 44 of the SR16 manual, there is a description describing how to turn "midi clock " on or off. this must be set to "on" so that it will recognize the CTK's midi clock out messages. I don't know if it will make any difference, but there is also a setting for midi clock "out". I would turn this off to make sure the SR16 midi data being sent into the CTK does not interfere with syncing, or even causing the 2 to crash from conflicting midi data.  Alot of stuff to get straight, right?

 

The other option-and I don't know how accurate the internal tempo clocks on these 2 are, I have posts here describing how I found that 2 of my keyboards that did not have midi clock at all, could be manually synchronized, and their respective tempos were stable enough that both stayed in sync for over 5 minutes. I tried this with the PX560 (no midi clock send or receive-and several of my modules and keyboards-with no midi connections at all, and it was successful. odd way to do it and i didn't think it would work-older equipment did not usually have accurate internal clocks, so this usually wasn't a solution. I bet the SR16 is accurate enough, not sure about the CTK but might be- might be worth trying.

[GaryF]

Thank you both for your replies.  Very helpful information.  The SR16 is indeed set to receive MIDI clock, so that is not the issue.  I have a feeling there is something going on with the CTK 6250 that does not allow this.  It amazes me how limited the MIDI settings are on the 6250.  It only takes up about one quarter of a page in the manual!